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Epic Fitness Ellipticals Review

Overall Brand Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Model (click for review)  Rating  Best Price
Epic Fitness EL2790 Elliptical     $844.99
Epic Fitness EL2980 Elliptical     $1999.00
Epic Fitness E950 Elliptical     $

Epic elliptical trainers have recently grown in popularity as consumers have become more price-conscious. Epic’s parent company is ICON Health and Fitness, a Utah-based world leader in cardio equipment manufacturing. ICON owns a variety of elliptical brands (e.g., Epic, ProForm, and NordicTrack). The company’s economy of scale helps it offer some good values.

Epic’s most popular elliptical trainers include the E950 and the EL2980. Along with Epic’s other elliptical trainers, these models have been discontinued. They are no longer distributed through Epic but are available through third parties such as Amazon.com and Workout Warehouse.

Features of Epic Elliptical Trainers

  • Good program variety – The Epic E950 includes just 12 workout programs, but eight are personal training programs that help users optimize each exercise session. The EL2980 has 20 personal training programs in addition to heart rate programs. It also has a digital fitness journal with which two users can monitor their long-term progress.
  • iPod compatible – Epic’s EL2980 elliptical has a port for iPods and other MP3 players.
  • Heart rate monitors – Epic ellipticals have heart rate monitors to help users get the ultimate cardiovascular benefit of workouts. Only the EL2980 has a wireless option.
  • Healthy basic stride – The EL2980, Epic’s top elliptical, has a 20” stride with articulating pedals to promote a healthy and fully-extended stride.
  • Incline – Epic ellipticals feature electronic inclines for faster calorie-burning and better muscle definition.
  • Upper body exercise – Movable handlebars give users the option of exercising their arms and legs at the same time.
  • Poor warranty – Epic ellipticals were originally sold with short warranties (just one year of parts and labor), and these warranties are non-transferable to second owners.

Overall Rating for Epic Elliptical Trainers

Epic ellipticals have some attractive features – especially a 10%-30% incline and plenty of personal training programs. Still, these machines have short warranties, and customer service tends to be poor on discontinued items. The Horizon CE6.0 and Schwinn 460 with variable stride could be good alternatives. NordicTrack ellipticals are also worth investigating.