Horizon EX-69 elliptical machine review

The Horizon EX-69 comes with a patented design called Straight Up which helps maintain your posture and keeps it erect while working out.

It comes with 11 pre set exercises and 16 resistance levels that you can vary as per your desire to change the intensity of your training.

There are mainly 3 target programs that emphasize time- rolling ,distance-mountain, or calories burned -reverse train. You can also design your own custom workouts. As usual there is a pulse monitoring unit  located on the stationary handlebars. You can just touch them for a few seconds for it to tell you what you heart rate is.

There is one disadvantage though. The stride length is fixed at 20 inches which can be a problem if you are very tall, because the stride length depends on your height.

Neither the incline can be adjusted. The moveable handle bars challenge your body’s upper section while the lower section is trained with the elliptical movement that you experience while on the trainer.

Lifetime help for the frame and brake. There is a 1-year warranty for parts and the same kind of coverage for labor.

The trainer is great for music lovers as you can listen to your favourite music with Surround effect. If you have never listened to the quality of surround music that Sony provides along with the machine then it is high time that you check it out.

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Smooth Agile DMT X2 elliptical machine review

One of the notable features about the Smooth Agile DMT X2 is that the stride can be adjusted from 18 to 21 inches as per your desire. This has a lot of advantages that anyone can use this and a a result the it becomes ideal for the home. You can also adjust the stride shape. The stride can be made shorter and taller for more of a stepping motion.

It comes with 15 exercise programs and 9 of them are pre set exercise routines. You can also make your own programs and it will be embedded to the system. It has 20 levels of resistance.

There is the interval program with low and high levels which focuses on the core muscle groups and literally sculpts your body, there is the fat burning program. It is very easy to change the intensity of the workout program with the “Lite Touch Thumb Control” where you need to only press a button to go from less intense to very intense.

Again there are some key features which set the Smooth Agile apart. In other elliptical trainers you might see that they offer a chest strap to measure the heart rate but in the case of Smooth Agile the strap is wireless. It does not hinder your exercise at all.

The strap will change your workout intensity depending on whether your heart is beating at a high rate or a low rate, adjusting it according to whichever zone you wish your heart to beat, for example the fat burn zone or the interval zone.

Ton of accessories and add ins

You might be happy to know that the Smooth Agile is perfect for music lovers who are fitness freaks too. Then there are audio workouts where the company’s official trainer would guide you through each and every step.Or else you can just plugin your ipod to listen to whatever you want.

Warranty:

There is a  lifetime warranty on the frame and braking system plus a seven-year warranty on all parts and electronics, and a two-year warranty for in-home labor

Conclusion:

The trainer is very adjustable and comes with a ton of extra features which make it very cool to use. The wireless strap which adjusts the intensity of the exercise automatically is something un heard of and the fact that the stride is adjustable between 18 to 21 inches is great. The only con is that it does not have a water bottle holder.

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Schwinn 420 elliptical machine review

Schwinn has not only been behind elliptical machines but its models are associated with treadmills, various exercise bikes and other fitness equipment.

With the Schwinn 420 you will get 12 pre programmed exercises that are generous enough to provide all the training possible. Other than that you get 16 levels of resistance which upon proper adjustment can make the exercise very strenuous for you if you so wish. The 

Schwinn 420 also allows you to cycle backwards, if you have ever used any elliptical machine you will realise that such a motion will greatly strengthen your calves.

One thing that I did not like about is that the stride length is not adjustable and is kept fixed at 18 inches. While this may do ok for lot of people what about the persons who are taller. Remember that the length of the stride depends on the height.

So people who are tall/people with a longer stride may not enjoy this machine as they would feel that their motions are being constricted.
Second thing is that the incline cannot be adjusted. While the incline does not play a very big role in determining exercise difficulty the lower muscle groups could have been targeted with more incline.

There is heart pulse scanner which you can touch and it will tell you the pulse. It comes with a magazine rack and a holder to place the water bottle.

The LCD displays various values like the RPM,watts,distance,speed etc but is not backlit.

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