Schwinn Compact Elliptical: Your At-Home Workout Journey

Seems really great considering it’s a home-use elliptical
I chose this machine because I am a gym rat and they have been closed and it seems they will remain so for a while. It’s not cheap, but I can’t necessarily afford a whole new wardrobe if I gain 10-20 pounds in the next few weeks, either. Heart attacks and diabetes aren’t cheap, either. It seems like a lot of these are going out of stock, so I’d suggest ordering one sooner rather than later if you’re a real gym nut. Who knows if this pandemic will keep resurfacing in the next few months… The machine I got was assembled in 2017, so I wasn’t worried about contagion from the country of manufacture.A while back I checked out a few models in a sporting goods store and noticed the Schwinn ellipticals seemed to have a nice stride and seemed sturdier than the other models within the under 1k price range. No matter what machine you buy, it’s going to be bulky and in the way, so it might as well be sturdy. Many “economical” home use ellipticals have a really short stride that make my knees and shins hurt, seem flimsy, and many of them have super low weight limits which make them limiting if you share them with others or ever need to re-sell them due to a move, etc… My gym preferences are the cybex and the elliptical the precor rear drive elliptical. This model seems to resemble those machines to me in terms of how I feel when I work out. I gave this five stars with the knowledge that this is NOT supposed the kind of high-end machine you’d find at the gym that usually cost several thousand dollars. This is a home-use piece of equipment, so it won’t have a fancy computerized touch-screen display. I DO notice that you can step off the machine for a few seconds and grab a bottle of water without it “timing out” on you, which I think is great, and I also love the little fan the display comes with. It’s very easy to set a phone/ipad/drink /towel on the machine while working out.I’m a short small-statured woman. I was able to assemble this myself within a few hours, although it was a bit difficult at times. I have a big bruise on my big toe to prove it. (You might want to wear heavy boots while putting it together!) It’s not super lightweight, so I’d recommend assembling it in the room you plan to keep it in. If you have someone to help you, I’d recommend having a second person on hand to assist sliding the pedals on and to help keep the display in place while you screw it in. When sliding the handle bars onto the machine, I wished I had access to a pair of stronger arms, but I still managed. I think the hardest part was placing the pedals on because you need to have them at the perfect angle to slide them onto the machine. Don’t discard any plastic wrap with lubricant, because you might need it when you assemble certain pieces. You don’t have to be a part time handyman to put this together– just keep the nuts and bolts in orderly piles and make sure you use the correct ones. You can still manage to assemble this on your own as long as you can follow instructions to a T, don’t mind cursing a bit, have some pillows handy, and don’t have to move the largest piece onto a different floor in the house. Having wood floors I was able to push the biggest piece into the room I wanted to assemble it in. Although it was a pain, I’m glad I assembled it on my own, as I imagine if something “goes wrong” I’ll be able to pinpoint the issue in the future.The machine is super quiet and it comes with the adapter so you can plug it into the wall. Keeping certain components lubricated and free of dust will probably help avoid any squeaks or weird noises, but that’s why cleaning people who work at the gym constantly vacuum and clean off the equipment. I imagine if you don’t follow the assembly instructions perfectly, and don’t tighten the bolts perfectly, you might have noise problems. The machine rocked and jiggled a little at first, but I realized I had accidentally omitted the washers when I screwed on the display. I popped the top off, unscrewed that part and fixed the problem, and now it doesn’t rock or jiggle at all. Follow the instructions to a T. Keep the instructions and tools and leftover nuts and bolts.The only weird issue I’ve noticed is that the calorie counter seems really off– it seems to underestimate the amount of calories burned considering how much I’m exerting myself. This sets my OCD off a little, however, I notice that many kinds of extremely expensive cardio equipment in the gym will give me different numbers. The experience I have while I’m exercising leads me to believe that I’m still getting a great workout even without the calorie count being precise– even with the resistance level and incline fairly low, it doesn’t feel “too easy”. I also feel no bizarre aches and pains as I would with a badly functioning/designed elliptical.The design of the handlebars is great in that shorter folks can easily grasp them because the center parts of the handles curve inwards toward the user. Ellipticals you find at the gym often have handle bars often seem poorly designed for people with shorter arms. I can easily grab these without leaning forward too much. I’m 5’3″, so slightly smaller than the average woman. I can’t answer for how well a tall person would like the design, but the weight limit seems higher than many home style ellipticals and the foot pedals seem large enough to handle a person with a large footprint. Like I said before, the stride length seems much better than most home ellipticals. If you’re super tall, you might want to get the more expensive models that have longer than a 20″ stride. If you’re tall, I’d check out the reviews of other tall folks before making a final decision.Edit: It’s been a year since I bought this, and haven’t had any major issues yet. Biggest gripe is that the calorie counter seems to underestimate the workout I feel I’m doing. I wish the stride were longer, but as it’s not one of those industrial grade machines, I wasn’t expecting it to be great. I definitely suggest remembering to grease the components periodically, and making sure you vacuum the machine to remove dust.Edit: I really hope they “fix” the low calorie count issue so many people point out. I’m drenched in sweat, on here for almost an hour, and have only burned about 300 calories? Makes me feel like a loser and a failure, because I’ve drank two bottles of water already and I feel like I can’t push any fügtet. On the expensive gym elliptical machines, I would have been past 500 calories burnt by now for the sweat and soreness I feel.

Esta mal hecha, los mangos están muy pegados a la consola, situación que hace que te peguen, si eres alto olvídalo mido 1.90 y si se sube la inclinación te romperás una rodilla, sumale que el bluetooth es solo para una aplicacion que aparte no es compatible ya con este modelo entonces no sirve de nada, tuve que ponerle un bluetooth en el puerto usb para poder usar mi iphone (spotify), Otro gran defecto para mi espacio el cable de corriente es corto, arnarla con otra persona me tomo 3 horas solo imposible.

Muy buena calidad y sobre todo ergonómica, había comprado otra marca y tuve que regresarla.

This elliptical has been broken more than it worked.First of all, it was a huge hassle when ordering and the delivery kept getting delayed. This was super annoying because you have to be home for the delivery and Amazon would not say it was delayed until the delivery day was already over. Lots of schedule rearranging. It finally came and I paid to have it assembled with Amazon Expert Assembly.When it did work for the first couple of weeks, it was okay. Of course, it is a home elliptical so definitely not gym quality. It doesn’t run as smooth and the lowest resistance feels like around a 6 setting at the gym. Do not rely on the calorie estimator built into the machine. It told me I burnt about 20 calories after a 35 min moderately intense session. At the gym, this would be around 300 for me (I have used many different gym ellipticals). The fan has a very mechanical smell when turned on. I also find the interface annoying to use. The stats keep cycling but I wish there was a way to choose which stats I want to always display.The moving arm handles are also set more narrow so if I try to hold onto the static smaller handles in the middle or grab my water bottle to drink, the moving handles often hit me on the arms.I expected these kinds of issues from a home machine and even with them, I was fairly happy with it since I could work out at home. However, within 3 times of using it, one of the pedals started clicking with every revolution making it not a smooth movement. This just got worse over time but it was minor. Now, on the other side toward the front where the wheel is, a loud scraping sound has started with every revolution so I can no longer use the machine.I called in to Schwinn for assistance and the warranty is still active but the process will likely take a couple weeks. I’m so frustrated with this machine. I’m ready to dismantle it and leave it in the garage forever.Would definitely not recommend buying. I got it because I wanted to easily work out at home but it’s been nothing but a headache.