Cubii: initial thoughts

So, what seems like forever ago, I supported a kickstarter campaign for Cubii, an under the desk elliptical. I discovered it as we were installing our treadmill desks at home and I knew there was no way I could afford to install one at work (and my boss probably wasn't going to pay for one). It seemed like a pretty reasonable alternative to sitting at my desk all day, though I'll admit I don't sit all day, I do go back and forth while seeing patients, obviously.

Anyway, there were the expected delays when you support a kickstarter campaign: problems with manufacturing, etc. So instead of getting the device last March, they finally started shipping last fall. I was delighted to find a Cubii box on my front step last month, it was finally here!! So we busted into the box, started assembling and there was a problem: the bar that holds the pedals on one side was drilled about 1/4" off and so the wheel actually rubbed on the pedal.

I reported the problem to Cubii, they got back to me within a couple of hours (!!), and arranged for me to send that one back and get a new one. The new one arrived last week, but I'll admit it took us a while to get it in assembled and to work with me.

Well, today, I have it under my desk and I'm breaking it in.

Here are a couple of my initial thoughts:

I love the design: it's pretty sleek, minimal and not too clunky. It is bigger than I thought it would be, but not too big.

I love the color, I went with the noir (black with red accents).

I am having some issues adjusting my chair and posture to be able to pedal while I sit. Much like I had to with the treadmill, it's just a question of setting up a new normal for my chair distance, hand height and such. I figure that'll take care of itself after a couple of days.

The app is pretty straightfoward and tracks my progress. I put in my info and it tracks calories, strides, distance and time. I like all of those things. It wants me to set some goals, but the biggest problem is that the app tends to freeze up whenever I'm on the goals page. Since there is no comparable website I can't set my goals anywhere else. I would definitely recommend allowing a dashboard website, much like Fitbit or My Fitness Pal allow me to use when I want to do more than I can on the phone.

So far, I'm 12 minutes in and I like it. We'll see how this goes over the next few weeks. I'm not looking for this to be my primary sources of exercise, but I know that it will definitely be better for me than just sitting at my desk, drinking coffee and regretting not being able to go for a walk because of a foot injury.

So, I'll be posting more about it, I hope. I'm hoping that they'll fix the freezing on the app, I'm also hoping that they get integration with Fitbit, Moov and MyFitnessPal, among other apps, so that I don't have to enter that stuff manually. But so far? I love it.