Ohiyo!

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but every so often a surprise shows up here at the DOJO and the Treadmill Sensei gets to check out a piece of equipment he hasn’t seen or done a review on before. About a week ago the guys unloaded a decent-sized boxed which has the label of “Horizon E900 Elliptical” pasted all over it and I was very eager to take a look at the unit…not eager enough to risk my own back unloading the elliptical from the large truck, but definitely eager enough to stand around and encourage those doing the lifting to do it a little faster.

Once unloaded and unpacked, the Horizon E900 elliptical took us about 30 minutes to put together. It should take a pair of people with average mechanical skillz (I like to toss a “Z” in to the mix every now and then to show how “hip” and “cool” I can be) about an hour to assemble. I’ve heard of some people taking as long as two hours but that really shouldn’t be the case. The instruction manual for the E900 elliptical is very well put together and incredibly easy to follow.

Once we had the unit installed it was an easy thing to realize the Horizon E900 is almost identical, if a bit slimmed down, to the Horizon E1200 Incline elliptical. The frames seem to be the same from my memory and the only major differences are in the console, the slightly smaller flywheel, a few features and the hugely reduced price of the Horizon E900. They even have the same iPod dock and stereo set up built in.

To tell the truth, as good as the Horizon E1200 performed in our tests from 2007, the Horizon E900 performed just as well. The slight difference in flywheel sizes was almost completely unnoticeable and the features are close enough where a person might mistake one machine for the other if they weren’t labeled. In fact, the only very minor nitpick I had with the Horizon E900 Elliptical was the same one I had for the E1200 — the lack of heart rate control. Thankfully, most consumers never even use this feature so it isn’t missed.

If you are looking for an incline elliptical priced under $1500 or even $2000, then the Horizon E900 Incline Elliptical is worth a look. It has the solid base and frame of a light commercial elliptical, along with a fantastic feeling elliptical motion and articulating foot pedals…everything a customer could possibly want from an incline elliptical PLUS an incredibly budget price point of under $1100.

For being even better than its very solid bigger brother, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon Performance E900 Incline Elliptical 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

A very solid 4.5 gold buddahs for the incline elliptical by Horizon, the E900.

Horizon E900 Elliptical Trainer Specifications
Stride: 19″
Articulating Footpedals: Yes
Flywheel: Approximately 14lbs
Incline: 16%
Display: LCD
Readouts: resistance, time, incline, calories, heart rate, distance and strides per minute
Programs: 14
Resistance Levels: 16
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: No
Max User Weight: 300
Unit Weight: Approximately 160lbs
Price: Under $1100

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

The Treadmill Sensei fears fads in just about all forms. The thought of fads brings up memories of bad perm-afros in the late 70s (I don’t know why my parents let me get one because it is not a good look for a Japanese man), pet screws, parachute pants (see the above remark about not knowing why I was allowed to get them) and Billy Ray Cyrus. That brings up the latest fad in the fitness industry, home ellipticals with inclines. Up until now home incline ellipticals have been truly frightening and of exceptionally poor quality thanks to the fine folks at Icon Fitness. Thankfully, Horizon Fitness out of Wisconsin has decided to get in on the action and has produced a very solid incline elliptical in their Horizon EX76 elliptical.

Horizon is the perfect company to be producing the standard for home incline trainers because they have been at the top of the mountain for manufacturing high quality treadmills and ellipticals for those on a budget. Not only do they put our their own lines of equipment but they also make units for Schwinn in the Schwinn 438 elliptical. They’ve also got quite a bit of experience in the incline world as they manufacture units and components for Precor as well. As any regular reader of this website knows, Precor is one of the top end, commercial brands which has been producing incline ellipticals for more than 10 years and owns the patent on the incline ramp. Johnson Tech (Horizon’s parent company) and its relationship with Precor has given it the insight to design an incredibly feature packed and solid elliptical this year in the EX76.

