Cubii under-desk elliptical

Amerek412
Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
My fiance just ordered me a Cubii for my birthday and it'll be here in about a week. I'm really excited and curious if anyone here has experience with them. Do you feel it really provides moderate exercise? Do you think the calorie burns are accurate, or maybe inflated? I'm 5'2 and work a desk job, with a 2 hr total commute everyday, so any calorie burn I can fit in during the work day and increase my TDEE is a big deal for me.

My biggest concern with it is the noise. I know it's suppose to be quiet, but reviews say it's anywhere from completely silent to a mild fan-like hum. I work in an office where everyone is only separated by 6ft high, 4in thick cubical walls, so barely any sound barrier there. I just hope it's not annoying to my surrounding coworkers and get complaints.

My other concern is if it gives inflated calorie burns, since you can auto-sync it to fitbit and I'd really like to utilize this feature. I only have about 15-20 lbs to lose so I don't have a lot of room for error. I use my fitbit for my general TDEE, which I've found to be fairly accurate for me, and I'm concerned that the "steps" counted for the Cubii won't actually cost the same calories as if I actually walked them. I know I'll just have to monitor my weightloss after a few weeks of using it, but just looking to see other's thoughts/experiences with it.
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Replies

  • AmyC2288
    AmyC2288 Posts: 386 Member
    Can't answer your question but definitely following because I'm curious about this as well. When you get it, please follow up to let us know your experience as I have been considering getting one myself! Hopefully someone here will have more info on this...
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    It will help mobility compared to regular sitting.
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    I think the greatest value this device MIGHT have is to the circulation.

    the ad claims avg user burns 150 cal/hour, but, it does not define 'average user' so that isn't useful information.
    I suspect an hour on this device is something one would have to work towards, as I am supposing the muscles are used differently from any other device we've tried. My feet hurt in sympathy watching the video:https://duckduckgo.com/?q=youtube+cubii&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=V0ICZ7BzSUc
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    The syncing of the device to Fitbit should replace any step-based calorie burn Fitbit came up with.

    Fitbit will keep the step count and perhaps the distance depending on what the Cubii sends, but the calorie count should be shown in a new Workout Record which will replace whatever Fitbit came up with for that chunk of time.
    It may send distance too, which would replace Fitbit's estimate also - but that is just a goal stat.

    My concern would be using Fitbit's exercise diary for review of things - I could see it being scattered with tons of little workouts depending on how the Cubii sends up a workout, if it's each time you stop for 5 seconds that would be bad, if it waits 5 min to decide you really stopped using it, then hopefully it back tracks to the past time and allows any Fitbit steps/distance/calories to then count from then on.

    Since Fitbit is a replace-only system, not add-on, if a chunk of time with stats is replaced with a workout and it's stats - you could lose some valid info - if only 5 min, probably no big deal. Unless it's 20 x daily losing 5 min of you getting up and walking.

    I'm very curious though what the device sends to Fitbit - if you could please update us I'd like to know.

    Oh, about Cubii's calorie estimate - elliptical in general has no good formula's and studies have been all over the place because of the differences in resistance and how you do the motions.
    Perhaps since Cubii is sitting style, they ran some tests for decent formula to use.
    If they use the watts resistance from a decent motor you are pushing against - they can nail it just like a power meter on a bike. It'll only be net calorie burn in that case, not including the BMR - so a workout created with that would be missing calories on Fitbit.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    A non-weight bearing rotation of an under desk cycle at (presumably low intensity) is nothing like a weight-bearing step walking.
    Be very cautious/conservative of calorie burn estimates.

    I definitely plan to take the calorie burns with a grain of salt. That being said I would think it could be given more credit than to call it totally non-weight bearing since it does provide resistance settings which cause you to actively push the pedals, rather than passively going through the eliptical motion with your legs. I could see myself using it for 4+ hours a day, so I'd think that slight extra effort adds up. We'll see...

    heybales wrote: »
    The syncing of the device to Fitbit should replace any step-based calorie burn Fitbit came up with.

    Fitbit will keep the step count and perhaps the distance depending on what the Cubii sends, but the calorie count should be shown in a new Workout Record which will replace whatever Fitbit came up with for that chunk of time.
    It may send distance too, which would replace Fitbit's estimate also - but that is just a goal stat.

