Cheap Elliptical Trainers

Elliptical cross-trainers for the home gym range in price from about $150 for the Weslo Momentum 7.0 EX to over $5,000 for mammoth gym quality machines. Can you get the same quality construction and features for $150 that you can for $5,000 or $1,500? Of course not. That does not mean, however, that there is no place for the so called cheap ellipticals. So long as you understand the limitations (and advantages) of buying low you can get a very useful piece of home exercise equipment that can make a significant contribution to your health and fitness.

Fist things first. Elliptical machines are primarily cardiovascular exercise machines. Ellipticals work the big muscles in your legs to get your heart and lungs working hard enough to achieve a cardio training effect. If you wanted, you could achieve exactly the same cardio training effect by running in place in your underwear and bare feet that you can with the most expensive machine. You exercise your body, not the equipment.

People buy elliptical cross-trainers because running in place is drop-dead boring. Elliptical-trainers can add variety to your cardio workout by varying the resistance, which changes the intensity to make your heart and lungs works harder or easier. Even cheap elliptical trainers provide this feature. The more expensive models are programmed to change intensity automatically so you can simulate running uphill, etc. at a certain point into your workout. With a cheap elliptical trainer you may have to interrupt your workout to make these adjustments manually.

Another reason for buying an elliptical trainer is the sensor monitoring and feedback you get from their LCD displays. Common monitoring features are pulse, calories burned, distance traveled, and time of workout. Even cheap elliptical trainers have these monitoring capabilities but the fact is that regardless of the price of the machine almost none of these sensors is as accurate or reliable as a stand-alone device. The most important aspect of cardio training is accurate monitoring of your heart rate. Only a heart monitor with a chest strap sensor is likely to provide the necessary accuracy, and only the very most expensive elliptical trainers provide this feature. You would be much better off buying a separate Polar or Acumen heart rate monitor.

Determining the amount of calories you burn in any exercise is a function of the intensity of the exercise and your current body weight. A 150 pound person will burn fewer calories per minute of exercise than a 250 pound person even if they match each other exactly in intensity. So unless the calories burned monitor on whatever elliptical trainer you buy has accounted for your current body weight it is almost certainly wrong. With the right information you can easily and accurately determine your calorie expenditure for any physical activity from a chart or with a quick calculation.

The bottom line here is that the monitoring system on a cheap elliptical trainer will probably be no worse than the monitoring system on a more expensive model, and unless you are willing to spend $2,000 plus for an elliptical trainer the monitoring system is only incidental and should not be a major consideration at all.

The primary limitation of cheap elliptical trainers then is their sturdiness, construction quality, and warranty period. If you weigh 250 pounds then you cannot reasonably expect an 80 pound elliptical trainer to feel solid under your feet. The same cheap elliptical trainer would probably feel very comfortable to a 125 pounder. Your height and body weight are the primary considerations here. An arbitrary cut off point for consideration of a cheap elliptical trainer may be more than six feet in height or more than 175 pounds of body weight.

Another primary consideration is your intended intensity of use. Most people can begin to achieve a cardio training effect at about walking speed plus half. That would be roughly equivalent to the pace of a 10 minute mile. If you do not intend to work your elliptical trainer much harder than that it will probably stand up to constant use. If you intend to pound the machine at the upper limits of your maximum safe heart rate that would probably stress a cheap elliptical trainer into breakdown.

Even with non abusive use, because a cheap elliptical trainer will by definition be built from cheaper materials, you have to expect to perform more maintenance. Supplied nuts and bolts will be lower grade, probably without adequate lock washers, and they will require occasional tightening. If you’re handy you can change out the hardware for fine thread bolts and nylon nuts during assembly. If the very idea of tightening a bolt and nut is beyond you then you must factor that into your decision making. Assume that a cheap elliptical trainer will require occasional lubrication and maintenance.

Lastly is the warranty period. 90 days is probably the best you can expect. A cheap elliptical trainer is going to be noisier to begin with than a gym model so put it through its paces early and listen for different or unusually loud noises. Deal only with a manufacturer and seller that will stand by their warranty if there is a problem.