Gonna go out on a limb and say that this qualifies as hardware, albeit not the type we’re usually used to.
Having always hated the gym (not the gym itself but all the tasks involved in getting there - admittedly getting dressed, brushing teeth, and driving 10 minutes is not a lot, but then add two kids and work and school and life into the mix) but understanding the benefits of exercise, I convinced my wife that we should buy a spin bike in early 2017.
We purchased a Kaiser m3i from Amazon for what was then $995; last I saw the price had increased to $1995 and the bike isn’t even available on Amazon anymore. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0178RBMXQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Nonetheless. Purchased the Kaiser, which was highly regarded and reviewed and someone told me it’s the bike LA Fitness uses; never confirmed so don’t @ me. Bike arrived quickly and took about 45 minutes to assemble. It is a quality piece of hardware, as you’d expect gym quality equipment to be. Well built, sturdy, and it has survived 6 years of near continuous use from my wife and me without maintenance or effort other than tightening things up when I notice they’re loose. It came with an iPad holder and we were content to use the Peloton digital app for workouts and rides, with the minor caveat that Peloton instructors call for resistance intervals of 1-100, whereas the Kaiser went from 0-22. We kind of worked around that, figuring that 12 was around a 30 and every increase of 5 in resistance called for 1 on the Kaiser. Imperfect, but it worked.
Which brought us to 2023. The price of the Peloton digital app, which had started at $12 or so in 2017, had increased to $25 in 2023 for full access with the added caveat that you could no longer have multiple members logging in on one account - ie, I paid the $12 and my wife and I both had separate logins, with separate data, etc. No more - we’d now each need our own $25 subscription for $50 a month on the app, whereas if you purchase Peloton equipment, it’s $44 a month and you can have three logins. Savvy readers will see where this is going.
The Peloton Bike+ was on sale for Amazon’s July prime day and I had a good amount of Amazon credit card points, making the price significantly more palatable than the $2500 for which the machine retails. Delivered quickly from Amazon, as do all things, with the workers placing it in the basement for me. Relatively simple to build; dare I say it was easier to build than the Kaiser, if not any faster. The directions were clearly built for the home user vs the Kaiser’s which were geared towards the gym builder guy. The Kaiser also required a weirdly sized socket and torque wrench, both of which I thankfully had although some may not.
The Peloton screen is gorgeous. It’s twice the size of my iPad Pro and makes the classes as immersive as they can be, what with being taken in my unfinished basement full of my wife’s out of season clothes tupperwares and various assorted piles of god knows what deposited by my raised by wolves daughters. The Peloton bike is quality hardware but definitely not as heavy duty as the Kaiser; however, the true worth here is in the integrated software. The data on the peloton app didn’t integrate with Apple Health nearly as well as the bike+ does.
tl; dr. Hardware goes to the Kaiser, software to the Peloton. Overall, if you’re in the market for a home spin bike, I’d hat tip to the Peloton over other brands. It may cost more, but ultimately it’s a better buy and dare I say a more enjoyable workout. For the ultimate in decision making, my wife didn’t even give me grief for buying the Peloton, so…