    My concern would be using Fitbit's exercise diary for review of things - I could see it being scattered with tons of little workouts depending on how the Cubii sends up a workout, if it's each time you stop for 5 seconds that would be bad, if it waits 5 min to decide you really stopped using it, then hopefully it back tracks to the past time and allows any Fitbit steps/distance/calories to then count from then on.

    Since Fitbit is a replace-only system, not add-on, if a chunk of time with stats is replaced with a workout and it's stats - you could lose some valid info - if only 5 min, probably no big deal. Unless it's 20 x daily losing 5 min of you getting up and walking.

    I'm very curious though what the device sends to Fitbit - if you could please update us I'd like to know.

    Oh, about Cubii's calorie estimate - elliptical in general has no good formula's and studies have been all over the place because of the differences in resistance and how you do the motions.
    Perhaps since Cubii is sitting style, they ran some tests for decent formula to use.
    If they use the watts resistance from a decent motor you are pushing against - they can nail it just like a power meter on a bike. It'll only be net calorie burn in that case, not including the BMR - so a workout created with that would be missing calories on Fitbit.

    From what I've read it takes a while to "report" to Fitbit, though I was hoping it would count as just steps/distance rather than a dedicated logged exercise. Honestly hadn't considered this so definitely something I'll lookout for.

    I'll be sure to update this post with my thoughts on it once it get it though!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Resistance does not equal weight bearing, two different things.
    I cycle a lot, all the time I'm in the saddle it's a non weight bearing exercise - it's only when I'm briefly standing cycling that it becomes a weight bearing exercise.

    My point wasn't long duration, low intensity exercise doesn't add up I simply said it can't be seen as the equivalent of steps.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Resistance does not equal weight bearing, two different things.
    I cycle a lot, all the time I'm in the saddle it's a non weight bearing exercise - it's only when I'm briefly standing cycling that it becomes a weight bearing exercise.

    My point wasn't long duration, low intensity exercise doesn't add up I simply said it can't be seen as the equivalent of steps.

    Yeah fair point!
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    Amerek412 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    A non-weight bearing rotation of an under desk cycle at (presumably low intensity) is nothing like a weight-bearing step walking.
    Be very cautious/conservative of calorie burn estimates.

    I definitely plan to take the calorie burns with a grain of salt. That being said I would think it could be given more credit than to call it totally non-weight bearing since it does provide resistance settings which cause you to actively push the pedals, rather than passively going through the eliptical motion with your legs. I could see myself using it for 4+ hours a day, so I'd think that slight extra effort adds up. We'll see...

    heybales wrote: »
    The syncing of the device to Fitbit should replace any step-based calorie burn Fitbit came up with.

    Fitbit will keep the step count and perhaps the distance depending on what the Cubii sends, but the calorie count should be shown in a new Workout Record which will replace whatever Fitbit came up with for that chunk of time.
    It may send distance too, which would replace Fitbit's estimate also - but that is just a goal stat.

    My concern would be using Fitbit's exercise diary for review of things - I could see it being scattered with tons of little workouts depending on how the Cubii sends up a workout, if it's each time you stop for 5 seconds that would be bad, if it waits 5 min to decide you really stopped using it, then hopefully it back tracks to the past time and allows any Fitbit steps/distance/calories to then count from then on.

    Since Fitbit is a replace-only system, not add-on, if a chunk of time with stats is replaced with a workout and it's stats - you could lose some valid info - if only 5 min, probably no big deal. Unless it's 20 x daily losing 5 min of you getting up and walking.

    I'm very curious though what the device sends to Fitbit - if you could please update us I'd like to know.

    Oh, about Cubii's calorie estimate - elliptical in general has no good formula's and studies have been all over the place because of the differences in resistance and how you do the motions.
    Perhaps since Cubii is sitting style, they ran some tests for decent formula to use.
    If they use the watts resistance from a decent motor you are pushing against - they can nail it just like a power meter on a bike. It'll only be net calorie burn in that case, not including the BMR - so a workout created with that would be missing calories on Fitbit.

    From what I've read it takes a while to "report" to Fitbit, though I was hoping it would count as just steps/distance rather than a dedicated logged exercise. Honestly hadn't considered this so definitely something I'll lookout for.

    I'll be sure to update this post with my thoughts on it once it get it though!

    to the bolded point above:
    I am interested in your experience with how much you do end up using it each day. I try to imagine maintaining a steady pace/resistance and am not sure I could do so without a lot of mental effort.

