Amazon gold box deal for April 1st morning is $399! It lasts 4 hours or until they are gone. What A GREAT DEAL! Jealous I just paid $100 more for it.

Be sure to choose free shipping though before you finish checkout.

Love mine.

Happy April.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref...9074-5612754:o

I know nothing about ellipticals, but I know of a cheaper model:

http://www.thane.ca/products/fitness...e/orbitrek.php
Maybe of interest to Canadians. Again, I don't know if this is a good model, etc.

There are many less expensive models. This particular Schwinn has won consumer reports best buy for a few years running. It also sold for over $1,000 just a couple of years ago.

Less expensive ellipticals have much shorter strides and not nearly the durability or weight limit of this elliptical. I can tell you personally I would not go below the 18inch stride of the schwinn, no matter how short you are, unless under 5 foot even. Even then an 18 inch is probably best

Wow - that's an awfully good price for the Schwinn!

Tomato - that Orbitrek is a BIG waste of $ unfortunately. It's really cheaply made to cash in on the elliptical craze. Reviews are pretty negative for it, claiming it breaks quickly, does not have a smooth motion, is noisy, and tips easily. Very important info on technical specifications is absent or well hidden on their ads. How heavy is the flywheel? What is the weight limit? How long is the stride? It looks really small - probably only 14". That might work if you are 5' tall, but at 5' 8", I find 18" is my minimum for comfort.

There are no good ellipticals at that price range, especially in Canada. With ellipticals, you really get what you pay for, and while there are five or six decent ones for under $800-1000, there are no good ellipticals in Canada for under $500.

BP

I went to that website and was suprised to see it had a weight limit of '275' lbs because it only weighs 66 lbs. The 418 is 175lbs by comparison.

But I am writing because amazon rocks. It is my favorite internet shopping site. I wrote an email saying hey I know you guys probably can not do this but I bought this less than 30 days ago (actually right at 30 days) and I see it is now $399 could you credit me the difference?

I just checked my email and they said yes! I thought I was getting an awesome deal at $500..now I got it at $400. Yeah. And I use it almost every day and get a REAL GOOD workout. Amazon rocks.

That is AWESOME that they are crediting you the difference.

That's nice that they gave you the difference back. Unfortunately, Amazon is not that great for us Canucks because the free shipping does not apply when stuff is shipped to Canada.

Thanks for the info about the Orbitrek - I am not planning to buy one and I never researched it, but it's good to know that it's not a good piece of equipment - mainly because I was considering the Pilates machine from Thane (the same site that sells the Orbitrek) and I was am bit skeptical whether something for $239 can be good enough.

I haven't researched their Pilates machine (didn't even know such a thing existed!), but I'd guess that their quality level is going to be about the same. It may be more sturdy though, since the mechanism is not dependent on a flywheel. One thing to do, if cost is an issue, might be to look on Craigslist for a cheap one. Sometimes a cheap piece of equipment is worth it if the cost is low enough.

BP