Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer

I bought the Schwinn 430 8 months ago and found the assembly to be straight forward. I was very happy with the performance of the machine for the first two months, but started to have issues with squeaking from inside the flywheel assembly. These would typically start only after I had been on the machine for 20 minutes and get worse. The 90 day warranty for labor passed and the problems with noise from inside the front came and went. A few weeks ago the machine broke while I was on it - the resistance went away and didn't vary with changing the settings. I called Schwinn first thing the next morning and after being on hold for 10-15 minutes was given the option of leaving a call back number, so I did. The following morning I still hadn't gotten a call so I tried again. This time I got a person. I had registered the machine online, but was told they have no record of that registration and that the online registration often doesn't work. We spent time registering the machine, after which I described the issue. After some discussion I was told it was probably the motor and that one would be mailed out for me to use in repairing the machine. A week later I called back to find that they had never started the paperwork to ship the motor. I was assured they would ship the motor, but I should expect it to take another week to arrive. The motor finally arrived yesterday so I started to disassemble the machine last night. Guess what - its wasn't the motor that failed, it was the belt (which had clearly rubbed up against something which is why it had squeaked). Given my experience so far with Schwinn I'm guessing I'll see a belt in another couple of weeks. When the machine is working its excellent value for money, but the company is a huge pain in the neck to deal with when it's broken. I deeply regret not buying an extended labor warranty on this elliptical since I assume I would have just made one phone call to get things fixed. And I should have taken the unit apart to precisely diagnose the problem before calling Schwinn to avoid the delays due to their wrong assessment of the problem.

I love this machine. It gives me a good workout on days when I used to brave cold and wind and rain just to get some exercise in the city pool. It keeps me from feeling frantic when there's no surf and I can't get my ocean fix. It gives me a chance to watch TV, which I seldom find time to do otherwise. It brings in some of my favorite friends and relatives who also use it several times a week. It allows me to exercise even when I have various foot, knee or shoulder injuries. I enthusiastically recommend it.

The Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer is an excellent exercise machine. It is smooth, almost silent, and has enough options to make workouts interesting without being overly complicated. It took about two hours to assemble at a very leisurely pace. I found it easy to assemble after laying out all the parts, with fairly good instructions and well marked small parts being a plus. Its relatively small size and quiet operation make it a good choice for those with space constraints.

Got the 430 from Amazon because of best price and best reviews by other buyers.... ( Best ellipticals in this price range ) Instructions were fairly easy to follow and apply . Put it together in about 1 hour and tried it out. It worked well for a couple of days. My wife and I alternate days at about 30 minutes each. After about 2 days , the sqeaking that other reviewers complained about , began. I took the three points apart , that other users mentioned and applied white lithium grease. When I reassembled .... I didn't tighten the bolts as tight. Since then it has been quite with no problems. I would put the white lithium on it to start with and be easier on the bolt torque when assembling it .... if I had it to do over again.

I consider it a very good buy for the money other than the sqeak .... which I halfway expected , from the other reviews .... although I was willing to risk it because it was fixable and I as well as the others liked everything else about it once that is resolved.

This trainer was fairly easy to assemble though several parts were mislabeled left and right components cross labeled. The internal electric motor was defective. I notified Schwinn and they shipped me the parts required. Since this unit has a parts and labor warranty I called Schwinn to schedule the repair, after a two week wait I called again and was told that the northern California people would be in touch.Long story short I called Amazon and explained the problem and Amazon picked the unit up via truck and gave me a refund no hassle. Thank You Amazon!!