Best Deals on Fitness Equipment and Accessories

The Cerana looks and feels a lot like the rental electric bikes available through most urban and suburban bike shares. It’s not big on power, but it certainly gets the job done with a crank-mounted electric motor and four levels of assist. That allows the rider to use the bicycle’s seven-speed gearing to augment the electric motor’s twist with good old-fashioned leg power. Braking is strong, and the display screen, although simple, is easy to see and use. Metallic paint and color-keyed anodized aluminum accents give the Cerana an attractive look. Best of all, perhaps, is its base price, which is well under $1,000.

Whether it’s delivering goods or carrying kids around, the XPedition 2.0 cargo e-bike is capable of hauling it all. The bike has a large rack integrated into the aluminum frame, contributing to its 83-pound weight with the battery installed. Lectric says that this long-wheelbase e-bike can haul a maximum payload of 450 pounds, which includes the rider, cargo, and any attachments. We were able to cover just over 17 miles with a combination of hills and flats at full assistance at the highest level. The top assist speed when operating as a Class 2 e-bike (as we tested it) is 20 mph.

Big power gets this Class 2 electric bike moving quickly on flat ground and also up steep hills. Although the bike’s joints sound a bit rattly going over bumps, the ride is smooth and stable, and the seat and riding position are comfortable. Big tires and a front suspension help absorb bumps. At 65 pounds, the XP 3.0 is objectively heavy, so despite its convenient carry handle, it will most likely be a chore (if not impossible) for many riders to carry. It’s bulky as well, folding into a 37x18x28-inch package that’s larger than some of the other folding bikes we tested.

Each dumbbell in the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set is automatically balanced because of the easy, one-handed adjustment of simply twisting the handle. Like the NordicTrack and PowerBlock sets below, the Core Home dumbbell comes with a good handgrip, and each dumbbell is shorter at lighter weights. Still, we found that each can be harder to replace in the cradle in some settings. At heavier settings, the dumbbells didn’t come out of their cradle without holding the cradle down.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch7 is at a new low price at Walmart right now. It typically retails for closer to $300, but Walmart’s discount is the biggest we’ve seen. This is a sleek-looking and high-performing pick, particularly if you own a Galaxy phone, and its stylish design means you can feel comfortable wearing it just about anywhere. The Watch7 offers some of Samsung’s latest health, fitness, and safety features—including sleep apnea detection, swimming stroke analysis, and daily AI-enabled Sleep and Energy scores, which make it easier to keep tabs on basic health metrics. It also has more standard features, like automatic workout-tracking, heart rate and blood oxygen level monitoring, and heart rate variability tracking.

The Pixel Watch 3 is $30 less than its recent sale price. It has many of the same pros as its predecessor—an elegant design, as well as seamless compatibility with the Pixel phone and full Google ecosystem. In our testing, the model barely beats out the original, thanks to a slightly more robust suite of health features, like automatic workout detection and heart rate variability tracking. It also can give you a more holistic look at your health, with daily Readiness and Sleep scores. The Pixel Watch is also catching up to other high-end smartwatches with strong scores for ease of use, readability in bright and low light, and heart rate accuracy.

The Amazfit Active is a solid fitness tracker, especially at this price. It’s easy to use, with a claimed battery life of around 16 hours. Even better, it excels at counting steps and tracking fitness activities, which is, after all, one of the main goals of a fitness tracker.

The Garmin Varia RTL515 has a long radar range and a variety of alerts to warn the rider of approaching vehicles. When paired with a phone or bike computer, the Garmin uses different colors on the display and different tones to indicate the status of vehicles approaching the rider. The radar can detect multiple vehicles at the same time. In our radar evaluation, the RTL515 was able to detect the test car from an average of 450 feet away. There are four light modes to choose from, plus a radar-only (light off) mode. Unlike some other devices, it does not operate as a brake light when the rider slows down. In subjective riding evaluations, the Garmin didn’t have any false alerts, nor did the radar miss any vehicles. The RTL515 has a claimed battery life of up to 16 hours, depending on the light mode.

