Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased a Schwinn Elliptical 3 weeks ago, managed to put it together, not easy, but par for the course for something with so many moving parts. It worked fine for a few days, then started to make a rattling noise, like an empty spray paint can. There were other minor noises that came and went, as other reviewers have noted, but this was different. It got progressively worse and consistent (unless i used the elliptical backwards!). And when it did work (forward) for those 2 uses, it was good—good ergonomics (tho a bit on the small side, more suited for my 5' partner), and the resistance was difficult enough (whereas, i previously had a Sole elliptical, whose hardest resistance level wasn't that hard for me). I called Customer Support, they were friendly and easy to get a hold of, but basically, if something goes wrong with your Schwinn elliptical, you're on your own. They sent me a crank puller, but no instructions with it, so i had to google around to find similar advice on how to do this on similar machines. And yes, i did call Schwinn (multiple times) and they sent instructions, but they weren't helpful. At one point they told me to take a picture of what i was having a problem with and they'd get back to me in 48 hours, but there was nothing to take a photo of, it was just that i didn't understand the instructions. Oh, i should also mention that you'll need all sorts of additional tools to work this crank puller, so i had to go and buy things like a monkey wrench. Eventually i got the shroud off and determined there was a busted bearing in the flywheel (by "listening" with a screwdriver pressed against the axle, like a stethoscope) which i expected all along. When i told the first customer service agent this, he was like "whoa, let's not jump the gun here" I can understand they don't want customers mis-diagnosing things, but he seemed irked that i knew what a flywheel was, like i was doing his job for him. But there's only so much you can tell by listening to the sound on the phone, and Schwinn/Bowflex/Nautilus doesn't provide a technician unless something's actually wrong, and then they only provide a tech for one visit, so you better use that visit to fix it, not diagnose it. And this all needs to happen with the first 90 days. So once we determined it was the flywheel, they sent a new one (which is taking over a week, even though i asked if they could expedite it), and they scheduled my allotted tech visit for a week after that. So it's been almost a month since i've had this elliptical that is laying in parts on my basement floor, and i only got to use it on the first few days. And the replacement part and tech won't be here for another week. And then i'll have to put this thing back together again and hope it works, otherwise i'll really be screwed as they won't allow another tech visit and i'm getting up to my 90 days at which point they don't support you at all. Oh well, at least i got some exercise taking it apart and putting it back together! I should mention that for comparison sake, i had a Sole Elliptical before this, it was equally challenging to assemble (particularly since the instructions were in Italian (i was living in Italy)) and the same thing happened, it stopped working after a few uses. But Sole at least sent out a technician to fix it, granted the problem was electrical, in the console, and granted that the Sole was twice as expensive as the Schwinn. So you get what you pay for. Seriously tho, be aware of this basic lack of tech support when getting this, fine if you have a degree in mechanical engineering, but if you're not technically inclined consider yourself warned. UPDATE (May 22): After waiting 2 weeks for the scheduled technician, they didn't show up. So I guess i'll have to figure out how to fix it myself. This seems borderline illegal that they can sell a broken product and provide no support to fix it. Seriously think twice before buying a Schwinn (or Nautilus, or Bowflex, since they are all the same company).