One thing our testing has shown is that a broad exercise range isn’t necessarily correlated with price. The most expensive elliptical in our ratings, for example, the LifeFitness E5 Go, which costs more than $5,000, scored worse in our exercise range test than all three of the best budget ellipticals we’ve included in this roundup.
We also opted for machines that scored at least 4 out of 5 on our test of ergonomics, which assesses whether an elliptical can accommodate people of a variety of sizes. Even so, keep in mind that because an elliptical’s foot pedals travel a fixed path, we still strongly recommend you try out any elliptical machine in person before you buy. Our tests can’t capture whether the shape of the pedals’ path will be comfortable for every individual, according to Sarah Bogdan, who tests elliptical machines at CR.