The first thing we noticed when unpacking our Horizon EX76 was the great new look Horizon has gone with for the 2007/2008 season. They’ve done away with the boxier look of the old EX75 and gone with something much slicker looking. They’ve also slimmed down the plastic on the front shrouds and added more weight to further stabilize the EX76. As soon as we had assembled the elliptical (which took about 30 minutes for us and would take around an hour for those of average mechanical ability), my son mounted up and immediately noticed that the EX76 felt solid even with his 250+ pounds rocking it back and forth.

The next thing we noticed was that the Horizon EX76 had a huge number of upgrades over the elliptical it replaces, the EX75. They have the same 14.5 pound flywheel and pulse grip heart rate monitoring, but the similarities end there. The biggest two new upgrades on the EX76 are the fantastic 16% incline and the adjustable stride which allows users to vary their stride length from 18″ to 19,” two things rarely found individually in an elliptical under $1000 and never found together. The elliptical features a very buff incline motor similar to the ones found in Horizon treadmills. It’s great to have a budget elliptical now available with these two features.

Horizon has also upgraded the number of progams on the Horizon EX76 elliptical to 16 over the 10 programs last year and, along with that, upgraded the console to a commercial style LED console.

The only downgrade in the new unit seems to be the number of resistance levels dropping from 20 on the EX75 to 16 on the EX76. That is a very minor nitpick because the amount of resistance has remained the same, only the incremental adjustments have changed.

My son and I both tested the Horizon EX76 elliptical over the course of about 8 days. We found it to be one of the sturdiest ellipticals priced at under $1000 and it really held up to ellipticals in the $1300-$1500 range very well. Factoring in the great new incline and adjustable stride makes the Horizon EX76 a top rated and best buy elliptical in the $1000 range. For being a solid new addition to the Horizon line of ellipticals, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon EX76 Incline Elliptical 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

A near perfect new machine from Horizon gets a near perfect 4.5 golden buddahs for its efforts and quality.

Get more information about this best buy elliptical with incline for under $1000 and find the lowest price online.

Horizon EX76 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: Variable – 18″-19″
Flywheel: 14.5lbs
Incline: 16%
Display: LED
Programs: 16
Resistance: 16 levels
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Unit Weight: 180lbs
Price: Under $1000

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

The 2007/2008 Horizon Fitness ellipticals and treadmills have arrived! Well, they actually arrived about 10 days ago on a truck but this is my first real chance to get to talk about them. Back when the Treadmill Sensei heard the new units were out a month or so ago, I decided I needed to order up a few units to check out and review. So, 2 weeks and $3000 later, we’ve got in a couple of their new ellipticals and treadmills to check out and review.

When we opened up the box for the Horizon EX66 elliptical I was pleasantly surprised to see a slick new design for the unit. While Horizon stuck with a slightly updated version with the EX56, they instead decided to go with a complete upgrade for the EX66 elliptical. Based on what appears to be a much heavier duty version of their Merit ellipticals, the Horizon EX66 elliptical one of the niftiest new designs I’ve seen on an elliptical priced at under $1000.

At about the same weight as last year, the Horizon EX66 features a lot less plastic than the old EX65 did. The shroud is now tighter and heavier than before which will give users of over 200 pounds a very stable platform to work out on. It also features the same solid 14.5 pound flywheel as before.

The upgrades on the unit are great. The Horizon EX66 now features articulating foot pedals and a very natural feeling pedal placement. Last year I felt the pedals were a bit too far apart for my taste, but now they feel very similar to what you might find in higher priced units from Spirit or Vision. Over the course of my ten workouts of 30-45 minutes, I found the Horizon EX66 elliptical to be one of the best feeling ellipticals I’ve seen under $1000. A definite best buy.

The other upgrades come in the form of a new easier-to-use console featuring 14 programs, 4 more than last year’s model. Horizon has done a great job in its program selection and has developed a fitness package that will challenge light users and hardcore fitness buffs alike.

