HealthRider H35Xr review

The HealthRider H35Xr recumbent exercise bike is ideal for beginners looking for an easy way into cardio workouts at home.

HealthRider H35Xr review
(Image: © HealthRider)

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Beginner friendly

  • +

    20 built-in workouts

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    High weight capacity (300lbs)

Cons

  • -

    Not the easiest to move

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    Limited five-year warranty

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HealthRider manufactures recumbent and upright indoor bikes, both types of fitness cycles you'll find in our guide to the best exercise bikes to boost your cardio fitness and help you loose weight. The iFit compatible HealthRider H35Xr has a console for viewing your workout statistics, and you can also use it to access the 20 built-in workouts.

Is the H35Xr good enough to take on the world's top fitness bikes? On paper it seems to offer a decent suite of features, including adjustable resistance, but there's only one way to find out for sure...

HealthRider H35Xr review: Design

The HealthRider H35Xr has adjustable handlebars, and is designed to accommodate riders up to 300lbs in weight. The bike itself is durable and weighs 115lbs, so it's not an insignificant weight to heave around in your home gym

The HealthRider H35Xr is a recumbent exercise bike, which means you sit down and back in the back. Many people find this an easier way to workout, especially beginners or those who are new to fitness bike workouts and want something more supportive than an upright bike or spin bike.

HealthRider H35Xr review: Features

The H35Xr has 20 built-in workouts and 16 individual levels of resistance, so as your cardio fitness and leg strength develops, the bike will continue to grow with you and match your progress as you can keep switching the higher levels of resistance. This also makes it a good fit for interval training, where you switch between lighter and heavier levels of resistance within the same workout. 

HealthRider has also equipped with H35Xr with 20 built-in workout programs, so you'll never be without inspiration when working out. These workouts are displayed on the bike's Grafixx display, and because the bike is iFit compatible, you can dig into Google Maps to create virtual cycling routes to ride.

You can also view various workout data on the display, but for accurate heart rate monitoring, calories burned and distance covered data, we would recommend wearing one of the best fitness trackers. Apple and Fitbit are great choices, and you can often find the latter on sale among the best Amazon Prime Day Fitbit deals

HealthRider H35Xr review: the recumbent exercise bike photographed from the back to show the seat

(Image credit: HealthRider)

HealthRider H35Xr review: Performance

We found the HealthRide H35Xr simple to use, and cycling through the 20 built-in workouts caused us no issues. It was the same story when switching between the 16 digital resistance levels, all of which can help you quickly tailor your workout depending on your current cardio fitness.

The display is basic, but functional enough to show you what you need to see. If you want an exercise bike with a full-color screen that's large and easy to view, we would recommend either the Nautilus U618 or the NordicTrack Commercial VR25, another recumbent bike by a maker of some of the world's best treadmills.

iFit compatibility works well, so you can move beyond the built-in workouts and access a greater library of exercises - of course, you'll have to pay for an iFit subscription to get extra workouts. Your workouts will be downloaded wirelessly to your console, with fitness data uploaded to iFit.com.

The built-in workouts are effective and range from total beginner to high intensity bike training. Each exercise has been designed by personal trainers to help you focus on specific fitness goals such as building resistance, burning fat and increasing your cardio health. We enjoyed the various workouts, but would like to use the bike longterm to see if it really does make a difference to weight loss. 

The downsides to this recumbent bike are the basic display and the fact that it's heavy to move around and you can't fold it up after use. If you'd prefer a lightweight folding exercise bike, we'd point you toward the Exerpeutic Folding Magnetic Resistance Exercise Bike

Should I buy the HealthRider H35Xr?

The only issue with recumbent bikes is how much floor space they take up, but as long as you're prepared for that, the HealthRider 35Xr shouldn't surprise you once it's fully built. The limited five-year warranty covers you for some wear and tear, but you need to read the fine print carefully. Labor and parts are covered by only a 90-day warranty. 

Overall, the HealthRider H35Xr is a good recumbent bike for beginners and anyone recovering from injury who, with their doctor's permission, is looking for an easier and more supportive fitness bike to start training with. It offers a good number of built-in workouts and a generous array of resistant levels for the price, though for maximum resistance training we'd also recommend you look at the Assault AirBike Classic

Jennifer Christensen

Jennifer Christensen has written for many newspapers and magazines and has broadcast experience in television and radio. She has earned journalism awards from the Utah Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists and enjoys being a writer for Top Ten Reviews. Jennifer has five amazing children and loves to hike, play the piano, kick a soccer ball and eat ice cream.