The lower-priced iGPSport SR30 radar-taillight combination unit performed well in our rider warning and vehicle warning evaluations. It also had a good score for how far away it detected vehicles. The SR30 comes with a rubber mount and two inserts to secure it to round, D-shaped, or aerodynamic seat posts. It also has a tether strap to keep the unit from being lost if it becomes dislodged from the mount during a ride. In our radar evaluation, the SR30 was able to detect the test car from an average of 398 feet away. There are five light modes to choose from in addition to a radar-only (light off) mode, and the SR30 will act as a brake light to catch the attention of a motorist as the rider slows. 

There’s no question that Allen Sports’ Deluxe 4-Bike hitch-mounted hanging rack is priced right. At just 20 pounds, it’s also pretty light, making it easy for one person to take the rack on and off a vehicle. We like that the rack can handily tilt down and out of the way so you can access your vehicle’s cargo area. The “hanging” portion of the rack that holds the bicycles can also be flipped down so that the rack barely sticks off the back of your vehicle when you’re not carrying bikes. But for all its good points, this is still a hanging rack and isn’t one you’d want to use on a regular basis. Due to the close proximity of the bicycles to each other, if you’re carrying more than two bikes, parts are going to rub.

The Kryptonite New York FAHGETTABOUDIT Mini U-Lock had the thickest, most cut-resistant U-bar in our tests. It was the only model we could not cut with a hacksaw. It doesn’t come with mounting hardware for transport, so if you get one, you have to figure out how best to stow it.

As one of the heaviest recumbent bikes we tested, the Sole LRC has a notably sturdy, gym-quality feel as you ride it. It also offers one of the narrower Q-factors (or space between the pedals), which provides a natural-feeling pedaling experience with little knee strain. The fit range of this bike is especially accommodating for taller users—our testers estimate that users up to 6 feet, 5 inches tall can achieve proper leg extension (but the seat can be moved quite far forward, so shorter riders will do well too). Our testers found the seat of this bike to be very comfortable, with a contoured shape that provides good support to both the upper and lower back. 

The high-end Hydrow Rower uses a quiet electromagnetic resistance system and tracks all standard metrics that rowers use to measure progress—from stroke rate to split time. This machine earns top marks across all CR’s tests. It also has a 22-inch high-definition screen that can be used to access Hydrow’s live and on-demand fitness classes. As with other high-end machines, those are subscription-based—$44 per month—and include access to many types of workouts, not just rowing. It’s $100 more than the sale price at the beginning of the month, so it’s not the best deal we’ve seen. But if you’re in the market, a $300 discount is still decent.

If you want a way to do cardio at home, exercising on an elliptical gets you an aerobic workout without the impact that comes with running. The Air Glide 14i is at a decent discount right now, and it’s CR Recommended for its above-average performance in our lab tests. This model got exemplary scores in our tests for construction, ease of use, and user safety. It’s also above average when it comes to ergonomics. It did fall short in terms of heart rate accuracy, but you can always wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker for more accurate readings if you want to track that.

This mat is very slow to dry, especially compared to other yoga mats we tested. It has an excellent grip on the floor and keeps a very good grip on hands and feet. It offers only a fair amount of cushioning. It comes with a zippered carrying bag. This mat’s surface has markings that are meant to guide hand and foot placement for yoga poses, though these might not work for all body sizes.

This cork-topped mat is relatively slow to dry. It has excellent floor grip but offers only a fair amount of grip on its top surface. It offers a medium amount of cushioning.

Of the doorway pull-up bars we evaluated, this was the budget pick, and thanks to a big price drop and a coupon, it’s now the cheapest we’ve ever seen. But the price isn’t the only thing that makes it a good buy. Thanks to a variety of grips, you can do different variations of pull-ups to keep your workouts interesting. The evaluator also noted that because of the design, it’s a good choice for taller people. But it’s worth noting that assembly was not the most straightforward.