Do you own an elliptical? If so, please let us know what you think of it. Does it work well for you? Have you had any problems with it? What brand and model is it?

Thanks

I have a New Balance 8.0 Elliptical and I HATE it. I wanted the 9.0, which has the wheel in the front and the style feels better on my legs. Unfortunately, they only ship it by freight and a freight truck can't get into my neighborhood. So I got the 8.0 since it could be shipped by UPS. The wheel is in the back. I thought I'd get used to it, but I never did. I haven't used it in 2 years. That was the worst purchase I've ever made. I should have just shopped locally and spent a little more money instead of trying to save money online.

I have the Lifefitness X5i and I love love love that machine.

I tested many ellipticals and I wanted something that felt stable and was built well. I tested over 20 ellipticals in stores and looked at all the features and warranties. I liked the Precors but was really unimpressed with their lack of features in their low end ellipticals. The Lifefitness really packed a lot of features in their ellipticals.

I really enjoy the heart rate programs on my elliptical. I never enjoyed heart rate programs in the gym because I always thought that the heart rate was off. My elliptical came with a heart rate body strap which I put just under my breast. Apparently a heart rate body strap is more accurate than heart rate taken through the palms. Overall, I think it has 16 programs total? Although there are a few programs I really enjoy, I do the other programs as well to add variety.

My elliptical also has an adjustable stride which is an interesting feature. I believe the adjustable stride helps work different muscle areas as it simulates different motions. The shortest stride is supposed to simulate walking while the longest stride is supposed to simulate running. The stride lengths go from 18" to 24". I like mixing it up by changing the strides once in a while.

It is pretty quiet as well. For a while, I was doing the elliptical while DH slept and he said it would never wake him. The only thing that would wake him was the beeping in setting up a program. Luckily, the elliptical is able to set 4 preset programs so all you do is select it and go. Otherwise I'd have to set my age, weight and level each time I workout. I usually keep one of the preset programs as a rotating program which basically has my weight and age stored, then I tell it which program to use.

One of the major drawbacks is that it is 7 feet long. So DH and I had to do some major planning when purchasing it. We purchased it from a store that offered delivery for $150 and they carried it up 4 flights of stairs and assembled it for us. For a machine that weighs over 200 lbs, the $150 was well spent.

I think it is one of the best ellipticals I've ever used, in or out of a gym. I really wasn't interested in getting a Life Fitness when I went looking for an elliptical. In fact, it was the last machine I tried because I specifically told the sales person that I didn't want a Life Fitness. He told me that I didn't have to buy it but that I should at least try it. So I did and DH tried it. We both admitted it was the best elliptical we tried in our price range and that is what sold us on it.

I bought the Champion C44F elliptical from Sears. It was originally a 799.00 unit but it was priced down to 299.00 for the holidays and to bring in the new model Champion has out in that range. I LOVE it. Every other one I tried for under $600 was waaaay rickity. I noticed, though, a weird sound every once in a while on one of the rollers that happens like every other workout for a few minutes. I lubed it up well. The unit's base is huuuge and it took me for-freaking-EVER to assemble it, but after three glasses of wine and four hours, I had that puppy ready to go, computer system and all.

I have to break it back down to go in my "exercise room", I might investigate the problem with the sound. It's actually almost soundless however and has a calorie readout that i know you're not supposed to trust those things, but i indulge myself. I get in an hour a day now for the past week about twice or three times a day. It has a book stand. I read and sometimes plug my ipod into it.

Gadgets! just can't live without them. My rear end has been looking tight and happy this week because of it.

We got our elliptical from Sears and, from looking at the website, I believe it is the ProForm XP Elliptical, ProForm XP 115. We paid close to $500 for it...not too bad as exercise equipment goes but it's about $100 cheaper now. It is fairly compact for an elliptical and although I haven't tried, I'm sure I could get it thru a door easily enough. I think it has four personal trainer programs and you can program it yourself to some extent. I haven't tried any of the programs yet as I've just started really using it three weeks ago. (yeah, we've had it for MONTHS) The stride is also adjustable, which is nice. It it seems quite sturdy, is easy enough to move when we need to, and is a good workout. It does have an odd squeak, but that's what you get when you go for a cheaper model. All the same, I'm pleased with it.

UPDATE: When I did my earlier post I had only been using the elliptical faithfully 3 weeks. Another month later and I'm still using it. I have now tried the persoanal trainer programs. It has 2, 20 minutes ones and 2, 30 minute ones. They give a good workout. It has developed a couple of annoying noises. The display also runs on batteries and they die after about 2 months. All the same, I'm still glad we bought it, but after reflection, when this one dies I think I'll talk DH into one of the gym-quality ones. You get what you pay for.

