My DW and DS18 insisted we get a Peloton. I was against it because $$$. It seemed...excessive. Well we got one, and you know what? I love it. I use it every day, as well as the other classes that are offered on the app. You know what they say about exercise equipment and classes - the best ones are the ones you use. It's totally worth the extra cost. I WOULD NOT splurge for the latest model (Bike+). Save the money. The only thing you get with that is the resistance changes automatically and the screen rotates around. The resistance - I kinda like having the control to adjust it myself, and the adjustment on the Peloton is really smooth. As for the screen, if you don't have a smart TV or a computer in the same room, then OK, but if you do (and why wouldn't you?), then you can do all the classes on your TV/computer that you can on the bike screen. i.e. it's not a big value to rotate the screen on the bike so you can see it from the rest of the room. It's all integrated to your account so you do get "credit" for the classes no matter what you use.
So why not use an off-brand bike and the TV for the classes? Because when you ride the Peloton bike all of the data from the bike ride is saved. You will know that you took the ride on any other bike and MAYBE you can figure out your resistance settings so they are equivalent (kinda doubt that though), but you will not see all the data from your ride or know what your best rides are. You also won't be able to see your data on the leader board and I find that is a huge motivator. The other thing I really love is the Powerzone rides. You do one of the PZ evaluation rides (a hard-as-you-can-go for 20 minutes ride), then your "zones" are all set up on the bike. when you take a Powerzone ride class, all you have to do is look at the screen to know which of your zones you are in as the instructor goes from zone to zone. LSS - splurge on the Peloton bike - don't skimp on that.
Then there's the other classes. These are great. I do a lot of the core and body-weight strength classes, my DW does a lot of the meditation classes. They also have yoga, running (my DW has done those and loves them), weight training, etc. The classes are well worth the monthly fee alone, let alone also using the classes on the bike. The other thing is we dropped all of the other fitness clubs, classes, etc. because the Peloton classes are one price and everyone gets to use them. Other than the bike we are definitely saving money over what we used to pay.
