Wow, Thanks to all the reviewers before me I was able to put this together in a flash. Once together, I had a squeak almost instantly but, again from the reviews, I knew that I had to loosen some of the bolts that I had made too tight! Thats all it was!! I have used it twice daily so far (1 week) and still no squeaks or problems. Thanks Schwinn!!

Originally, I had wanted a Life Fitness but couldn't bring myself to spending over 3,000.00 on an elliptical while I still have my health club membership. So, I went to the local sporting goods stores, fitness stores and anywhere else they sold ellipticals to try other brands. I was quite surprised and very pleased with the Schwinn 431.

Then, time for research, I check the web for all comments, reviews, etc. and found this one to be well liked for the money.

Next step, price comparison! Wow, Amazon.com had a deal I couldn't pass up! Free Shipping, AND an additional 100.00 Off the price. I ordered immediately and within a week I was working out at home! Thanks for the Great Deal Amazon!

So, if your looking for an afforadable, sturdy and easy to put together elliptical ....... look no farther .......... The Schwinn 431 is the one for you! (I can't believe I sound like a commercial :)

Of course, I'll continue using this and give you a review in a few months to see if my opinion has changed.

Good luck shopping and have a great day!!

We ordered our Schwinn 431 Elliptical trainer at the end of January,'08.
My husband assembled the trainer and despite lubricating, adjusting
and fiddling with screws, it still made an annoying clunk/thunk sound
on the downstroke of the left pedal.

Contacted Nautilus/Schwinn and after eight weeks they finally sent
a repair tech out to our house. Inside the flywheel were defective/worn
bearings. The machine was new so unsure how worn bearings were
put there in the first place. This particular elliptical slipped through
quality control in their Chinese Factory as someone used old parts to
assemble the flywheel.

The sound is now gone(and believe me it was SO loud). Nice and quiet,
and a very smooth machine. Love it. We were just unfortunate to have
received a defective one, but the company did stand behind their product.

Lee & Gary H.
8/24/'08

I have no clue why people are complaining about the time it takes to put this elliptical together, stating 3 hrs as the average build time. There are maybe 30 screws and bolts. My process was 35 mins.

10 min - Unpack parts and carry to room.
25 min - Connect everything. Using cordless drill with allen wrench head.

As for the people that say this thing squeaks. You more than likely put it together wrong and have no business buying something you need to put together. The most common problem is over tightening and wrong placement of bolts/screws. If you follow the manual properly you will not have any issues.

This thing is whisper quiet. I fell asleep in the same room as my wife was going to town on the machine. Has a really good stride.(I am 6'1 and my wife is 5'4) Feels like a professional machine for half the price. This thing is really heavy so if youre danty you might want to get some friends to help. ABF delivered to my house and the driver was especially nice. Considering I did not pay anything for shipping.

The only con I noticed is the Mp3 holder can only fit a ipod nano. My zune is not secure on the holder. Which is fine because I mainly watch TV while on the elliptical.

All in all. High quality and low price. Cant beat this. Trust me. I searched 100's of sites and they all pointed back to this machine.

I bought this after looking at several models in the $700-$2500 range.
We needed something a little smaller but solid, and this one fit the bill
for me (6'1") and my wife (5'). This is for moderate use at home -
our expected total usage is 4-8 hours per week. Nice to get it for $689 with
free shipping from Amazon - ABF delivered it inside the house, and I pushed
the box to the gym room on the same floor.

It took about 3 hours to put together at a slow pace with breaks -
no surprising/frustrating moments.

I am very impressed with the machine. It is very simple to use, very smooth, and very silent.

Initially it was squeaking at the middle of the front mast after warming up, then I realized I had over-tightened the two screws where the handlebars join the mast. I had to take the plastic caps off from the joints, loosen a bit, and then everything was silent. I suppose after warming up, the metal rod (that the two screws are at each end of) expands a little due to heat and squeaking begins. All good now. I have used it several times now up to 35 minutes, and no more signs of squeaking yet.

I have tried the fitness test (a 3-min workout that gives you a ratio of watts-produced and heart-rate). It suggests doing this over time at intervals to see how the efficiency of your heart improves.

The built-in pre-programmed routines are pretty good - I tried "ride in the park" and "cross training". The latter was challenging. Resistance goes from 1-16, and I am starting at 8.
It has manual settings that I have not tried. Display is pretty decent - a nice blue background
LED type thing.

Overall, I am very happy with this machine. Did not cost that much, and having assembled it myself,
I am hopeful that future squeaks if any can be fixed by me.

I ordered this back in Jan 08. My son was only 9 months old, and I convinced my husband who was deployed at the time that I needed an elliptical machine to lose the baby weight before he got back. I got it delivered, and the delivery men were super nice. I had my dad put together the machine, and I was well on my way to lose the last bit of the pregnancy weight!

2 months later, I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight and even more! The machine is awesome, and makes you sweat like there's no tomorrow.

Since then, we have moved to a different post and the machine is still sturdy as ever. It is very smooth, and makes you work out every muscle in your body. I highly recommend this machine!