Walmart equipment! =) Yay or hell no
 

I personally fantasize about the perfect home gym: treadmill (gym quality), free weights, dvd player, and elliptical (GYM QUALITY!) as well as mats and a personal trainer that keeps to my nocturnal schedule. Unless I just win the lottery and don't know it, I have to stick with more economical means to make exercise a part of my normal life. What range of exercise equipment have you purchased? How has the equipment that you have bought from walmart worked for you? What are you considering buying and what are you worries?

Right now I am looking into a sturdy elliptical trainer for an affordable price, but worry about the "getting what you pay for." At home now I have a wonderful stability ball that I have had for 2 years, with grips, weights, a trampoline, and a few vids. Each of those holds up under my abuse, yet I still feel trepidation at buying a bigger piece from Walmart. :frypan:

Only thing I have ever purchased was a rower from amazon for my mother this christmas - $116 + free delivery - had 4.5 star reviews...and she loves it...on that note, I think you have answered your own question - exercise equipment is not cheap and you do get what you pay for...I have friends who have spent $1000 on treadmills that are rickety...so on that note...I imagine you would have to spend 2-3K for one that is not...

I bought an elliptical from Wal-mart two years ago, and you definitely get what you pay for. It ended up collecting dust while I kept driving to the gym to use their machines each day. The Wal-Mart elliptical just never felt safe or sturdy to me. Despite the fact that it was tightly put together and used on a hardwood floor with a mat, it rocked back and forth when I used it. Plus it was incredibly loud. I wasn't happy with it at all, and when I moved last summer, I sold it.

I think it depends on what you get and how cheap. We bought a treadmill about 5 years ago and it is still going strong, knock on wood! At times there have been 5 people using it. It was just a little over $200 I believe, can't remember actually, it's been too long. It wasn't the cheapest but it works and works good. I would love to have a new one with a fan but this serves me well. I hope to add an ellipitcal at some point...been wanting one of those for a while.

Question: do you guys have a sporting goods store that sells used ones? We have one that sells new and used so you might find something on the gym level/quality for cheaper...but buying used you never really know what you are going to get. Heck it's that way with some used stuff.

I'm not sure waht your price range is but we bought an elliptical from dicks sporting goods for $650 2years ago & it works like new and several people use it on a daily basis.

On another note my aunt bought one from kmart for $299 and she said it works great.

I guess you take a chance

About 2.5 weeks ago I ordered a NordicTrack Commercial 1500 treadmill from Costo for $899 delivered! :) I think you can pick it up for a little cheaper if you have a local Costco. I've had it for about a week now and I've been using it every day. I love it.

I picked it after reading reviews on treadmilldoctor.com and other reviews from actual users in runners forums. It seems to be very solid, very good value.

I have a 10 year old Pacemaster treadmill, it works well but doesn't fold up like the new models....it has a very long bed. The motor has this extended warranty but it's not needed service.

That's what I was wondering! I was thinking about buying the Gold's Gym recumbent bike that they have for $200 bucks. It's a real nice one with all the good features and resistence levels. Looks like a good bike.

I bought a Gold's Gym elliptical about three weeks ago, and I love it! The only thing is that I didn't pound the stabilizers in enough, so they popped out the first time I used the elliptical. Other than that, I absolutely love mine :D

I just got an Horizon treadmill it was on sale for 599 and it usually is 999.99. I love it and I use it everyday and so does one of my sons. This time of the year there are a lot of them on sale I say go tohe store and try them out.

i have a walmart elliptical that i use almost daily for nearly 2 years now, never had any problems with it, durable and sturdy, my husband is close to 300 pounds and he uses it as well

**** no. can you do quality on payments one piece at a time?

One thing walmart has going for it over say amazon is that if you use their credit card you can spread out the payments over 12 months. They have for around $500 now a gold's gym elliptical that has all the bells and whistles, i.e. port for mp3 and speakers, a trainer who 'speaks' to you, etc. On their website it has gotten very good reviews but not sure how many third party website reviews there are.

I have just applied for one of their cards so we can buy a patio set and spread it out over 12 months. The quality of the patio stuff, I feel, depending on the set, is equal to lines costing 2 to 3x more..Not saying their exercise equipment has the same ratio of value...but spreading out payments can help.

You do have to make a purchase over $250 though.

Before I bought my treadmill (it got delivered on Jan 31) I did some reading online and most suggestions recommended not getting a treadmill (or another big exercise item) from a non-exercise store (like from a department store, etc.) It is strongly recommended that you do go to a place that specializes in exercise equipment.
I originally considered purchasing a treadmill from Canadian Tire (a Canadian chain) when it was on sale for $599 but some issues with delivery made me decide not to. After ruminating the issue a little longer, I finally decided to buy a treadmill from a local exercise equipment store. Their treadmill line is from a German manufacturer and the maintenance/repair headquarters are here in town. I paid $890 (a sale price, reg. price is $990). It also came with a $100 tag for set up and delivery which I considered a big high, but since I live alone, it meant I don't have to worry about it. Although it is not the most expensive model on the market, it is VERY sturdy and I am quite happy with it.

After having used it for 2 month every other day, the only feature I wish it had is to have buttons to increase the speed by 1 mile (there are buttons for 3, 6 and 9 mph, but I wish there were buttons for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 etc. mph since it is a bit hard to fiddle with the -/+ buttons they decrease/increase by a decimal point. Maybe, as time goes on and I get improve my performance, there will be other features that I would like to have, but of course, one needs experience first.

I have always read that although you can buy a Simmons BeautySleep mattress and box spring from Leon's or The Brick, they are not the same quality like when purchased from a specialty mattress store. This is the reason why these items are so much cheaper at Leon's and The Brick, because their quality does not match that of those sold at mattress stores. I don't know if it's true but I heard this many times, so maybe there is an analogy with the treadmills/ ellipticals as well.

We purchased a Weslo treadmill from Walmart 2 years ago. I only walk on it and it's fine, but I hesitate to run on it--just doesn't feel stable, running surface is narrow and it's quite loud. Had it been in the budget, we would have gotten a better quality unit from a better department store or sporting goods store. I've also purchased exercise mats, pedometers, free weights, exercise balls and a stepper (stepper went back next day--pistons broke after 1 day of use).

So...
Yay on treadmill if, you don't mind the noise and plan on using for walking only.
Yay on free weights, pedometers, exercise balls, mats
**** no on steppers and although never got one, would be a little leery on an elliptical there