Looking to buy an elliptical...

[WATYF]

My wife and I are looking to buy an elliptical machine so we can start exercising at home. I've researched them online, but still haven't found a clear choice.

First off... we don't want to spend a whole lot on it... I realize we could easily drop 3 grand on one of these, but I'm looking more in the 400-500 range.

There are a few lines that I've read reviews on... one if them was ProForm... I read a number of negative reviews about those being noisy/wobbly/not that great. Another line that I found is the Fitness Quest Eclipse series. I could barely find any reviews on this line, but the few I did find said good things about them.

Basically, I'm just wondering if anyone here has used either of these models and could give me more feedback on them, or if there are any other models that people have used that they liked a lot.

Any help is appreciated... thanks.


WATYF

[HeroOnFilm]

My wife and I last year (actually it would be X-mas of 2003) bought ourselves a Precor Elliptical machine. It's actually the brand you typically see at all the fitness clubs, and yes, it was close to $3000, and that was on sale!

Now, I'm not saying that you have to have one that costs that much to be effective, but we tried out several brands and found the Precor to be incredibly quiet, stable, and well worth the money. Other eliipticals we tried out including Nordic Trac and Proform (i would definitely recommend AGAINST the Proform, although we have a recumbent bike from them).

Our ellipticall has a powered ramp that adjusts at the push of a button, along with magnetic resistance, has a heart rate monitor, and in my opinion is built really solid. Brand new they are insanely expensive, but you might want to check out online and see if you can get a deal on a used one. Sometimes health clubs are looking to sell equipment too at a good price. I'm in Chicago, I got mine from www.chicagohomefitness.com. They even came over and installed it.

Good luck!

[Pelon]

A leading consumer magazine just did a review on ellipticals, and the Pro-Form model (1080 S - $800) was the lowest rated. That doesn't surprise me since I own a Pro-Form stationary bike, and the bearings burned out on it very quickly (a replacement set didn't last much longer). They are a good deal if you don't use them very much, but if you wants something that will hold to regular use, you'd be better off with a different brand. In the review, the Precor model received the highest rating, but the Schwinn 418 was listed as the best value. Unfortunately, it's list price is $1,100.