Which Elliptical

[Katsmeow]

So 4 1/2 years ago I had a thread on whether to buy a Precor Elliptical (on sale for about $4k as I recall).

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/anyone-used-precor-elliptical-72315.html#post1459954

The gist of it was that I was thinking of buying and elliptical and/or an exercise bike to try to avoid knee pain while exercising. There was a nice Precor that was on sale but I was unsure since it was so expensive. Ultimately, I bought a Vision bike but deferred the elliptical purchase. I decided to use the Precors at the Y to decide if I really liked an elliptical or not and I would revisit the possible purchase later if I did.

So -- now it is later. I ended up liking the Precor ellipticals at the Y. I had no knee pain from them and ended up using them for 20 to 30 minutes every time I went to the Y for strength training.

But -- I never bought the elliptical. I just kept using it at the Y and used my Lifespan treadmill and/or my Vision exercise bike at home

I've decided I wanted to replace my treadmill with an elliptical. I am regularly going to the Y for strength training but don't do cardio there. I like doing that later in the evening at home.

I still have a bad knee (very little cartilage in my left knee) so I have to be mindful of the knee. At home I currently have a pool (but I don't like to use in the winter), Vision recumbent bike (it is OK, but I use it more for light workouts than anything intense) and my Lifespan treadmill.

I have recognized that I actually hate the treadmill. I am always worried about falling and I find it incredibly boring. Before I use it I will use walking videos on You Tube. I walk outside when the weather is good, but it is often either too cold (now) or too hot (May to October).

Although I find the treadmill boring and really hate it -- I liked using an elliptical in the gym which I did off and on for a few years. I am thinking to replace the treadmill with an elliptical. I have used the treadmill a lot but just don't want to any more.

I don't think I will get a Precor. I no longer want to spent $4000+ on a piece of exercise equipment. I would probably prefer to spend in the $2000 to $3000 range (less would be fine too).

I am no longer up on what are good brands or models, so am looking for any recent experience.

I am looking for:

1. Elliptical that won't hurt my knees (I know that varies from person to person but if everyone says that X brand hurts their knees then I might want to look into that as something to avoid).

2. Good quality that should last for years. That was one good thing about the treadmill. I've used it for over 5 years with no problems.

3. It would be nice if it had Bluetooth or some means to send information to Apple Health. This is not a necessity but is a nice to have.

4. Prefer it to have easily adjustable stride since I am a little over 5'3" and DH is about 6'.

 

[davebarnes]

For the price of a good machine, you join a “club” for years.

 

[Nemo2]

We have an older, (purchased new on sale about 10-11 years ago) Precor EFX 5.21i (without the arm handles).....electronics have been replaced a couple times, as have the belts......still going strong.

(Had a cheaper brand before...broke the flywheel.)

 

[Katsmeow]

For the price of a good machine, you join a “club” for years.

That is true. I am a member of the Y which is less than 10 minutes from my house. But -- I am a night owl. So I often do the exercise bike or treadmill late at night when I wouldn't really want to be out (even if I joined a 24 hour gym). And, when doing something like an elliptical or bike I like to be able to watch TV while doing it and have my choice of what I watch which I don't have away from home.

It is worth it to me to buy my own. While I don't care for my treadmill now I certainly used it a lot over the last 5 1/2 years and got my money's worth.

 

[igsoy]

I found a Precor elliptical on Craigslist for $500 and paid 2 guys $100 to bring it on their truck and carry it into my house. I could probably sell it quickly for $1200 if I wanted to sell it. If you live in a metro area and are willing to be patient it wouldn't be too rare to find one for half the price of new, and even the non commercial models of Precors are very stout and reliable machines.

 

[MRG]

You can find used Precor models pretty reasonably with some searching. I enjoy using them at the gym.

When I was looking for the same thing there were many, many used bowflex. I'm not sure that's a great thing.

I'm glad I didn't put one in the house, like the social aspect of the gym. You know what you are doing so good luck.