I have a Precor EFX. I forget which model. I was expensive (maybe $1500-$2000?) but I don't remember exactly. I've had it for over three years now, and used it for an hour a day, often twice a day, nearly every day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It doesn't have a ton of features (no heart rate monitor), and it is big (it's in our garage, along with a little TV for me!). The features it has: electronic readout with time, number of strides, strides per minute, and calories burned; height adjustment; resistance adjustment. You can raise and lower it (which I do... I start out with it in mid-range for a five minute warm up, then do the rest of the hour at the highest height it offers). You can increase resistance (from 1 to 20, but it is literally impossible for me to do anything at the highest levels). It is strong, steady, quiet, and not even remotely rickety. As solid as they make them. Seriously well worth the money for how much it gets used. If you know you'll use it, DEFINITELY go for the higher end machines. I chose mine with a minimum of added features because I had used ellipticals a lot and never wanted to use the programs or features. There are other models with programs and such.

Please give me reviews on your home elliptical machines. I'm about to purchase an elliptical and want to be sure to avoid the bad ones, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me about yours.

Mami - I'm going to merge your post in with the current thread about ellipticals so that everyone's on the same page.

I just purchased a Vision elliptical. 6200HRT and I love it! It's quiet, sturdy, and gives a great workout. There are many different programs and the programs adjust according to your target heart rate.

The one thing I don't like is that it doesn't have a mini-countdown. Some ellipticals have a mode where you can see how long you will be at a specific resistance (if you are doing hills). Minor but I would like to have that.

Also, it does take up a lot of space and though one of the selling points is is that it folds, I do not fold it. It's HUGE and folding it doesn't do me much good. It's not like a flimsy gazelle so you can't stick it under your bed. It's a hardcore piece of equipment that is gym-quality.

The cost was 1699+tax so it ended up being around 1800 dollars. I hope I continue to use it! It's so convenient.

Has anyone tried the Keys Fitness Center G elliptical? It seems to be one of the few that is relatively small for being a heavy duty machine (the area needed to use the machine is 67" in length/35 width). The stride length is adjustable from 17" to 25", which I thought was a really good feature to be able to adjust the workout and use the length that feels comfortable for my height. I think the machine is fairly new, so I haven't seen too much about it. I really liked the feel of it in the store, but I'm just hesitant because I don't know its track record and it is quite pricey. Any ideas? Anyone see this company or model in consumer reports? Thanks

Mami, Never heard of them and I couldn't find reviews of them on the review sites I used for my elliptical. Epinions did have some user reviews:

http://www0.epinions.com/Keys_Fitnes...ptical_Trainer

Another elliptical that you may be interested in if you are looking for a small footprint is Octane. DH and I really liked one of the Octane ellipticals when we were trying ellipticals out.

Nelie, thanks a lot for the link to the reviews. I really liked the feel of the Keys Center G when I tried it in the store. The Keys Center G is a new model with a different system (there is no front or back wheel), so I'm a bit hesitant. Apparently it was runner up for some equipment award and all the reviews I've read have been favorable (except one because there was a noise). The 2007 model has an electronically changeable stride, from 17" to 25", which I really liked since I'm 5'2" and DH is 6'3". Not that he has any reason to use it as he is ultra slim. And space is definitely an issue, the other high quality models are just too long for my space. I want to get it but just being cautious given the expenditure. Cant wait!

The octane one we looked at had an electronic changeable stride and I believe it took less space than the Keys center G one but I may be mistaken. It is probably in a similar price range as well. I really like the adjustable stride on my elliptical.

I understand caution. It does look like the Keys one has a pretty good warranty as well and that is pretty critical when it comes to ellipticals. I know someone who has a Precor that is fairly new (couple months old) and it is already making weird noises. Luckily it came with a good warranty so they can get it looked at.

I will definitely look into the Octane Nelie. It's hard to find many stores that have a bunch of ellipticals on the floor; I'll start looking on the internet but its so critical to try it out first since they all have such a different feel. Any recollection which store you saw the Octane? Thanks!

Well I definitely recommend trying out as many ellipticals as you can before you actually purchase one. Look for sporting good stores and fitness equipment stores and see what they have. We saw the Octane at a place called "Fitness Resource" and they had probably 15 different brands of ellipticals. We also visited a place called "Leisure Fitness" and they also seemed to have around 15 brands of ellipticals although they seemed to specialize in Precors. These may be local places though so I'm not sure if they would have something near you.

Our elliptical search started at Sears, then to Dick's Sporting goods but then we decided we should visit stores that actually specialize in fitness equipment.