Comparing the Top 5 Home Elliptical Brands – NordicTrack, Sole, ProForm, Horizon & BowFlex

When it comes to home ellipticals, and cardio equipment in general, 5 names have dominated the industry since we started this site way back in 2012. NordicTrack, Sole, ProForm, Horizon & BowFlex. These 5 companies pretty much own the residential fitness machine market, owning a large majority of market share.

As such, it can be a little challenging to decide which company to go with, especially since they all have a number of different models to choose from with varying features and capabilities. Fortunately, most of these companies have pared down their offerings to some degree. When we first started reviewing ellipticals, some of them, especially NordicTrack & ProForm, had anywhere from 6-12 different ellipticals to choose from, including front drive, mid-drive and rear drive models.

Over time, as other types of cardio machines became popular, namely exercise bikes & rowing machines, the number of ellipticals offered being offered has decreased to a degree. This may be due to inventory issues and rising expenses, but whatever the case may be, there are a number of offerings available at each of these top manufacturers, and you do have to make a decision as far as which one to go with.

Which brings us to the reason we decided to create this post. We’ll take a look at the current offerings (note that this can change even on a weekly/monthly basis) from each of the 5 major players and help you decide which one you should go with. Of course, everyone has different wants and needs when it comes to ellipticals for their home…but this should help make it a little easier for you to decide.

Let’s start off with a comparison table of current offerings…

Which brand has the most elliptical choices?

As you can see above, NordicTrack & Sole currently offer the most elliptical options, at 5, with the others offering just 3 or 4. NordicTrack, Sole & BowFlex offer more advanced ellipticals, while ProForm & Horizon are more entry level. You can see that the former offer touch screen displays on most of their offerings, while ProForm and Horizon just have basic displays. So if you want something more like what you might find at the gym, then you might want to opt for a NordicTrack, Sole or BowFlex elliptical.

Note that Bowflex only has one type of elliptical, the Max Trainer which is more of an elliptical/step machine than a traditional elliptical trainer. NordicTrack offers something similar with their Step Climbers, but they also offer traditional elliptical options like Sole, ProForm & Horizon. So you have to decide what type of workout you want, i.e. do you want a stepper machine or a regular elliptical with a fuller stride?

WINNER: NORDICTRACK, SOLE

Which elliptical brand offers the best workout programs?

Another important element of course is the workout…that’s why you’re getting the machine in the first place right? Here is another difference between the 5 elliptical brands. NordicTrack & ProForm, which are both owned by the same company, iFIT Health, offer a membership program called iFIT, which gives you an endless library of workouts to choose from on and off the machine, as well as Google map locations to train virtually anywhere in the world, tracking, sharing, etc. On NordicTrack ellipticals you can watch these workouts right on your touch screen…on ProForm you need to use your tablet because they don’t have touch screens. Either way, you pay a monthly or yearly fee for this capability.

The closest competitor to iFIT is BowFlex’s JRNY, which is similar in many ways as far as the diversity of workouts, streaming capability, tracking, sharing, etc. Interestingly, JRNY is currently available with a 2 month free trial, whereas iFIT did away with their free trial. But that may change.

Sole does have a free app with workouts, but it’s not as advanced as iFIT or JRNY, and you need to screen mirror in order to access it on your touch screen. Horizon has AtZone, also not as advanced or comprehensive as iFIT or JRNY.

WINNER: NORDICTRACK, BOWFLEX

Which elliptical brand offers the most incline/decline capability?

If you’re looking for incline or decline capability, only NordicTrack offers both, so that’s something you may want to consider. Sole & Horizon ellipticals offer similar incline capability and ProForm & BowFlex don’t offer either. The ability to ramp up or down enhances your workout by targeting additional muscle groups and adding variation to your workouts. It’s not a deal breaker for most people, but it is nice to have that additional capability to change things up a bit.

