Elliptical, Exercise & Fitness Articles

The Treadmill Sensei absolutely loves Proform Fitness — and Icon Fitness brands in general. Not because of their quality, which we all know is generally terrible, and not because of their customer service, which is even worse.

The reason the Treadmill Sensei loves Proform is because their equipment and its problems are so much fun to test out and review — I think some of my best written reviews are on Proform equipment. I always know there will issues with their treadmills and ellipticals, and the fun part is waiting for the failures to pop up.

UPDATE: This model is no longer available. You can check out the latest ProForm elliptical reviews here to find a comparable model.

We were working out on a Proform treadmill a few months ago for a review and its deck cracked in half! Now, in spite of what Mrs. Sensei says about my waistline, the Treadmill Sensei is not a big guy at all — around 5’7.5″ and 170 pounds. For a treadmill to crack with me doing a walking workout on it is insane.
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Ohiyo!

One of the main things the Treadmill Sensei hates about bad ellipticals is their foot pads/pedals. The worst thing that can happen to you is your feet falling asleep during your workout. I hate that more than anything. The sad part of the problem is that it doesn’t have to be happening anymore. Elliptical manufacturers know about the problem and they know about how to fix it.

Note: The Spirit XE550 is an older model that has since been discontinued. If you’re looking at current options, you can check out our latest Spirit elliptical reviews here.

One company which has gone out of its way to address the problem of numb feet, and uncomfortable workouts in general, is Spirit Fitness. This is especially true in their XE550 Elliptical. You see, I am convinced the the engineers and designers at Spirit have a bit of a foot fetish. Not only did they give the Spirit XE550 Elliptical some of the best articulating food pads around, but they placed them closer together and gave them a 2% tilt to make them feel as close to natural as possible. The XE550 takes the elliptical comfort one step further by adding on an adjustable feature, allowing every different user to set the pedal angle to what feels best to them. Very few other ellipticals, at any price range, come close to the incredible feeling you can get from working out on an XE550 elliptical.

Moving out past the pedals, Spirit has taken the frame from their XE350 and extended out, adding on plastic rail coverings for the back of the unit. The extended length flattens out the elliptical path of the XE550’s 20″ stride and makes it move like butter. Or, for those of you who are watching your cholesterol, like “I can’t believe it’s not butter.”

We work on a few Spirit XE550 Ellipticals every week here at the DOJO and I have to say it is one of my all time favorite machines to service or install. They are solid and sturdy, they don’t give you that awful bouncy feel of lesser ellipticals (Proform, I’m talking to you). If you can afford the price tag of just under $1700 then I wholeheartedly recomment the Spirit XE550. I like it so much I helped one of the girls in the DOJO’s front office get one for her workout room at home.

Just so I can’t be accused of being completely in love with the XE550, I do have a tiny nitpick. The plastic shroud on the back of the machine isn’t durable enough to stand on. It looks solid, and is well made, but the plastic will not hold up to someone attempting to stand on it. I’d love to see the plastic replaced by metal, but that is a minor complaint in an incredible machine.

If you’re looking for a decent feeling workout in the $1700 range then try out the smooth and comfortable Spirit XE550 Elliptical…the Treadmill Sensei gives the thing 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

UPDATE: The Spirit XE550 is now discontinued and out of stock.

It has Spirit, yes it does! The Spirit XE550 is an excellent buy for under $1700 and gets 4.5 gold buddahs out of 5.

Spirit XE550 Elliptical Specifications
Stride Length: 20″
Flywheel: 30lbs
Programs: 10
Resistance Levels: 20
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Display: LED
Readouts: Time, weight, speed, RPM, distance, calories, level, laps, heart rate, and age
Max User Weight: 400lbs
Product Weight: 203lbs

About three weeks ago the DOJO received a shipment of 4 Ironman 530e Ellipticals bound for a local fire station. I was a bit surprised to see those units going to a non-residence because they are most definitely home units. Because the Treadmill Sensei worries about people too much, I called over to the fireman who ordered the units — he was the head of the station and his name was Ronald, so I’m going to call him Captain Ron. I love that movie and I don’t care what anyone says. Anyway, once I had informed Captain Ron that they were going to be receiving home grade units and not commercial or light commercial ones, he went back to his office to find out why they had been ordered.
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There are times when the Treadmill Sensei wishes that his son would come to his senses, give up art and take after his old man…perhaps one day even take over the DOJO. Unfortunately, on days like today such dreams of the Sensei are crushed. You see, I heard my beloved son yelling for a tool from one of the repair bays near my office. I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying so I poked my head out the door and asked if I could be of service (excited that he was even asking for a tool). To my dismay, the now adult child who sprang from my loins (my son), was calling out for “one of those starry headed screwdriving things.” I just shook my head and passed him one of the starry headed screwdriving things I had in my toolbelt. Needless to say, the boy takes after his mother. I believe the only hope for the DOJO lies in my first grandchild, in spite of him not being named after me.
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Ohiyo!

