NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical Training Machine

Like a lot of other, when the pandemic hit, I was looking for a nice piece of exercise equipment to help with cardio. My favorite at the gym was the stairmaster, but that was too big for my apartment. I was trying to choose between an elliptical, a treadmill, or an exercise bike. I chose an elliptical because it had the motion closest to the stairmaster and best for maintaining leg strength and cardio. I wanted one with solid construction and a good e-workout system. I wanted something like the Peloton, but for an elliptical, and it seemed like the NordicTrack C14.9 was a good match. When it was delivered by Amazon, I was pleasantly surprised by the solid construction of the equipment as I was assembling it. It's smooth and pretty silent, so as far as a piece of exercise equipment (without the electronic part), I would rate it highly. When it comes to the electronics, that's where this device fails. First, iFit PALES in comparison to the Peloton (I realize they are different devices). It's group or team workouts are non-existent. And while it has a cool feature that lets you pick two points on a map and "run" between them, simulating a run at anyplace in the world, this feature is poorly implemented and works even worse than street view on google maps. Lastly, the electronic module has wifi problems. Often times I come to the device and it's in a messed up state and the electronics just won't work (see the picture). You have to turn off and turn it back on - and since it runs Android on what seems like a vastly under-powered CPU, it takes forever to reboot. This happens once or twice a week. I have called support and they had me "reset" the device which didn't fix it. They said it might just need a software update to fix it. I was so happy when 2 days ago and update came and I was looking forward to the update fixing it. Then tonight it the wifi problem happened again, and I realized the update didn't fix it. I'm pretty sure it's a hardware problem, and they just don't want to replace the module for the number of people having problems with this. Do yourself a favor and get a device without iFit, as the implementation by NordicTrack on my $1500 elliptical just don't work well. But by all means, DO NOT BUY THIS THINKING THAT THIS IS THE PELOTON OF ELLIPTICALS.

I LOVE my new elliptical! After weeks of research I had decided that my original budget of $500-$600 was just not enough to get a long lasting and sturdy machine. So I made the decision to invest in this elliptical and love it. It is smooth and quiet, I hook my phone to Bluetooth and listen to music, and love the exercises available. I am a 24 year old single mom and put this together BY MYSELF in about 3 hours. It is a lot, but very straightforward and not too difficult. The instructions say use two people, so be careful if you don’t have that second person. I did not have an issue registering my ifit, like other reviews stated, although the free membership provided does NOT provide PREMIUM/FULL ifit access but, does unlock several features. The included heart rate strap is great. This is not the elliptical for small spaces and I definitely recommend checking measurements before buying, as it is commercial grade and large. Over all, I would say it is worth the money.

The machine was unsteady from the beginning. We paid to have the elliptical delivered and installed with the purchase. While on the phone with support we were asked to send a picture and that moment and picture was when the front wheel broke off. Support was still reluctant to service. After a few calls they agreed to send a repair person on site. 7 weeks later and the machine is still a pile of parts in our garage waiting on a final solution.

One week and counting (oops moving). High quality is evident from the sturdy build to the surprisingly quiet operation and everything in between. Front wheels are a nice plus if I need to move. Elliptical was supper heavy so delivery upgrade to upstairs room was well worth the small up-charge. Set up post assembly of course (thanks Amazon) was a breeze. Tech arrived on time and completed assembly in under 2 hours. One note, I originally purchased a padded mat, but tech cautioned against using since it would make the machine wobbly during operation. He was right. Note: Take care discarding packaging since a credit card size card package redeemable for your 1 Year iFIT family membership is among product/packing materials. Also, I actually had to create two accounts, one specific to NordicTrack and a second specific to iFIT. iFIT ativation did require a credit card and auto renew signup, but no charge on credit card. I set up a 11 month calendar remider to nudge me to adjust, renew, or cancel subscription.

Everything came together on a Saturday. Delivery came early and installation which was scheduled for Sunday called to put it together today. 2 guys that knew what they were doing needed 1.5 hours to get it together. So far on manual mode this machine is awsome. Foot pedals are like pillows and you can tell the difference with that 32 pound flywheel. Smooth..... My anger is with the 1 year ifit card not working. Promo card was in a sealed envelope so I don't think someone could have hijacked the code. Simply didn't work. Ifit is a new wave company that offers no weekend support......none. This is nuts when you think about it being a membership product. No social media or chat support? Will need to wait until I call them Monday from work to iron this out. Ifit did come through with a new code but an absolute PIA. The machine is built solidly. One of the guys that put it together asked to take a picture.....odd. I asked him why since he does this all day and he said they don't buy that....meaning the quality build. My takeaway is most buyers get the lower dollar builds which of course wouldn't be as solidly built. The water bottle is useless. It sits to low on the neck for a comfortable grab and the diameter is just.....big. Talking Gatorade bottle big. Normal water bottle isn't snug and to tall to sit cleanly. I have no idea what the thought process on that water bottle holder was.

The machine itself it’s not great, it’s rather flimsy and not very stable The electronics are complete junk trash Screen is often irresponsible and the performance is slow and laggy Speakers easily saturate sound and make noises Would not buy if I knew Same thing with their treadmill

Great elliptical !!!! Worth the money! I had no problems assembling or activating the ifit! Delivered fast and easy and I had all the parts in good working condition. Glad I went with this one researched a lot of ellipticals before I bought this one. Glide is smooth and transition to resistance or incline is very smooth. The machine is sturdy and really quiet! Love it!!! Look forward to my early am workout!

Pros: Easy assembly, very solid build quality, smooth-motion, fast painless delivery Cons: Defective on arrival (Incline would not budge) Called Customer svce (after :20 minute wait) - rep walked me through diagnostics > she said that the "controller" (looks like a mother board) was probably bad and she would have to send a new one to me. I said that I bought a 3 year extended warranty, she told me that it would take perhaps 2 months to schedule a technician (due to COVID virus etc) - she reccomended that I fix it myself. Gets worse: she couldn’t find a part number for the "controller" since the "parts list was being updated"...I asked that she at least send me a confirmation email that the issue is being processed - she said she would send be the next day > no email the next day. Called back customer svce the next day (after another :20 minute hold) and was told by another rep that they still don’t know what the part number is for teh "controller" - she said she would escalate to a supervisor Even after they find the part # and order it (guessing another 2-3 weeks before receiving) - I will have to do surgery myself on this brand new machine that was defective out of the box to essentially replace the brain of a brand new machine...disappointing ☹ Buyer Beware