I love this thing. It's quiet enough so I can do my exercising while my son is napping in my very small house, and I can even have the TV on at a volume where I can hear it over the machine (which is really very quiet), without bothering him.
I've been using this stepper every day since it arrived (it was easy to assemble), for anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes at a go. And here's where we hit a snag: the thing gets VERY HOT where the parts move. This isn't a problem if you don't touch them, except for one thing: the cable that acts as the most important part of the stepping motion causes a little friction on the factory bolts where it meets the steps. After two weeks or so of regular use, one of those bolts clean snapped off.
So that's the caveat, and it sounds like this thing must be a real piece of junk. But the good news is it was easy to fix with a 1/4-inch bolt and a locking nut. Just to be on the safe side, I also contacted the manufacturer, and they sent me two new replacement bolts and nuts. So if the heat and friction are a problem again (so far, no additional problems at all, by the way, and no more snapped bolts), I have a few replacement pieces.
Sum up: I definitely recommend this if you want a light-weight, quiet piece of equipment that makes it easy to commit to regular aerobic, calorie-burning exercise... but buy a few 1/4-inch bolts and locking nuts before you get too into it. :)
- Please tell us about the quality of the product. Acceptable, with caveats
- Was the product free of any manufacturer defects? Yes, sort of