ProForm Dual Trainer Bike/Rower

First off, I'll state that the ProForm Dual Trainer is a well built, heavy (125+ pounds) piece of home fitness gear. It was incredibly well packaged, but the delivery service will need to use at least a dolly or hand truck to deliver it, as the boxed weight is about 150 pounds.In addition to using professional bikes and rowers at fitness centers, my wife and I have previously owned a stepper (Precor), high end treadmill (Landice), high end elliptical (Life Fitness), upright (Precor) and recumbent (Cateye) bikes, and a "Health Rider" (what a waste). In my opinion, the Dual Trainer is right up there with the most worthwhile of the bunch. It's extremely easy to convert from rower to bike and is stable & quiet in both the bicycle and rower orientations; although you do hear the "whooshing" of the rower cable throughout the exercise, it's not so noisy that it interferes with watching television at a low to moderate volume. There's no sense of a delayed "catch" when using the rower, so the action is consistently smooth in feel.The seat is adequately padded and rolls smoothly & silently during the rowing exercise. There is a bit of side-to-side seat "wobble" during biking, but this really isn't too annoying. There are many holes to position the seat at a fixed distance from the pedals during biking. The foot straps are excellent for the rower, but a bit skimpy for the bike pedals. I needed to use a shoe with a thinner sole for biking, even with the straps at their maximum. Both pedal action and the rowing belt are smooth.The 20 levels of resistance are acceptably graduated, with at least levels 15-20 requiring solid effort on the part of the user (at least for me, weighing 190 pounds). In addition to manual use, there are 24 programs which are divided into 12 each for the bike and rower, with 6 of each of these 12 devoted to "calorie" or "performance". These workouts are either 20 or 30 minutes long and vary in intensity and pace throughout the program. The pace meter is really a welcome addition here; the user can opt to ignore it. There's no cardio capability in this device, a feature which would have been a great addition for those individuals who would like to maintain a specific heart rate range during the exercise period. The large, well positioned LCD display console provides an acceptable read out of the basic parameters.Assembly was very straight forward and I was impressed with the way that the parts were organized and the various size screws/bolts were labeled. Unlike some of the experience of several reviewers here, all holes were properly pre-drilled and no parts were missing. It took me a little less than 2 hours to assemble the unit. HOWEVER, as delivered, the Dual Trainer was INOPERABLE. It seems that rust had developed within the flywheel assembly, leading to it "seizing" and unable to be turned by either the pedals or rowing strap. I can only assume that this occurred after it was assembled in China, as any (minimal) quality control should have identified this problem. No other reviewer has had this issue.I called Icon Fitness (the parent company of ProForm) the evening that I assembled the unit. They spent quite a bit of time with me on the telephone and assured me that a replacement flywheel assembly would reach me within 5 business days. It did! I had to make several subsequent (nagging) phone calls in order to schedule a service appointment, but finally had the serviceman here at the end of that week (exactly 2 weeks after assembly). He had to basically disassemble the entire main unit to replace the flywheel, as there is a major design flaw: the exterior silver "discs" which cover each side of the main unit CANNOT be removed, as per the user manual, because the holes are too small to pass over the pedal crank arm(s), even with the pedals removed. I would hope that this would be remedied on future units. Each disc hole needed to be "cored" out with a serrated knife by the service tech, so it will no longer be an issue if further service/maintenance needs to be performed. It took about 3 hours for the service to be completed, but now the Dual Trainer performs flawlessly. There was no charge to me for either the parts or service.As you can tell, I'm very enthusiastic about this piece of fitness gear and have used both the rower and bike several times this past week. It's great to have TWO methods of work out in order to be able to vary the workout experience. I'm in my late 60s and was critically ill for an extended period in 2014. I'm hoping that the Dual Trainer will prove durable and long lived, so that I can regain much of my prior level of physical stamina.

Summary: Solid bike/rower, well shipped, easy install, fun workout!Details:Shipping: The item was shipped quickly and cheaply. It did come a bit later then the time I selected, but I got a phone call asking if that was ok. It was, so it came later that night, rather than that afternoon.Packaging: It was packaged very well, well protected and easy to unpack. Just cut along the designated line, pull out a few pieces of hardware and Styrofoam. I was then able to move the main section, still in the box, down 1 floor by myself.Assembly: The unpack/assembly/cleanup time took me 3 - 4 hours, and as many beers. The instructions were pretty clear, and almost all the tools where given. I think I only needed a Philips head screwdriver. I got caught up for a bit, when one of the pictures didn't quite match what I was looking at. But that was my doing, as I "played" with it a bit before I started. Plus, it was pretty late.Workout: The rowing workout is great. Uses so many different muscle groups, plus great cardio. It doesn't seem to cause any back strain, for those with back issues, but definitely gets the core engaged. I found bike to be a bit too easy, at least the first few workouts I have done. But good for a day when you need a slightly less strenuous workout. Perhaps I'll come up with a good HIIT biking exercise routine as I work out the kinks. I have now integrated this machine into my weekly workout as follows.Day 1 ResistanceDay 2 TreadmillDay 3 ResistanceDay 4 BikeDay 5 ResistanceDay 6 RowingDay 7 Rest.Seems to be working pretty good so far. Keeps it from getting boring, and gives me a good rest of muscle groups between the various workouts.Final thoughts: The only thing I would have liked to see done better is the LCD screen. It leaves a bit to be desired. The information displayed is adequate enough. But I like to know what the total calories, distance, time, etc are before I start. As it is right now I have to do the whole workout and then try to remember which is which so I know what intensity I want to do that day. The rowing speed seems to vary a tad, but after you get the hang of it, it isn't too bad to know how to keep the correct pace. For 599, I'll let this slide. Perhaps the next version will have a nicer display.