Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If I could, I would give this several rankings. Five stars as a recumbent exercise bike for the reasons stated below. Right between two and three stars for ease of assembly and zero stars for the manual. I am very pleased with recumbent exercise bike now that it is all together and working. But it took me five or six hours to get to this point because of the totally execrable manual. The bad stuff first: the manual is beyond awful. Paradigm Health & Wellness, Inc. should invest the relatively little it would take to hire a native English-speaking technical writer and competent technical illustrator to produce a first-rate manual. Little things count. For instance, when telling me not to screw in the pedals with a clockwise-motion, tell me the orientation of the pedal! There is essentially a front and a back. Yes, it is simple enough to figure out which end is up, but things would go faster and more smoothly with a decent illustration. Likewise, when telling me to attach color coded cables, tell me that the extension cables inside a column will be both be black because it doesn't matter. And if you change the design of the product, either include an addenda in the package or put it on your website. Needless to say, in the grand tradition of men everywhere, I started assembling this after 5 PM on Friday when the manufacturer's the support department was closed. But I'll get my chance on Monday, because there's still handle I don't fully understand how to use, an upsetting small wobble and a few other things. Finally, the manual is useless when it comes to using the onboard computer and display. The Bluetooth program they refer to doesn't exist because it has been replaced and the pidgin English they use to describe much of the operation is incomprehensible. Some of the parts did not fit as well as I would have preferred, but the quality of the parts is generally high. When I finally got the Exerpeutic 4000 assembled, I was absolutely delighted. The seat is very, very comfortable, the handlebars and arm rests well designed and well positioned. The bike is very quiet: no annoying or loud whine when the flywheel is spinning. The Bluetooth computer program is clear and easy to use as is the onboard computer once you figure out how to use it. The seat adjustment is fairly simple and smooth. One hint: when you're assembling the seat and seat-rail assembly, spray some silicon or other lubricant on it. There is a built-in holder for a tablet computer. If you have a 10 inch screen, you'll have to take it out of the case to use it in portrait mode. Landscape mode works very well for 10, 8 and 7 inch tablets. One other tip: before you attach the every cool and useful vertical handlebars, put the unit in the room where you intend to use it. With the vertical handlebars attached, the unit does not fit through regular doorways. Yes, I learned that the hard way. There's a five-year warranty, which hopefully I won't have to use.(I just learned this is an error. There is a five year warranty if you purchase directly from Exerpeutic (Paradigm Fitness). If you purchase from any other source, it is a one-year warranty. I'm old and just seeking low-impact exercise, so I'm not doing any heavy-duty cardio training or anything like that. For my purposes the Exerpeutic 4000 is everything I want. Jerry N.B. Well, the unit lasted almost four years to the day. Now it is deader than a door nail> The motor - the unit that provides the resistance - is gone. No replacement part available. The entire unit has to be scrapped and a new one purchased. I'm sorry to see it go, frankly. I've been using it almost every for four years and had no significant complaints.Very comfortable to use.