Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This machine is a dandy for the $80 & free shipping. It has a sliding,swinging motion that can go quite fast if you want with little demand on joints. It's great if you want to put it in front of your TV in your living room. It doesn't take up the space of a treadmill or even a bicycle. It is light enough to drag off or carry off in a hurry. I'm 72, 5'6" , 150 lbs.. I can lift it. It has been criticized in these reviews for not giving a hard enough workout. Some say they can't break a sweat. I would say it is exceptionally well suited for older people and physically inactive people . Also perhaps folks who have balancing issues. You can get a doable workout if you can go at medium speeds on a treadmill. It's equivilent to taking a moderatly brisk walk on a wood road. But you can go at a slower,"stroll," also. If you are wanting to just improve your health and/or lose some weight you can burn off calories that count and keep your blood flowing and muscles stronger. If you stick it in front of the TV and watch a half to full hour of your favorite show, you will hardly notice you exercised. Split your TV workouts up in time periods at first If you are preparing for Olympic Ski team or Mr or Mrs. American competition, it's not the machine for you. If you are the average office worker / home maker and are coming up on pre diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight and you want to get those things in check without killing yourself, this machine in front of your TV for an hour a day is a realistic solution. I urge you to .use the TV. Any exercising machine is boring and thats why they get cast aside quickly without a TV. You need something interesing to occupy your mind while exercising. Talking on the phone works too....if you are chatty enough. If you consult Google you will find that 10,000 steps a day is reccommended for people. That's 5 miles. However if you are now only going 1000 steps a day between house to car, car to office, light housework, & cooking , an additional 2000 steps a day is a big deal. If for the rest of your life you did 3000 steps a day instead of 1000 , clearly you would be better off. Dr.Oz took the couches out of his TV- living room and replaced all seating with stationery bikes. Lots of middle age to older people don't take walks outside or do sports. That leaves exercise in front of TV. My machine arrived with 2 broken pins & a dead battery. I wasn't sure if one of the pins was broken or was suppose to break to get it out. I emailed customer service asking if it was truely broken or not. Also a few questions about the second pin..thought maybe it was ok. Wasn't sure if it fit tight enough to stay. They asked to see my receipt. 3 Days later I received in the mail 2 new pins & 2 new batteries. No explanation. But pleasing. The original assembly directions are terrible. But you can almost assemble it without any. Good thing as the photos are thumb size..near worthless. There is an immensly vague write up on how to use the time/calorie/step counter. It's an embarrassment to the company and quite scarey as the first thing you look at is the directions..........They make you think the machine is going to be cheap & fall apart. Then after you get the machine together and start using it, you feel much better. It took me 3 days of using the maching to decipher the counting dial. They use the term "count". Which might be easier if called "step"......Or...if they explained what you are counting. I still don't know if the "count" is one step or 2. Google says 2000 steps make a mile. When your "count" # reaches 2000, you have gone a mile.....maybe.