    One of my concerns is how it could divide my attention on the job and cause my productivity to drop because i'm not giving sufficient focus to the reason I'm sitting at the desk in the first place.

    Keep us posted!
  • jillybkul
    jillybkul Posts: 1 Member
    I am following this thread as I am interested in what you, the OP, think once you have it and use it for a bit.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Amerek412 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    A non-weight bearing rotation of an under desk cycle at (presumably low intensity) is nothing like a weight-bearing step walking.
    Be very cautious/conservative of calorie burn estimates.

    I definitely plan to take the calorie burns with a grain of salt. That being said I would think it could be given more credit than to call it totally non-weight bearing since it does provide resistance settings which cause you to actively push the pedals, rather than passively going through the eliptical motion with your legs. I could see myself using it for 4+ hours a day, so I'd think that slight extra effort adds up. We'll see...

    heybales wrote: »
    The syncing of the device to Fitbit should replace any step-based calorie burn Fitbit came up with.

    Fitbit will keep the step count and perhaps the distance depending on what the Cubii sends, but the calorie count should be shown in a new Workout Record which will replace whatever Fitbit came up with for that chunk of time.
    It may send distance too, which would replace Fitbit's estimate also - but that is just a goal stat.

    My concern would be using Fitbit's exercise diary for review of things - I could see it being scattered with tons of little workouts depending on how the Cubii sends up a workout, if it's each time you stop for 5 seconds that would be bad, if it waits 5 min to decide you really stopped using it, then hopefully it back tracks to the past time and allows any Fitbit steps/distance/calories to then count from then on.

    Since Fitbit is a replace-only system, not add-on, if a chunk of time with stats is replaced with a workout and it's stats - you could lose some valid info - if only 5 min, probably no big deal. Unless it's 20 x daily losing 5 min of you getting up and walking.

    I'm very curious though what the device sends to Fitbit - if you could please update us I'd like to know.

    Oh, about Cubii's calorie estimate - elliptical in general has no good formula's and studies have been all over the place because of the differences in resistance and how you do the motions.
    Perhaps since Cubii is sitting style, they ran some tests for decent formula to use.
    If they use the watts resistance from a decent motor you are pushing against - they can nail it just like a power meter on a bike. It'll only be net calorie burn in that case, not including the BMR - so a workout created with that would be missing calories on Fitbit.

    From what I've read it takes a while to "report" to Fitbit, though I was hoping it would count as just steps/distance rather than a dedicated logged exercise. Honestly hadn't considered this so definitely something I'll lookout for.

    I'll be sure to update this post with my thoughts on it once it get it though!

    There is either an Activity Record, which Fitbit makes itself usually.
    It's the stats from Fitbit for a chunk of time, so it's steps, distance calculated, and calories calculated. This is what is already in the daily totals. You can create an Activity Record for any chunk of time to see the stats for it - it's what a sleep record is really. It's basically just a snapshot of what is already there.

    There is a Workout Record, which you can manually create on Fitbit using your own figures or database, or imported from other syncs.
    This replaces the Fitbit stats for a chunk of time, for whatever is brought over. Usually not steps since that would prevent doing any challenges or contests correctly, sometimes distance if the 3rd party source is setup as trusted, but at least time stamp, duration, and calories. This will then be in the daily stats.

    If it takes awhile, it's probably doing what I'd think would be best - don't send anything until it's sure you appear to be done, that way there isn't a bunch of small workouts.
    I doubt it would see steps correctly, many on ellipticals with full movement miss steps already, and as mentioned already the steps seen have no bearing on distance or calories anyway which use formula for walking/running.

    I'm mainly curious how it'll handle a large chunk of time, say that 4 hrs, with a bunch of paused action likely to happen. Best for chance of accuracy would be do what Fitbit does when no steps seen, assign a BMR level burn to that time. Then add on calories for the other time - then send one big workout up to replace the incorrect Fitbit seen stats.
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    fitbit users: my experience with Fitbit counting steps or other exercise is unreliable.

    on suggestion from a friend, I spent a few minutes swinging my arms back and forth, and watched Fitbit count that as steps, but , I was seated the entire time.

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    amy19355 wrote: »
    fitbit users: my experience with Fitbit counting steps or other exercise is unreliable.

    on suggestion from a friend, I spent a few minutes swinging my arms back and forth, and watched Fitbit count that as steps, but , I was seated the entire time.

