Well, on Thursday the 10th, our 5-year old Elliptical Trainer (a Horizon Fitness Endurance 200) broke its main axle for the 2nd time, and went to the recycle bin. I’d replaced the axle once before (cost about $150) and had replaced several other parts (several pivot tubes!) over the time we’ve had it. My wife is a serious user of these machines, doing 3-5 hours per week. We’ve sure gotten our money’s worth on that old machine.

I’m a bad shopper…I like to buy 😉

So, we jumped in the car after supper and drove to Dick’s Sporting Goods, where they had a sale on ellipticals going on. Of course, we didn’t like the cheap model, and ended up with a Horizon Fitness E700 (on sale for $799, which seemed a reasonable price based on my knowledge of the marketplace — and over the past year or so, we’ve surfed around a bit looking at different machines). I don’t normally go for an extended warranty, but knowing how much this machine will be used, we added a 3 year warranty for $129. Supposedly they’ll even replace the machine if it’s a lemon and they have multiple service calls on the same part. Seems like a good plan.

It’s a great elliptical! Smooth, and gives you a really great workout. I’ve only done it once (I usually use our Nordic Trak), though I use the Ellipitcals regularly at the UNCG gym.