Best Ellipticals | Best Treadmills

How to choose a machine you’ll use without breaking your budget

Consumer Reports magazine: February 2012

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Having an exercise machine at home is the ultimate in convenience, not to mention privacy. (You don't even have to wear matching gym socks.) But you probably don't want to shell out $1,000 or more on a machine only to have it languish like last year's gym membership.

We've got good news on that front: Our survey of readers who owned a treadmill or elliptical exerciser found that about 60 percent of the machines were used at least as much as their owners had expected. And the majority of them held up decently over time, causing no serious problems or need for repairs.

That's encouraging, since a piece of home exercise equipment can be a big purchase, as our tests of treadmills and ellipticals show. Our top-rated nonfolding treadmill, a Precor, costs a cool $4,000; the top-scoring elliptical, from Octane Fitness, costs $3,100. But you can get a decent machine that provides a great workout for less than a third of that price. For example, our top-rated budget treadmill, a $1,000 NordicTrack, scored comparably to the top-rated Precor in several categories and had some of the same features. If you're a walker, it may be more than sufficient to meet your needs.

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