Looking to get an elliptical, advice...

OH_matt

I'm looking to get an elliptical for home. I am usually running around all day with a million things to do and by the time I get some time to head to the gym, their closed. I don't have a ton of money so I've been looking around online for a good, cheap elliptical. I've seen a few listed on craigslist but I'm not sure which are worth getting. Here's a few I've seen...

Proform 820
Gold's Gym 380
Weslo
Pro Form XP 115
Pro Form ZE3

Anyone have any of these? What are your opinions? Any other brands/models to look at?

JanetC68

I bought a cheap one from Craigs List a few years ago, paid $120, the machine retailed for $380 (and that model was still for sale). It was NOT worth the $120. It hurt my knees, it hurt my husband's knees and low back. The thing squeaked so loudly you couldn't watch TV or listen to music, and this is on a hard wood floor. The console ran by battery, and the batteries were drained every 2 weeks.

Then we joined a gym and I became so spoiled by the Precor ellipticals . They are awesome. AND cost a fortune, even used.

So we started looking into buying a good elliptical. Just 2 weeks into our search Amazon had a gold box deal on the Sole E55. Got if delivered for under $1100. Quitting our gym membership (family rate was over $100/month) paid for it in less than 11 months. I use it 5 days a week, putting on 3-4 miles a workout. My husband is on it about 3x per week. I can't say enough how wonderful it is to have a gym-quality machine available for whenever our schedule fits. Maintenance in the year & 3 months we've had it include dusting and periodically wiping the rails and rollers.

My advice would be to google elliptical reviews and check out the models you see for sale. Go for the largest stride length you can, it's really important to a smooth experience. A must for me is the heart rate monitor strap reception, that really gives you a good idea of calorie burn (the generic calorie burn for elliptical workouts on MFP are way off. Generally speaking you burn about 100 calories for every mile, and MFP way over-calculates it based on time only)

josimmons521

I bought a Nordic Track elliptical and spent around $800 for it about 4 years ago. It was not designed to be used as an exercising piece of equipment and it was possibly designed to be a clothes rack. My husband has had to fix it about 5 times and it is currently broken. In researching other elliptical brands I recommend if you are going to use it more than 5 hours a week, to buy a professional quality one. If you buy a cheap one (for me $800 was not cheap but it really was) then it will not last. This was the second elliptical I owned and both of them stopped working because I actually used the darn thing! The next one I buy will be of gym quality.

OH_matt

anyone else have any insight??

lsjd2000

We bought one of the cheap ones and it was ok lasted only a year - Check the weight limits on them some of the cheap ones have low weight limits and will break if you are heavier then what is stated - I would go midrange if you are going to purchase one or try to find a really good used one on craigslist or in your area. Ours broke after a year course it was a weslo one we bought at Kmart so not sure if it was just a bad brand or what. Good luck finding one

BG10708

I have spent the last few weeks researching elliptical trainers. There are so many that it gets confusing, especially when there are conflicting reviews. I get the sense that cheap and good don't always go together. One elliptical that got consistently good reviews and was listed as a best buy by Consumer Reports was the Sole E35 - it is in the $1,200.00 range. When I went to Sears to try it out I just didn't like it, regardless of the good reviews. I ended up ordering an AFG 18.1 AXT which I found was lovely to use. There weren't many reviews for it but the ones I did find were positive. I took a leap of faith and only time will tell if I made the right choice.

You could check out the reviews on Amazon and on the links below.

http://www.treadmilldoctor.com/Elliptical-Review-Brand-Index?category=2666

http://www.allellipticals.com/index.html

Good luck!