Sole E95 Elliptical Trainer (2008 Model)

I did not have any problems with neither delivery nor assembly. It came within 3 days (with the free delivery option), delivery guy helped me bring it down to the basement. After pretty hassle free assembly, it works great, smooth, quiet and very nice looking. My wife loves it, she thinks it a bit to hard though for the level 5 and up.
Overall, great buy, amazing delivery speed, excellent buying experience with Amazon. Will be back shortly :)

I have lower back problems, and the treadmill I was using was killing me. My Chiropractor recommended an elliptical to me, so I did a full nights research. I found a lot of companies claiming to be the best, but only Sole had the glowing customer reviews I was looking for. I saw the Sole E95 was at the top of the elliptical review pile, and the top of my price range. Everyone basically said this was the best elliptical for the money. After a day, I bought it, and received it within fourteen days.

After two months of daily workouts with this I'm a new person. I love the motion, smoothness, and programmable workout routines. My back never hurts from this particular kind of exercise. I just wish I would have known about ellipticals before I wasted the money on a treadmill.

THis ellipitical rocks! Its huge....though i wud like something smaller...but fits well in my Loft...after a lot of research and deciding between the shwinn 438 and sole e 35...i just went for the E.95...both are the same for buyers out there...just that the E95 has a covered shroud. which is rather cosmetic as u cant even step on it. so for people seekin to save a few bucks go for the E35..even the Assembly booklet is the same.
As far as the E95...its sturdy..quite and really smooth...has a fan which is useless and the speakers are super cool...its way tooo powerful for its size.

Assembly is a pain...as the instructions are written separately from the diagram ..which are really not illustrations...either ways...this elliptical is replacing a Horizon Treadmill i got more than a year back..which was also super sturdy..i also toyed with the idea of gettin a horizon elliptical...but ratings for the sole were better...and the flywheel wt was best in Sole...


i hope i can work this well for a few years...got it to reduce the joint impact that the elliptical is best known for...

so far...i am loving it...will keep u updated...Also i got this from gnc with a lot of promotions and offers..during memorial day for $1100...I checked if Amazon cud offer the same price..i guess not so soon..but then..have had lots of great deals from amazon apart from this one...just hope amazon reads this and the rest of the potential buyers can benefit from lower rates. ;-)

I'll come back to this review again soon, having gotten this unit just recently. For now, I'll focus on assembly while it's still fresh in my mind. In case it matters, the instruction packet that we got is 2008 version B, as marked at the bottom right of page 2 in the manual. This is a long review, mainly because of the cost outlay. Please accept our apologies for any wordiness.

Pro:
-Unit is sturdy and smooth... it is very solid-feeling.
-Assembly of the 22 steps using the 4 CAD illustrations took me 2 hours using their basic (but acceptable) tools. They provided most everything you need, with only the eyeglass screwdriver not being included, which is needed to put the watch battery into the cordless heart monitor.
-There were some clear signs of clever thinking to help the consumer with the assembly process. For instance, a "wire tie" was added to one of the cables that you'll need to feed through the handle bar post. That wire tie added length making it easier to feed, plus gave me a way to secure the cable to keep it that way while I did other things... thank you!
-Most everything went together without any binding, cajoling, or extra effort. The screws did not strip/show wear after tightening like many "some assembly required" items that you find today
-Many pieces came pre-assembled, minimizing your assembly effort, time. Also, the hardware was well-packaged (see the related photo that we uploaded)
-Hardware illustrations are mostly to a 1:1 scale, meaning you can hold the screw/bolt/washer/etc. up to the "assembly pack check list" drawing and quickly identify most hardware items (see Cons for exceptions)
-We used a "white glove" delivery option that delivered the pieces/boxes to our second floor room... this thing is very, very heavy and a little awkwardly shaped to carry! I'm 6' and 200# and it gave me a good workout just moving it around in the room. It was expensive, but it was worth it. I think that two people are required for a safe lift up or down stairs.
-Has little wheels for moving the unit within a room. Lift at the back about 3' and the wheels engage the floor (see Cons for more details).
-Instructions are pretty good, but there are some flaws (see Cons below)
-Lubricant, used to alleviate potential squeaking, is supplied. No specific action to add it except a brief mention deep into the manual
-While you can't step on the black cover at the back end of the elliptical (you'll crack it for sure), this appears to be is a good safety feature. This shroud should help keep fingers/toes away from moving parts and related pinch points. Since we have a two-year old, this is a nice feature.

