Is Stealth Cycle a Worthy Hyrbid of Excercise Bikes and Video Games?

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Key Takeaways

• The Stealth Cycle adds gaming to exercise, making cardio workouts more enjoyable for users of all fitness levels.
• Assembly is simple, and the games, though lacking variety, keep users engaged and motivated during their workouts.
• The calorie counting may be inconsistent, but the Stealth Cycle provides a serious workout that is both effective and fun.

Physical activities and video games are natural enemies. Despite these laws of nature, various attempts have been made to make video games more active, going as far back as the Power Pad in the 8-bit days to the more recent Xbox Kinect and Wii Fit. These and other devices have attempted to incorporate physical activity into gaming, with varying degrees of success. The Stealth Cycle is a new piece of exercise equipment that follows this same philosophy, but in the other direction. The Stealth Cycle takes one of the standard gym exercises and adds a gaming component to it.

What is Stealth Cycle?

Cardio exercise is a necessary evil for overall health and wellness, and one of the biggest problems with many cardio machines is they are mind-numbingly boring. Treadmills, stair masters and stationary bikes can provide some great health and fitness benefits, but doing these exercises for any extended period of time can make death by boredom seem like an inevitable outcome. The makers of the Stealth Cycle are aware of this, and attempt to alleviate or at least reduce the amount of boredom an individual is likely to experience during their exercise sessions.

The Stealth Cycle is a compact stationary bike that incorporates games into its use. The user downloads the Stealth Fitness app and connects it to the bike via Bluetooth. The user then pedals the bike and moves the handlebar to maneuver along the course. The bike incorporates upper body activity by steering the bike with the handlebars and the pedals offer seven levels of resistance. The easiest level is perfect for beginners as it requires almost no effort to pedal, while the highest setting can be grueling for anyone who doesn’t have legs like oak trees. Moving the handlebars to steer does provide a light upper body workout, though using the Stealth Cycle alone isn’t going to get anyone a barrel chest. Depending on the resistance setting for the bike and the speed at which one pedals, it does deliver a great lower body and cardio workout.

Gaming And Exercise, Together At Last. Again.

Assembling the Stealth Cycle is straightforward. All the tools needed to put it together are included and the colorful pictures in the instructions make assembly a breeze. Someone with a lot of experience in putting this type of equipment together can open the box and have everything operational in about ten minutes. People who are more inexperienced could take longer, but even someone who has never put something like this together before shouldn’t take more than a half hour. After the Stealth Cycle is assembled, simply put the smartphone in the holder, open the Stealth Fitness app and start pedaling. As long as Bluetooth is enabled, the phone will connect to the bike and the games can be played.

The Stealth Cyle is exercise equipment first and a gaming device second, so one shouldn’t expect the games to be on par with Baldur’s Gate 3 or Elden Ring. Since the games are played from a phone app, it is only natural that these games are simple. There’s a variety of available games, but the variety doesn’t extend much beyond the graphics. The games include traveling through the wilderness where animals occasionally make appearances, water-skiing through a water course or snowboarding down a snow-covered mountain, to give a few examples, but the games feel the same for the most part. The speed at which the user pedals determines the character’s speed and moving the handle bars steers the player, either to collect points or to avoid obstacles.

Regularly Used Fitness Equipment Or Future Coat Rack?

I am one of those meatheads who doesn’t mind lifting weights all day but despises cardio. Stationary bikes in general are one of the most boring pieces of exercise equipment to have ever been invented. Now that has been said, Stealth Cycle actually does what it sets out to do, which is to make exercise more fun. For the week the Stealth Cycle was being reviewed, it was used daily. The games may be simple and could benefit from having more variety, but they were enjoyable enough for me to consistently use the Stealth Cycle. The games are like old arcade games, where the player is simply trying to do well enough to get a better score each time. The games are fun enough where the time spent exercising doesn’t drag, and before you know it, you’ve got your heart rate up and a good sweat going. Riding a stationary bike is what it is, but steering it to dodge hazards and chasing a high score does make the time go by quicker.

Despite the games all following the same template, there is inconsistency in the calorie counters. Without changing the resistance settings and pedaling at the approximate same speed (according to the on-screen MPH indicator) some games will say 100 calories were burned in twenty minutes, while others will put that number over 300. Accurate calorie counting may be better served through a separate device like a smartwatch, but regardless of the calorie number, the Stealth Cycle can deliver a serious workout. The game variety is also a point of criticism. There are eight games in the Stealth Fitness app that were played during the review and they were all essentially the same. To be fair, a stationary bike isn’t the most conducive game controller, so expecting a huge variety of games isn’t realistic, but trying to find a way to expand the game variety in the game could do a lot for the Stealth Cycle’s longevity.

Closing Comments:

Making an exercise bike enjoyable is no easy task, but it is one in which the Stealth Cycle succeeds. It’s easy to assemble and feels sturdy once everything is put together. The resistance levels make it a useful piece of equipment for those who are just beginning their fitness journey, along with seasoned gym rats. The games may be lacking in real variety, but during the review process, the games were found to be more engaging than simply watching TV to help pass the time. The games add enough fun to the exercise, where this is the perfect piece of equipment for someone who wants to get in better shape but needs to make cardio equipment more enjoyable to be properly motivated. It can be difficult to stay consistent in any exercise program, but devoting twenty or so minutes a day to try to get a new high score in one of these is an easy routine to follow.