 

[Kelor]

We've put thousands of miles on an Octane. My wife did get a knee injury, but I am confident its because she did almost 2 miles a day in reverse.

 

[24601NoMore]

I know you said the Precor is more than you want to spend, but I have a Precor 5.21i that I've had for 15+ years and it was worth every single penny ($4K+). I literally use it daily. As you've pointed out, it's a lot better than a treadmill (less boring, lower impact) and much easier on your knees.

There's a reason Precor's movement is patented. There's literally no other brand you can buy with equivalent motion, which is what makes the workout so much better / more enjoyable and easier on your body.

Think about it this way..would you rather spend $3K on an "OK" machine or get something you'll probably have the rest of your life for $1K more? My 5.21 will probably outlast me. I've often joked that if my house was on fire, I'd grab my wedding album and try to push the Precor out the door. I love it that much.

ETA - maybe you can get lucky and find a used one for less $$..

 

[MRG]

We've put thousands of miles on an Octane. My wife did get a knee injury, but I am confident its because she did almost 2 miles a day in reverse.

I've used an octane at our gym. Pretty nice machine.

 

[gerntz]

For the price of a good machine, you join a “club” for years.

ignoring fuel, vehicle cost, & time value to/from.

 

[happy2bretired]

Mine is a True model M50. It’s a couple years old now but I like it. The reason I picked that model was because it has a smaller footprint for my small room. I don’t believe it has a way to adjust the stride. I tried mine out at a local store before buying it.

 

[mh]

I have a bow flex max m5. I’m pretty happy with it. I actually use it which was my main fear when I got it. I have one knee that’s not 100% and it doesn’t bother it. It’s not strictly an elliptical , but in the same general category

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

I think there a a couple "movement patterns" for lack of a better term. Your legs moving in different shaped based on the machine. In fact I recall an physical therapist putting a friend on one vice another based on the movement. Might be worth a google to learn a little about the shapes and what shape the precor has that you like. Prob also available online. and then find one with that shape movement.

 

[timo2]

ellipticals hurt my knees, so I have a cross trainer that has pedals like a recumbent bike, with moving arm bars for upper body.

 

[Katsmeow]

Looking at current stuff there seem to be basically 3 ways to buy an elliptical:

1. Mass market stores -- most of them are the low end machines that are not very reliable. I did do to a Dicks and tried out a lower end Sole and a Bowflex. I am not interested in that particular Sole, but I wanted to see what the motion feels like. I liked it. DH felt the stride was too short for him and the lower end models don't have the adjustable stride. Reviews are generally positive for the Sole although some feel the console/programming is a little dated.

DH liked the Bowflex but it is a very up and down motion more like a stepper and I could feel the knee stress so I crossed that off the list.

2. Specialty fitness stores -- This is where you see the higher end machines. That Precor I almost bought a few years ago was at Busy Body. I don't live near there any more but there is a Busy Body fairly close to where I live. I am going to go there and check out current Precors, Matrix and Octane. These places usually have the higher end machines and it can be at a premium price ... but you do get to try it out.

3. Buying online -- Some places sell solely online. Others sell some models in stores but the higher end models are sold mostly online. The top end Sole has an adjustable stride but Dick's doesn't have that in the store.

I am very intrigued by the NordicTrack Freemotion top of the line. It is about $2700. It has a different set up in that you are basically suspended instead of on rails and you set your own stride. This elliptical gets good reviews but some people don't like the being able to set your own stride. They like having the rails. I watched some YouTube videos on this and I liked it. But -- it is online only. You can return within 30 days but you have to pay for shipping and a 10% restocking fee.

Also NordicTrack is owned by Icon which is a really big company whose reputation for service isn't stellar. My understanding is that the NordicTrack ellipticals are well built and Icon will eventually give service but it can be frustrating to deal with. Not sure I want that potential frustration....

I don't like the idea of buying something I can't try out but unless I am going to buy something from a place like Busy Body I will probably have to do that (DH would never buy used equipment so that isn't an option).

