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Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer Review Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer Rating: 2 stars out of 5 for being inconsistently stellar
Price: $499
Click To Buy The Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer Let’s face it, things are getting expensive. Gas is headed to $4 a gallon and I wouldn’t doubt seeing $5 a gallon gas this time next year. So, what can anyone do to combat this inflation rampage? One solution is finding cheaper stuff. For example, I switched from Dominoes Pizza to $3.99 Pizza Co. It saves us about $35 a month, we’re big pizza eaters. (And $3.99 pizza is surprisingly better than Dominoes, though I still miss the buffalo wings.) If you’re looking for fitness equipment, you could go with less expensive machines like the Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer, but should you? Let’s explore the Schwinn 418.

I’m not going to lie. I am giving a bad review to a good elliptical trainer. The Schwinn 418 Elliptical is one of the best low cost elliptical trainers out there, when it works. The problem is squeaking. A lot of people who bought the Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer report that their elliptical trainer will start to squeak after a couple uses. I’ve gone off on squeaking before and I don’t think I need to remind people a squeaking elliptical trainer is probably going to break down quickly and annoy during workouts.

But what if you’re the type of person who likes to live dangerously? You want to take your chances buying a cheap elliptical trainer in the hopes that you are one of the lucky ones who receive a best buy elliptical that doesn’t squeak. What does the Schwinn 418 offer you? Well, first of all you’re getting 8 resistance levels. Six resistance levels is less than a lot but more than adequate. Next you’re getting an 18” stride length. Lower end elliptical trainers generally stay within the 15” – 17” stride length; an 18” stride length for less than $500 is incredible!

If you do choose to take your chances and bring home the Schwinn 418 Elliptical Trainer you’ll have an incredible amount of fitness programs, eleven to be exact. There’s no heart rate control and for an elliptical under $500 I wouldn’t expect it, but it does have one of the better heart rate monitoring systems.

The frame is also extremely stable. The Schwinn 418 is not perfectly balanced, but it is well balanced and should be capable of handling a workout from people 275 lbs. and under without too much shaking.

I just wish the warranty was better. If the Schwinn 418 had a 1 year labor warranty rather than a 6 month, I would be able to boost the rating in to the 3 star territory. But it doesn’t so I can’t.

If you’re one of those people life has smiled upon and everything generally works out well, the Schwinn 418 Elliptical trainer is probably going to be one of the best elliptical trainers you ever bought. But for people like me and everyone else, there is a significant risk of this elliptical trainer malfunctioning and I wouldn’t want to deal with getting parts and service. In the end the choice is yours. 
So far I'm very pleased with the quality and sturdiness of the machine. There's no troubleshooting info so here's some advice. When building do not over-tighten the nuts that connect the foot pedals to the fly wheel, or the ones that connect handlebars to the main frame. I had the squeak and it went away when I loosened the nut connecting foot pedal bars to the wheel. When the machine doesn't squeak I see nothing to complain about it.

October 21, 2008 at 10:27 PM 
Thanks for the tip - we had the squeak for years and I finally looked it up and did as you said, I loosened the nut connecting the foot pedals to the wheel and the squeaking was gone. It sounded like it was coming from within the wheel, but this seemed to do the trick!!

September 5, 2009 at 1:35 PM 
...going to try that myself! We love our Schwinn 418 but we've stopped using it 'cause we couldn't stand the squeaks - which sounded too much like "something's about to break" - and all the "maintenance" manual said was basically "no maintenance required". Thanks!

November 4, 2009 at 5:17 AM Repmacs said...

I've tried loosening the nuts on the foot pedal to fly wheel connection and I've oiled everything.... It works on an off so far!?! We love the machine and have had it for three years and just now it start with the squeak!!

January 26, 2010 at 6:33 PM 
I've loosened the fly wheel to foot pedal arm nut and oiled everything, several times. The squeak is gone for now!!!! I know it'll come back but we love the machine!


January 26, 2010 at 6:36 PM