Schwinn FitnessElliptical Machine

I chose this machine because I am a gym rat and they have been closed and it seems they will remain so for a while. It's not cheap, but I can't necessarily afford a whole new wardrobe if I gain 10-20 pounds in the next few weeks, either. Heart attacks and diabetes aren't cheap, either. It seems like a lot of these are going out of stock, so I'd suggest ordering one sooner rather than later if you're a real gym nut. Who knows if this pandemic will keep resurfacing in the next few months... The machine I got was assembled in 2017, so I wasn't worried about contagion from the country of manufacture.A while back I checked out a few models in a sporting goods store and noticed the Schwinn ellipticals seemed to have a nice stride and seemed sturdier than the other models within the under 1k price range. No matter what machine you buy, it's going to be bulky and in the way, so it might as well be sturdy. Many "economical" home use ellipticals have a really short stride that make my knees and shins hurt, seem flimsy, and many of them have super low weight limits which make them limiting if you share them with others or ever need to re-sell them due to a move, etc... My gym preferences are the cybex and the elliptical the precor rear drive elliptical. This model seems to resemble those machines to me in terms of how I feel when I work out. I gave this five stars with the knowledge that this is NOT supposed the kind of high-end machine you'd find at the gym that usually cost several thousand dollars. This is a home-use piece of equipment, so it won't have a fancy computerized touch-screen display. I DO notice that you can step off the machine for a few seconds and grab a bottle of water without it "timing out" on you, which I think is great, and I also love the little fan the display comes with. It's very easy to set a phone/ipad/drink /towel on the machine while working out.I'm a short small-statured woman. I was able to assemble this myself within a few hours, although it was a bit difficult at times. I have a big bruise on my big toe to prove it. (You might want to wear heavy boots while putting it together!) It's not super lightweight, so I'd recommend assembling it in the room you plan to keep it in. If you have someone to help you, I'd recommend having a second person on hand to assist sliding the pedals on and to help keep the display in place while you screw it in. When sliding the handle bars onto the machine, I wished I had access to a pair of stronger arms, but I still managed. I think the hardest part was placing the pedals on because you need to have them at the perfect angle to slide them onto the machine. Don't discard any plastic wrap with lubricant, because you might need it when you assemble certain pieces. You don't have to be a part time handyman to put this together-- just keep the nuts and bolts in orderly piles and make sure you use the correct ones. You can still manage to assemble this on your own as long as you can follow instructions to a T, don't mind cursing a bit, have some pillows handy, and don't have to move the largest piece onto a different floor in the house. Having wood floors I was able to push the biggest piece into the room I wanted to assemble it in. Although it was a pain, I'm glad I assembled it on my own, as I imagine if something "goes wrong" I'll be able to pinpoint the issue in the future.The machine is super quiet and it comes with the adapter so you can plug it into the wall. Keeping certain components lubricated and free of dust will probably help avoid any squeaks or weird noises, but that's why cleaning people who work at the gym constantly vacuum and clean off the equipment. I imagine if you don't follow the assembly instructions perfectly, and don't tighten the bolts perfectly, you might have noise problems. The machine rocked and jiggled a little at first, but I realized I had accidentally omitted the washers when I screwed on the display. I popped the top off, unscrewed that part and fixed the problem, and now it doesn't rock or jiggle at all. Follow the instructions to a T. Keep the instructions and tools and leftover nuts and bolts.The only weird issue I've noticed is that the calorie counter seems really off-- it seems to underestimate the amount of calories burned considering how much I'm exerting myself. This sets my OCD off a little, however, I notice that many kinds of extremely expensive cardio equipment in the gym will give me different numbers. The experience I have while I'm exercising leads me to believe that I'm still getting a great workout even without the calorie count being precise-- even with the resistance level and incline fairly low, it doesn't feel "too easy". I also feel no bizarre aches and pains as I would with a badly functioning/designed elliptical.The design of the handlebars is great in that shorter folks can easily grasp them because the center parts of the handles curve inwards toward the user. Ellipticals you find at the gym often have handle bars often seem poorly designed for people with shorter arms. I can easily grab these without leaning forward too much. I'm 5'3", so slightly smaller than the average woman. I can't answer for how well a tall person would like the design, but the weight limit seems higher than many home style ellipticals and the foot pedals seem large enough to handle a person with a large footprint. Like I said before, the stride length seems much better than most home ellipticals. If you're super tall, you might want to get the more expensive models that have longer than a 20" stride. If you're tall, I'd check out the reviews of other tall folks before making a final decision.Edit: It's been a year since I bought this, and haven't had any major issues yet. Biggest gripe is that the calorie counter seems to underestimate the workout I feel I'm doing. I wish the stride were longer, but as it's not one of those industrial grade machines, I wasn't expecting it to be great. I definitely suggest remembering to grease the components periodically, and making sure you vacuum the machine to remove dust.Edit: I really hope they “fix” the low calorie count issue so many people point out. I’m drenched in sweat, on here for almost an hour, and have only burned about 300 calories? Makes me feel like a loser and a failure, because I’ve drank two bottles of water already and I feel like I can’t push any fügtet. On the expensive gym elliptical machines, I would have been past 500 calories burnt by now for the sweat and soreness I feel.