Note that Sole offers incline capability on all of their ellipticals, even the base E25 model. Typically the lower end models in a company’s lineup don’t have that. So it’s important to note that Sole incorporates the most important features in the full lineup, with the higher end ones getting bigger/better displays, more incline & higher max weight capacities.

WINNER: NORDICTRACK

Which elliptical brand is the most affordable?

Now price is always something that plays into a purchase, whether it’s a new home elliptical machine or a new car. Even though all 5 of these top elliptical brands are not exactly commercial grade, some of the models do come with a pretty hefty price tag. If you’re on a strict budget, your best bets are going to be ProForm and Horizon. These companies have offerings in the $599 to $1,299 range depending on what model you choose.

Although these aren’t going to be the most durable machines, if it’s just one or two individuals using them a few times a week you’ll be just fine with a ProForm or Horizon elliptical. However, if you can swing it, we’d recommend spending a few hundred more and getting a Sole or NordicTrack. The Bowflex Max Trainers are a bit too pricy in our opinion.

WINNER: PROFORM, HORIZON

Which elliptical brand has the best warranties?

Warranties typically speak to the quality of a product and the longer the warranty a company offers, the more durable it is likely to be, all else being equal. The warranties on ellipticals, and all cardio machines for that matter, tend to be less than adequate for the most part, and we’ve noticed a trend downward as far as coverage in recent years which isn’t a great sign. That said, some companies still offer decent coverage.

NordicTrack used to offer lifetime warranties on the frames and varying amounts of years on parts and electronics. Currently, on their top of the line NordicTrack X16 elliptical, you get 10 years on the frame, 2 years on parts and 1 year on labor. Not terrible, but not great either. Interestingly, the least expensive brand Horizon offers better coverage. Their top of the line Horizon 7.0AE comes with lifetime frame and brake coverage, one year flywheel, 3 years parts and 1 year labor. Even the base EX-59 comes with lifetime frame coverage, which is very impressive for an inexpensive elliptical.

However, Sole edges all of them out in the warranty department. Their top of the line Sole E98 comes with lifetime frame and flywheel coverage, 3 year parts and wear items and 1 year labor. Even the base model, the E25, comes with great coverage: lifetime frame and flywheel, 2 year parts and wear items and 1 year labor. BowFlex offers the worst warranties of all of them, with only 3 years on frame and parts, 1 year electronics and touch screen and 90 days of labor. Given that their top of the line model, the Max Total 16 is over $2,000, it should come with a much stronger warranty than it does.

WINNER: SOLE, HORIZON

So which elliptical brand should you choose?

As you can see from the analysis above, there is no clearcut winner when it comes to the top elliptical brands. Each one offers some advantages and some drawbacks, so it’s a matter of deciding what features and capabilities are most important to you, and which “negatives” you can live with. If you need help narrowing it down we offer our selections of the best ellipticals here.

Overall, given the number of different model choices we recommend you start at NordicTrack and Sole. They have entry, mid and upper level options, all with a good amount of features and capabilities to give you a great workout. NordicTrack has enhanced workout capability with iFIT, but Sole has their own app and a number of built it programs to choose from. Sole does offer much better warranties, however, so if you’re concerned about the elliptical potentially breaking down, you may want to buy a Sole with their extended coverage.

If budget is a main concern, and you need to get something more affordable, start at Horizon and then go to ProForm as a fallback. Horizon offers strong warranties on all of their models…ProForm not so much. Again, you get to tap into iFIT on ProForm, but Horizon does have an app that gives you access to all of the popular fitness programs.

What about BowFlex? Well, their Max Trainers are extremely popular, so if you like that stepper machine type of workout, give them a look. However, these machines are not very well constructed, evidenced by the extremely weak coverage offered even on the top of the line model. So it’s difficult to wholeheartedly recommend BowFlex Max Trainers as an option.

We hope this review of the top elliptical brands was helpful. If there’s any other comparisons you’d like us to make just send us an email and we’ll be happy to include it in our next update.