Customer Reviews

Sole E55 Elliptical Trainer (2008 Model, DISCONTINUED)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife and I searched and searched for an elliptical because we were fed up with signing up for gym memberships and not using them. Having to go to the gym just wasn't practical for us. So we embarked on a quest to find the quietest, most reliable and feature packed elliptical we could find.

Our budget was 2K or less. Online research led us to many brands and many models - too many actually. It was a dizzying array of choices. So we decided to visit fitness equipment stores and sporting goods stores to try out a few ellipticals in person. The fitness stores carried mostly high-end brands like Precor, which we liked, but were all WAY out of our price range. Besides, after looking at the fine print, we noticed that Precors only come with a 1 year warranty. After that, the frame is good for 10 years but parts and labor are at the owner's expense!

The sporting goods stores turned up the typical mass market brands like Reebok, ProForm, Horizon, Ironman, and New Balance. Most were pretty flimsy feeling and wobbly or the stride just didn't feel right. The Reebok ellipticals came close but they didn't offer wireless heart rate monitoring and the stride still wasn't quite right. Our eureka moment came at Dick's sporting goods when we noticed one brand that we had never seen before, Sole. They had the E55 model on display and we tried it out. It was very solid feeling and the stride was natural. There was very little heel lift which is a key component for a low-impact workout - also, the foot pads are adjustable which virtually eliminates any heel lift. I was also pleased that the Sole elliptical had both pulse hand grips AND wireless chest strap heart rate monitoring. This is important not only to improve your endurance but also ensures a safer workout. There's also a great HRC program that varies the resistance based on your heart rate in order to maintain a constant heart rate.

Since I'm not an impulse buyer I was still concerned that I had never heard of Sole before. Searching online turned up a few reviews about their treadmills. Digging deeper yielded a wealth of information about the treadmills and it turns out that Sole makes a very reliable product and their treadmills are well reviewed and used exclusively at Hilton and other hotel chains. With an endorsement like that I was sold. My online research also turned up the official Sole company site and I was happy to learn that I could order online with free shipping and no sales tax. The delivered price was still $500 below our budget! We also learned that the Sole ellipticals came with a great warranty, 2 years labor, 5 years motor and lifetime frame and deck. Not bad and twice as good as the Precor which was 3 times more price-wise.

In summary, this is absolutely the best bang for the buck as far as ellipticals go. Sole ellipticals are the best ellipticals under $2000 and they even compete very well with the ones above $2000 as well!

Lastly, the best place to buy them is from the company's own website, soleellipticals.com

I spent several months doing research online as well as trying out many models at various stores. I've been using commercial quality ellipticals at various fitness centers for almost 10 years and was really disappointed by the quality of home units in the less than $1500 range until I tried this one at a Dick's. Most of the ellipticals that I tried were very unsturdy. I'm 6'4" and 230 lbs so I was looking for something that's going to last for a while. The Sole units are very rugged and stable, plus they have a 2yr labor and 5yr parts warranty.

If you buy directly from Sole they have a shipping option where for an extra $100 you can have the unit delivered to a room in the house, not just curbside drop-off. The elliptical is shipped in one big box, partially disassembled. Once you pull all of the pieces out of the box, you are left with the base unit that consists of the flywheel (and housing) that has the pedals attached. This piece is very heavy and unwieldly since the pedal arms are free to flop around because the back part of the base isn't attached prior to shipping. If you plan on moving it to an area of the house that has winding stairs it won't be a trivial task to get it there. So considered paying the extra money or do a partial assembly of the base before you try to move it.

I ended up buying the E55 (2008 model) and couldn't be happier. I considered the E95, but I actually like the console interface on the E55 better.

This is truly a wonderful machine!! We got it about a week before Christmas. Super easy to put together, and an awesome workout. The only thing that I would change would be the user settings..You have to manually change it if you have more than one user everytime. But, the elliptical is built very sturdy, can definitely hold up to a rough man being on it, and truly gives you a really good workout! If you have longer legs, like my hubby and I do, this is truly a must! You don't feel like you are "bouncing up and down" like you do with the cheaper ones with a shorter stride length. It is really smooth and nice!

ALSO, make sure your purchase lubricant when you buy your elliptical, or you will have to pay shipping to ship it seperately!! YOU WILL NEED IT!

We have had the E55 for a month now. We ultimately purchased it from Amazon. They had the best combination of financing and shipping options. The price was the same at every site and at our local Dick's sporting goods store.

Delivery

You'll need to plan the logistics of how this 200 lbs. machine is going to get wherever you want it to be. We didn't pay for in home delivery. We expected to have to pull it off the back of a semi-trailer and muscle it into the house and up a flight of stairs. We engaged family and a refrigerator dolly to do just that. To our surprise, the delivery company showed up with a lift-gate straight truck, two capable men, and their own equipment. Other sites, including the manufacturer, want an additional $100 for this service.

The Workout

One of us is new to aerobic exercise this year as part of a New Year's resolution, and has turned into a regular endorphin junkie. Before this machine arrived, we used an old Nordic track ski machine. The comparative workouts on the two machines don't come close. The Sole elliptical is a great workout and really outclasses the skier. I can accomplish more in 90 minutes on the Sole than I could in 3 hours on the old Nordic track. Moreover, a treadmill barely elevates my heart rate and hurts my knees. The Sole is more efficient in terms of cardio gains and calorie burned versus time spent.

The Machine

The Good:

* It is excellent at its core function, and this important because if it were not, I'd be returning it. It provides a great workout and when it is not squeaking, it really is quiet.

* The handles provide a great upper body workout. We can actually use them rather than have them along for the ride

* Assembly, as promised by the manual, was really easy. Sole put some thought into it. I strongly encourage the use of real tools over the ones provided. The stamped steel wrenches included don't allow one to apply sufficient torque to the fasteners.

* Assembly tip, don't try to move the flywheel buy lifting or muscling it. Instead, leave it in the box and use it to slide it into place. The flywheel and attached foot pedal rails are too awkward to move safely.

* I don't come close to hitting my head on the ceiling while working out. Some reviewers expressed concern about this. At 6'4" I estimate I've got a 3 inch margin of clearance on our 8 foot high ceiling.

* The included chest strap heart rate monitor allows the user to keep their hands on the handle bars.

* The nice, thick, tubular frame is very rigid. We prefer the beefier frame of the E55 over the E25.

* It is longitudinally very stable. Laterally it can rock during a workout.

The Bad:

* The mast squeaks intermittently, about 50% of the time depending on temp and humidity. I've tightened it with regular wrenches to no avail. The foot pedals click intermittently. The rails that support the rear rollers squeaked before I supported them with a book and some shims.

* The machine contacts the floor in 6 places. Sole provides adjustable feet to level the machine, but only on four places. The front of the machine does not have adjustable feet. Shims work, but aren't attractive.

* At lower levels of resistance, my toes get numb. Increasing resistance results in leaning forward and no numb toes. The manual claims that the foot pedals are biomechanically correct. For whom? No amount of adjustment to the pedals alleviates the numbness. I would prefer to have the pedals articulate rather than have to have my foot follow designed motion. Foot pedals on my bike move with my foot, why shouldn't these?

* The fan provided is not powerful enough to move enough air to cool either of us. We can't detect a difference when it is on or off.

* The various programs included in the machine are of little value to us. We use the manual setting. We would prefer a mounting device for a flat screen T.V. in place of the computer screen and speakers.

* Some cosmetic plastic pieces covering a bearing connecting the arms to the feet broke after the first three weeks. After assembly, I noted that they interfered with each other, but on one side only. Switching the pieces, reversing the side they were located on, and even lubricating the contact points didn't prevent them from breaking.

* The machine's footprint could be wider. I'm tall and can really lever the machine around when I'm working hard. A wider stance would bring some needed stability.

The Unexpected

* We bought the machine because of the autopilot feature. The machine varies resistance to keep your heart rate in a target zone. We learned that we don't need this feature. We have learned that we can sense or heart rate within about 5 beats per minute and regulate it ourselves.

On balance, we would purchase the machine again, but would question whether the E35 would better suite our needs and at a better price.

Hello! First of all, a little about me so you understand my perspective. I'm a former dancer, gymnast (not competitive though), and NFL cheerleader for the Redskins. I have had several injuries including surgery on both knees to correct a tracking problem with my patella. I have severe tendonitis that prevents me from running long distances, swimming, and biking. I also have bursitus. Bascially, I've been very active all my life and now things are just getting too painful.

After trying the Sole E55 in Dick's sportings good store over a period of 4 months I finally bought one. I would try everything to see if I could get my tendonitus or bursitus to flare up. I even went running - I can only go about 3 miles before it gets too painful to even walk - then went into the store and got on the machine to see if I could keep going. Yes! I could!

I tried other brands and models, but this one felt the best because of the long stride. It allows me to fully extend my legs and get a nice long reach in the arms. It is so smooth it feels like I'm roller blading but without any impact!