The only downside I found was in the 1 year parts and labor warranty. I really wish Horizon would beef those up to 2 years for the part. Now, the 1 year warranty is very competitive with everything else in the budget price range, but going up to 2 years would make the EX66 elliptical a homerun.

For a customer on a budget or looking for a best buy elliptical for under $800, the Horizon EX66 shines and gets 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs from the Treadmill Sensei.

A great new design gets the Horizon EX66 4.5 gold buddahs.

Get more information on the best buy Horizon EX66 elliptical and find the lowest price online.

Horizon EX66 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 18″
Flywheel: 14.5 lbs
Articulating Footpedals: Yes
Display: LCD
Programs: 14
Resistance: 10 Levels
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Max User Weight: 275 lbs
Unit Weight: 160lbs
Price: Under $800

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

The Treadmill Sensei is glad the Gods of heat have heard his pleas because it finally cooled down yesterday. That makes me very happy because the electric bill here at the DOJO should go back down now that we can turn the air conditioner off. It also means that Hikaru won’t be sweating nearly as much as he was, which is good for every at the repair shop.

Every year there is one consistant thing we can all be assured will take place in September. The event is as reliable as the changing of the seasons: Horizon Fitness updates and renames their equipment. This sort of thing normally annoys me a bit even if Horizon always puts out some quality treadmills and ellipticals. It annoys me because most of the time Horizon is just re-releasing the same equipment with a new paint job and some minor tweaks. This year, aside from the Horizon EX56 elliptical I’m reviewing today, it looks like they’ve gone with some major and very exciting changes. I look forward to being able to share those changes with you, my loyal readers, over the next week.

But first, let’s talk about the new Horizon EX56 Elliptical. Not having heard anything from the folks at Horizon for 6 months or more (I guess they don’t like the Sensei), I was very surprised when we received the call to do an inside delivery and set up on a Horizon EX56 Elliptical. I had to check the paperwork twice and call the company who was having us do the installation because I was convinced there was a typo. Not only was I unaware about what the new units were but I had no clue they were already out and available to the public! Like Uncle Chris teases me, I guess that’s why I’m not the Elliptical Sensei!

The Horizon EX56 is the updated version of the Horizon EX55 (and the old Horizon EX22). It uses the same frame that has been perfected by Horizon over the past 3 years or so, a frame which is incredibly sturdy especially considering the under $600 price of the elliptical.

It also has the same 18″ stride, 8 programs, 8 resistance levels, 14.3 pound flywheel (huge for the price) and heart rate monitoring of the previous units. The changes come in their updated articulating foot pedals, which are great to see on an under $600 elliptical. Combined with the sturdy frame and the 18″ stride, the Horizon EX56 we received here at the shop felt a lot more like a $1000 elliptical than one with a budget price.

The only other major change is in the console on the EX56 elliptical. They’ve put on an upgraded and much more powerful console with a better look. While it has the same number of programs as the old EX55, it’s got much more reliable electronics inside and should last a lot longer with little to no maintenance.

I was able to work out on the Horizon EX56 elliptical here at the shop for about 4 days — not as long as I would have liked, but it held up very well. We didn’t tell the owner, but Hikaur gave it a 3 hour work out and it held up even in spite of him being 50 pounds or more over its suggested maximum user weight…something I wouldn’t suggest you doing at home. The listed 250 pound limit is probably about right for any sort of regular or heavy duty use.

This year, the Horizon EX56 elliptical continues Horizon’s streak of producing best buy ellipticals under $600 and ellipticals for people wanting a great workout on a budget. For keeping the best parts and adding on some great new ones, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon EX56 Elliptical 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

An upgraded unit gets an updated 4.5 golden buddahs.

Find out more about the 2008 Horizon EX56 Elliptical. Get the lowest price online and save with FREE shipping.

