Echelon Fit Reviews

UPDATE: How dare ‘Santo’ say he hasn’t heard from me! He most certainly has, and as I mentioned, he responded with poor information.

Update: the updated version of EchelonFit seems to have no improvement for the rowing machine. Half of the time, EchelonFit doesn’t record the stats for the class I did, and the distance is SO far off. I emailed customer service and they told me there was a glitch, and to simply add a zero to my meter distance. That still made NO sense, and even reached out to an awesome instructor who confirmed that was not the way to fix the glitch. Customer service also did not address my issue with stats not being recorded. Classes freeze from time to time, and I’ve even had to restart a class. I can’t believe I pay for this!

I just purchased the row machine, and am sitting here in shock as I try to use their sort feature to find a beginner on demand class. Click beginner, zero classes. Ok, click intermediate, zero classes. Advanced, zero classes. Expert, zero classes. It shows there are 131 classes yet no way to tell what level each class is!!!

Where do I start? Just got the bike. Created an account and every screen is buggy. Adding an account took forever. It said my account was already registered, which it hasn’t been. Then after doing it I see 3 profiles under my home screen with my name. When I signed up for a membership it said I had to select a country. I did select a country. Had to restart and try again. Tried setting up equipment and it’s totally blank. Can’t even select any equipment. Then after the 50th + restart, EchelonFit loads the equipment options. I select the connect sport and it tells me to select a store but another blank screen. After restarting EchelonFit , my phone, uninstalling, reinstalling, and even trying it on a browser I still can’t access the classes and/or add my equipment. Called customer service, no answer, had to leave a voicemail. 2 hours later and no response. I’m frustrated. I’ve never seen an app with so many issues. They should work all of this out before rolling it out OR have better customer service to assist. Meanwhile I just installed peloton, no issues, and can use my bike with that app, which is what I plan on doing. Just wish I could at least see my stats through echelon.

Due to a design flaw that makes the bike unusable for short people (“raising” the handlebars makes them project further out because it is on an angle away from the Nike’s center), I returned the bike. And deleted EchelonFit . Mistakenly assumed echelon knew I no longer get owned the bike and maybe they did but after the free trial period, I began to be charged for the monthly subscription. Tried to cancel the subscription from their website but could not remember my password and their site did not have a password reset option (could change it but had to enter the old password before changing to a new one). After disputing the 2nd monthly charge, I found instructions to cancel from EchelonFit . I downloaded EchelonFit again and was able to log in. Found my way to the link to cancel and after clicking on cancel, got a message that says “we’d like you to speak to customer loyalty first” with a phone number. Called number and a recorded message said there were no agents available and to leave a message. It did not state what their hours were. Will try again during normal business hours for Nashville time zone. Should not be this hard to cancel. Seems like a scam.

This bike was purchased as a Christmas gift from my husband. EchelonFit is TERRIBLE! I love the bike! Every time I’ve logged in and connected the bike to my iPad or iphone it shows I’m not subscribed, which I am. Then in order to access classes I’m asked to upgrade at a cost of $150 more per year than what I initially signed up for. In order to get EchelonFit to reload my subscription I’ve had to delete and reload three times on both my iPad and my iphone. And customer service.... yeah that’s terrible too. I sent an email on Christmas Day and have yet to receive a response three days later. I attempted to chat via the live chat on EchelonFit and that resulted in me having to back out of EchelonFit every time to send a response only to get the response that someone would email or call me. Still no response on that either.
And please don’t send the response that’s sent to everyone else that it’s a Bluetooth issue and an update is coming. This isn’t a Bluetooth issue. I can’t even see the classes even when I open EchelonFit to view which ones I want to participate in even when the bike is not connected. Guess I’ll use the bike with the Peloton app! Ridiculous!

In addition to the poor customer service, I was very disappointed to discover that the Echelon does not connect to my VR system. If you have tried VR with a spin bike you quickly discover it is a game changer. However, the Echelon company has programmed their Bluetooth not to sync with any app but their own. The moment I can dump the subscription, I will. In the meantime time I have strapped a $20 cadence sensor to the crank and I am using my VR system happily. Echelon has been a disappointment from the beginning; the hardware (i.e. the bike) was fine but the software and EchelonFit was substandard and the customer service and the adaptability to VR has been a severe disappointment. If I had to do it again I would get a Nordic Track brand, if for no other reason than it syncs to VR and my Fitbit.

Previous Experience: After spending 1/2 hour on the phone with customer service they were useless at helping me sync my tracker with the bike. This is one of the main features of the bike but it doesn’t work and the guy on the phone was zero help

I was so excited about getting this Echelon Rower, but in the end it was a big let down. Now I’m stuck with a good piece of equipment that’s locked into this lousy app. The instructors are not very compelling and the camera angles and sets are dry as is the studio environment and music making it feel like they set up a shoot in some warehouse somewhere. The virtual outdoor content is equally bad video portly shot poorly lit.

