NordicTrack Elliptical
by Sally
NordicTrack elliptical machines are made by Icon Health & Fitness — one of the largest sellers of retail fitness equipment. Icon has a few subsidiaries outside of NordicTrack including ProForm, Reebok, Weider and Weslo. Because they are made by such a large company they are able to have a large number of engineers working on their product designs and features, so the machines are generally pretty innovative. This also gives them the ability to offer a little better quality elliptical at a lower price.
NordicTrack Elliptical Basics
There are a variety of NordicTrack ellipticals to choose from ranging in price from about $800 to $2,500. But the models priced around $1,000 seem to be the most popular with consumers.
NordicTrack offers a few different types of elliptical machines. For example they have a commercial series featuring ellipticals that are built as a gym quality exercise machine meant for a lifetime of heavy use. They offer an incline series that has a focus on their 30 degree motorized incline ramp. They also offer the NordicTrack space saver elliptical series that allows you to fold the elliptical in one easy step so you can easily move it out of the way.
NordicTrack Elliptical Features
All of their ellipticals offer the ability to get and upper body workout and a lower body workout at the same time. They offer both front drive elliptical trainers and rear drive elliptical trainers so if you have a strong preference there is a variety of each.
While most NordicTrack elliptical trainers have a stride length of 18 to 22 inches, their FreeMotion commercial series offers an incredible stride length of 35 inches. That’s hard, if not impossible, to find in other trainers. If a high stride length is an important feature you may want to look into this series. It allows you to define each stride length so you can work different muscle groups. Of course it does come with a higher price tag, around $2,000, but it’s meant to be one of their higher quality machines.
NordicTrack Elliptical
One distinct feature you’ll only find on a NordicTrack elliptical trainer is their iFIT interactive workout technology card. The card is designed by a certified trainer. It plugs into the console and its purpose is to adjust the incline and resistance while you are listening to the voice of a trainer taking you through your elliptical workout. These iFIT cards were designed to provide an interactive workout that also provides specific results. The claim is that you can lose weight and improve performance after 8 weeks of regular use.
Most of their elliptical trainers are considered space saver ellipticals because they fold and can be stored or moved if needed. While most of them fold only a couple models fit in their space saver series because these models fold in one step, unlike the others. But it is nice to have the option in so many of their models. They also have a couple of commercial models that don’t fold but have a compact design so they don’t take up as much space.
They have other basic features like a music port for your mp3 player which allows the music to be played over the speakers on the console. Some models boast a good sound system with high quality speakers. They also offer workout programs, up to 20 depending on the model, manual and motorized incline ramps, heart rate monitors, fans and some other basic features that are common on these machines.
NordicTrack Audio Strider 990
The Audio Strider 990 seems to be the most popular of the Nordic Track ellipticals. It’s even made it on Consumer Reports Best Buy list for it’s category. Overall this is a good quality elliptical machine in the moderate price range; it generally runs about $1,000. It has been compared to the E35 Sole elliptical because of its range and quality. While some feel the Sole is a bit better many people have been very happy with their Audio Strider 990.
Summary
On the down side the customer service isn’t great, it’s not bad and has been improving a bit, but it still could use some improvement. Also a few people have complaints of the components not fitting together well when they are assembling their NordicTrack elliptical at home. If this is the case you should consider returning it in case the holes and fits aren’t lined up correctly which could cause greater wear during use. But overall NordicTrack ellipticals offer pretty good quality with some innovative features and their moderate priced models are a good elliptical for home use.
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