    And look at the distance you received for those "steps", and the calories calculated from that.

    You can create an Activity Record for that exact span of a min say to see what those stats are.

    You'll likely find as does anyone - it's so super minor - it's merely making up for the fact you only receive sleeping BMR level burn the whole time you are awake but no steps show up. Even when standing no steps - only sleeping level burn - and you are burning more.

    You can also walk with your arms crossed against your chest and discover how Fitbit actually counts steps - by impact seen.

    What you did can even be minimized by some of the settings available to indeed take into account bogus steps being seen on wrist mounted trackers.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited December 2018
    amy19355 wrote: »
    fitbit users: my experience with Fitbit counting steps or other exercise is unreliable.

    on suggestion from a friend, I spent a few minutes swinging my arms back and forth, and watched Fitbit count that as steps, but , I was seated the entire time.

    I don't often swing my arms back and forth while sitting so I don't expect that to really be an issue lol. It does count steps when I'm pushing a shopping cart or have my hand in my pocket as well, so there's that.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    amy19355 wrote: »
    fitbit users: my experience with Fitbit counting steps or other exercise is unreliable.

    on suggestion from a friend, I spent a few minutes swinging my arms back and forth, and watched Fitbit count that as steps, but , I was seated the entire time.

    To the bolded part, I think it could be somewhat more reliable as it's not the Fitbit itself that would count the steps, but the eliptical itself as it's Bluetooth capable with its own dedicated app which then syncs to Fitbit to count as steps.

    As to your comments on Fitbit itself, I don't think the majority of Fitbit users assume they are accurate to the very last step, but they give a very good picture of your daily activity. Most people arent swinging their arms around purposfully trying to get extra steps, and as a pp pointed out, you don't get much reward in calories/distance/etc from +/- 200 miscounted steps in a day.
  • kimkimcoleman
    kimkimcoleman Posts: 105 Member
    I have a desk cycle and it definitely gets my heart rate up a little bit. It's better than nothing which is the alternative since I have a desk job and can't move much all day. Even if you just do enough to burn 100 extra calories a day, that's something! It adds up especially if you are doing it in addition to other healthy habits.
  • lisaepell
    lisaepell Posts: 103 Member
    I have a different brand, but a similar product. I wouldn't count it as intentional exercise, rather as a way to increase your NEAT. If you're using it while doing work, you're not likely to raise your heart rate enough anyway.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    I have a desk cycle and it definitely gets my heart rate up a little bit. It's better than nothing which is the alternative since I have a desk job and can't move much all day. Even if you just do enough to burn 100 extra calories a day, that's something! It adds up especially if you are doing it in addition to other healthy habits.
    lisaepell wrote: »
    I have a different brand, but a similar product. I wouldn't count it as intentional exercise, rather as a way to increase your NEAT. If you're using it while doing work, you're not likely to raise your heart rate enough anyway.

    Thanks to you both, this is what I was hoping for! I wasn't expecting it to provide any actual intentional exercise, just a way to raise my overall calorie expenditure throughout the day since currently, 1200 cals isn't cutting it lol
  • bluesheeponahill
    bluesheeponahill Posts: 169 Member
    That looks very cool. But I can’t help wonder what about the rest of the body? You’ll end up with some pretty toned legs, but have you got other workouts in place for working on all parts of the body?
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    That looks very cool. But I can’t help wonder what about the rest of the body? You’ll end up with some pretty toned legs, but have you got other workouts in place for working on all parts of the body?

    Yup, I lift weights 4 nights a week, 2 nights upper body 2 nights lower
  • AmyC2288
    AmyC2288 Posts: 386 Member
    Thank you for the detailed review! It is a ton of money to spend for those of us considering purchasing so having this info is wonderful! :smiley:
  • SpicyWater
    SpicyWater Posts: 99 Member
    My local consignment shop has a low-tech version of this for $6 - after reading your review I might go pick it up for my desk job :)
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    Thanks for the awesome review!! I have always been tempted to buy one of these!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Without an increase in TDEE after the Cubii reports to Fitbit, I'm wondering if it's sending a workout, and it just so happens to match calorie burn for what Fitbit had already (which would be wild), if it's sending an Activity Record to merely show what Fitbit came up with during that time, or if it's not sending calories but only steps.

