I received this Max Trainer M8 just yesterday. It took a few hours to assemble using the printed instructions. I was really impressed in the ease of assembly as I was expecting something horribly difficult. No missing parts and more importantly all the bolts and washers were accounted for and used. The only left over items were marked as "spare." The leveling feet came in handy because my old house is anything but perfectly level. I don't hear the noise that a lot of reviews mention. If it does appear in the future I will protect my investment by lubricating the squeaky area. There's not a lot of areas this machine CAN be lubricated/greased so it won't be rocket science in my opinion.

In doing me research to buy this machine I decided I wanted to get the JRNY app to track my progress. To my surprise when signing up through my mobile app I was offered a 1 year free trial. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? My phone connected with the machine quick and the machine acknowledged with APP CONNECTED on the display. It performed as designed and advertised.

I have seen a lot of negative reviews but my experience so far has been nothing short of awesome. A great experience from both Amazon and Bowflex.

Perfect for me

The M8 was very easy to assemble for anyone with the most basic of mechanical abilities. It came together much quicker than I was anticipating - about 45 minutes and that was without watching an assembly video.
After using the M8 now for a couple of months, I find that I prefer a traditional elliptical machine to the M8's stair-stepper style. The range of motion you have with an elliptical is greater since you have more of a horizontal stride to your workout motion. The elliptical just seems more "˜natural' and the M8 is also a little harder on the knees than is an elliptical.
The M8 is very well designed and engineered, it also looks very modern and tech. The display arrangement is particularly well done, the dial display for calorie burn rate is more readable than just the typical digital display of numbers. Controls for resistance level is ergonomic as are most of the other control and input buttons. I would have preferred, however, that the heart rate detector pads be located on the arms that you use 99% of the time, rather than their location on two stubby handles that make you feel like you're in a bent over, "˜riding a ten speed' position.
The tray for holding your cell phone is perfectly placed, as is the adjustable tray fir your iPad or tablet. I was disappointed though, that my 12" iPad was too big to fit on that tray. A suggestion for the M9 would be to have charging ports available on the cell phone tray. I'm constantly moving the cell phone charging cables out of the moving parts of the M8.
Overall the M8 is a great machine that delivers on its promises. It's a terrific thing to have in these isolated, quarantined times - good looking and sturdily built too. I'd give the M8 an 8/10.

Just got the M8 2 days after Christmas. Assembled myself in 1.5 hrs. Real good instructions, seems well built like it could pass for commercial gym equipment. Now on Amazons website they compare it to the M7, M5, M3 and show the differences. When I saw the M8 uses a blue tooth heart rate arm band I assumed it came with it! It does not and if you want it its $49.95 more. Amazon you should put Not Included in your comparison to make things clear.

Likes:
Came with tools to assemble the unit and detailed instructions.
Stable base and sturdy construction.
User friendly interface. large display.
Has several available apps to use with the unit.

Dislikes:
The unit came in one very heavy box disassembled and packed in Styrofoam (online tutorials show it coming in two boxes).
Instructions do not clearly indicate what order the unit should be assembled in.
Very little instruction on how to interface unit with various apps and TV.
Took a while to figure out how to set up users and adjust resistance levels.
Provides an intense workout in a short amount of time.

Overall an excellent whole body workout machine, great for short time cardio workouts!