 

[Bluegrass]

About 12 years ago, I bought the most industrial grade precor available at the time (told the guy I wanted the one they sell to the YMCA). That thing has been rode hard and put away wet (literally) for thousands of uses.
Still going strong. Couldn’t be happier.

 

[Singletrack]

Like several others, I have owned a "prosumer" Precor for about 15 years. I sometimes read the news, this forum, etc. on my iPad while using the elliptical, and I need to turn off the Bluetooth on my iPad since in appears to interfere with the heart rate monitor strap. This has probably been sorted out in more current models. No real issues with the hardware other than one circuit board going south five or so years ago. A quality machine.

 

[Katsmeow]

New "elliptical" is being delivered today. I put elliptical in quotes because technically what I am getting is called an ascent trainer. The difference in that a regular elliptical is that it has incline as well as resistance.

The one I bought is the Matrix A50 Ascent trainer with the XIR console.

https://shop.matrixfitness.com/a50-ascent-trainer#xir

Note I didn't pay close to the price on the Matrix website. I bought it at BusyBody and there was a Black Friday sale at 20% off with free delivery and installation which made this far more attractive in cost.

Before deciding on this, we visited Busy Body where I was able to try this as well as several Precors and some by Octane.

I liked all 3 of them, but the Precor ellipticals were honestly less impressive than they were 4 years ago when I almost bought an elliptical. The Precors were still nice...but others have moved on and progressed. The lower range Octane was OK but the stride length didn't adjust and was too short for DH. The highest range Octane did have adjustable stride but just didn't compare to the Matrix.

The Precors still run on a track. Matrix uses suspension instead of a track. I found that a bit more comfortable. DH has found that he get a little knee pain with the Precors at the gym, but he had no issue with the Matrix.

I had researched manufacturers and warranties before going in. Precor has a reputation for good quality. But, so does Matrix. The Matrix warranty was superior to the Precor warranty.

Matrix is owned by Johnson. I have a Vision exercise bike which is owned by Johnson and have had no issues with it. One different thing on the Johnson companies is that you have a choice of different consoles. On my bike, 4 years ago I bought the mid-range console.

On the Ascent trainer there was a $500 difference in price between each console. The bottom range console wasn't even in the running. Basically if you were going to get a higher end elliptical it didn't make sense to get a console that wouldn't really let you use all the features of the elliptical.

We debated between the XER (mid-range) console and XIR (top end). They both have a display that gives you a lot of workouts and their virtual Active workouts. They both integrate several non-Fitness apps into the console (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Facebook, Twitter, MyFitnessPal). I can see those as being useful to have when I am doing a longer workout.

The difference between the XER and XIR consoles were primarily: Size (16" v. 10'), the XIR has a full web browser so you can surf anywhere), the XIR is HD. I was a bit on the fence between the 2 but DH liked the advantages of the XIR so we went for that. I will say that while we did the mid-range console on the bike there have been times over the years when I wished we had gotten the top end.

Oh - one aside. Octane had seated ellipticals. DH tried one and really liked it. If we hadn't already had a Vision recumbent bike, I would have been really tempted by it. I like the bike but the motion on the seated elliptical was really, really nice. If and when the bike dies (not likely to be any time soon), I think I would get a seated elliptical as a replacement.

Another thing -- we had originally planned to replace the treadmill with the elliptical since I hate the treadmill. We decided to just add on the elliptical and keep the treadmill. I probably won't use the treadmill a lot but there are certain situations where I could see using it and I wouldn't get much money selling it. And I think that using it occasionally (maybe a couple of times a week or so) I won't hate it as much and will be glad to have it as an option for some things.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

FWIW, I've been using this one daily for 10 months now, and while I did have to retighten some of the screws, so far it's fine. It does have BT, but I am not sure if it works with anything other than Schwinn's proprietary app. I do not believe the stride is adjustable, if that is a dealbreaker. However, I'm going to keep my eyes open for used Precor machines, especially if this one starts to fail.