| Overall: |
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5
out of 5
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| Quality: |
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5
out of 5
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| Features: |
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4
out of 5
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| Value: |
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5
out of 5
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| Meets Expectations: |
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4
out of 5
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| Stability: |
|
5
out of 5
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Novice
Location:
Dallas, TX
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Wonderful But Not Quite Superb
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Date: July 1, 2009
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"Until I assembled and tried out the DMT X1, I had never been on an elliptical or arc trainer, so this review is from someone very low on the learning curve with no experience on any other machine. As others have posted, the assembly was quite straightforward and fairly easy for one person (out of shape, 50-year-old guy)--though an extra hand would have been useful at one point. The unit runs very smoothly and quietly as advertised. Being a novice, I don't know how it compares to other units, but I can't imagine any unit running much smoother or quieter. I am also very pleased with the display, program options, and just about everything else about the unit. My only significant dissapointment is that I wish it had a longer stride length. The unit is advertised as having a "variable stride length" of 18 to 21 inches. The pedal arms are attached 9 inches from the center of the flywheel and are fixed there, so the maximum horizontal separation of the user's feet is 18 inches. The extra three inches being advertised must be coming from some vertical displacement. I talked with a technical representative at Smooth Fitness and decided, being somewhat of a math nerd, to check this out by simulating the pedal motion on the computer. I found that at the highest motion level (agile), the separation of the feet measured at the toes (which is the technical definition of stride length) does increase to 21 inches; however, the separation at the heels only increases to about 19 inches. (The difference is due to the toes travel in more of an arc-like path and the heels travel in more of an elliptical path.) So the unit works as advertised, but not exactly what I had expected. When Smooth Fitness markets a simple design that allows the effective points of connection between the pedal arms and flywheel to vary--say between radii of 8 and 12 inches, giving horizontal foot separations of 16 to 24 inches--then they will have a truly superb trainer. Until then, I plan to continue enjoying this wonderful unit and recommending the DMT X1 to others."
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