Does any have one at home? Are there brands that are better than others? A feature to look for?

I haven't really used one, but I have an oppurtunity to get an piece of exercise equipment and since I already have access to a treadmill I thought I'd go for an ellipitical.

I'd like to find one in the middle price range. I don't want to go cheap cause I want something that will hold up for a lot of use, but I also don't want to spend a fortune on it either.

Can't help ya there, but I was just looking at the Bow Flex double tread thing. Good luck.

Mike

Had to go look at pictures of it...

Those things scare me! I mean I'm sure it is probably easy to use, I'd just be afraid I'd fall off of it.

Look for one with lots of hooks for hanging clothes. In my experience, that's what most exercise equipment gets used for!

Oh I know, if someone took a poll that is probably what they are used more for.

I have been losing weight again recently, and know I really need to add some form of working out in. Walking daily on a treadmill is what helped me lose 25lbs a few years ago. I'm hoping if I have something at home (treadmill is at my mom's) I'll make the time to use it. Right now I know if I go to my mom's to walk I'll end up spending way more time there than just how long I am on the treadmill and I just don't have the time to do that right now. Instead of spending an hour or two at her house, I'm hoping I can just spend 30 or so mins at mine doing something to help me lose more weight.

Elliptical Trainer comparison chart:

http://www.allellipticals.com/elliptical-trainer-comparison-chart-1.html

HTH

Thank you Jan! That's a great chart.

Look for gyms that have went out of business and are holding sales/auctions. If you can get an industrial one for cheaper go for it, better quality and will last a lot longer since it's meant for extreme wear and tear.
Depends on the pricing though I'm sure since they can get really pricey but every now and then you can find a gym closing and wanting to off load cheaper.

mkolmar, that's an idea. I haven't heard of any closing in the area, but it might be worth looking into.

I have one of the swing kind, a Gazelle. I can walk and run very easily and there is no stress on the knees and you can really get moving. Great Cardio. My cousin had an electric elliptical runner. That thing was hard to get moving almost like the foot platforms where stuck in thick mud. Knee stress to the max. I would rather go out and face mosquitoes, heat and run for real then try to run on that thing.

Precor is a good brand for industrial, not sure if they have home use ones. I know that there is a gym auction on the 19th near me, but it would cost you so much to ship it wouldn't be worth it.
Check your surrounding areas too for auctions.

If you buy a home use one make sure to test it out at a store first since some are made much better and with a smoother glide than others.

I've had 3 elliptical machines and I will tell you one thing, you get what you pay for. Do NOT go cheap! I don't remember the brand of the first one we had, but I don't think we paid more than $300 for it. Lasted less than a year before it was clunking and squeaking like crazy and didn't have enough levels to keep up with my husband.

The second one was by Horizon Fitness. Now, I'd like to think this was a fluke, but I'll never buy another one. We literally replaced every SINGLE moving part on the machine and the noises it made got worse and worse. Only lasted abut 18 months. I was very disappointed.

We now own a machine made by a company called Sole. Not a brand I'd ever heard of before, but they got great reviews. I LOVE this machine, it's heavy, takes up a bit of room, but I KNOW it's going to last me a while. Has enough levels for both me and my husband, nice long stride length since we're tall. Only down side, it cost us nearly $2000. Well worth the money for me though, because of an injury I cannot "run" nor even really walk fast enough to get a good workout.

DsLady, thank you for that1 I had sent the link above to my mom and she was reading on there where it was saying some machines are good for beginner use and so on. I told her what I get I want it to last for a while. I understand wear and tear on it after time, but I don't want to buy something knowing I will have to replace it again.

I'm thinking I'd like to spend $400-$500 on it. My parents are going to pay part as a birthday gift, but I have to pay the other part.

They bought a Gold's Gym treadmill at Walmart last year and we have no complaints about it. It has worked well with use and looks like it will hold up. She didn't buy what was in the store, instead we looked online and found one that was more expensive and looked like a better machine. I know I can go to several different stores and shop around but there is that part of me that wants to do the quick easy shopping as well. The one they have at Walmart looks okay, but they have some that are a step up online. And Walmart.com will ship to the store with no shipping so you just have to go pick it up. That's always a plus.

Hmmm, I still need to do some more compairing.

Maybe someone else here can help me on another part. How important is the stride lenght and what factors in to which you get?