I had been using a department store elliptical for about 3 months (broke the flywheel axel) and looked at the reviews on this site (epinions.com) prior to purchasing the Smooth CE. I have been using this machine for 60-90 minutes per day for about 60 days now, so here is my review.

It came packaged very nicely and was quite easy to uncrate using a screwdriver. It comes with a set of required tools, but I chose to use my own for the unpacking part. The elliptical is heavy (which makes it so stable) so you may need some help lifting it out and setting it in your exercise area especially if you have stairs.

The instructions that come with the Smooth CE are quite easy to understand and I was able to completely assemble the machine in about 15 minutes (I did use the included tools because I knew I would be writing a review at some point on this product).

I am 5'8" tall and find the hand grips at a comfortable height and the foot pedals are easily adjusted to fit several strides.

I began using the Smooth and found it quite easy to navigate the controls. I was immediately pleased with how stable the Smooth was and it was definitely much quieter than the one I had been using. The only sound was the quiet "swoosh" of the flywheel.

The display is easy enough to see and I have 2 60 watt bulbs about 4 feet away and behind to the left and right of the machine. I found the controls easy to navigate and changing resistance not time consuming. The pre-programmed exercises are nice, but would like to see more advanced programs, but understand that I can get a computer hookup at some point for more variation.

One thing I like is at the end of the preprogrammed exercise, the timer keeps going so that I can complete my 60 minutes using my own variations (ie, you don't have to keep track of the pre-programmed time and then add, but if you count down to 36:00 minutes with the pre-programmed, when you are done with the pre-programmed, it starts counting up from 36:00 so that you know when 60:00 is up).

The display is set in miles, minutes, and kilojoules. Kilojoules have caused some concern in other reviews. Just divide you kilojoules by 4.184 to get the calories and you are set (although I don't rely on this as I mostly am concerned with my time and heart rate). The heart rate monitor on the hand grip appears to be quite accurate, but the earclip was essentially useless to me. It was inaccurate and mostly did not read at all. My earlobes are large and I sweat alot so maybe this had something to do with it (I also were headphones alot of the time and there are only so many wires I want hanging off my head during a workout).

The elliptical itself has proven to be a fine quality machine. It developed a squeek about 30 days into using it. I thought it was the main upright, but all the bolts were tight. I finally had my wife lay down next to the base and discovered it was actually coming from one of the plastic covers that fit over the pivot point between the right hand grip (pole) and the right foot pedal. Inspection revealed some plastic "dust" where it had started rubbing. I lightly sanded this down about 1/32 of an inch and the squeek is gone and that is the only noise the machine has made other than the quiet "swoosh" of the flywheel.

I have been using the Smooth CE for 7-10 miles per day for slightly over 60 days and am quite pleased with it. I would recommend this piece of equipment.

Recommended
Yes

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