Horizon EX56 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 18″
Flywheel: 14.3lbs
Display: LCD
Programs: 8
Resistance: 8 Levels
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: No
Max User Weight: 250lbs
Unit Weight: 125lbs
Price: Under $600

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

We don’t get a huge amount of traffic over on the Treadmill Sensei forums but we do get some. In order to try and support that budding community, the Treadmill Sensei tries to respond on there as often as I can. In fact, I’m usually on there once or twice a week at least and if you have a question that is one of the best places to get an answer to it.

Anyway, about a month ago on the forums, I was challenged to do a review on a new Horizon Fitness elliptical, the Horizon E1200 Elliptical. A loyal reader had seen one at a local Dick’s store and asked my opinion on it. Since we do not have Dick’s stores here in Southern California, and since the unit seems to only be available from Dick’s, I grabbed my credit card back from Mrs. Sensei and ordered one online. About 2 weeks later I received my brand new Horizon E1200 at the DOJO and assigned my now short-haired son to put the thing together. He grumbled a bit because he isn’t the most mechanically inclined person in the world — which actually makes him an excellent choice to find out how easy the E1200 incline ellipticals are to assemble. I told him if he did a good job I would buy him an ice cream. To that he informed me he wasn’t 12 years old any more…but he’d still take the ice cream.

Judging by my son’s cursing, I will estimate that the standard assembly of a Horizon E1200 elliptical will take around an hour for someone with moderate mechanical abilities. I’d give it a slightly harder than average rating for assembly — figure 3 out of 5 for complexity. Which isn’t bad at all. Most ellipticals take 45 to 90 minutes to get together and ready to go. Horizon’s instruction booklet did an acceptable job in illustrating the process.

Once it was all together, Hikaru and my son were both very excited about the IPod port on the top of the Horizon E1200′s console. From what I saw you can control your IPod through the E1200′s console controls. It’s a very neat little feature but doesn’t enhance the elliptical’s performance at all. It is a nice step up from just having speakers on an elliptical.

The IPod docking station on the E1200 Elliptical.

The main exciting features on the Horizon E1200 elliptical are the Precor-style adjustable incline ramp, the incredibly comfortable 19″ stride (if all Horizon models had a 19″ stride they would be dominating the lower end market for sure) and the pivoting/adjustable foot pedals. It’s not often you see those features in an elliptical under $2500. Horizon has done an excellent job in their design and implementation with the E1200 elliptical.

The E1200′s frame is solid and sturdy, and its flywhell is large, providing a smooth elliptical motion to its workouts. Horizon has taken the standard front-wheel design of the Spirit ellipticals to a new level of comfort, stability and excellence. With a 19″ stride, 16 programs, 16 levels of resistance, a 16% maximum incline and articulating footpads, Horizon has set the bar higher than any other manufacturer in its price range.

My two quibbles with the unit come mainly in the form of its lack of heart rate control. I would have also liked to have seen a 24lb flywheel on the unit to take it to an unbeatable level. However, the addition of the adjustable foot pedals and incline ramp more than makes up for my nitpicking. The Horizon E1200 elliptical is an incredible value at just under $1500.

While I was doubtful at first, the Treadmill Sensei was impressed by the Horizon E1200 Elliptical with incline and gives it 4 out of 5 golden buddahs.

For bringing the patented Precor Ramp to home users, the Horizon Performance E1200 Ellipticals comes away with 4 gold buddahs out of 5.

Find out more about the Horizon E1200 Elliptical.

Horizon Performance E1200 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 19″
Flywheel: 17lbs
Max Incline: 16%
Programs: 16
Display: LED
Heart Rate Monitor: Pulse grip
Heart Rate Control: No
Resistance Levels: 16 levels
Articulating Footpads: Yes
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Unit Weight: Approximately 150lbs

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

One of the questions the Treadmill Sensei gets asked a lot here at the DOJO is: what about folding ellipticals? Truth be told most of the folding ellipticals on the market today are poorly made and shoddily constructed. They really are meant for people who will rarely if ever use them.

