posted on
February 15, 2010 at 03:51PM
Also, please consider upkeep! Treadmills have belts that need to be maintained, cleaned, lubed and replaced. Also, treadmills have motor strength, so read review VERY closely about different weights, if you aren't that heavy it might not be bad, but if you are, you can really burn it out pretty quick, and it seems that the companys don't give fair weight ratings all the time, but base it more on the frame. A treadmill is fun because you can generally see how many actual miles you have run but unless you get a crosstrainer model you aren't engaging anything more than your legs really. You need to stand on one in a store as well, it the running deck isn't wide enough for you to run comfortably with a treadmill or long enough your kind of in trouble.
Elipticals take some research too though. They vary in quality so much that it seems unfair sometimes. The stride length can again be an issue, but it seems that it matter more for quality of work out. There are many that feel almost as if they drop you the last half inch to inch, which I feel is every bit as jarring as a treadmill, but there are plenty with nice smooth strides.
My old eliptical of many years just died a while back and I was in your position, after a LOT of research and price shopping and soul searching, I went with a Nordictrack Audiostrider 990. Believe me, I am thrilled and absolutely in love!
You may even be able to find the actual 990 instead of a pro if you actually go into a couple stores, you might be able to get a floor model that is already assembled and you can try, or you can buy it on closeout off of nordic track's website. The pro is cool with the IFit live if you're going to use it, but otherwise it simply costs you a couple hundred more. The price range is what matters though, if you want any quality in either, prepare to pay around $1,000+ after everything. My feeling is if you can't swing that much then keep your eyes on craiglist and move as quickly as you can for soemthing cheap, these things resell amazingly well and for way more than you would expect. Good luck!
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