Another view
Written: Oct 20 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good workout, for now
Cons: NOT sturdy, NOT that easy to assemble, kilojoules (!!), horrible assembly and operating instructions
The Bottom Line: Go to the health club to use a decent elliptical trainer or win the lottery and buy a Precor.
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| gsusser's Full Review: Smooth Ce Elliptical Trainer |
My experience with the CE is quite the opposite of everyone else's. Take these comments with a grain of salt if you will. I bought the machine solely based on the reviews here and did not compare it to any other machines on the market. Foolish mistake. I've had the CE about 3 weeks and I find it doesn't come close to the commercial ones you find in health clubs. But then again, if you want a commercial grade machine, be prepared to spend upwards of 3 times the amount.
I admit I am a total dweeb when it comes to assembling anything. With that disclaimer, I did not find the assembly easy, though I was able to accomplish it with only 3 phone calls to support and in about 3 hours. The instructions were absolutely horrible and I honestly don't see how everyone figured out where all the nuts and bolts went without a phone call.
The operating instructions are equally as horrible and there are parts that are only written in German, not that you have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, but you're pretty much left on your own. The heart rate monitor that comes with it is a complete piece of junk -- it's an ear clip on. Plan on buying the chest strap monitor for $60 if you want to integrate the monitor with the computer. [although the instructions say the strap on monitor starts working after 1 minute, I find it's more like 5 - 7 minutes even with wetting the connections.] The only adjustment you can make is for where your feet will be placed. If you have wide feet, you might have a problem. My feet are normal width and on occasion they'll brush into the machine. There's only about an inch of leeway.
As for sturdiness, again I disagree with the prevailing opinions. Frankly, I'm a little nervous. When I start
cranking it up it starts squeaking a lot and making other noises. I tried tightening the connections to no avail.
While the displays are fairly easy to read, the buttons are small and it's easy to press the wrong button. I've reset the computer inadvertently twice during a workout. In addition, the + and - buttons, used for increasing or decreasing the watts, are difficult to manipulate. If you want to increase or decrease the wattage by a substantial amount, your choices are to press the button a zillion times to get where you want, or hold it in and have it go lighnting fast forward/backward, making it difficult to get to the wattage you want. The range is from 25 to 400 watts. At first I thought it great to have such a wide choice, but now I find it to be a hassle. The incremental adjustment is 5 watts, and it's hard to notice any difference. I would have preferred less increments so it doesn't take 20 seconds to get from 25 watts to let's say 140 watts. And speaking of which, can anyone explain what in the world a kilojoule is? That's what's used instead of calories. There is a mathematical formula in the manual but I need to take a refresher course in calculus to understand it.
I've gotten pretty good workouts so far, but I really don't think the machine is built to last.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
gsusser
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
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