Home workouts: Ellipticals and treadmills

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 34 treadmills and 18 elliptical exercisers show. Our top-rated nonfolding treadmill, the Precor 9.31, costs a cool $4,000; the top-scoring elliptical, the Octane Fitness Q37ci, costs $3,100. Spending that much can get you sturdier construction, better hardware, and more features. 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, the NordicTrack C900, $1,000, scored comparably to the Precor 9.31 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.

Most of our readers took the budget route, with almost three-quarters of treadmills, ellipticals, and other large-scale home exercise machines purchased since 2008 costing $1,000 or less. But those who spent more than $1,000 tended to be happier with their purchases. And those who bought pricier elliptical machines reported fewer aggravations such as difficulty setting them up or finding the machine awkward or uncomfortable.

Our survey yielded other interesting information: reliability data on the most popular types of home exercise machines, to complement our already extensive tests of those products. And for the first time, we have a sufficient number of responses to provide satisfaction rankings for the top brands of treadmills and elliptical exercisers.

Our survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, included 42,918 subscribers who responded to our 2011 Annual Questionnaire. The 18,984 of them who owned cardiovascular exercise machines told us about 27,825 machines (some people had more than one).

Treadmills were the most popular, accounting for 38 percent of the bunch; next most common were elliptical trainers and  upright stationary bikes (each 16 percent), and recumbent bikes (11 percent).

Owners of 61 percent of machines said they were highly satisfied with them. And for 55 percent of machines, owners said they'd buy the same model or a similar one from the same brand if they had it to do over. Among the other findings:

Home advantage. The top reasons readers cited for using a home machine instead of other types of exercise included ease of use (little preparation required to exercise; 56 percent), the ability to multitask by reading or watching TV while exercising (40 percent), the ability to use the machine when other forms of exercise weren't available (due to, say, bad weather; 37 percent), and ability to get a suitably tough workout (37 percent).

Space can be a concern. Most machines didn't cause notable problems for their owners. But among those that did, the most common problem by far was that they simply took up too much room, cited for about one-fifth of machines.

Reasons for stopping. For the minority of machines that hadn't been used in six months or longer, the reasons tended to have more to do with owners' exercise preferences than the machine itself. In about one-fourth of cases, owners said they'd gotten bored or given up; about the same number reported preferring to exercise elsewhere, like the gym or outdoors.

Reliability was encouraging. Of the almost 7,000 ellipticals, treadmills, recumbent bicycles, and upright bikes that readers had purchased new since 2007, only 12 percent required repairs or had serious problems. Repair rates, which we adjusted for machine age and use, varied somewhat across machine types. Only 8 percent of recumbent bikes and 9 percent of upright bikes had been repaired. Ellipticals had a higher repair rate than either type of bike: 14 percent. Twelve percent of treadmills had been repaired.

Our tests included 35 models that we evaluated on ease of use, ergonomics, construction, exercise range, and safety. We found 12 models to recommend, including three CR Best Buys. And since lower-priced treadmills are so popular, we added a section for budget models to our Ratings.

The top treadmill for the third year running is also the priciest: the excellently constructed Precor 9.31, now $4,000 (up from $3,300 in our last test). People on tighter budgets can find solid choices in the nonfolding Sole S77, $1,900, and the folding ProForm Performance 600 and Horizon T202, both $800.

We found that some higher-end perks such as Internet connectivity are trickling down to more wallet-friendly machines. The $800 NordicTrack T  7.0, for example, offers an optional $99 iFit Live module, which includes customized workout plans from celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels, virtual running and walking routes from around the world, and the ability to track your workouts online.  (You need Wi-Fi for the module to work, and the subscription is $120 a year after the first year.) 

These mimic the motion of running but without the impact. And the moving hand grips and adjustable resistance allow you to turn your cardiovascular workout into a full-body workout.

Pricier ellipticals tended to be larger and sturdier, and their parts come with longer warranties. The top-rated Octane Fitness Q37ci, $3,100, is solidly built, has four heart-rate programs, comes with a chest-strap heart-rate monitor, and earned very high marks for safety. If you don't need the heart-rate monitoring and can forgo certain other features, consider the Octane Fitness Q37c for $500 less.

