Ok, my dear supporters, I have been incommunicado for a while because of some personal reasons, but now I’m back and need your help again with some information.
We (my DH and I) are thinking about buying a piece of fitness equipment and need some feedback from those who had bought/used/tried one before. Several questions:
1 – Treadmill or elliptical? What’s more user-friendly, easier to stick to, etc?
2 – any particular brand out there that’s reliable, durable, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg?
3 – Any particular stores are really good with showing, testing, etc?
4 – Any other tidbits people who have experience with those can help me with? Some things I should know before I buy one, ask the salespeople when looking for one, etc?
5 – Good idea overall, or not?

I would appreciate any feedback. I just figured good folks here at 3FC had always been good to me, so this is the first place I turn for information.
Thx.

Welcome back

Consumer Reports did a piece on brands of fitness equipment last year, and we posted some snippets from it here http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50314

Basically, they said to avoid brands like ProForm, NorticTrack, and just about any brand you might find at a Sears or Walmart. Apparently they don't have very long lives and repairs are difficult. I considered buying a ProForm, but I called their customer service to find out what would happen if I needed a repair during their very short warranty period, and they said I would either need to ship the treadmill to a service center, or they could send me the parts and talk me through the repair by phone.

They recommended more expensive brands, such as Landice, Precor, and Horizon Fitness, and prices ran from 1400 to 2500 and up.

I bought an Endurance treadmill, which was not included in the CR report. I went to Play it Again Sports and they were very helpful providing info on the brands they offered, then I came home and did my research. The Endurance treadmills have lifetime warranties.

I have both a treadmill and an elliptical. I only use the treadmill and consider my elliptical to be a very expensive mistake. However a lot of our members prefer the elliptical. Your best bet is to try to go to a gym or a store that doesn't mind how long you test the merchandise, and find out which you think you would prefer.

When you go shopping, I suggest you always ask for details about the warranty. How long does it last, what does it include, and what happens if it needs repair. Will you have to ship it somethere or is there a service center near you? It can be an expensive investment, and should last you many years.

I hope that helps

Good post Suzanne, I agree in the prform brand and would also add.

I use my precore eliptical (home model) much more than the treadmill. It burn more calories and I can get, i think a better work out. I do use the treadmill but less often, mostly if I am looking for a little extra, I prefer to walk outside, even in the winter, frankly the puppy likes it better too.

I have had my precore for almost 5 years and only had one service call. The good news is that it is the number one brand and therfore there are people that can repair them.

My tread is Life fitness, with the shorter track, maybe I should have gotten the longer for DH but I didn't. It has the shock absorb track and again easy to find repair people even though we have never had to repair it. I like it. it has options of workouts pre programed, levels of workouts and a desent incline that feels stable when off the ground.

My advice would be to ask which you like better. Join a gym for a month sometimes you can get a free trial membership. All of the retaiers will let you try out eqipment so don comfortable cloths and sneakers and try before you buy.

Somtimes you can get a used peice from a gym selling off old eqipment. I pesonally would pass on this unless you know why it is being ditched. (gym overhaul?) it could just be worn out.

I also think it is important to check out the weight limit on equipment. I know that sounds rediculous, but if a tread moter is rated for 100lbs (obserd #, I know just and example) the persons intended to use this weigh close to its max or over you risk buring out the moter and either voiding the warrante or flat out breaking the equipment.

Home equipment can be pricey so do your homework on what you really want and what you really will use.

Precor is number one period. But if u can't afford it right now and gotta go really cheap go for the eclipse 1100 elliptical at wal-mart. It's very good and has some things that are only in the more expensive models. Has a decent warranty compared to others its very good warranty. The only other one I can recommend at lower price range is a gazelle. I am now leaning toward ellipticals if u can try out the machines and find out your preference. I hate treadmills and bikes are better but I get bored easily, that's why I am now into ellipticals. For bikes there are many that are decent or good at about 250 to 600 dollar range. Schwinn is a good mark and has a very good warranty on equipment. There are other brands that are as good and have decent warranty so take a look online. I would not recommend buying anything below $150 for anytype of equipment except the gazelle. Eventhough some machines are good at around 180 or so they aren't built to last for longer than a year or year and a half. Spend at least 220 or so for something decent that will last at least for 2 years and go with the better brand machines. If u spend over 800 then do some hard research cause some of the machines at this range that suck and some that are very good. Seriously though I would stick with ellipticals or a bike if u are going to go cheap. Weight is the most important thing that we all forget to look at. I weight a heavy amount and would have gotten the eclipse at walmart but I'm too heavy for it. Instead I am gonna go with the gazelle over a bike cause I know I won't do the bike. I own an edge 490 that cost me about 800 at the time when I got it over 4 years ago. The bikes more stable than the 495 that I tried at academy. The quality has gone down and now u can get this one at about 300 I think. It's good but not as great, that's what I am saying. Check out some online reviews on each model too cause some brands are known as good but some of there models are known to be bad over other models.

I have also been researching ellipticals and found this link to reviews and ratings. Maybe it will be helpful to you and others.
http://www.ellipticaltrainers.com/in...l_ratings.html

Thanks everyone for all the great info. I've been researching the ellipticals over the last few weeks and I followed up on some of the links from this thread. There is a lot of good modelsout there, but it does look like the best ones might be on a pricey side. I did buy a month subscription to consumerreport.com and they have some pretty helpful reviews.
So I might need to save up a bit to get the better model and just do some of my videos for now, I do have plenty of those.

Have you used either machine before? I strongly recommend that you try them both out for a week or two before you make your choice. YMCAs offer day passes, so that's one place you could go to try them both out. Most people love elliptical machines because they're low-impact, but I can't use them because they make my knees hurt. You need to find the machine that's right for your particular body, and only personal experience can tell you which one that is.

yeh i agree that you should try out the machines first and see what you enjoy. I find the elliptical a better workout overall though it exhausts me a lot more quickly than the treadmill or bike. I have a "lateral thigh trainer" and i really enjoy that and it gives a great workout and its cheap too. Good luck with your search!!