Apparently, it's a common occurrence that Max Trainers from Amazon are shipped with missing parts. I chatted with an Amazon rep and instead of addressing the issue, or attempting to fix it, they just issued a partial refund, and called it done. I then called Nordic track, explained the issue, and they shipped the missing parts - at no cost - which were received a week later. After finally being able to finish assembly, I discovered that the resistance was not changing. Several YouTube videos explained the problem and I was able to rewire the tension cable. I don't know if this is a problem with units coming from Amazon, or a problem with this unit in particular, but the fix was easy enough. While I love my Max Trainer, I would not recommend ordering it through Amazon. I went through Amazon because it delivered sooner, and I wanted to use it ASAP; alas, I had to still wait a week because of the missing parts issue. *I give it 1 star for ease of use, because, it's not easy to use if you max out the resistance; it's not supposed to be easy and that's the point if you want a good workout.

The M7 is a BEAST - a functional & beautiful BEAST- but a BEAST nonetheless. More Stair-Stepper than a true "Elliptical," its action provides a much more efficient & challenging cardio workout than my previous pure Elliptical machine (which, after many years and miles of 5x weekly use, finally died under my 258 lb load). My workouts used to consist of 2 hours of weight training followed by 45 minutes of cardio to loosen up my muscles and get the blood flowing. Whereas the 45 minutes/session I used to spend on my previous Elliptical machine were relatively "easy" - I barely made it thru my first 14-minute M7 cardio workout! Since "Time is Money," the savings I will realize with the M7 (31 minutes/session X 5 sessions/week X my billing rate = the M7 will be paid-off in less than 2 weeks. Nice!
I purchased my M7 from Bowflex via Amazon and even though it was NOT Prime (2-day shipment) "eligible" & the original forecasted delivery was 4 weeks out, it arrived in 4 Business Days!!! Congratulations to Bowflex for approaching Amazon Prime's superior Order Fulfillment capability and thank you for engineering & producing such a beautiful work of sculptural art (Oops; I mean exercise equipment). Your packaging, assembly instructions, fasteners and tools made assembly so simple that it is virtually idiot-proof. Well done, Bowflex!

After 2 years of consistent use it is just as quiet and smooth as ever. My extremely qualified husband said he had to look at the directions, but that it was pretty easy to assemble (for him), I would never attempt it. As for using it at first I thought the arms were stupid, until I used them and found that it makes you stretch for a full range of motion.....and as for the overall machine, it's like pilates on a machine. One caveat....this is for someone who loves to burn but not feel it during the workout because it is so smooth that 60 minutes can fly by......but you sure feel it when you try to walk afterwards.....rubber band legs. Love this machine!

I purchased this product with an additional Assembly service. After the provider would not return my message to move up my assembly date, I got frustrated and decided to unbox the product myself. I'm a 5' 1" 54 yr old female and this product is 166 lbs, I was concerned I would not have the ability to lift things on my own. Despite that, I decided to tackle the assembly myself. First step is to watch a manufacturer's assembly video which made it look fairly straightforward to assemble. Then I read the manual thoroughly. I unboxed the product and lined up all the parts. I wanted to make sure everything was there and nothing was damaged. It took me approximately 3 hrs to assemble the product from start to finish. Getting rid of the box, cardboard, and styrofoam, was the hardest part of the process! Seriously, I'm glad I did the assembly myself. I took my time and as recommended, I got my 15 year old daughter to assist me during parts of the assembly that required 2 people to accomplish. It took just a little bit of girl power to get the job done perfectly!

I've owned the Bowflex Max Trainer for a little over a month now. The advertising says a full workout in 14 minutes. I can't get to 14 minutes! This is a tough workout. I'm well overweight and out of shape. I've begun eating better and bought this machine to help with exercise. It is awesome. It fully works out my entire body. With 20 resistance levels it makes the workout challenging, yet controllable. With many, many exercise programs to work with I can see a great future of being challenged. This is non-impact on the joints. It is fun to use. It is easy to use. And the feedback from the machine and the downloadable, Bluetook enabled Max Trainer app is great. Also, for the price...the machine is very well built. I've owned NordicTrac before -- in an of itself a nice machine -- and lower end stationary bikes. This machine, in quality, is far above what I've ever had. Results? Well my longest workout so far has been 8 minutes. The first time on the machine it was 1-1/2 minutes. (Yes, I'm out of shape.) It has helped that much so far. Down 12 pounds (70 to go). Down 2.5 inches on my waist (12 to go). It has an impact.