Life Fitness CT9500HR Elliptical Trainer Review
The motion of the Life Fitness Elliptical Trainer is smooth and steady. You basically just get on the machine, grab handles, start moving your legs, and the control panel lights up.
The control panel is divided into two parts, a top half and a bottom half. On the bottom half, you can select what kind of workout you want. For example, there is a hills workout where the resistance increases and decreases as if you were moving up a hill. There are cardio and fat burning workouts where the tension automatically increases or decreases to stay within your target heart rate. There are a total of six or seven training programs you can choose from.
The top half of the control panel is where the main display is that shows your calories burned, rounds per minute, heart rate, and distance traveled. There is also a number pad where you can input your age, weight, and the time you want to workout. (The CT9500HR uses this information to program you a custom workout based on your goals and body).
The main con to the Life Fitness CT9500HR Elliptical Trainer is the price. As this is a gym quality piece of equipment, you can expect to pay thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, though you can get elliptical trainers for much cheaper, they usually suffer in quality. One decent elliptical trainer I have read about that is cheaper and designed for home gyms is the Smooth CE Elliptical Trainer.
The Bottom Line:
The Life Fitness CT9500HR Elliptical Trainer is an extremely solid, durable piece of equipment the provides a good, smooth workout. However, the steep price tag (even if you're looking at a refurbished one, expect to pay more than $3000) makes it available only to professional health clubs and a small percentage of the population. After using the CT9500HR for more than a year, I would very much like to own one, but for now I will have to settle for using it at the gym. If you are reading this review and considering the purchase of a CT9500HR, I envy you, but I think you'll get a good machine out of the deal.
Review by Amy Schwarzbaum
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