Must admit spent a lot of time reviewing all ellipticals until I decided on this Schwinn 411 Compact elliptical. Use on 3rd floor office so wanted a very good hard/quality workout yet sturdy, compact and quiet (no vibration or squeaks when used vigorously) but easy to move around. It meets and exceeded my expectations. I'm 6 foot 1", 190 lbs, 75 years old, but have worked out vigorously for 60 years (still do heavy weight work out). Just had a partial knee replacement mostly because of earlier athletic injuries, so wanted to add to my home stationary bicycle and rowing machine to aid my knee before the operation and afterwards in rehab, but now am able to also lightly jog again and use this great elliptical as part of a longer workout. Recently, my wife has started using it because too much jogging was causing her some knee pain and now she (5'8") also uses it, (with a less intensity setting) along with some jogging and stationary biking in her workout and she really likes it.(Updated):Have used for almost 2 years now, hard for 10 to 12 minutes daily, (along with approx. addtl 25 plus minutes on rowing machine bike etc). It's very quiet, well constructed and offers about as much resistance as larger gym ellipticals yet also has a very smooth action (both when using forward and backwards motion).Gives a really good overall workout for the arms, shoulders, back (and legs) as well! Originally wanted a 20 inch stride elliptical but 18" inch stride for me is fine, (Probably fine for most if 6'2" or under)Went with this Schwinn as I wanted a machine (long term to be able to buy replacement parts when needed) that I could use for the next 20 plus years as I have with my rowing machine and bike (both different manufacturers). Schwinn service was great as I partially stripped one screw when installing, (Schwinn quickly sent me free replacement part plus I ordered extra roller wheels just in case I need to replace in a few years down the road?)IMO, if you have assembled this Correctly and use this elliptical on a well balanced floor (adjust the 4 foot rests to help balance if needed) this machine should last a long time. I spend about 1 minute every 30 days easily putting some of the silicone oil (which came with the machine) on the rollers if it starts to make noise. (also easily ordered addtl silicon oil on line). Highly recommend this elliptical. Note: I also use 3 to 5 lb ankle weights on each leg if I really want a hard burn exercise ,(check with your doctor first if weak joints) but IMO the resistance levels are fine for probably 95% of the people using this. Note: my ceiling is about 7'4" high but yet at 6 foot 1 in. my top of head is still approx. 7 inches from ceiling. If shorter ceiling may be able to remove approx 12'' by 15" area from above ceiling area for head clearance?Took me about 3 plus hours to unpack and assemble and I'm pretty handy. Suggest, if you doubt your assembly skills, you pay for extra installation cost to make sure it's installed right so there's no problems. Note: I suspect? that some people having problems may? have forgotten to put in some of the washers and other parts that may be causing some of their problems along with not using it on a well balanced floor, because after heavy use for many months, as long as I oil and wipe clean the runners occasionally, I have had no problems and am extremely satisfied.Many Pros IMO, (see above),very high quality/sturdy and packaged well) to this machine, even for people wanting to get easier resistance if just starting to exercise as intensity levels are easy to adjust for beginners, easy for me to securely step on and off, as can also step on/off from rear while holding handles.Possible cons? wish Schwinn made an 8 minute type installation video to go along with the picture assembly instructions. Would have made installation a bit easier and wouldn't cost them much at all.Wish the performance console was backlighted for better viewing in dark light, but it seems accurate and adequate to keep track of my minutes and intensity workout even in lower light. wish console area was 1/4 inch deeper so I could put tablet better in with case, but still holds tablet fine.Wish intensity level went to 20 instead of 16 but am able to get a sweat breaking hard workout as it is.Would have paid $100.00 more for a 20 inch elliptical (my being taller) but Very satisfied (as probably, IMO, will be 95% of people) with this ellipticals stride length and smooth motion, also the quality and 100 pound unit weight is easy to move and compact storing footprint is great for smaller (or even larger areas).