Good Entry Level Elliptical
To start off, I had some trepidation over having this delivered, since my wife's stationary bike had several broken parts due to poor handling. However, as noted in other reviews, this was delivered by a separate company, not FedEx or UPS or anything like that. In short, the elliptical arrived in fine condition and the delivery service brought it into the house for me. Do follow the markings on the box; if necessary, have the shippers help you get the box correct side up, so that you can slice around the bottom of it with a box cutter and lift the box up and off. That box makes a perfect storage container for all the packing materials inside, and if you just cut it open and tear it up, you lose that option. I've had the machine for over a month now, and have used it almost every day (most times twice a day.) PROS: **Assembly was rather straightforward. There were a couple of issues, but if you've put together other bulky items, this won't be a challenge, just time consuming. As my wife mentioned, this was the first time she can remember me putting together anything and NOT cussing a blue streak while doing so. **Mostly quiet operation. Most of the time, there's little to no noise when in use. Exceptions noted later. **Solid construction. I was a bit leery, again after my wife's bike, due to cheapness of flimsy materials. I was happy to see that there are no easily broken parts. **Consistency of operation. I've been logging my workouts, and have yet to see any wild fluctuations. I only run on Manual mode, so I can't give any advice concerning the other modes, but there is a noticeable gradiation in the resistance levels, but not too much of a jump from one step to the next. CONS: **About two weeks into use, the right foot platform developed a squeak. I have yet to isolate the source; I've loosened and re-tightened the bolts and checked everything out. It appears to be about halfway back, and is simply a flex point. A week later, the left foot platform had the same issue. The noise comes and goes, and at this point, is noticeable at the start of each exercise but goes away after about five minutes or so. **Almost immediately, the left foot platform was noticed to be slightly wobbly. Instead of only rotating as one expects it to, it also will occasionally slip laterally. If it happens at all, it only happens once or twice during a workout, and usually in high (for me at least) RPMs (upper 70s-lower 80s), then goes back to the way it should be. It does not feel loose when I'm checking the machine out, so I'm not sure what the issue is or how to fix it. **A single lap appears to be 1/3 mile, not 1/4 mile like I'm used to on other machines. Not necessarily a con, but something that I wasn't expecting. **The machine's starting level 1 resistance is much tighter than I was expecting it to be. I'm now doing workouts ranging from 9-11 resistance level, but the first week or so I was stuck around level 3, and there didn't appear to be very much difference between levels. I'm thinking it just had to be loosened by activity, and since then the levels have come out to a reasonable level...just don't expect level 1 on this thing brand new to be anything as easy as level 1 on a gym's elliptical in use by hundreds of people. **Probably the biggest drawback for me is the lack of heart rate monitors on the moving handles. They are there and work fine on the stationary handles, but ideally I'd never touch those in a workout. They do include a remote chest monitor, with instructions on use; I haven't used it yet and probably won't. Overall, I'd probably give this somewhere around an 88-90%. I specifically bought this after reading reviews on this as well as other similarly and cheaper priced ellipticals, and I would say that if you can afford the extra couple hundred bucks, go for this one if you're searching in the $1,000 price range. Read more