That being said, if you’re short on space and need an elliptical of the folding variety, then make sure to take a look at the Horizon E30 Elliptical. This is a fairly heavy duty unit for a folding elliptical and doesn’t scrimp on quality like some of its cousins over at Proform do. The unit I was able to get my hands on belonged to the sister-in-law of one of the other Senseis here at the DOJO. She was nice enough to load me her E30 for a week so I could put together a review for you, my loyal readers.

The three most important things to know about the Horizon E30 elliptical are its sturdiness (right at 160 pounds…an excellent weight for a non folding elliptical under $600 and fantastic for a folding one), the large flywheel (just over 20 pounds) and the durable folding joints. Horizon has obviously listened to all of the complaints about folding ellipticals and addressed each one of them very well. This is a solid, sturdy elliptical and very comparable with non folding units in its price range. When compare to folding ellipticals at the same price, the Horizon E30 blows them all away.

The max user weight of the Horizon E30 is listed at about 300 pounds. I’d downgrade that and say don’t use this unit if you’re too far in excess of 200 pounds. The e30 elliptical stood up well to my 170 pounds and to a fairly extensive set of 45 minute workouts over the course of 6 days.

The only real down side to the unit is the stride length. At 16″ the stride on the Horizon E30 is a bit short for taller people, but should do well for anyone 5’9″ and under. 10 programs and 20 levels of resistance round out a very good offering from the fine folks at Horizon Fitness. For being a surprisingly good folding elliptical, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon E30 Elliptical 3.5 out of 5 Golden Buddahs.

A folding elliptical that doesn’t suck? Who would have thought?

Horizon E30 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 16″
Flywheel: 20lbs
Programs: 10
Resistance: 20 levels
Display: LCD
Readouts: Time, distance, speed, calories burned, heart rate, pulse, resistance level, watts, program profile
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Elliptical Weight: 160lbs

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

Sometimes fitness manufacturers completely confuse the Treadmill Sensei. It seems like more and more, some manufacturers are making decisions on product design with little or no regard to logic. You’ll see manufacturers completely drop their top selling model, or paint them weird colors, or lie about specs, or try to sell the exact same model under different names and at different prices. It’s enough to give me a Bowflex-sized headache while I’m working at the DOJO.

Sad to say, but one of my favorite manufacturers has been guilty of doing this. Horizon Fitness, maker of some of the best ellipticals under $1000, has expanded its product line this past year…expanded it a bit beyond reason by renaming and slightly retooling units, giving them a different name and “tweaking” the specs a little for different retail outlets. And, unfortunately, some “review” sites who have never actually touched or worked with the equipment they supposedly review fall for this ploy.

One of the units in question, the Horizon CSE4.6 Elliptical, came in to the DOJO last week. This unit is just a Horizon EX75 frame with a new console and handgrips stuck on to it. The bummer is that the new console has fewer features than the Horizon EX75 while being priced about $100 more.

The Horizon CSE 4.6 itself is very solid and works really well for an elliptical priced under $1000…however, I am downgrading the unit from the 4 golden buddahs of the Horizon EX75 because of it’s $100 more expensive price. Why Horizon thinks they can charge more money for a slightly downgraded elliptical is beyond me.

For being a bit of a let down, but still an ok unit, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon CSE4.6 Elliptical 3.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

I wish Horizon would get back to producing just a few solid ellipticals instead of just retooling units over and over again.

Horizon CSE 4.6 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 18″
Flywheel: 17.6lbs (I believe it is actually the same flywheel 14.5lb as the EX75)
Display: LED
Resistance Levels: 20
Programs: 8
Heart Rate Monitor: Pulse grip and wireless
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Unit Weight: 150lbs

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

Today I’d like to start with a story and tell you about my first encounter with Horizon Fitness and their equipment. It all started about 4 years ago out in the now-defunct Van Nuys, California DOJO location we had for about 10 years. An Internet company (which will remain nameless but I hear is now going out of business) had a customer in the area who needed a then-new Horizon T54 treadmill set up in their garage. The seller had a freight company deliver the equipment to our warehouse. I happened to be at the DOJO location and decided to help unload the treadmill.