Warning!!!! No Echelon fitness products function without EchelonFit AND an active subscription. Period. They have made EchelonFit control all resistance on their equipment meaning that you can’t use their equipment with any other service unless you also subscribe to their service, which as I mentioned is less than awesome and quite expensive especially since Apple Fitness+ is out and is much better in so many ways and less expensive.

In short if you have spent your money on any Echelon fitness equipment then you are locked into this lousy app and without EchelonFit AND an active subscription you have a really expensive and really big dust collector.

Bike seems good, but cannot really use it. Spent over 1.5 hours trying to sign up for the 6 months free that was supposed to be included in my purchase. Echelon rep told me take the first 90 days and deal with the other 90 later. No thanks, not what I purchased. Would not let me speak to a supervisor. I phoned Walmart for help, because this is where I purchased. WM could not get the problem sorted with Echelon, either.

ECHELON CHAT SAID, Send proof of purchase, after registering online, and entering my credit card, but still issues with the 6 month offer not working. After several emails and uploads of chats and receipt, 3 days later Echelon responds and wants my receipt again.

In the interim, I had to again register, entering serial number, credit card, date of purchase, and now it looks like I have two accounts, both of which are of no value, because apparently I need a passcode I do not have to access EchelonFit and use the online classes. This is ridiculous. It should not be this difficult. I want to use EchelonFit and spin!

I tried the free trial, but couldn’t get their app to work at no fault of my own. Never used the service. However when I got to the end of the trial they charged me even though i did not use their service. I called support multiple times to fix the issue. They could not help. Finally I talked to someone that was able to fix the issue and offered another free trial. Unfortunately by then I already knew I wouldn’t have time to try it. They said they would refund my money back but then I ended up getting charged for two subscriptions and did not get the first subscription refunded. It’s a little complicated so let’s just say I had a very difficult time getting my money refunded. I did need to stay on top of it but they ultimately refunded some of my $ back, but only after I posted this review. I am adding a star because I don’t want to bash a company. However I do think that they need to rethink the way they handle the free trial situation. If they coax you into free trials maybe they shouldn’t get your credit card information until you’re ready to subscribe. I probably would have subscribed, it’s something I really wanted to do, but with the service I received I did change my mind. Maybe the service itself is fine, but I couldn’t tell you. You can look at other reviews to tell that yourself.

The echelon products (tread, bikes) are awesome. This companion app works but needs some work. During classes EchelonFit works well recording input from the tread. However, there is a bug where if the tread and app aren’t set to the same units (imperial mph or metric kph) then EchelonFit will record incorrect speeds from the tread and your speed adjustments on the tread will be way off. It would be beneficial for EchelonFit to warn you these settings need to be the same or for either EchelonFit or tread to act as a master. There is also a major bug where the data shown during your run such as distance, average speed, and average incline are recorded as 0 on your end of class report. This appears to happen when you stop your treadmill during the last few seconds of class to stretch with the instructor. These values go to 0 and you end up with only calories and watts in your end of class report. This can be extremely disappointing if you’re trying to record your progress overtime. Once these bugs are fixed, the Echelon system will be hard to beat.

EchelonFit needs a lot of work. The leaderboard doesn’t accurate present your output the entire time, and it also doesn’t move you to a new spot on the board as your output increases. EchelonFit also doesn’t save your stats so there’s no record of a “personal best”. Searching for classes is very junky - EchelonFit will reload and ignore the search parameters you specified while your searching for classes which is very annoying. You can’t change your height and weight within EchelonFit so the calories output is also inaccurate (not sure if this adjusts when you attach a Fitbit, but not everyone has one).

The instructors are fine, they seem more like cyclists teaching a spin class than spin instructors. The drills are very basic and the advanced classes aren’t very advanced. Usually you spend half of your time in a spin class out of the seat but these instructors barely do that. You will get a good sweat but you don’t get the same motivation from watching an instructor teach a class. (These classes are done filming an instructor alone in a studio)

You get what you pay for with EchelonFit and classes.

I have never used a peloton or an echelon bike. Just the stationary bikes you use in gym spin classes. So my comparisons for bikes and bike stat options is limited to 6 different spin classes and bikes that have bike powered or battery powered stat screens. EchelonFit only lets you do a free ride from a tiny button in the options section. The screen has annoying pictures of people in the background making it a very busy screen. EchelonFit doesn’t record your freestyle ride stats and so you have nothing to compare your rides to. The bike resets the resistance after each ride which means a lot if turning before you get back to normal base. If you play music from EchelonFit there’s no option for shuffling and if you exit EchelonFit to change your music is starts your ride time over. The bike and company itself could use some improvements, but not sure where to provide those reviews.