We gave our tests a makeover this year, adding new criteria for construction and design and new safety tests, such as measuring how much force is required for a machine to tip over. We also turned a sharper eye to ergonomics, evaluating features such as the position of foot pedals and the motion of the elliptical path.

Budget and midpriced treadmills and ellipticals are sold at large retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods, Sears, Sports Authority, and Walmart. For more expensive brands, you'll generally need to hit a specialty fitness store. If you want to shop online for the best price, be sure to try the machine in person first. You might notice a problem—your knees bump against the elliptical's framework or components, or the deck is too short on a treadmill—that you couldn't detect by sight or reviews alone.

Here are other criteria to consider:

Size. Most treadmills are about 6.5 feet by 3 feet.  Folding treadmills are about half the length when folded. Don't assume that because you buy a folding treadmill you'll actually fold and stow it. If that feature is important, try folding the machine before buying to see how easy it is to do and whether folding it indeed makes it easier to store.

Most of the ellipticals are about 6 feet by about 2.5 feet, although the Fitnex E55SG is just over 5 feet long. Since you'll be more elevated than you would on a treadmill, make sure you have a space with a sufficiently high ceiling. And with either machine, you'll need adequate space to get on and off safely.

Safety features. All tested treadmills have a safety key that clips onto clothing and turns the machine off if you fall off. The recommended LifeSpan TR4000i, $1,700, has a feature that beeps for 5 seconds after 20 seconds of nonuse and then pauses the machine.

All of the ellipticals we tested were very good or excellent for safety. But they're inherently dangerous for children, who could get pinched or trapped in the moving parts. People with children at home or as visitors should make sure that they can't access the machines.

Ergonomics. If running is more your speed than walking, check treadmills' deck length, since you'll need a longer one to accommodate your stride. If you want the space-saving that a folding treadmill provides, make sure the deck isn't too heavy to lift.

On ellipticals, check the comfort of the hand grips and make sure the foot pedals aren't too far apart. The stride length and elliptical path should feel natural. Most models scored very well in this area, but the lowest-rated Endurance E400 didn't pedal smoothly.

High-tech features. Docks for iPods, USB ports, and wireless Internet connectivity are popping up on many treadmills and some ellipticals. The recommended ProForm Power 995 and LifeSpan TR4000i treadmills allow access to an online program that tracks your exercise. The Live-Strong LS 13.0T and LS 8.0T also include an online tracking program. Among ellipticals, the Livestrong LS13.0E and Fitnex E55SG have a USB port; the Smooth CE 3.6 and Horizon EX-79 have an iPod dock.

Adjustability. Most tested treadmills incline to at least 10 percent; some go as high as 14 or 15 percent. Some ellipticals also have an incline. Check to see whether it's automated, as on the Horizon EX–79, or requires you to manually adjust it, as on the Horizon EX–69. (We didn't test those features.)

Assembly. A treadmill or elliptical machine can weigh up to 400 pounds, so ask about delivery and check whether assembly is included or available at an additional cost. It might be worth it if you're not particularly good with a toolbox. It generally takes our experienced engineers about 1 to 2 hours to put together an elliptical or treadmill, depending on the number of steps. Lifting heavy parts, adding grease, and working on your knees are part of the process. Some of the steps require two people.

Warranty. Look for one that provides two to three years of coverage on major moving parts and a year on labor. Our surveys suggest that an extended warranty probably isn't worth it.

The charts below are based on responses about 1,302 elliptical machines and 1,891 treadmills purchased new since 2006 by Consumer Reports subscribers. A reader score of 100 would mean that all respondents were completely satisfied; 80 indicates very satisfied, on average; 60, fairly well satisfied. We also asked about specific problems that may have contributed, along with other factors, to readers' overall satisfaction with their home machines.

Among elliptical exercisers, ProForm received more complaints than other brands about being difficult to adjust to the needs of different users (that's important because about one-quarter of all ellipticals had been used by three or more household members) and having a poor range of workout options. NordicTrack scored substantially worse than the other brands for being bulky and difficult to set up. There were no differences among treadmill brands in the rate of those or other problems. Prices represent the median paid by respondents for each brand.

*For ellipticals, differences of less than 6 points in reader score are not meaningful. For treadmills, differences of less than 4 points in reader score are not meaningful. In both instances, scores are adjusted for machine age.