We don’t get a huge amount of traffic over on the Treadmill Sensei forums but we do get some. In order to try and support that budding community, the Treadmill Sensei tries to respond on there as often as I can. In fact, I’m usually on there once or twice a week at least and if you have a question that is one of the best places to get an answer to it.

Anyway, about a month ago on the forums, I was challenged to do a review on a new Horizon Fitness elliptical, the Horizon E1200 Elliptical. A loyal reader had seen one at a local Dick’s store and asked my opinion on it. Since we do not have Dick’s stores here in Southern California, and since the unit seems to only be available from Dick’s, I grabbed my credit card back from Mrs. Sensei and ordered one online. About 2 weeks later I received my brand new Horizon E1200 at the DOJO and assigned my now short-haired son to put the thing together. He grumbled a bit because he isn’t the most mechanically inclined person in the world — which actually makes him an excellent choice to find out how easy the E1200 incline ellipticals are to assemble. I told him if he did a good job I would buy him an ice cream. To that he informed me he wasn’t 12 years old any more…but he’d still take the ice cream.

Judging by my son’s cursing, I will estimate that the standard assembly of a Horizon E1200 elliptical will take around an hour for someone with moderate mechanical abilities. I’d give it a slightly harder than average rating for assembly — figure 3 out of 5 for complexity. Which isn’t bad at all. Most ellipticals take 45 to 90 minutes to get together and ready to go. Horizon’s instruction booklet did an acceptable job in illustrating the process.

Once it was all together, Hikaru and my son were both very excited about the IPod port on the top of the Horizon E1200’s console. From what I saw you can control your IPod through the E1200’s console controls. It’s a very neat little feature but doesn’t enhance the elliptical’s performance at all. It is a nice step up from just having speakers on an elliptical.

The IPod docking station on the E1200 Elliptical.

The main exciting features on the Horizon E1200 elliptical are the Precor-style adjustable incline ramp, the incredibly comfortable 19″ stride (if all Horizon models had a 19″ stride they would be dominating the lower end market for sure) and the pivoting/adjustable foot pedals. It’s not often you see those features in an elliptical under $2500. Horizon has done an excellent job in their design and implementation with the E1200 elliptical.

The E1200’s frame is solid and sturdy, and its flywhell is large, providing a smooth elliptical motion to its workouts. Horizon has taken the standard front-wheel design of the Spirit ellipticals to a new level of comfort, stability and excellence. With a 19″ stride, 16 programs, 16 levels of resistance, a 16% maximum incline and articulating footpads, Horizon has set the bar higher than any other manufacturer in its price range.

My two quibbles with the unit come mainly in the form of its lack of heart rate control. I would have also liked to have seen a 24lb flywheel on the unit to take it to an unbeatable level. However, the addition of the adjustable foot pedals and incline ramp more than makes up for my nitpicking. The Horizon E1200 elliptical is an incredible value at just under $1500.

While I was doubtful at first, the Treadmill Sensei was impressed by the Horizon E1200 Elliptical with incline and gives it 4 out of 5 golden buddahs.

For bringing the patented Precor Ramp to home users, the Horizon Performance E1200 Ellipticals comes away with 4 gold buddahs out of 5.

**This model is no longer available, so if you’re interested in a Horizon Fitness elliptical machine you can visit the official Horizon Fitness site and get free shipping on new models or glance at some of the older models still for sale here.

Horizon Performance E1200 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 19″
Flywheel: 17lbs
Max Incline: 16%
Programs: 16
Display: LED
Heart Rate Monitor: Pulse grip
Heart Rate Control: No
Resistance Levels: 16 levels
Articulating Footpads: Yes
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Unit Weight: Approximately 150lbs

-The Treadmill Sensei

In spite of having run this website since June 2006, the Treadmill Sensei is actually pretty internet and computer ignorant. Now, I have been online since the mid 1990s, but I’ve only ever used my computer for email and for playing games online (something I enjoy, but have less and less time for every day). The idea of starting a “blog” was completely alien to me and I didn’t even know what that term meant until my wife and daughter suggested I start one after hearing me complain about the shady dealings of other treadmill review sites for the thousandth time. I guess that was their way of telling me to “shut up” about it!

