Echelon EX-3 Smart Connect Indoor Cycle Reviews

4.9 Rating 15 Reviews

About Sweatband.com:

We are Sweatband.com - Your no.1 sports superstore!
For over a decade we've been selling sports and fitness equipment through both our website and our central London showroom.
We are a Google Certified store, which means Google confirm that our customer service is of the highest level and we despatch orders with the utmost reliability. But we're not just online! Come and find us in our showroom near Oxford Circus and talk to one of our specialist advisors.
We strive to offer our customers the best, most competitive possible deals online.

Visit Product Page

Phone:

020 3773 3940

Email:

support@sweatband.com

Location:

Unit 5, Mill Square, Featherstone Road, Milton Keynes
Buckinghamshire
MK12 5ZD

Visit Product Page

“Very well made. Easy to assemble. Enjoy using it. My devices can't connect to the apps. Not bothered about it especially because of the monthly cost”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

Martin

Verified Reviewer

Incentivized

“Only in use for a week, but this bike seems well made, quiet in operation and is good fun to use. The (optional) app subscription is expensive though still less than Peloton.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

“Excellent Customer Service Received my equipment this morning and very pleased. I know Sweatband have changed their software equipment and have experienced a difficult two weeks because of the software change. To show how the customer is put at the centre of everything Sweatband do, the CEO Dean Jackson personally helped me out and to explain everything. Excellent service and customer management. Looking to buy a treadmill and other items, and will not consider looking elsewhere after the first rate interaction with Sweatband. Top people.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

“Bought this on 22nd December and it arrived two days later, incredible service for this time of year. Sweatband were easy to deal with, communicated well making it an efficient service that impressed me. In addition, the bike was very favourable priced best value I could find. Product arrived in mint condition and works very well. I will definitely use Sweatband again, very impressed with this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Very pleased with bike. Good assembly instructions. Others have written about the resistance knob being fiddly. It is a little but not an issue. App is fab and lots of range of classes. Think this will be a well used purchase. Thoroughly recommend”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“This bike is amazing and I love it. I really based my decision to buy by another review on this site and its ability to connect to various apps and it works brilliantly and was easy. I down loaded QZ and was planning to work my way through kinomaps, Zwift, rovvy- but I haven’t got past kinomaps as love it. No need to go near echelon if you don’t want to. What you’re paying for here is a fantastic smart bike that can access all the great cycling apps. It did come with the wrong plug (2pin USA version) I contacted echelon directly and can’t fault them. They quickly responded and immediate sent out 3 pin uk version no problem. Highly recommend this bike. I like it so much I’m saving up to buy the echelon tower as well.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Superb, love it. Connects brilliantly to kinomap.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I spent a LONG time researching what spin bike to get, and eventually decided to go with the EX-3. So far at least, I'm delighted that I did so. Positives: - Electronically-controlled magnetic resistance (which is rare in this price bracket) means that when you connect the bike to an external app on your mobile device such as Zwift or QZ, you can allow it to automatically change resistance levels. This is an incredibly powerful feature - watching yourself cycle "uphill" or "downhill" on a screen and having the resistance change as you go is a game-changer. - Owing to the above, you can "hack" Peloton on the cheap by connecting the EX-3 to the QZ app and then having that app connect to a second device running Peloton, Zwift, etc. and then cast that device onto a larger screen (if desired). This gives you, for example, Peloton classes for the cost of the "app-only" Peloton subscription and minus the huge outlay for the Peloton bike itself. - The EX-3 transmits a huge volume of metrics over Bluetooth that can be captured by the QZ app (and then relayed onto a third-party app). This was a key reason for choosing this bike over a Joroto or Pasyou or similar BT-enabled bike - they only currently transmit cadence, which will be very limiting when trying to use third-party apps that really need power transmitted. - Almost silent operation. I live in a flat and this in itself is so useful for not disturbing others :) - No display unit built-in so you supply your own device to install an app on to connect to the bike. Some people will regard this as a negative, however it frees up space on your handlebar area (because you’ll probably want a mobile device on your bike anyway) and the display and customisation possible by installing QZ on an IOS/Android device is just SO much nicer than staring at a pokey LCD display that runs off batteries. The bike also has an adjustable stand that adjusts to different angles and will fit most mobile devices such as an iPad. - Requires to be plugged in to work. This means that you don't need to faff about looking to replace batteries or worrying if this is why your BT connection has dropped out, etc. - You do not need to touch the Echelon app and can instead go with a far more effective solution such as QZ for monitoring workouts. Huge numbers of people complain about the Echelon app, but I have not even downloaded it/used it once. The bike uses FTMS for its Bluetooth connection and QZ "saw" the bike straight away with no difficulty connecting. This also means that you don't have to worry about providing payment details to Echelon for subscription-purposes, or worry about firmware updates being installed on the EX-3 that cause problems (again this is something that many people complain about online). Negatives: - Echelon has a terrible reputation online for poor customer service. The bike itself seems really well-built, but there are SO many stories of individuals having something go wrong and then Echelon being poor at providing the necessary support. This was the biggest reason for me delaying my purchase, however I bought the bike from Sweatband which does have a strong reputation for good customer service so my hope is that I will get some support under the 12 month warranty if it is needed and Echelon lets me down. - The bike box it is delivered in is very heavy and although I was able to build it up on my own without too much difficulty, to move the box into the required room would be a tough ask unless there are two pairs of hands. Other manufacturers are now able to offer the delivery of their bikes in two or three separate boxes to make the build-process more manageable. - If the bike loses power or the BT stops working then the “knob” that controls resistance manually will not work. Conclusion: A great spin bike which is well-worth buying, however don’t buy it directly from Echelon as if you do you have no choice but to subscribe to their ecosystem of online classes at the same time (they literally don’t let you buy the bike without this) and in addition, you can buy it for roughly half the price if you buy it from a retailer like Sweatband. You’ll also be completely beholden to them for customer support if something goes wrong. The only thing you lose by buying it from a third-party is that you can get an extended warranty if you buy direct, but I just don’t think this is worth it considering the benefits of buying elsewhere.”

4 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago