Review of the Weslo 710 Elliptical

FourMat · Sat, February 21st, 2004, 11:01 PM

About three weeks ago we purchased a Weslo 710 Elliptical Trainer. We picked it up at Walmart for $194.71. We had a hard time finding it because it was a very popular item, and was selling out pretty quickly when new shipments came in.

We tried it in the store and liked it better than one they had for about $150. It had a much better range of motion, seemed pretty smooth and felt a lot more solid.

When we got it home, it was totally unassembled in the box. We had to assemble everything except the inner workings of the magnetic wheel, which wasn't a problem for me but may not be easy for everyone depending on their mechanical skills.

The machine had no roller bearings but utilizes greased bushings. You are required to assemble the pivots and apply the provided grease. This can get extremely messy, so be warned not to assemble it on your carpet. You WILL get grease on the floor. Put down some old sheets or something until it's totally finished and ready to use. Have some rags or paper towels ready. The instruction manual was adequate and pretty easy to understand.

After using the machine every day for three weeks, we found that the machine started to knock and squeak. It wasn't too afully bad, but I found it annoying.

But I have a $3.00 easy fix! When you assemble the machine, get some nylon washers from the local hardware store and insert them at the pivot points as shown in the photos. Use a little bit of grease on there and you'll have a solid quiet machine.

As far as the electronics are concerned, I wasn't that impressed. The hear rate monitor is about useless. It comes on randomly when you grab the handles, and you have a hard time getting it back to the heartrate when it scans the rest of the information like mph and distance. If you buy it, don't plan on using the built in heart rate.

In summary: I would recommend this machine if you are on a budget, don't need the electronics, and don't mind a little tweeking to get it just right. Now that's it's quiet again, I'm happy with it.

corbint · Sun, February 22nd, 2004, 10:12 AM

great review, and thanks for the included pics! have you seen the OrbiTrek units that walmart also sells? they are apparently very popular, but unsure why...

HobbesAB · Sun, February 22nd, 2004, 11:25 AM

Awesome review. Your solution for the noise problem with the pics was a nice bonus as well.

FourMat · Mon, February 23rd, 2004, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corbint

great review, and thanks for the included pics! have you seen the OrbiTrek units that walmart also sells? they are apparently very popular, but unsure why...

Actually, the OrbiTrek was the cheap version that we decided not to go with. I just coudn't remember the name. The Weslo is MUCH more solid, and has an 18" stride, which is why we decided to go with it and spend the extra 30 or 40 bucks. I can't remember the stride length of the OrbiTrek, but it felt like I was taking baby steps. I'm 6'1" so I need a little more stride. Short people may not have the same problem. But as I said before, don't make a decision until you've tested them all out. (I even had to cut the unit off a table and lower it to the floor to try it, much to the dissatisfaction of the sporting goods manager, but I put it back just the way I found it)