I agree with Madonna -- treat yourself to a really good, club-quality machine, and you're more likely to love it and use it. The other thing I think is critical is that you and your DH go and actually USE each one you're thinking of buying for several minutes. Don't be self-conscious about it, just hop on it and go. A reputable store will encourage you to do this. I have knees like your DH, and my DH and I found that each manufacturer's flywheel action was a little different and some very good, very expensive machines stressed my crappy knees a lot. For example, my knees ached for hours after I tried out the much-recommended LifeFitness machine. This is really individual to each person's body so it's important that both of you test-drive.
We have a Precor EFX something-something -- can't remember the model number. It's the home version of their usual club model. It was our anniversary gift to each other two years ago, and it's been well-used, well-loved and works like clockwork. Truly one of the best purchases we've ever made. Our model was about $1800 whereas the club version was about $2400. Ours is programmable, has memory for two users' age/weight/workout stats and has a whole variety of useful pre-programs such as intensity intervals, steady target heart rate, cross-train (which I'll explain below), weight loss (this one essentially keeps your heart rate steady on the lower end of your "zone"), and hills. It also has adjustable incline and resistance (both electronic, of course) and has a Polar strap and heart rate monitor built in.
We did NOT buy the model that had the "ski poles" that you'd use to simultaneously work upper body, although Precor made a home version that had that feature. I really didn't want that -- I do upper body strength work separately and I wanted to be able to hop on and stride with my arms either resting lightly on the handlebars or swinging at my sides as if I were walking. For me (and my DH), this was strictly a lower body, cardio purchase. But keep in mind that the ski-pole version is out there if you prefer a more "Nordic Track" kind of motion.
We tried out ellipticals by five or six of the major manufacturers, all in roughly the same price range, and we chose Precor for two reasons. First, the Precor was extremely comfortable on my knees and had an incredibly smooth, gliding motion even at pretty heavy resistance. Second, Precor has (or had, at least at that time) a unique patented flywheel action with a fully reversible stride (striding backwards.) This works the entire backs of your legs and glutes like nothing else, taking the focus off your quads. One of my favorite pre-programmed workouts on our machine is the "cross train" program I mentioned. You set the total number of minutes you wish to stride, and it adds a five-minute warmup, a five-minute cooldown and splits your requested number of minutes into alternate backwards and forwards striding intervals. My legs and fanny are thoroughly and pleasantly toasted if I set the resistance and incline at a moderate level and chug along for 45 minutes. I especially like feeling the use in my hamstrings, glutes and calves, which sometimes feel like they don't work as hard when I'm just striding forward. Great endurance stuff and great cardio, too.
Enjoy your looking-around process and let us know what you buy! You'll like having one of these puppies at home!
http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S.
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