I have owned a treadmill for more than 10 years now (yes, the same one!) and I am truly amazed at the intensity of the workout I get from the SoleE55 compared to the treadmill. What I love most about the Elliptical trainer over the treadmill is that after 30 minutes on the Elliptical my leg muscles, back muscles, gluts, etc. feel evenly worked out and the good kind of soreness without the additional pain from inflamed tendons. The other big difference I'd like to point about between the treadmill and the Sole E55 is that you are the one powering the Sole E55 whereas on the treadmill you are at the mercy of the motorized belt. Why does this matter? It's much easier to speed up and slow down on the Sole E55 than the treadmill. So, for examples, if I do sprints on the treadmill, to stop I have to just about hop off because it takes to long for it to slow down - plus I have to keep pushing the little button. On the elliptical, I just speed up and slow down as I'd do when I run outside. So, you can quickly and easily adjust your pace on the Sole E55.

I was also amazed at how quickly my heart rate got going and on that note, I would recommend those who are not used to this happening to take it nice and easy the first 5-10 times you start using it and to keep it on level one for the first 5 mintues and ease into it.

I am so happy I have found this elliptical trainer and am truly impressed with the work out I get. It's almost like doing some type of yoga +ice skating +swimming +dancing, strong movements that are smooth and flowing that work your mucles intesley but with no jarring pounding pain.

For those dancers out there - it's fun because you can really use your hips, keep your lower abs tight and dance through the work-out.

The machine is whisper quiet and takes up less space than my treadmill.

Oh, I decided to name my new Sole E55, "Wind Dancer."

I did a lot of research before buying the Sole E55 (2008 model) and came to the conclusion that I needed to spend at least $1,000 for a decent sturdy machine. Initially I was going to buy the E35 which is the lowest model but after trying out the machines at Dicks sporting goods the E55 just felt more solid than the E35. When delivered the elliptical came in one giant box.

Take my advice and do not open the box until you move it to the room you are keeping the elliptical in. I keep the elliptical in the basement and when it arrived I opened the box figuring it would be easier to bring everything downstairs piece meal. BIG MISTAKE. The main wheel comes attached to the foot pedals making it very bulky, very akward and very heavy to move down a flight of stairs. If we would have kept everything in the box it can slide down the stairs fairly easy with two people.

Setup could have been much easier with a one page layout showing the nuts and bolts part # next to an actual size picture of the nut or bolt. Unfortunately there is no diagram so you have to play detective on which bolt goes where. They do come prepackaged in groups according to the 4 step instruction manual. All in all it should take most people no longer than two hours to put together.

Once setup the elliptical performs pretty quiet, I do hear creaks and clicks but for the most part it is quiet. More importantly it runs very smoothly and naturally. I am 6'1" 215lbs and the thing is pretty sturdy. I would have liked it to be a little more sturdy but I can go all out with just a little shaking from the machine. One last complaint is the water bottle holders are terrible, they are at an angle that makes it easy for the water bottle to fall out and they are right next to the arm wands which makes grabbing the bottle a bit tricky.

All in all I am very happy with my purchase despite some minor quibbles and would give it a solid 8/10. Hopefully this review will help in your decision (big careful of online review sites that are actually paid by the products they are reviewing. Real customer reviews are the best way to guage a product imo).

My wife isn't much of a fitness nut, but she tried out this elliptical at Dick's, liked it, so we decided to buy it. Here's our observations after the first six weeks of ownership:

1- Hauling the main section with the flywheel upstairs is a pain in the be-hind, even with two adults. It's very clumsy. If this isn't your cup of tea, pay someone to do the setup.

2- Assembly was fairly simple. If you're used to doing routine maintenance on your car, you should be able to assemble with little or no problem. Just don't count on using the cheap wrenches supplied with the elliptical. Have a set of wrenches, plus a 3/8" drive socket set, standard and metric. Otherwise I doubt you'll be able to tighten the fasteners real snug. The fasteners were packed in separated "trays", corresponding to each step on the assembly drawing, which was a nice touch. It would be appreciated if they made the instructions a little more user friendly, though. Too much flipping back and forth between written instructions and diagrams, plus they should have included a few more detailed, enlarged diagrams.

3- The unit is rock solid, and quiet.

4- The first time I used the elliptical, it felt kind of odd, but now I really enjoy it. It's a good complement to other exercises like running or weight training. My wife really enjoys it, too. She's tried exercising before, and usually gives up after a week or two, but she's stuck with it now for five weeks!

5- The stride length is comfortable for everyone in our family, ranging from 5'1" to 6'1".

6- Selecting programs and making resistance adjustments is pretty easy.

7- The fan at the top of the console is virtually useless, and noisy. The speakers aren't very good, either. We don't use them, so it doesn't bother us, but if it's important to you, keep that in mind.

Overall, it's a good buy.