EchelonFit works great and I enjoy the workouts. I spent a few workouts trying out a few different instructors. At first the ones I tried had a low energy level or just failed to really motivate me during the rides. Then I found Nicole Griffin who had the right level of motivation for me and I found myself wanting to come back day after day.

I do feel that for the amount of money a subscription costs that there should be a lot more features built into EchelonFit . These are the downsides I found:
1. The user interface is very basic. There aren’t a whole lot of search features within EchelonFit . The one on demand page is kinda clunky and still does a poor job of giving specific results.
2. The descriptions of each exercise are a sentence and not really descriptive of what the workout entails at all. Mostly cookie cutter explanations of the type of workout rather than specific to the selected workout.
3. It doesn’t read the heart rate off of my Apple Watch. The work around the website gives doesn’t work very well either and also is a little excessive rather then just work in that capability into EchelonFit .
4. The music is set to the workout. I would prefer to be able to mute the music and listen to my own. I would love it if I could just hear the instructor and also play my own music on top of that.

The bike is excellent and the classes are great but EchelonFit is simply awful. It doesn’t track your stats or any class you take if it’s not a love class. They just did an update so now when your in class all the info at the bottom doesn’t show everything on the screen you kind of have to guess at your cadence and resistance. There is a progress section in EchelonFit but has been down for maintenance since I got the bike 2 weeks ago. Their customer service team is also terrible, I’ve emailed 3 times about EchelonFit not downloading on my iPad and not tracking ride info and have yet to receive a response, their chat service is pretty useless because when you have an issue they tell you to email and that you’ll hear a response in less than 24 hours which isn’t accurate. I love the bike and the classes but had I known there were that many issues with EchelonFit I would have invested in a different bike with better programming.

Most reviews say EchelonFit doesn’t store your progress- it doesn’t if you don’t have a subscription. However, you can sign up for after ride emails (total breakdown of your ride) in the settings. I do wish there was more of a data break down (resistance, cadence, heart rate and output graphs).
The Apple Watch connectivity is pointless. Other competitor apps have issues connecting to the Apple Watch as well. It’s a smart watch not a fitness tracker like Garmin or Polar. If you want an accurate reading, you need to purchase a chest strap 🤷🏻‍♀️.
I’d like to see the new leaderboard, VS feature and the badges. I’m really looking forward to it where this goes especially with the newly acquired members during Covid lockdown. It’s a fairly new platform so there’s lots of room for improvement. All the other reviews try and compare it to competitors who’ve been in the fitness game for 5+ years.

So I went out on a limb and purchased the Connect bike. I couldn’t find many reviews on this bike and I searched all the main platforms. Well other than the website.. I don’t trust those because it doesn’t allow the public to write a review. So I took a leap of faith and bought it. So glad I did. It is a quality product. Quiet as a mouse and all the features u need. It does have a few areas for improvement but I am suppose to be reviewing EchelonFit . I hope it gets better in time. The instructors are nice but don’t seem as energetic as those on the competitors website. EchelonFit itself freezes at times but many apps do that. It has not been anything major. My major complaint about EchelonFit is that it doesn’t track the stats of your ride. It tracks the classes you take but not the stats. So you get a summary of the ride at the end. I screenshot it and write it down. It’s 2018 EchelonFit should do that. Also it doesn’t connect to my Apple Watch. I don’t have a Fitbit, but that’s just a personal gripe. Not a lot of variety in music either.

I bought this bike right before Christmas. At first I had some difficulties with EchelonFit , but the team responded to my needs and did a great job putting me and my wife in the right direction. I really enjoy the upgrades and the responsive customer service team. I’ve been using it for about a month, and decided today that it was time to write a report based on my accounts. I give them a five, not just because EchelonFit has been upgraded and works well, but because the team has been fantastic and receptive to our needs, and I hope that you are having the same response. Patience is something we all need. Sometimes before jumping to write something negative which affects people in a great way, take your time learn about it, try it, tinker with it, and then provide them with your feedback. For me, my Feedback is an outstanding customer service and product. A 10 even after a bumpy start! Thank you Echelelon!

After much research into the various live studio fitness bike/app combos I finally decided to purchase the Echelon Connect bike and accompanying app Echelon Fit. The bike arrived and was easy to set up. I downloaded EchelonFit before the bike arrived to play with it a bit and liked how easy it was to use. When my bike arrived I connected it to EchelonFit effortlessly and started my first ride. Within minutes EchelonFit froze and I had to restart it. This happened twice more. I made sure my iPad was up to date and had the latest version of EchelonFit installed, both were up to date. I contacted Echelon through Facebook messenger and about 10 minutes later they asked for my phone number. Minutes later I received a call from one of the software developers who checked everything again with me and the suggested I delete EchelonFit and reinstall it as it may not have updated correctly. Problem solved, now working perfectly! Support like this is why I chose Echelon over Peloton and I could not be happier with my choice!

