NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical Review: good, bad, and ugly

You’re not quite at commercial grade with the NordicTrack 14.9 Elliptical; you have an assembled weight of 195lb, which isn’t bad for the price point. There’s enough weight there to keep everything feeling pretty sturdy.

Still, commercial front-drive ellipticals weigh between 250lb and 300lb. The 14.9 elliptical is heavy-duty for a home elliptical but not gym quality.

So far, I like the 14.9 elliptical from NordicTrack; they haven’t held back with this machine. And you wouldn’t expect them to hold back as it’s their top-end front-drive elliptical and should shine above everything else with a similar price tag, and for the most part, it does, which is why in today’s review, I want to take a close look at everything it has to offer.

Also, at the end of the review, I’ll compare it with one of my faves in this price bracket, the Sole E95 Elliptical, a rock-solid machine with the smoothest stride out there.

First, let’s take a quick look at the 14.9 product specs!

Why Do We Like The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical?

I’ve already mentioned the build quality is there with this elliptical it’s heavy, which tells me the quality of the materials is high, and that weight helps with stability. It’s not a machine that feels cheap. It’s solid for the price point.

But what stands out for me with the 14.9 elliptical is the flywheel weight. I’ve reviewed every elliptical in this price range, and none have a flywheel weight this heavy; not even anything from Sole Fitness, a company that prides itself on the quality of its gear, can match this machine on its flywheel weight.

Smooth Elliptical Motion and String Resistance

And the flywheel is one of the most important features of any elliptical because it’s the main factor that determines how smooth your elliptical motion will be. Also, a heavy flywheel means resistance in those all-important upper levels is going to feel strong. You’re not going to outgrow this elliptical any time soon.

Impressive 20% Power Incline (burn more calories)

Something else I like about this elliptical is its 20% incline, and you need a decent incline feature on a front-drive elliptical; why? Because with front-drive ellipticals, you tend lean forward and stand on the front of your feet as you have to push the flywheel to get it spinning, which mainly works the quads.

If you want to work the much larger posterior muscles like your hamstrings and your glutes, you need an incline feature.

You’ll burn at least twice as many calories pedaling a front-drive elliptical on an incline, and that’s because those large posterior muscles have a much higher caloric output demand than the smaller anterior muscles.

And the NordicTrack 14.9 elliptical has an impressive 20% max incline which is about as good as it gets in this price bracket and more than enough to build and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings. You can adjust the incline level from the one-touch buttons of the monitor or let the iFit trainers adjust it for you.

Click here to check current price of 14.9 Elliptical on Amazon

Adjustable Stride, But Only By an Inch

The stride length is one of the most important features you must consider when choosing an elliptical why? Because it determines who can use the machine and how comfortable you will feel. You want to be able to achieve a full stride without feeling restricted.

We’re all different heights, so an adjustable stride length is handy because you can adjust it to suit.

Still, the NordicTrack 14.9 Elliptical’s stride only adjusts from 17.7 inches to 18.7 inches. It’s better than nothing.

However, not many ellipticals even include an adjustable stride, let alone a power-adjustable one, so it’s great to see one featured here, even if it only adjusts by an inch.

But I am disappointed that the length of the stride is only 18.7″ it’s a little short for this price range. I was expecting to find a 20″ stride.

What does a max stride of 18.7″ mean? It means the max user height for this elliptical is around 6’1″, maybe 6’2″, depending on your measurement from hip to heel.

Control Console With 14″ Touchscreen

There’s no doubt this is where NordicTrack excels above anyone else in this price bracket. Their monitors are excellent. You get a 14″ HD touchscreen; it’s crisp and looks great. And there to use with iFit, their fitness app. And iFit can be fairly affordable if you only purchase it for one user. It costs 50c a day which is a reasonable price if you consider what’s on offer.

iFit – Global Routes, Trainer led and Auto Adjust

You have global routes where you can explore the globe and the auto adjust feature, which will if you want it to adjust your incline and resistance depending on the route you have chosen.

You also have 1000s of trainer-led classes where you call also take advantage of the auto adjust feature and Google maps. There’s too much to list. It’s an excellent fitness app, and I think worth it at 50c a day.

