Once upon a time I was six feet tall, 25 and 185 pounds.

That was a long time ago.

Last year I realized that somehow while I was still six feet tall, now I was 35 years old and weighed 220 pounds. Well after about a year of diet and exercise I managed to reverse at least the weight gain back down to 190 pounds (would that the 10 years were so easily reversed) but with the onset of winter and the holidays I could see that I needed to look at getting some kind of motivation to exercise around the house if I was going to stave off backsliding through the colder months. My signifigcant other agreed that it sounded like a good idea as well.

So, we were off to Sears to see just what was available that would help us out with the areobic part of our workouts. We tried several machines, treadmills, rowing machines and stationary bicycles but we kept coming back to the elliptical machines as they seemed to provide a bit more of what we wanted. Thus, a few hours later we were on our way back home with the Proform 700s.

Assembly

Straight out of the box I could see that this would take a while. Lots of nuts and bolts. The 700s also needed a bit of elbow grease to assemble as some of the parts were fairly heavy. (Note: the 700s also does not come with tools, so be sure to bring a few wrenches along for the ride when putting this thing together. You also need 4 “D” batteries to get the display powered up, so you might as well pick those up while you are getting the wrenches.) The manual was simple enough to follow however and with about 45 minutes work I had the exerciser up and running.

The Workout

With the 700s assembled, it was a simple matter to get up and go, right? Well, not quite. Seems a few of the bolts needed a bit of fine tuning which became obvious about 5 minutes into my first workout. So, a few adjustments later I was ready to try again. Once the 700s was adjusted, the workout was pretty smooth. A few creaks here and there but nothing too loud or distracting. The 700s claims to have 10 levels of magnetic resistance. The default setting when the machine boots up seems to be at “3”. I did try each of the various settings while I was getting used to the exerciser though and while I did feel a change at each setting, I really didn’t get to a serious level of resistance until I got up to level 8. This is important to note because almost all of the preprogrammed workouts in the machine tend to shift resistance levels back and forth between 3 and 7, so for me the programmed workouts really didn’t push me very hard at all.

The 700s comes with 6 preprogrammed workouts already installed and the advertised option of downloading more from the online site fit.com. What they don’t mention in the ads is that to access those new programs requires you to sign up for membership at the fit.com site, for an additional monthly fee. Since I didn’t really feel like investing any more money in a membership (this was the reason for buying my own machine instead of joining a gym after all) I cannot comment on the quality or effectiveness of these additional programs.

The 700s has several other interesting features built into it including a pulse monitor and on-screen display for distance traveled, watts generated, current speed and calories burned along with a digital timer. The pulse monitor is a bit awkward to use as its sensors are built into a separate set of handles placed just below the console. This requires you to take your hands off the exerciser’s poles and place them on these other handles while still running if you wish to use this feature while you are working out. The other readouts seem to be accurate in their reporting with one exception, the calorie counter.

Not only does the 700s lack means by which you can input your weight (necessary for an accurate calorie count) But it also seems to be completely oblivious to the level of resistance the machine is set for when working out.

I ran two different workouts, one at level 5 and one at level 7 and both times the 700s reported almost the exact same amount of calories were burned during each session, something which didn’t add up to me.

Don’t get me wrong though, the 700s may have some flaws but by the end of a 20-minute workout I had definitely worked up a sweat. The 700s allows for both a forward and reverse motion when exercising and this does a lot towards increasing your pulse as well as giving all the muscles in your legs an equal workout.

Warranty

Proform has placed a 90-day warranty on the frame, motor and labor for repairs on the 700s. However since the machine is likely to experience a fairly high degree of abuse if used regularly, I would recommend looking into some form of extended warranty from the retailer if you chose to buy this machine (a 2 year extended warranty was available at Sears for $39.99).

Specs

Length: 71 in
Weight: 105 lbs
Height 55 in
Base Width 28 in

Final thoughts

Even with the flaws I mentioned above, I think the money spent on the 700s was a decent investment as it has prevented me from having any excuse not to exercise this winter and for what I want to use it for, the Proform machine does a respectable job.


Recommended: Yes