Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U Review: Great Value For Money
When looking for a piece of exercise equipment, you generally want some gear that is worth the price. Many bikes have a tendency to be priced a bit higher than what they actually deliver to the home. We’ve been going through and trying to check out which of these upright exercise bikes are worth their prices and which ones really aren’t.
Today’s subject for study based on our first-hand experience is the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U Upright Bike. This stationary bike falls into the middle of the pack in terms of price, but that’s a crowded zone. It’ll have to provide some really promising features if it wants to stand out.
We’ll be checking out the electronics, resistance, and general build of it all before comparing that to the prices that are asked for it. So with all of that out of the way, let’s hop right into our review of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike!
Price, Shipping, and Assembly
We’ve mentioned the price of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U a couple of times already, so it only makes sense to start here. After all, many people base their selection of these stationary bikes with their budgets.
The Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike ranges between $300 to $430, depending on where you purchase from. I paid $339 for the bike because it was on offer on Amazon. As we said, it is the sort of middle of the pack in terms of price.
However, it is not anywhere close in regards to the warranties that come with it. You only get a 2 year limited warranty on the frame of the bike. No warranties come with the parts, the electronics or the labor. This is pretty atrocious and fits more with a bike that costs half this amount. If something does go wrong with anything but the frame, then you are out of luck.
Payments and replacements will have to come from your end. It’s pretty darn poor. That said, I have been using the bike and didn’t need to use the warranty. There are also complaints about the customer service being almost nonexistent, which is never a good sign.
But we’ve got to move on, else we’d be complaining about those lack of warranties all day. The shipping process took us 4 days. Generally, it shouldn’t take longer than 1 week because it comes directly from the Amazon warehouse.
Once it arrived, the assembly process was fairly simple. It only took about an hour to put together thanks to the straightforward assembly process. Even those who aren’t particularly skilled should find it an easier process than they might be expecting.
Console and Programs
In 2022 many of the top modern upright exercise bikes include excellent monitors that can revolutionize your experience onboard. While the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike’s monitor might not do that, it certainly performs admirably.
It has a fairly small LCD screen that is backlit, allowing you to see in darker settings. It will display statistics like your time, distance, RPM, speed, watts, calories, and pulse. These can be seen in either metric or English measurements, which is always a nice feature.
There aren’t any Bluetooth functions here, so in order to get those pulse readings, you’ll need to hold onto the pulse sensors of the handlebars instead of connecting to any sort of chest straps. I use a wristwatch HRM to track my heart rate when using this bike, it’s more accurate and easy to keep track of.
You do get 15 preset workout programs to help add variety to your workout. These programs are divided into “Beginner”, “Advanced” and “Sporty” categories, which should generally tell you the sort of level that they are aiming at. You also get bonus Recovery and BMI functions, which are nice additions to see.
Although it doesn’t have a cooling fan, it does have a nice tablet holder and a bottle holder. These all come together to make a monitor that won’t break any records, but will certainly add to the experience.
Resistance, Pedals, and Transmission
The resistance of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike is another key factor that you should consider. The resistance system onboard is an automatic magnetic one which I always prefer. This does mean that you have to plug the bike into an outlet in order to get the resistance.
The magnetic system combines nicely with the poly-v belt of the drivetrain in order to create a nice, quiet and smooth workout. Even late-night workouts don’t really wake my partner so I am pretty happy with how little noise it makes.
You have 24 different resistance levels to pick from, which is a nice selection. This gives plenty of room for dialing in exactly what sort of resistance you want for that workout. The upper levels will also provide you with a fair bit of challenges.
The crank of the bike is a 3-piece one. This is quite good, as they are always superior to the 1-piece cranks. There are a couple of bits that I don’t have the information for because I didn’t want to dissabmle the bike.
For specific, flywheel weight is not given and I really don’t feel like dismantling the whole bike to find out. The Q-Factor wasn’t given either but I checked and it’s standard for upright cycling. For those who are unaware, the Q-Factor is the distance between the pedals. If it is too wide, you can get rather uncomfortable. If it is too narrow, the same can happen, as well as injuries.
However, there aren’t really any complaints for either user reviews or official ones, so it doesn’t seem to be too big of an issue. Meanwhile, for the flywheel weight, it doesn’t seem like it could weigh more than 20 lbs (9 kg) based on the weight of the rest of the bike.
Weight and Height Support
Speaking of that weight, let’s examine the rest of the physical footprint of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike. It has a total weight of 79 lbs (35.8 kg) and can hold a maximum weight of 300 lbs (136 kg). There are lots of adjustment options on the seat (vertical and horizontal) for different heights. I am 5.7 and there it was plenty of room for extending and making it shorter.