Still, even without iFit, this monitor is impressive because you have those nice one-touch buttons which save time, and you get wireless heart rate monitoring which is a much more accurate way to measure your pulse than the pulse grips. The only downside, you’ll need to buy an HR chest or wrist strap to take advantage of this feature (about $30 for a good one)

Other features of this monitor include cooling fans, BlueTooth, two speakers, and you have handlebar controls for resistance and incline. I like the handlebar controls because they save you from reaching forward to the monitor in the middle of your workout.

How Quiet is it?

This elliptical uses a magnetic resistance system which means it is frictionless, and anything that is frictionless is always quiet and that’s the best thing about magnetic resistance you get a sound level of about 20DB. Also, you have a heavy flywheel which keeps things smooth and consistent. This also helps keep things quiet.

And lastly a belt drive system, much quieter than a noisy chain drive.

So overall, it’s a quiet elliptical that can be used in apartments. It’s so quiet you can watch TV or listen to music without being disturbed by the sound of the machine.

Static and Moving Handlebars

Most ellipticals on the market come with a moving pair of handlebars and static pair of handlebars. The stationary pair are great for beginners because you can use these while you get used to the elliptical motion, and once you’ve built up your confidence, you can try the moving handlebars for a full-body workout.

Many experienced elliptical users also love to use the static handlebars as they allow you to focus on the lower body. You can crank up the resistance to a high level and give the lower body a really hard workout.

2 Hour Assembly

Ellipticals are always a little more tricky to assemble than treadmills or exercise bikes; that’s what I’ve found anyways. Still, these things are much easier to assemble if you have another person to help you as they can hold parts in place, etc. And this is a heavy elliptical, so you’ll need another person just to move the box and get the machine in place.

NordicTrack supplies you with all the tools needed for the job and an illustrated manual. Most people got the 14.9 together in around 2 hours, but remember to take your time, put aside an afternoon for the build.

It’s an okay Warranty For Price Point.

NordicTrack sort of sit in the middle with their warranties. They’re not the best in this price range nor the worst. You get ten years on frame, two years on parts, and one year on labor. I would have liked to have seen at least three years on parts because companies like Sole Fitness and Life Fitness offer five years on all parts. NordicTrack needs to up its game regarding warranties because it doesn’t show as much confidence in its products as other companies do in theirs.

Alternative

Sole E95 Elliptical

The E95 is the beast of ellipticals in this price bracket. This thing weighs 236lb out of the box. It’s a heavy solid machine, and that’s what sells it. It’s about as close to commercial grade as you get for around $1600.

And it’s backed by one of the best warranties on the market. Lifetime on fame, five years on all parts, and two years labor; this really shows the confidence Sole Fitness has in its fitness gear.

Still, the E95 is quite similar to the NordicTrack 14.9 elliptical, both include that impressive 20% incline, both use the whisper-quiet magnetic resistance and belt drive systems, and both have heavy flywheels although the Sole flywheel weighs 27lb, so it is still heavy just not as impressive as the 32lb of the Nordictrack 14.9.

A feature I like about the Sole elliptical is the Dual rails for each pedal and the fact they use actual wheels.

Not only do these duel rails keep the pedals running straight, but they also help keep things smooth, and when combined with the heavy flywheel and the magnetic resistance system, you have an elliptical with the smoothest motion in its price bracket.

Sole gets everything right with this elliptical regarding the essentials, the build, the incline, the smooth motion, and the flywheel, but the monitor is disappointing. There’s no touchscreen.

It’s a 10″ LCD, there’s no auto adjust or fancy features like that. What you get is a fairly basic monitor, but it does include BlueTooth and wireless heart rate monitoring, plus, they throw in the HR chest trap for free, which saves a few bucks.

Overall there isn’t a better-built elliptical in this price range than the Sole E95, nor is there one with a smoother elliptical motion; the only thing back is the slightly dated monitor, but that’s not a deal killer, especially when everything else is so good with the E95.

To Sum Up

NordicTrack does well with their Top End front drive elliptical. It has a nice heavy flywheel, so is suitable for most fitness levels, and users have praised how smooth this machine feels, which is what you want from a home elliptical. The 14″ touchscreen is something other ellipticals in this range can’t offer, and if you love iFit, it’s perfect. You’ll never get bored exercising on this elliptical because of the extensive library of workouts that iFit offers, and they update it daily with new stuff.

Overall it was nice to see that NordicTrack didn’t just concentrate on the tech and forget about the rest of the build. The 14.9 strikes a nice balance.