Con (at the moment, please keep in mind that most cons relate to set-up, a one-time thing):
-Parts list, assembly instructions, and assembly illustrations are on different pages, so you must flip back and forth and back and forth constantly
-E35 and E95 elements are somewhat intermingled, and each page is labeled as such in the bottom right. If you bought the E95, I recommend ripping those pages out, and/or crossing those pages out with a big thick black marker when the page can't be removed. This will avoid working to the wrong drawing and flipping fewer pages.
-The 1:1 scale was lost with either poor representations of part #81, #87, and #97 or there were part substitutions that put the instructions out of sync with the hardware. There are ~19 unique pieces of hardware so more were right than wrong in fairness to Sole.
-Typographical errors are few, most notable is on page 9. Here, I think hex bolt #130 is really #103. Other typing errors while embarrassing, should not affect you.
-The little wheels for moving the unit within a room are in our opinion too small, and don't work on carpet well.
-They warn you to be careful of the computer cable that runs through the unit, but they don't tell you how to avoid it, so it's a meaningless warning because either you have no issue or you go "whoops!". All it does it stress you out needlessly, at least for most of us.
-The cables that you connect are keyed, but I'd challenge the statement they make that you can't put them in the wrong way. Also, there was no positive snap or click to tell you connection was made. I pushed hard and hoped.
-Unit requires power... you must plug it in. A more expensive unit will use human power, a few pumps and it's primed and ready, but not this one. Sole, please fix this (see photo for more).
-The drink holders don't look very good, tall drinks will not stay, as the holders are oddly shaped and tilted forward nearly 45 degrees. Sole, please fix this (see photo for more).
-Cord supplied for MP3 units is not iPhone/super minijack compatible... you'll need an adapter (see our other reviews to find a good adapter).
-Fan is not very strong, it runs and moves air quietly, but I don't feel it on my face or body
-MP3s play nicely (I needed an adapter) but there's no power, so you'll need a charged player

Neutral:
-This unit will raise you up at least a foot off of the floor, so keep that in mind when putting this into a room with a ceiling fan, low ceiling, and/or other overhead issues like pipes or light fixtures.
-Manual is 22 double-sided pages. About 6 of these pages can be pretty easily eliminated as they relate mostly to the E35.
-I used the stepper feet, which are recessed, to hold many of my parts. Less opportunity to lose hardware.
-Take nothing out of the bags until they're needed. The bags clutter your space and a few are labeled left and right. Probably should be added to the plastic molds.
-Not for use outdoors (or near high humidity, like an indoor pool) or on plush, heavily padded or lush carpets. You might trying to circumvent the carpet limitation using plastic risers used on beds and sofas to prevent the weight from crushing carpet fibers. I think that these can be found at any hardware store, although I don't know if that'll work well or not. You'd need at least six of them.
-Since this unit is powered by a socket, it is recommended that you plug it into a proper, high-quality surge protector.
-Don't over-tighten any screw that goes into plastic. For this unit, that's any screw with a pointy tip.
-Tools used/provided: 2 philips screwdrivers (one short/stubby, normal-sized one), 12 mm crescent wrench, 13/14 mm double-ended crescent wrench.

Bottom line: Highly-recommended. Assembly was easier than expected and better than average despite the point made. We would recommend avoid paying someone else to assemble it for you (which is a common shipping option). Remember, you assemble it once, so cons made here, while annoying, aren't big and bad enough to tarnish the fact that this unit is truly a great machine.

Fantastic equipment for the price. Easy setup. However, free shipping from Amazon using CEVA was extremely slow. CEVA never delivered on scheduled date or even call or email to arrange a delivery day. I ended up calling CEVA to arrange a pickup at their warehouse which is 35 miles away. With todays gas prices, this was not cheap, but at least I got my machine!