Part of maintaining a healthy low carb lifestyle is incorporating healthy exercise into your weekly routine. We found our NB3000 Upright Exercise Bike allowed us to do that.

We've had our Nautilus NB3000 Upright Exercise Bike for many years now, and are quite pleased with it! Here's a full review of the bike based on our use of it.

First, the bike was very easy to use right out of the box. We set the seat height, hopped on, and began riding! The bike doesn't need any external plugs or wires. It runs based on the power of your pedaling.

You can hit quick-start types of programs and just launch right into it. There are mountain runs, intervals, and other patterns programmed into it. The display is amber and black, so two colors. It lets you show what's coming up and keeps track of your speed, distance, calories burned, and so on.

If you hold onto the hand bars or wear a chest strap then it can read your heart rate as well. I'll note that after a year or two the hand grips stopped working for us. We even followed their instructions to do some simple maintenance on the hand grips, but they just wouldn't activate any more. We don't mind - the chest strap is actually easier to use because it means your hands don't have to be right on the hand rests in the exact right position all the time.

When you're done with your workout there's a cooldown period and the unit scrolls your final stats about how far you went and how many calories you burned in a continuous scroll. So you can get those numbers for your log. However, they're not indefinite. Once you actually stop pedaling, the numbers vanish in a fairly short while. So it's good to have a notebook on the unit to write those down while you're pedaling at the end.

The main flat part of the unit is perfect for laying down an iPad or magazine or Kindle to read. You can also of course aim your bike at a TV and work out while you watch a show. The more you can integrate the bike into your normal daily routine, the more likely you are to use it.

The pedaling is smooth and comfortable, and with the varying difficulty you can have it work well for everyone from the newcomer to the experienced, strong person. You can go for short or long distances. The seat is fairly comfy and there's a water bottle rack right in front of you.

Down sides? The unit is fairly expensive to purchase new (list price is $1900). Of course you can get it MUCH cheaper used :) Also, again, like any piece of equipment, you have to use it to make it worth while. The classic proverb is that an exercise bike or treadmill makes a perfect clothes pile holder because that's what it ends up doing. The key is to make sure your bike does NOT end up under a pile of clothes - that it's used and enjoyed!

Rating: 4/5 only because the hand grips failed, even though as mentioned we really don't use them or miss them.

Buy the NB3000 Upright Exercise Bike from Amazon.com


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