Star Trac

Star Trac elliptical machines are only for the those individuals who are absolutely dedicated to the most ardent workout sessions.

Prices range from $4,245 to $7,295 and this includes their discount.

For years, Star Trac manufactured (in Irvine, California) only professional equipment sold to gyms and hotels. To their credit, they responded positively to consumer requests to develop a line of home exercise equipment... although it is quite limited.

It is hard to find elliptical trainers (they refer to them as cross trainer ellipticals) more rugged than those manufactured by Star Trac. Of course, you should expect this from any company that charges this much for their equipment. Interestingly, they do not have much of a warranty when you consider what they charge you for the ellipticals.

When you visit their web site it takes a moment to actually find where they present their elliptical trainers... kind of like it is an afterthought product rather than a top seller.  And, when you do get to their product descriptions the bells and whistles they offer aren't really all that much better than say Landice or Precor.

The one exception to this might be that Star Trac elliptical trainers are strong enough to carry someone up to 450 pounds (this is probably a result of their concentration in the professional gym marketplace).

One thing that caught our attention is that they have a link to GE Money for those who need to finance their purchase. Now at a minimum price of over $4,000 to buy one of their products, it's easy to understand how someone might want to stretch out their monthly payments... but the 30 percent interest rate might make your heart beat a little too fast.