The bike itself specifically measures out to be 37.5 inches (95 cm) long, 22 inches (56 cm) wide and 54 inches tall (137 cm). There are small stabilizers on both ends of the bike in order to keep you steady on uneven floors.
However, they are not the largest and most stable, so you might still feel the occasional bit of rocking back and forth. So, I suggest you consider using an exercise bike floor mat to keep the bike more stable and to keep your floor clean.
There are also small transport wheels on the front of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike in order to help with mobility around the home. They aren’t the biggest wheels in the world, but they at least work. The frame of the bike is a pretty standard steel one.
Handlebar and Seat
We are going to finish out with the rest of the physical elements of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike, starting with the handlebars. The handlebars are multi-grip ones and can be adjusted in regard to their angle.
But they cannot be adjusted vertically or horizontally or anything like that. We already mentioned the pulse sensors that are available on the handlebars, but that’s about all the features you’re going to get. There is no resistance or program control built on the handlebars. They are covered with rubber in order to provide comfort and generally do a good job of this.
The saddle of the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike is adjustable both vertically and horizontally, which is always nice. It means that more people of different sizes can fit comfortably onboard. The seat does seem to fall victim to the problem many exercise upright bikes share in that it isn’t very comfortable. Of course, this can be fixed with an exercise bike seat cushion or even a new seat entirely,
The saddle tube is pretty darn thin, so you might find some rocking around on the more intense workouts. The pedals are absolutely nothing special outside of the adjustable straps that they’ve got on them. This isn’t too surprising and actually par for the course.
As for any bonus features that you might get with the Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike, you can use the tablet holder above the monitor for entertainment. Then there is also a water bottle holder on the same console for some rehydration. You’ve even got good quality speakers on the monitor, much better than the ones I saw on some Schwinn upright exercise bikes I tried before. You can plug in your phone to and listen to music while you cycle.
Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U Upright Exercise Bike Pros:
- A wide variety (24) of resistance levels
- The magnetic resistance and belt drive make for a quiet and smooth workout
- The seat is adjustable both vertically and horizontally
- The handlebars are angle adjustable and have pulse sensors
- The monitor has 15 preset programs to add variety to your workout
- There are transport wheels for mobility and stabilizers for… stability
- Monitor will display a good variety of stats in both metric and English measurements
- Bonus features like the speakers, media tray and water bottle holder are good
- 3-piece crank is always good
Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U Upright Exercise Bike Cons:
- Awful warranty package (unless by the time you are reading it changes)
- The seat can get rather uncomfortable
- No sort of Bluetooth or online connection from the monitor
- Floor stabilizers aren’t the most steady
- Reports of horrible customer service are not appealing but I didn’t try them myself yet
The Final Verdict and Alternative Options
The Circuit Fitness AMZ-594U upright bike is a solid option for anyone who is looking to get a home exercise bike. It offers a decent amount of workout challenge and variation through its monitor and resistance combination. It does lack some higher quality features like online connection and a comfortable seat.
Perhaps the biggest sin that it commits is having almost no warranties with it at all. This makes the original price of $550 (not the current price of $339) a lot more suspect, as you could go get one of the Nautilus exercise bikes (the U616 model) for a similar price and get more.
In fact, we’d still probably recommend the Nautilus U616 bike over this one if Circuit Fitness increases its price back to $550. That said, if you are absolutely determined to get this bike, there are still good elements to be used here.
There is also another Circuit Fitness AMZ upright exercise bike alternative, the RENPHO bike. It is way smarter and has really advanced resistance system that can automatically change when connect to applications like Zwift.
It’s around $100 more expensive than AMZ upright stationary bike but I think it’s worth it only if you prefer cycling and racing online to interact with other people. Keep in mind that using the RENPHO with Zwift adds an additional $80 to $120 per year for an application subscription.
Hi there, I'm Sayed Hamed Hosseiny, the founder and one of the authors at yourexercisebike.com (YEB). I am a former indoor cycling instructor and personal trainer with nearly 20 years of experience. With a passion for indoor cycling, I have spent years designing cycling parts, repairing, and importing exercise bikes. All the articles, tips, guides, reviews, and comparisons on YourExerciseBike.com (YEB) reflect my personal opinion and expertise in the field. I'm excited to share my knowledge with fellow exercise bike enthusiasts and help people find reliable indoor cycling information and the best exercise bike for their needs. If you have any questions or suggestion, you can contact me at sayed@yourexercisebike.com.
