From every thing that I've read, everybody says, and I tend to agree, you get what you pay for. I was looking at a nordic track at sears until I found out they were made by Proform, and most of the feedback I found on Proform was negative. I ended up buying a Vision Fitness 6200HRT, it was a little pricey, 2000.00 but we had a 20% off coupon. I've been using it for about a month now and love it. Check the warranty that comes with what ever machine you decide on, as a general rule the better the warranty the better th machine.

You get what you pay for. Any of the ProForm machines (NordicTrack, Weslo, Weider, etc.) are fairly cheaply built, but they usually last long enough for people to get disinterested in using them. If you get into the $1500+ range, you start looking at some good machines (LifeFitness, Nautilus, etc.).

Probably the two biggest 'bargains' out there for cardio equipment are the Schwinn Air-Dyne ($600 or so), and the Concept2 Rower ($800). These are built like bricks, and last forever.

I've had a Proform eliptical for 3 years now & love it. Is it as good as a gym elliptical? No, but I still get a great workout on it, it's small & fits in my den nicely, it's fun to use & it does the job. Worth every penny of the $360 bucks I paid for it.

I hope it's ok to post to this old thread - but need some advice and noticed kokomo was talking about using a rower. I have an old Nordictrack - without any of the dials or goodies - from a friend who was tossing it out. I use it everyday and would also like to work on my upper body flab and thought maybe the rower would be good for that. $800 is over my budget tho. Would appreciate any advice on this. Thanks.