Last week I bought an elliptical trainer from SportMart in San Jose. They were closing this model (Pro-Form C 630) out at $200 off the regular price of $399, so for $200 bucks I figured it was worth the investment, if I stopped using it I could always turn around and sell it for $200.

I checked some of the other models on sportmart.com by other brands, and saw some good deals, however after going into the store to look at the actual machines (highly recommended), I found that the ProForm brands were smaller in size (I have a small apartment, and the C-630 fits nicely in a small space against the wall). The ProForm C 630 also had the smoothest motion on the elliptical rotation of the pedals - this was by far the most comfortable machine of the ones I tried - most similar to the ellipticals at the local 24 Hour Fitness gym. Also the cheapest, surprisingly.

The only complaint I had was that the batteries are located in such a place, that you have to actually take the entire trainer apart again to replace them. Stupid design if you ask me. Why do they need batteries anyway? Can’t they generate their energy from your motions?

By the way, assembly was straight forward, and only one step took 2 people. It took me about 1.5 hours to assemble it. Beware, the battery cover does not exist (see yellow addendum in the box) - I spent 20 minutes looking for this piece before I found the modified step. Another gotcha was figuring out how to change from Km/h to MPH (hold the On/Reset button down for 6 seconds).

Here’s the ProForm C 630 manual, found on ProForm.com site.

The only other complaint I have was that the tension control is not digital, would have been nice. You have to adjust it manually when doing built-in workout programs, oh well - you get what you pay for.