After a long process of analyzing elliptical trainers and physically trying about 18 different units consisting of front, mid and rear wheels, we finally settled on this one. Surprisingly, it came down to 3 manufacturers: Life Fitness, PreCor and Sole as all others we looked at either were poorly made or had an annoying issue (e.g., many front wheel systems other than the Sole E55 and E95 have a lttle "kick" at the end of your backstride making your knee respond sharply and uncomfortably). The price of the models we wanted varied from the Sole E55 with a price tag of less than $1500, the Life Fitness was $3299 and the PreCor was $4299. The Dick's sporting goods store just opened in San Antonio and the E55 was on sale for $1199. It was such a great deal we went ahead an grabbed one the minute a new shipment came in as they were sold out of their original shipment the first day we went in. We grabbed one of the two that arrived and they are sold out again that day. Now the price is back to $1499.

I decided I could save $100 and handle delivery in my little Ford Ranger truck that I keep around for hauling. The box fits perfectly in the bed of the truck (it would probably fit into an SUV with the seats down) and with a common 300 pound dolly I was able to handle taking it into the house without any assistance. If I would have had more than a couple of stairs to traverse I would have needed some assistance but not a lot. Be sure to keep the unit in the box until you get to the final room location as the legs are attached to the wheel and it becomes hard to handle once they are out of the box as they want to flop around.

Assembly was fairly simple except I began working from the first step of the instructions and didn't realize until I was to step 2 that I as reading the E25 steps and not the E55. I was beginning to think I didn't have the right parts but once I started reading the correct page, everything came together nicely. All screws and bolts are heavy duty except a few self-taping screws that finish off some plastic parts that are mainly for looks and to keep little fingers from being pinched. The plastic parts actually bolt down nicely to the frame but they have these cheesy screws that work to hold them together more cleanly and they have a tendency to strip the plastic (I had 2 strip a little and won't tighten down). They have no affect on functionality or form as the parts are secured pretty well. I guess they do this to ensure the seam is closed tightly. I just hate a screw that doesn't tighten down. Total assembly time took me 2 hours although it would have been 30 minutes less if I had started on the right page. I recommend assembling this yourself if possible as it will provide some familiarity with the machine if you have any issues later. Sometimes the people from the store don't do such a great job of assembly.

As for usage, wow what a nice machine. It is smooth as it can be but when I get on (I weigh 230 pounds) I get a small click during use that you can't feel but can hear sometimes. I think I have tracked it down to a bolt on one of the arms that I will need to tighten although Sole recommends that the unit be leveled with one of the 6 leg levelers if you experience any noise and I haven't tried that either. My wife (she weighs 150 pounds) doesn't experience this click so it isn't on my high priority list just yet. :-)

I saved so much money I went ahead and purchased Dick's 3 year warranty on the unit for $129. That way they will cover something that goes wrong due to system use in addition to manufacturing defects.

I would absolutely buy this system again. I like it better than the E95 because of the LCD display allowing me to see many aspects of my workout instead of toggling through an LED display. I hope this helps you to make up your mind on an elliptical.

Great job Amazon; my unit arrived in 7 days. The carrier, ABF Freight, was great. ABF called to schedule delivery at a time of my choice and the driver, called to confirm the time of delivery and arrived on time.

I read over 100 product reviews prior to selecting the Sole E55 based on comparing quality, features and user experiences.

1. Design quality is excellent, my only negatives: 1) the fan is too small to be of much benefit 2)the holes in the plastic roller covers did not align with the mounting holes on the roller arm (a few seconds with a drill to enlarge 2 holes solved this problem).

2. Materials quality is excellent. Heavy steel components that fit precisely together. The welding is high quality as are the bearings which are very snug, but are not too tight.

3. Assembly took me 45 min working alone. I know that using instructions is not a 'guy thing', but in this case it is a really good idea. The fasteners are packaged together and labeled according to the steps in the assembly instructions. This is a real bonus for those of us who don't know the difference between a flat washer and a waverly washer (but now I do). I did not tighten one of the fittings enough the first time so if I assemble one again I would delay adding all of the plastic covers until after a few days to make final adjustments much quicker.

4. I have only used it once so far but it is very stable, operates very smoothly, and is very quiet. The adjustable incline on the foot rests seems to be a very useful feature.

5. Although expensive, this is the same price as a one year membership in a local fitness facility. So my cost will be $0.00 starting the second year ;).

After 10 years using a treadmill, we finally wore it out and decidced to go elliptical. We are glad we did. We think it gives us a better workout and is easier on the joints.

After a lot of research on the internet, we settled on the Sole machine and contacted Sole customer support for a recommendation. The gentleman recommended model E55. We have not regretted our purchase. The quality of the machnine is as good or better than those you find in the typical gyms.

It is a heavy machine so you will need a buddy to help get it in the house, but assembly can be done by one person and is very easy. I highly recommend this machine. Customer support is great. You can't go wrong with this product.