Update: Thanks to John from the support team I am able to connect to EchelonFit & see my stats when I workout. I’ve enjoyed the workouts I’ve done so far & look forward to taking some live classes.

I have had this bike one week & have been able to complete one workout. When I open EchelonFit it connects to my bike and as soon as I chose a workout I get an error that says “connection lost, tap to reconnect” when i tap the message it opens the window where I should Be able to select my bike but there is no bike in the window to select. I have emailed tech support and gotten no response beyond a generic “we are looking into this”. I have followed every trouble shooting suggestion with no luck. I could have gotten a decent bike for half the Price if I wasn’t interested in EchelonFit .

In November 2020 I was diagnosed with a broken back which stopped me in my tracks. Black Friday hubby and I were out shopping and happened on the Echelonn EX3. After some research we decided to buy it. I saw that you needed an application in order to get the classes and quickly found a 90 days free figuring I’d dump it afterwards because there was no way I was paying so much for an app to ride a bike that goes nowhere. Needless to say I purchased a year subscription once the 90 days expired. You don’t just get a bike you gain a family of peers that don’t get any awesomer but the best fitness trainers as well! I also got rid of my concept2 and bought an echelon rower as the classes are the best! I definitely have gotten my money’s worth and would recommend it to everyone! You won’t regret it!

I don’t understand the negative reviews. I purchased my bike from QVC and it has been everything they said it would be!! I started riding it March 1st and have lost 14 pounds in three weeks! I love the convenience of having it my own home and not having to take the time to go to the gym. I will ride 25/30 minutes in the morning and another 25/30 minutes later on. And sometimes if I have 10 minutes free I’ll jump on and do a quick 10/15 minute class. It’s sturdy, quiet and convenient to move from one place to another. And to be able to work my arms at the same time as my legs is a double bonus. EchelonFit is wonderful!! The instructors are very good, personable and know how to keep me motivated! I have my favorite classes but also try many of the other ones. I actually look forward to using it everyday!! Thank you Echelon!! I’d be lost without my bike and EchelonFit !!

I really loved EchelonFit and all the classes that are offered...until EchelonFit crashed right in the middle of three separate workouts on different days. I don’t know what’s going on, but this unacceptable. How am I, or anyone else, supposed to get through a workout and track my progress properly if EchelonFit closes randomly and my bike disconnects. There is a problem, a glitch, a bug, whatever you want to call it that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. I currently have the latest update of EchelonFit on an iPad. I went to EchelonFit Support website and found yet ANOTHER problem. There are apparently no operators available in the chat to answer questions. Are there even operators at all?? When I look at other reviews, other ppl seem to get the same message that all operators are busy, and are told to send an email instead. Please hire more operators to answer our questions. There are probably thousands of ppl who own an Echelon that might have questions.

TD;LR
1) EchelonFit crashes in the middle of workout classes
2) There are no operators to answer questions

I have had this bike for about 8 months now and the only reason I got was because I didn’t want to wait a month to receive the Peloton but starting to think the Peloton was worth the wait?!? My sister has the peloton and raves about the community and her friends. I talked my best friend and my mom out of getting the Peloton and getting the echelon instead which they did, I have requested them to my friends list and they are not showing up! Also, I hate the fact the bike doesn’t not sync up to my Apple Watch, yes I know I can download an app and it will work but I don’t want to have to download an additional app just for that, that is super annoying! Especially because I got the Apple Watch specifically for fitness tracking! We’re in the 21st century now this should be a no brainer! Whenever I start my Nike app workouts it automatically starts my watch, echelon let’s get on the same page!!!!! Please fix the friends issues and the ability to connect to Apple Watch!

It’s recently come to my attention that folks are being discouraged from buying the bike due to bad reviews about EchelonFit — do not be discouraged! I’ve run into the occasional glitch with EchelonFit , but nothing that has ever messed up a ride. Developers seem to work on problems quickly, and the variety of the rides is so fun. I’d love to see EchelonFit become a little more manageable in further updates, but for being around less than a year I think it works really well. Connects to bike easily, will run sound through by Bluetooth speaker, and that’s all I need for a great workout! Thanks Echelon!

I really like the bike and the app. Until just recently. Starting A couple of weeks ago, 80% of the classes are now only 20 minutes. That's a very short workout. This eliminates almost all the live classes during my available workout times. And greatly reduces my choices in the on-demand section. I would like to see more 30 and 45 minute classes again.