This is currently one of the top selling ellipticals at NordicTrack. And with these features and this price it's no surprise why.Expert Elliptical Reviews & Recommendations For 2026
Although they’ve been around since the 1990’s, elliptical machines remain incredibly popular as a low-impact exercise option. Over the years, they’ve evolved from simple rear-drive machines to include front and center drive designs, along with features like incline, touchscreens, interactive training and streaming capability.
With so many brands, models and variations available, choosing the right one can get confusing quickly.
That’s exactly why I created Elliptical Review Guru over 15 years ago—to help simplify the process and make it easier to find the right machine.
I break down the key specs, ratings, and what actually matters on each elliptical—drawing from hands-on experience, expert insight, and real user feedback—so you can make the right choice without overpaying.
In some cases, I’m also able to offer exclusive discounts through the site to help you save on your purchase.
If you’re ready to get started, you can check out our 2026 Best Ellipticals By Price and Type to see our top picks for this year.
My goal is simple: help you find the right elliptical for your needs, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Popular Elliptical Reviews – 2026 Top Choices
As a starting point, here are some of the most popular ellipticals on the site—models that consistently get strong ratings and are widely purchased online.
Best Overall
Best Features
Best Entry-Level
Best High-End
Elliptical Buying Tips
What should you be looking for in an elliptical? There are a lot of things you should consider. But here is a general overview of what you need to look for and be aware of.
Drive System – Elliptical trainers can have a front, rear or center drive system. To be honest one isn’t really better than the other. But front drive elliptical machines tend to take up less space if that makes a difference.
Both rear and front drive have been around a while and have a decent track record of quality. Center drive is relatively new but growing in popularity and may just become the standard.
Warranty – If you ever have to use your warranty with your elliptical you will likely have a bad experience as the fitness industry is well known for poor customer service. But with many moving parts a lot can go wrong with your machine.
Pay attention to the warranty of each machine as different brands offer very different warranties on parts and labor.
Weight Capacity – On a basic elliptical, anyone up to 200 lbs. is probably going to be fine. Any heavier and you will start to notice vibrations and problems with the smoothness of the stride.
Look at the weight capacity listed for each machine. A good rule of thumb? Take 100 lbs. off whatever the manufacturer lists as the weight capacity and that’s the real weight capacity.
So if you are heavier side, or there will be multiple people using the machine, you really ought to be spending a minimum of $1,000 on your elliptical to get something heavy duty enough to support you.
Stride – Many ellipticals have a fixed stride or motion. Some will have an adjustable or variable stride.
If you are the only person using your elliptical, get a stride that is comfortable for you. If you plan to share it with a spouse or roommate, make sure it is adjustable so it can suit multiple users.
Taller people, six feet and over will want to get an elliptical that gets to at least a 20″ stride.
There are other things you may want to consider such as the design, entertainment options, web compatibility and whether it folds or not.
Obviously those are all personal preferences, but they are still things you want to look at.
Top Elliptical Brands
There are two types of ellipticals out there: residential and commercial.
If you go to the gym you will see names like Life Fitness, FreeMotion, Cybex, Precor and others.
But if you try to buy an elliptical from them you will see they cost thousands of dollars. This is because they are commercial grade. They are designed to take prolonged daily use and still last for years.
However, you probably will be just fine with an elliptical trainer made for home use. These are significantly cheaper but they also are not as durable.
It shouldn’t matter unless you plan on using it for hours every single day.
But if you use it for an hour or so most days, then any of the major home elliptical brands will work for you.
When it comes to the residential elliptical market, a few brands really dominate and account for most of the ellipticals sold.
NordicTrack
NordicTrack is the top fitness brand for home exercise equipment. No one sells more treadmills and ellipticals. And you don’t get to the top by making terrible machines.
They have some very high quality elliptical trainers and they are the flagship brand of iFIT Health & Fitness, the largest manufacturer of fitness equipment in the world.
The elliptical I have in my home is a NordicTrack as is my treadmill. That probably says all you need to know about the brand.
Read NordicTrack Elliptical Reviews Here
Sole
Sole is a very comparable brand to NordicTrack. Their machines are similar but Sole has a bit less as far as options are concerned, although that has changed in recent years as they have expanded their model offerings.
Still, they are pretty affordable and come with great features, which makes them one of the top sellers in the market today.
Read Sole Elliptical Reviews Here
ProForm
ProForm ellipticals are also manufactured by iFIT Health & Fitness. These are similar to NordicTrack models for that reason.
The only difference is the quality is a bit lower, but the prices tend to be better. As far as bang for your buck goes I would say ProForm ellipticals offer the best value out there.
They are pretty innovative and have all of the same nice entertainment features you can get with NordicTrack.
Read ProForm Elliptical Reviews Here
Life Fitness
Life Fitness offers some of the best ellipticals in the business. Unfortunately they don’t sell an elliptical for less than $2,000 so they are a more expensive option.
But their elliptical machines are top of the line and beautifully designed if you can afford to go up to their price range.
Read Life Fitness Elliptical Reviews Here
About My Elliptical Ratings
My elliptical ratings are based solely around price and value. That means that one elliptical might have slightly better options than another but it might cost three times as much.
The elliptical with the worse features in this case would be rated higher because you are getting more for your money.
So my elliptical ratings are not just rating the machines themselves. I rate the machines relative to their price to let you know which elliptical trainers offer the best value.
I also include comments from other elliptical review experts online as well as actual users of each machine to help you understand the pros and cons of each of your options.