Bad, bad idea.

You see, the driver was what I like to call a “moron” and he proceeded to drop the boxed treadmill (weighing in at around 210 pounds if I remember correctly) on my hand. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Now, you’re probably saying to yourself “you had your hand in his way 3 times, so who is the real moron, Sensei?” and you’re probably right, but that’s not the point. Because of those injuries I never forgot who Horizon was and, in spite of the pain (and me yelling “Use your damn head, man!” a couple of times), was happy to see they made some darn good treadmills and ellipticals. I never did find out what happened to that driver.

Horizon Fitness is one of the newer kids on the block that is fitness industry. They are one of the many Johnson Health Tech sub-companies — Johnson itself has been around since the mid-1970s while Horizon has only been around for the last 6 or 7 years. In that very short time Horizon has used the Internet to make itself in to a very fine brand (they even produce some of the better equipment for the Schwinn line at Nautilus). Early on, the only retailers to carry or push Horizon were the Internet dealers. Over the past 2 years or so Horizon has expanded much more in to the big box retailers such as Sears.

Unfortunately, with that expansion has come a a bit of a dilution in their product.

When Horizon started they had somewhere around 12 units (6 in the “Horizon” series and about 6 in the “Elite series — the major difference in the two lines was where to buy the units (the Elites were available exclusively through brick and mortar dealers) and the cost (the Elites tended to be quite a bit more expensive without any real upgrade in components). Now, however, a quick Internet search will show somewhere in excess of 30 units…every dealer out there seems to have their own model numbers in spite of the units being almost exactly the same from location to location. I’m assuming this is to keep customers from price matching in order for Horizon to keep all of their vendors happy.

Luckily, all those varied units tend to be well engineered and well manufactured. In other words, if you see the Horizon name on a treadmill or elliptical then you can be confident in the quality of the unit. Their parts are of a better quality than most everything else in a similar price range as long as that price range is under $1000. Once you hit that magic $1000 price point the competition gets a lot tougher and higher end Horizon treadmills and ellipticals don’t quite match up.

If you’re looking for good solid equipment from around $500 up to $1000, then keep Horizon in mind: the do good work. If you’re wanted something a bit heavier and over $1000 then I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Here’s to hoping that Horizon gets their insane range of model numbers down to something a little more reasonable in the next couple of years. I can’t imagine the customer confusion has done their sales any good.

Horizon Elliptical Reviews

• Horizon CSE 4.6 Elliptical: Solid performing. Same as the EX75 with spiffier handles.
• Horizon E30 Elliptical: A folding elliptical that doesn’t suck! 3.5 Buddahs.
• Horizon E70 Elliptical: A let down elliptical from an otherwise good company.
• Horizon E900 Incline Elliptical: 4.5 buddahs for this budget incline elliptical.
• Horizon E1200 Incline Elliptical: 4 buddahs for this excellent adjustable incline unit.
• Horizon EX55 Elliptical: A great budget elliptical for under $600. 4 Buddahs.
• Horizon EX56 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical for under $600. 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX65 Elliptical: One of the best performing ellipticals under $1000 with 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX66 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical and best buy under $800 at 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX75 Elliptical: A best buy elliptical under $1000 and the top end unit from Horizon. 4 buddahs.
• Horizon EX76 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical with an adjustable stride and incline feature. A best buy under $1000 with 4.5 buddahs.

Horizon Treadmill Reviews

• Horizon T71 Treadmill: A solid treadmill for the most budget conscious of buyers. 4 Buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T81.
• Horizon T72 Treadmill: A $1200 treadmill at an under $800 price tag. 4 Buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by the Horizon T82.
• Horizon T73 Treadmill: Decent performer with 3.5 buddahs. Worth a look but consider an upgrade. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T83.
• Horizon T74 Treadmill: Fantastic treadmill at just under $1000. The best from Horizon and a solid performer with 4 buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T84.
• Horizon T81 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill with 4 out of 5 buddahs. Best buy award w
  inner.
• Horizon T82 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill and best buy runner up. 4.5 out of 5 buddahs.
• Horizon T83 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill with 4 out of 5 buddahs.

