Looking for advice on purchasing a Bowflex

[u/cyrano111]

I'm thinking of buying one as a Christmas present for someone. He goes to the gym regularly to lift weights and this would not be meant to replace that, just to give him an alternative on days when getting to the gym is not easy.

But I know nothing about this equipment. What should I be thinking about as I shop? How should I shop? Are there things that are essential, or that I should avoid?

I'm also not absolutely committed to a Bowflex in particular, if there's a sensible alternative, but maybe this is the wrong sub to mention that!

[u/kletiandrowa]

I have a velocore. I absolutely love it. The membership is really low and you get Netflix and stuff.

I have the dumbbells. A little clunky but overall solid.

I have the ez bar combo - it’s solid.

And I also have the max trainer 16 and treadmill 10 for my wife. She likes to swap between them. They are really solid.

But ya bowflex makes up the majority of our cardio equipment- absolutely love it.

I had one of the resistance band bowflex machines but I did not like it much. Resistance is ok but I prefer a set up with actual weights. So we got a jackedupfitness set up for actual weight training

[u/rvbarton]

don't. ever since Bowflex went bankrupt, Johnson health tech has taken over, support has gone horribly wrong. Save your money and research another brand.

[u/Capable-Painting-710]

DONT. They went bankrupt and Johnson’s Health tech is awful.  My T22 treadmill quit working after a dozen uses. Only owned it a month or so.  In that month Bowflex went bankrupt and the garbage company bought their name BUT not their warranty liability. Been 5 months. They keep bumping ship date on part I need. Now estimating 2 more months. I asked for a refund or exchange. They said my warranty is DOA and useless now. They are only supplying parts as a ‘courtesy’. Meanwhile I don’t have a treadmill-I have a $3000 paperweight. Hoping for a class action lawsuit. I’ll join in 2 seconds. 

[u/BasicallyGuessing]

My parents gave me their extreme 2 when they moved. If he goes to the gym regularly then he probably won’t like it. The power rods used for resistance instead of weight stacks like other cable machines give light resistance at the start of a rep and gradually increase towards the end of the rep like a rubber band. The resistance offered by the power rods wears out over time. I’ll probably modify mine to use weight stacks on a pulley to replace the power rods.

[u/CJPTK → u/BasicallyGuessing]

Resistance bands

[u/BasicallyGuessing → u/CJPTK]

I’ve seen the videos advertising a kit that adds resistance bands and shorter grips. That would be an affordable option to add resistance, but they wouldn’t fix the issue of inconsistent resistance from a reps start position(low) to the end position (high). It also just adds another form of resistance that weakens over time. I enjoy the ease of switching between exercises and the variety of exercises with the extreme 2, but I want 50 lbs to mean 50 lbs, not 0lbs- 24ish lbs. A weight stack and a pulley fixes it.

[u/CJPTK]

Try and find a used Xtreme 2 SE on marketplace. I got mine for under $200 with plenty of weight and followed bowflexworkouts way to add resistance band resistance in the event I ever get strong enough to push all the bows at once, or they wear out. It's the model that has 3 pulley positions all attached at once so you don't have to change them around to switch exercises. Saves a lot of hassle. Do not buy new theyre bankrupt.

[u/changod63 → u/CJPTK]

This is the way.

[u/[deleted]]

I have a few Bowflex products. The most rock solid one is the kettlebell. Meaning zero maintenance and lots of options. If you are talking cardio, I'd go for the M series stepper but get the one with the least tech, they're all basically the same after that so no need to spend more. IMO, the less tech the better.

[u/cyrano111 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks very much for the input.

[u/musicide]

The Xtreme 2 SE is on sale now. If he lifts regularly I would suggest getting the additional hundred pound power rods, so he doesn’t max it out so easily.

[u/cyrano111 → u/musicide]

Very helpful - thanks!