As a rule we don’t describe hybrid home fitness machines, but merits of the ProForm Dual Bike/Rower stirred us to violate our traditions because it deserves your attention if you have limited space for the machine and want double benefit from it.
We will describe its functions for rowing and biking because this is the aim of this review. But the bike can be very useful for those who care about their legs as much about their hands.
You get a rower and bike, two in one, so the whole device becomes rather big and even when folded vertically for storage it takes some room. You should take this into consideration and decide in advance where you will store and use it. For easier transportation, the model is provided with wheels. Altogether the kit weights about 150lbs.
And what we get for the price? First of all rather good build quality. Second, you should be enough patient while you assemble the machine, it can take about 45 minutes, at least we spent this time to make it looking like rower and not a set of components. But when you did it once you can enjoy your rowing or biking as much as you like.
We’d say that the padded seat is comfortable though some users can disagree working on it more than 30 minutes. If you want to change biking for rowing, you can remove the back seat and store it under the rail. This is convenient and adds points to the model.
Foam pads of the handle, which in its turn is not too thick and not too thin, allow a comfortable grip. The handle is removed when the machine is used as a bike and stored under the rail on a special bracket.
To continue our talk about the rail we should note that it is angled, so your feet became lower than your body to be able to use the recumbent bike. This way you overcome gravity and magnetic resistance. Perfectionists could remark this position is not ideal for rowing, but who says that this machine is an ideal floating boat?
Tall guys who are taller than 6’2” can hit the back of the rail at the end of a stroke (The Finish), despite the fact that the rail is long.
Secure keeping of the feet during rowing at right positions at foot rests is important at workouts. For larger sportsmen this machine can give a feeling that foot position is a bit closer together than they’d feel comfortable.
Twenty resistance levels are provided by a magnetic flywheel. The last works smoothly and quietly for the rower and cycling. Resistance levels vary from easy to rather tough. You can enjoy it with the pre-set program on the monitor.
ProForm Dual Trainer Review
Console/Monitor
This is something new! We were accustomed to deal with basic and primitive displays installed on such rowers, and… nothing like that at the ProForm! Its display is easy-to-read and has some handy pre-set programs. There are 24 inbuilt workouts and 12 of them are developed for the rowing machine only. Out of these 12, six are designed to burn calories, and other six ones are developed for targeting and performance, you should reach the target in determined time. One more cool thing is the light system, which notifies you if you should speed up or on the contrary make your pacing slower to reach the target.
You can choose one workout and it will automatically set the resistance level for you (there is a choice of 30). Otherwise, you can adjust it yourself via the one-touch buttons.
The LCD monitor shows all the data and is rather accurate to rely on it and become a useful tool for workouts. Regretfully the heart-rate sensor is absent. Thus, training with control of heart-rate is not possible and this is not good. But taking into account the moderate price of the model, its stuff makes you forgetting about this lacking feature and for a reasonable price you get a quality machine.
Conclusions:
This hybrid machine is a good combination of a rower and a bicycle for those who don’t have enough room at home or enough funds in the pocket to buy two separate machines. It goes without saying that it cannot win or compete with single-purpose rowers, which cost the same much, but it remains a useful rower. For a hybrid, its current price of $480 at Amazon is reasonable, and you get a good hybrid in our opinion.
We give points for…
- Twenty resistance levels.
- Twelve built-in types of workouts for rowing
- Good quality of frame and construction
- Price corresponds to quality
- Considered storage space for the seat back when not needed
- Long warranty
- Handy display
- Allows user weight up to 350 lbs
- Solid and sturdy
We take points for…
- It is very heavy its weight is 150 lbs
- Too close location of the foot rests
- The seat could be more comfortable
- Absence of the pulse sensor and heart rate programs
Technical characteristics:
Resistance type: Magnetic
Max user weight: 350 pounds
Size: 81.5″ x 24.5″ x 28″
Machine weight: 150 punds
Warranty:
Lifetime on frame.
One year on all other parts (inc labor).
Video Review
https://youtu.be/sMEYB6cqnp8