Schwinn 431 Elliptical Trainer

I bought this after looking at several models in the $700-$2500 range.
We needed something a little smaller but solid, and this one fit the bill
for me (6'1") and my wife (5'). This is for moderate use at home -
our expected total usage is 4-8 hours per week. Nice to get it for $689 with
free shipping from Amazon - ABF delivered it inside the house, and I pushed
the box to the gym room on the same floor.

It took about 3 hours to put together at a slow pace with breaks -
no surprising/frustrating moments.

I am very impressed with the machine. It is very simple to use, very smooth, and very silent.

Initially it was squeaking at the middle of the front mast after warming up, then I realized I had over-tightened the two screws where the handlebars join the mast. I had to take the plastic caps off from the joints, loosen a bit, and then everything was silent. I suppose after warming up, the metal rod (that the two screws are at each end of) expands a little due to heat and squeaking begins. All good now. I have used it several times now up to 35 minutes, and no more signs of squeaking yet.

I have tried the fitness test (a 3-min workout that gives you a ratio of watts-produced and heart-rate). It suggests doing this over time at intervals to see how the efficiency of your heart improves.

The built-in pre-programmed routines are pretty good - I tried "ride in the park" and "cross training". The latter was challenging. Resistance goes from 1-16, and I am starting at 8.
It has manual settings that I have not tried. Display is pretty decent - a nice blue background
LED type thing.

Overall, I am very happy with this machine. Did not cost that much, and having assembled it myself,
I am hopeful that future squeaks if any can be fixed by me.

I ordered this back in Jan 08. My son was only 9 months old, and I convinced my husband who was deployed at the time that I needed an elliptical machine to lose the baby weight before he got back. I got it delivered, and the delivery men were super nice. I had my dad put together the machine, and I was well on my way to lose the last bit of the pregnancy weight!

2 months later, I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight and even more! The machine is awesome, and makes you sweat like there's no tomorrow.

Since then, we have moved to a different post and the machine is still sturdy as ever. It is very smooth, and makes you work out every muscle in your body. I highly recommend this machine!

I bought this as a birthday present and have not gotten the chance to use it much. The assembly was over my head and my brother had to put it together. The instructions were easy enough but with the weight of the product I needed some help. I did as much as I could and my brother did the bulk. It is wonderful. If you have not been active in a while this will definitely be a little discouraging but it gives you a total body work out. I look forward to using it more.

I bought the Schwinn 431 about 3 weeks ago but have never been able to use it due to a very loud creak that seems to be located in the right handle bar. Squeak starts about 10 mins into the session and gets progressively louder. Since I bought it via white glove service from "play it again sports", they came over and tried to adjust it but the squeak would not go away.

Play it again sports offered to replace the machine with a new one but Schwinn would not let them. After much discussion with a customer service manager, Schwinn promised to send a part and a technician to fix it but so far; the part has not arrived and no call from Schwinn.

As I write this review, I have been on hold with Schwinn customer service for close to 15 mins, and no one has picked up the phone. Luckily, I am within the 30day return period offered by "play it again sports" so I am likely to exercise the option to return this lemon!

I bought this... now it is certainly a cheaper price than a gym-quality eliptical machine, but it also cost a pretty penny as well. First off, Amazon's carrier is terrible, and I had to take off a day from work to accept the package as the carrier does not deliver on the weekends, and they do not actually deliver it in for you. So if you live in an apartment building, they leave it outside the building and it's up to you on how you get all 180lbs of it in.
So I assembled it and everything, and when I went to try it -- I was on it for no longer than 3 minutes when immediately the left leg pops out of the track. There is one part, or a couple of parts on the left track that is certainly defective. The left track also squeeks badly. Then, on the right side, possibly coming from the flywheel unit, is an ear-piercing squeek that words cannot describe (some others, I believe, have reported this as well). So as of right now, it is obviouslly unusable, and I deeply regret this purchase... with the money you pay, it's not worth the hassle. So tomorrow I will contact the customer service, and update on how that will go. But I want a new machine, and them to provide a serviceman to put it together---I'm not going through all that trouble again.