Smooth Fitness, on the other hand, has been one of the leading fitness websites since around 1996 and is easily the most successful treadmill/elliptical manufacturer online. Smooth Fitness as a fitness retailer has been around since the early 80s but has only been producing the Smooth treadmills and ellipticals since the late 90s.

Because Smooth sells its units direct to customers instead of going through retail outlets, there are no additional costs associated with a “middleman.” What that means is Smooth can sell its higher end units at a much lower cost, allowing a customer to buy a near commercial quality unit for a very low price. You can see the difference of going manufacturer direct by comparing a $999 Smooth 5.25 to most everything in its price range…the Smooth will out-perform just about everything.

In the past Smooth’s ellipticals were a bit under featured and over-priced, but they’ve taken a huge step in the right direction this year. With new longer strides, better consoles and great pricing, the Smooth CE2.1 and CE 3.2 ellipticals are now some of the best units in the $1000-$1700 price range. Smooth’s star unit is its Smooth CE 7.4 Elliptical, which is one of the finest units just under $2000 and one of the best rear drive ellipticals ever produced for the home market.

Bottom line here is, you can’t go wrong with a Smooth elliptical trainer. Read more about that here.

Ohiyo!

I’ve already reviewed a version of the Smooth CE3.2 Elliptical with my CE2.1 Elliptical review. The Smooth CE3.2 is an upgraded version of the CE2.1, with a slightly higher end LED console, wireless heart rate monitoring, the addition of 9 user profiles and a longer parts warranty.

The Smooth CE3.2 has a very solid, smooth and comfortable elliptical feel to it, and is one of the better designed rear drive ellipticals. The 18″ stride, articulating foot pedals and great pedal placement give the CE3.2 the same natural motion the CE2.1 elliptical has.

While I do like the feel of the Smooth CE3.2 elliptical and the additional features it has, I’d recommend the Smooth CE2.1 over the CE3.2. For the money, I feel the CE2.1 is a better value at under $1300.

The upgraded console and wireless heart rate monitor are great for those looking for to refine their workouts, but for most people the pulse grip heart rate monitor should be more than enough.

For being a very decent addition to the Smooth line, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Smooth CE 3.2 Elliptical 4 out of 5 golden buddahs.

— DISCONTINUED —

Compare the Smooth CE3.2 Elliptical.
Smooth CE3.2 Elliptical Specifications
Stide: 18″

**2015 UPDATE**

The Smooth CE 3.2 is no longer available for purchase. If you are interested in a Smooth elliptical trainer you can check out all of the latest models here.

Ohiyo!

One of the questions the Treadmill Sensei gets asked a lot here at the DOJO is: what about folding ellipticals? Truth be told most of the folding ellipticals on the market today are poorly made and shoddily constructed. They really are meant for people who will rarely if ever use them.

That being said, if you’re short on space and need an elliptical of the folding variety, then make sure to take a look at the Horizon E30 Elliptical. This is a fairly heavy duty unit for a folding elliptical and doesn’t scrimp on quality like some of its cousins over at Proform do. The unit I was able to get my hands on belonged to the sister-in-law of one of the other Senseis here at the DOJO. She was nice enough to load me her E30 for a week so I could put together a review for you, my loyal readers. Read More

Ohiyo!

Yes, I know it seems like the Treadmill Sensei has been on a run of elliptical reviews lately, but it’s what we have coming through the shop right now! Ellipticals seem to be coming through at a rate of 3 to 1 versus ellipticals. So, for today you can call me the Elliptical Sensei (and this will teach Uncle Chris to mock me for not knowing about the Proform 20.0 Elliptical…not the Elliptical Sensei? I’ll show you, Uncle Chris…I’ll show you!)! But, never fear, I’ll be back tomorrow with a treadmill review.

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The Treadmill Sensei just realized he hadn’t done a review for one of the oldest manufacturers on the block in a very long time. The manufacturer in question is Tunturi from Europe. While Tunturi treadmills have done well in my reviews, their ellipticals have fallen a bit short because of their older design style and pedals which tend to be uncomfortable during longer workouts — I think I described the Tunturi C60 as “built like a tank and about as comfortable as one.” Unfortunately, the Tunturi C20 isn’t a whole lot more comfortable, but it is a lot of machine for under $600.
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