    And yes, step increases from basically synced or manually added workouts can't count towards challenges.
    Because when you manually enter a walk or run, Fitbit uses the distance given with your stride length and calculates steps.
    So people figure out early on set a small stride length, enter a big distance workout, and get tons of steps in challenges.
    So that method was nixed.

    So when you click in Fitbit on the Workout or Activity record to edit it - can you change the name?
    Because Workout Records, which replace what Fitbit already has - doesn't have editable name or notes available.
    But an Activity Record, which is merely showing what Fitbit already has for that chunk of time, you can put in your own name and notes section, but no calories, only time change.

    Just curious. From your description - they are relying on Fitbit's calorie burn estimate based on HR then.

    Great review, and sounds like a walking desk almost for that calorie burn and effort, so indeed good increased TDEE.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,500 Member
    Could I ask how tall you are? I'm a 6'2" guy and my knees almost hit the desk when sitting. Can't imagine someone over 5'8" or so could really make this work.

    Thanks.
  • leonadixon
    leonadixon Posts: 479 Member
    I'm so glad you posted this update! I have the Cubii as well, but opted out of the more expensive Fitbit syncing one. I'm glad I did! I was worried about the accuracy and wondered if it would be worth the extra money. I have rarely used mine and the post has motivated me to get to using it again.

    I am a 5'3" female and in absolutely NO danger of hitting my knees under the desk :smiley:
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Without an increase in TDEE after the Cubii reports to Fitbit, I'm wondering if it's sending a workout, and it just so happens to match calorie burn for what Fitbit had already (which would be wild), if it's sending an Activity Record to merely show what Fitbit came up with during that time, or if it's not sending calories but only steps.

    And yes, step increases from basically synced or manually added workouts can't count towards challenges.
    Because when you manually enter a walk or run, Fitbit uses the distance given with your stride length and calculates steps.
    So people figure out early on set a small stride length, enter a big distance workout, and get tons of steps in challenges.
    So that method was nixed.

    So when you click in Fitbit on the Workout or Activity record to edit it - can you change the name?
    Because Workout Records, which replace what Fitbit already has - doesn't have editable name or notes available.
    But an Activity Record, which is merely showing what Fitbit already has for that chunk of time, you can put in your own name and notes section, but no calories, only time change.

    Just curious. From your description - they are relying on Fitbit's calorie burn estimate based on HR then.

    Great review, and sounds like a walking desk almost for that calorie burn and effort, so indeed good increased TDEE.

    I also considered that the calories burned could match and Fitbit was just that good lol but alas, I also tried making note of my cals at a zero hour, then once cubii synced at the half hour the difference was 54 calories, though cubii was reporting 60 (which should have been on top of my BMR so it should have gone up by like 100)

    That stinks about the challenges but I guess that does make sense. At least it makes my average and weekly steps go up which is also motivating compentition with friends.

    I'm not able to edit the workout that I can see, so I guess it's replacing what Fitbit already has, yet like I said the amount difference for the half hour doesn't even match what cubii reports I burned for the half hour. Might be it's own unique thing? Since it's not a manually added workout nor an automatically detected one.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Could I ask how tall you are? I'm a 6'2" guy and my knees almost hit the desk when sitting. Can't imagine someone over 5'8" or so could really make this work.

    Thanks.

    I'm 5'2 and nowhere near about to hit my desk. I honestly think you wouldn't have a problem because you can always position it further from you so you don't have to have your knees bent at a 90 degree angle, and you'd still get good use of it. There is also hardly any up and down motion to your legs as the eliptical favors horizonal movement, so I'd say as long as you could fit you legs under your desk while your feet are on the pedals (probably about 5-6 inches from the floor) you'd be fine.
  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
    leonadixon wrote: »
    I'm so glad you posted this update! I have the Cubii as well, but opted out of the more expensive Fitbit syncing one. I'm glad I did! I was worried about the accuracy and wondered if it would be worth the extra money. I have rarely used mine and the post has motivated me to get to using it again.

    I am a 5'3" female and in absolutely NO danger of hitting my knees under the desk :smiley:

    Yesss do it!! Honestly I've only had it a few weeks but there are plenty of times where I just really don't feel like doing it, but then I realize it's right there, I'm sitting here anyway, I might at well. I tell myself to at least do it for 5 min, and by then I'm in the groove and do it mindlessly.
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