New Cross Trainer Elliptical Advice (Horizon Fitness?)
Hey,
I'd like to get a home cross trainer, and have basically been told that anything under 1k is going to be fairly rubbish. I'm also tall, and would need at least 20" stride length - basically want a very robust stable frame and something that will last a long time.
In the UK, one of the only decent ones I can find under current covid stock is a Horizon Andes 7i for £1700. This looks pretty good to me but there's no reviews anywhere on this model.
My question is, can ellipticals be repaired generically by anyone if the manufacturer disappears? I can't find any reference to Horizon having a service network in the UK and feel there would be no chance of replacement parts from them after the 2 year warranty (or even during?!). So are there third parties that can fix typical faults across any make here? Or would I be screwed if it broke?
Secondly - anyone know if Horizon actually make decent fitness kit? Is this worth the expensive price?
The other option is waiting for a Life Fitness E1 to come into stock, or finding a LF model second hand on ebay. I assume LF being a better brand are a safer bet and easier to repair/service out of warranty? Either way don't want to go over 2k budget max.
I have never come across anything branded Horizon that wasn't junk and this one doesn't look like an exception. Generally speaking, for an elliptical I would go for Life Fitness, Precor, Cybex or Octane (not in any particular order, though I tend to be partial to the Cybex and Octane units). There are a couple older Nautilus models that were well-made also (eg NE3000), but I wouldn't recommend current models. If the used market is decent, I would opt for a used commercial unit over a new residential unit. However, aim for ones that came out of homes, personal training studios, boutique gyms, etc, rather than ones that came out of large gyms or Crossfit studios. Typically, the 2 latter types don't take care of their equipment at all.
Any cardio tech should be able to service whatever you get without much issue. There are a lot of companies that make aftermarket parts for standard maintenance items such as belts, cables, etc. for various gym machines as well.
I'd recommend taking a look at a used/refurbished commercial unit from the likes of Life-Fitness, here in the UK there are quite a few suppliers of refurbished/used Life-Fitness equipment and parts and repair engineers are easy to source.
Just google refurbished Life-Fitness elliptical cross trainer, Amazon Leisure, 2020 Fitness and Pinnacle Fitness are just a few that come to mind.
Bookmarks