Fitness Quest Edge 1400 Elliptical Trainer

First the good: it's a solid, well built product, very stable, easy to assemble. And if this is important to you (it is to me), it has a very modest footprint, so it will fit in small spaces. Long stride is a big plus. Now the bad: laughable resistance. It has supposedly 16 levels in manual mode plus a bunch of programs - what good is all that, when the difference in resistance between the highest load and the lowest load is almost imperceptible? Both myself and my wife tried it - at first we thought we had a defective unit with no resistance. I paid money to have a tech come out who fixes ellipticals, and he took it apart and said it's all as it was supposed to be by design. There is a tiny flywheel with tiny magnets - and so you get tiny resistance. Absolutely worthless for a workout. I'll say it as clearly as I can: you can almost not feel ANY resistance at the highest level, it's as if you are gliding on it switched off. If you are serious about working out not just gliding a... Read more

I received this product in record time. The machine had to be assembled but with the help of one other person, we had it completely assembled in less than two hours. Directions were very helpful and easy to follow. The elliptical trainer is very well made. The metal used on this machine is of very good quality. The instructions for using the machine, changing stride length (17 and 21), and use of the pre-programmed exercise routines are well written and easy to follow. I would recommend this machine to anyone interesed in a mid-price range elliptical trainer.

I might come back and edit this review when I've had the elliptical for more time, but as of right now I'd like to share my initial impressions. I spent a whole day researching ellipticals and trying them out at various stores and ended up with this one. Compared to the ones I use at the gym, most of the ones I tried seemed flimsy. If the whole thing shakes as I get on it, I don't feel confident that its going to survive a workout every day. The 1400 was the first one I tried that even felt comparable, with its heavy steel frame. It's still not quite the same and it rocks a bit at high speed, but I never felt like the whole thing was going to fall apart on me. For large guys like myself, I would advise not even trying it on the lowest resistance setting. I initially thought it was going to be awful when I stepped on because with no resistance and a lot of weight, it feels awkward and uncontrolled. It does not have a lot of the bells and whistles in the console of some of ... Read more