Quinton Cardiology Systems,
Inc. Acquires Medical Treadmill Line from The Nautilus Group, Inc.

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2002--Quinton Cardiology Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:QUIN), a global leader in advanced cardiology products, announced today that it has re-acquired its medical treadmill manufacturing assets from Stairmaster Health & Fitness Products, Inc., a subsidiary of The Nautilus Group, Inc., (NYSE:NLS) of Vancouver, Wash.

Quinton will resume the manufacturing of the patented medical treadmills for cardiac stress testing and cardiac rehabilitation immediately.

This is truly a mutually beneficial transaction, stated John Hinson, President of Quinton. Previously, Quinton had retained the marketing rights to the medical line and essentially outsourced the production to Stairmaster to make the treadmills to our specifications. Going forward, Quinton will again build medical treadmills, which are an integral component of our cardiac stress testing and cardiac rehabilitation systems. The Nautilus Group will continue to build fitness treadmills and focus on the fitness markets. Because Stairmaster chose to transition its treadmill manufacturing process to Oklahoma, however, we decided the timing was right for us to re-acquire the medical treadmill assets, he continued.

Quinton's founder, Wayne Quinton, developed the first medical grade treadmills for use in diagnostic cardiology in the early 1950's. In 1999, Quinton sold its fitness division, including the medical treadmill line to Stairmaster, Inc., in order to reduce debt and focus development on diagnostic cardiology technology. During the interim time, Quinton has continued distributing these treadmills exclusively, pursuant to an OEM supply agreement with Stairmaster. In February 2002, Nautilus acquired Stairmaster.

Since the sale of the line by Quinton to Stairmaster, the medical treadmill production has remained in the same facility, using space subleased from Quinton. Quinton expects to retain certain key production employees, and no interruption of manufacturing is expected.

Under the terms of the agreement, Quinton will pay $1,000,000 in cash and approximately $900,000 in notes, payable over two years.

Quinton Cardiology Systems, a global provider of cardiology solutions for nearly half a century, is a leading provider of cardiac stress testing systems, cardiac rehabilitation equipment, Holter monitoring devices, ECG management systems and hemodynamic monitoring solutions.

The Nautilus Group, Inc. is a leading marketer, developer, and manufacturer of branded health and fitness products sold under such well-known names as Nautilus, Bowflex, Schwinn and StairMaster. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, Wash. The Nautilus Group is located on the Web at www.nautilusgroup.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those relating to the expected future stability of its manufacturing operations, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words believe,expect,intend, anticipate, variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. Actual results may vary significantly from the results expressed or implied in these statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such varying results include, but are not limited to, reduced demand for our products, delays in our product development activities and commercial introduction of product enhancements and new products, changes in competitors' products or their pricing which may impair the market acceptance of our products or force us to lower our prices, our inability to establish or maintain distribution and similar arrangements with third parties that may be necessary to expand market penetration in our existing markets and enter into new markets, disruptions in supplies or increases in prices of certain components we use in our products, the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, our inability to maintain good relationships with our employees and costs associated with ongoing litigation against a former supplier. These and other risks are more fully described under the caption Risk Factors" included in the Prospectus and other documents, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Quinton Cardiology Systems, Inc. Quinton undertakes no duty or obligation to update the information provided herein.