I have the $300 walmart special - Gold's Gym Stridetrainer 300 or something like that. It's the one with the adjustable stride length. Purists will say that it's awful, it's junk, don't buy one. Here's the deal with mine.

Bad news - RH pedal broke a couple months after we got it. I'm a handy guy, took it apart and welded it back together with an additional gusset for strength. The LH pedal broke in the same place 6 months later, I did the weld repair/gusset job again.

That one part of the machine is weak, just a bad design. They should have welded on one more little metal plate to strengthen that area. The rest of the machine has been just great, no problems.

Bear in mind, I'm a good sized guy. I was 260 pounds when I bought the thing, and I'm 212 pounds now. I pound the crap out of it, stomping hard working hard, for 30 minutes every day. That's a lot of pounding. If you're not so heavy, or you don't stomp quite so hard, or you don't work out quite so often, then yours may never have a problem. All in all I'm still satisfied with my purchase. Quality machines are 3 or 4 times as much. I saved several hundred dollars, and I'll do 2 little weld jobs for that any day.

So - cavear emptor.

BTW - an elliptical is really like a motorcycle helmet, you have to try it on. It's a very personal thing, you have to find one that "fits" you. Stride length is very important. I'm 5'8" tall, and I know I'd never want one with less than 18" stride length.

Thanks for the info Casper....I may look into one and will keep that info in mind.

Well, I did it!!! I was afraid to start off cold, 'cause I have exercise induced asthma and I typically have to get over the 'hump" before I can breathe, so I did 10 minutes on the bike to warm up. Then I jumped on th elliptical and did 7 whole minutes!!!! I see why you all love it so much, it was nice getting into a rhythm and chugging along...I'm hooked now!!! Next time I will do it cold, now that I know what to expect. Great thread, I never would have given it another chance otherwise!!!

just want everyone who encouraged me to do alittle at a time it gets easier. Well it is day 5 and I am up to 10 minutes on level 2 and my knees are now feeling like they will hold me up alittle longer... ..I am sweating like a pig but its a good feeling. thanks again everyone...

Actually that's a myth,,, pigs don't sweat. You're sweating like a Joann. Excellent, it's good for you. Ellipticals are great because they work you hard without pounding on you, if you think about it - you never actually pick your feet up - so you never put them down, so there's no impact.

Enjoy, keep working it. What do you do to pass the time? I watch my morning news.

Should I not be picking up my feet at all on it? My heels pick up when I do it. Probably a stupid question but like I said before I felt I was doing it all wrong so maybe I was!

Your heels may rise a bit on it, but you really shouldn't be lifting your feet.

Casper..... on the elliptical at the gym, I listen to my ipod, watch the news channel and compete with my husband for more calories burned. The time goes fairly quickly

I love the elliptical! The first time I ever used it I was dying after a minute, but then realized I was actually going backwards- if that makes sense. I'm guessing no one is as goofy as me to do the same thing, but you may want to make sure you are actually pushing forward. Now when I do backward it's b/c I want a few minutes of even higher heart rate.

I wish I had one at home!

I have been watching cmt, the news, rachel ray...whatever is on at the time...I wish house was on in the morning...
I dont know if I got a good deal or not but I picked my elliptical up at ****s for $320. It seems to be ok. I took out the extra 2 year warranty just in case something happens. It certainly is worth every penny if it gets me off my butt..
and Yes I am sweating like JoAnn ..

Casper can you tell me how long it took to drop that 60 lbs. I'm 5'4" and 260 I got my WAL_MART special too Paid 150 for it Wahoo Really wanted one used to love it at the gym...Weight about 60 lbs less then. Well Last night we put it together when we were done I got on 3min thats all I could but came back a few min later andother 2 min done then came back agian and got another 5 min that time. Bye the time an hour was up I had done 10 min and was proud of myself. My biggest concern is that my resting HRT is about 80 and I am getting up to that 150 mark in that 2-3min line. How long will it take for that resting rate to start dropping. Any help and encouragement is great. I'm just scared about that Resting heart rate.

You're 28 years old. Now I'm no cardiologist - but the usual rule of thumb is that your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. So you should be able to do 192 BPM. 80% of that would be 146-ish, so that would be a good pulse for you to shoot for when doing cardio. What you want to do is get in that range and keep it there for 20 minutes. If you can't sustain it - you're losing breath or the pulse is getting faster, then remove a bit of the effort. Slow down your pace, or lower the resistance, or both. If you can't do it right now then do what you can and try to do a little more each day. You'll be there before you know it.

I got serious about losing weight in January, and I reached my lowest weight of 209 pounds in August, so that's about 7 or 8 months. The first couple months was all dieting, but when MFP lowered my calorie allowance enough to make it hard I started exercising to "earn" more food. I did eat most of my exercise calories, and I still do.

At that point I made some changes to my diet and my exercise routine and I've made a decision not to worry about losing weight right now. I'm feeding a little better with tons of protein and exercising like a beast with massive iron and I'm making a lot of changes that you don't see on the scale. I'm the same weight I was in August, but I look like a different person. The male physiology is working for me here - and I'm digging it.

Anyways - 60 pounds in 7 months, probably 30 weeks, 2 pounds a week - right on schedule. 1/2 hour on the machine every day, very disciplined food control, occasional, reasonable cheat meals. It works,,,