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

Mrs. Sensei has informed me that we’re going away to Las Vegas for the weekend. I’m assuming this has been in the planning for a couple of weeks now but I seem to have been the last to to know about it. I may be the Treadmill Sensei at the DOJO but at home I merely follow orders…and that is why we’re still married after 20 years. I know who the boss is.

Not wanting to neglect my faithful readers, I sat down quickly to write a Horizon EX75 elliptical review.

Since it came out in late 2006, we’ve had the opportunity to work with a large number of the Horizon EX75 elliptical trainer. The Horizon EX75 is the 2007 version of the Horizon EX44. There are no real differences from the EX44 aside from a few cosmetic changes and the new, sharper orange back-lit display. Luckily, both units are excellent ellipticals for the money.

The Horizon EX75 elliptical comes with a nice 18″ stride and a solid 14.5 pound fly wheel, giving those in search for a sturdy elliptical for under $1000.

For the money, the Horizon EX75 is one of the better designed ellipticals, especially with Amazon selling the units for $200 less than anyone else on the internet at about $799. Although, even at the full price, the EX75 is a contender for a spot in any top ten elliptical list.

20 levels of magnetic resistance, pulse grip and wireless heart rate monitoring options, a 300 pound user weight and 10 programs will give you a very robust elliptical for your cash and gets the Horizon EX75 4 out of 5 golden buddahs from the Treadmill Sensei.

The Horizon EX75 gets 4 gold buddahs out of 5.


Compare the Horizon EX75 elliptical.

Horizon EX75 Elliptical Specifications
Stride: 18″
Max User Weight: 300 lbs.
Resistance: Magnetic
Resistance Levels: 20
Heart Rate Monitor: Pulse grip and wireless
Programs: 10
Display: LCD
Product Size: 56″L x 26″W x 65″H
Product Weight: 160 lbs.
Flywheel: 14.5 lbs.

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

Yes, the Treadmill Sensei is back with regular equipment reviews! I was able to hire a couple of extra young senseis to work here at the DOJO which allowed me to get back to what was important — testing and reviewing treadmills and ellipticals for YOU, my readers. Actually, later on tonight I’ll be posting some photos from the new warehouse/repair bay we’ve set up for the DOJO. More on that later.

For now I want to go over a great new elliptical choice priced under $800, the Horizon EX65 Elliptical. The EX65 is a replacement for the 2005-2006 Horizon EX33 Elliptical and is almost the same exact machine. The specifications are all the same, and the only real changes seem to be cosmetic and 2 additional programs. From the Horizon EX65 we have in the DOJO, Horizon has done an upgrade to the LCD screens since the EX33 Elliptical. The old screens were a little blurry for most users and the new screens are brighter and sharper. A very nice upgrade to an already good unit.

Since I had a bit more time on my hands today I was able to take the new Horizon EX65 for a quick work out. I just did a quick manual workout, checking out the resistance levels and unit response. Then I played around with the very spiffy reverse program.

All in all, the Horizon EX65 held up to the reputation of the unit it replaced, the EX33. Very sturdy, very responsive and loaded with features. Horizon has hit another home run with the Horizon EX65 Elliptical.

As with the unit it replaced, the Horizon EX65 gets 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

The Horizon EX65 Elliptical gets a very strong 4.5 gold buddahs
out of 5 from the Sensei.

Horizon EX65 Elliptical Specifications
Stride Length: 18″
Max Weight Capacity: 275 lbs.
Resistance Levels: 10
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: Yes
Programs: 9
Display Type: Blue backlit LCD screen
Product Size: 56″L x 26″W x 65″H
Product Weight: 160 lbs.
Flywheel Weight: 14.5 lbs.
MSRP $999

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com