Schwinn Bowflex
The Schwinn Bowflex looks to be Nautilus's answer to the Weider Crossbow. Like the Crossbow, the Schwinn Bowflex comes standard with a lat pull down bar and a leg attachment. It can fit pretty easily into a corner of a room. It uses the Bowflex power rods (comes standard with 210 pounds of resistance), which means if you wear them out, Bowflex will replace them for free. Aside from the rods, the Schwinn has a different look and feel from the rest of the Bowflex line.
It offers more than 60 exercises and folds up nicely (which is something
you can't do with the leg attachment connected on the regular
Bowflex).
At $799.00, the Schwinn Bowflex is a little more expensive than the Crossbow ($649.00 at my local Sears). It feels a little sturdier than the Crossbow, though you can tell it doesn't have
as high quality construction materials as in the Bowflex Ultimate or even the Power Pro. However, the Schwinn offers as many or more exercises as the Power Pro or Motivator (about 60) and performs adequately.
If you can afford the Power Pro or Ultimate, I recommend going with
that. I do like this machine better than the Motivator, though.
Disadvantages of Schwinn Bowflex:
Like the Crossbow, the Schwinn tries to do a lot at a relatively low price (compared with the other Bowflex models), and it shows a bit in the quality of the materials used.
Advantages of the Schwinn Bowflex:
Lower priced than the other Bowflex models and comes standard with leg and lat attachments.
Unlike the rest of the Bowflex line, the Schwinn is available at many of your local sporting goods retailers. If you can pick it up locally, you can forgo the $100.00+ shipping fees.
Schwinn Bowflex Owner Comments:
"I am having good results with the Schwinn Bowflex. I am still using it after 5 months and it folds up nicely which is important in my little apartment. I like it better than the Total Gym which is what my old house mate had. So, far no troubles with parts or anything like that." --Marissa L.