NordicTrack Commercial 9.9 Elliptical Review: Pros, Cons, Cost, and, More

Even when you strip away all the techy stuff from the NordicTrack Commercial 9.9 Elliptical, like the fancy HD screen, and subscription apps with auto trainer control, you’re still left with an impressive machine that gets all the essentials right. And this is what is important when paying over $1k on an elliptical.

The essentials must be there, like a solid build, heavy flywheel, an incline, and a smooth elliptical motion. These are the features that make the elliptical worth buying, not the HD touchscreens.

So in today’s review, we take a close look at everything this mid-level elliptical form NordicTrack has to offer, including any drawbacks.

At the end of the review, I’ll compare it to another fav of mine in this price bracket, the rock-solid E55 from Sole Fitness, as it will be interesting to see how these two impressive machines match up.

First, a quick look at the NordicTrack 9.9 Elliptical product specs!

Why Do We Like The NordicTrack Commercial 9.9 Elliptical?

As I already mentioned in the intro, it’s the heavy duty build I like most about this machine. This thing weighs 220lb out of the box, that’s heavy for a mid-level elliptical, and I love it. If there’s one thing I can recommend when you buy any fitness gear, it’s to go heavy.

Yes, heavy equipment is a pain to move around, but it’s worth it. You want a machine that feels sturdy; you dont want any movement while working out. Solid equipment will always feel like quality when exercising. With this kind of weight for an elliptical, the 9.9 really won’t feel that much different from a commercial elliptical in your local gym.

You Need a Decent Incline With a Front Drive Elliptical

There’s nothing wrong with a front-drive elliptical; they’re more compact than rear-drive machines, which is why they are the most popular design type for home gyms. Still, when pedaling a front-drive elliptical, you tend to stand on the front of your feet because you have to push the flywheel to get it spinning instead of pulling it like you would using a rear-drive elliptical.

Because you’re pushing rather than pulling, you’re using the anterior muscles of your legs like your quads, which is excellent for a quad workout, but you’re leaving out the largest muscles in your legs, your posterior muscles.

Hamstrings 3 Times larger Than The Quads

And it’s important because your hamstrings are three times larger than your quads and your glutes are the largest muscles in your body. When they contract, they have a much higher caloric output demand than the smaller anterior muscles.

And you must have an incline feature to work these muscles on a front-drive elliptical. The NordicTrack 9.9 elliptical has one of the most impressive inclines on the market in this price bracket.

Boasting a 0 – 20 degree, 20-level power incline is perfect for incline workouts. You can start low, build your strength, and slowly over the months ahead, increase your incline level.

You can adjust the incline using the one-touch buttons of the monitor or let the iFit trainers adjust it using the auto adjust, another cool feature we’ll take about later.

So if you want to burn more calories and build and strengthen those hard-to-train posterior muscles, a decent incline feature is essential.

25lb Flywheel About Right For The Price Point

There are a few very impressive ellipticals in this price bracket from well known companies like Sole Fitness and Bowflex that only offer 20lb flywheels which is okay. Still, it’s slightly disappointing when spending over $1k. 25lb for a flywheel in this price range is more like it, and I’m happy to see one featured on this machine.

Helps Keep Elliptical Motion Smooth

The weight of the flywheel is important because it’s one of the main features that help keep the elliptical motion smooth. You dont want a stuttering motion.

A heavy flywheel will keep everything smooth and consistent; of course, other factors affect the smoothness of the motion, like the drive and resistance systems and the rails the pedal run on, all of which I can happily say NordicTrack got right with this machine. Still, it’s the weight of the flywheel thats most important.

Resistance Will Be Strong In The Upper Levels

Also, its the weight of the flywheel that affects how strong the resistance is in those all-important upper levels, and with a 25lb flywheel weight, it’s going feel strong, which is excellent news as it means this elliptical is suitable for most fitness levels apart from serious athletes in training.

Monitor With 1000s of Trainer Led Workouts

I’ve been reviewing ellipticals for years, and when it comes to monitors, NordicTrack outshines everyone else by a long way. They always include the best touchscreens and the most up-to-date features.

What I like most about this monitor are the one-touch controls. They’re so quick to use and save you from having to scroll through menus.

Also, you get grip pulse sensors and wireless heart rate monitoring. Wireless heart rate monitoring is a much more accurate way to measure pulse than the pulse grips, and I feel is an essential feature for those who love to train in their chosen heart rate zone.

7″ TouchScreen and iFit

Of course, you get iFit with this monitor and that loverly 7″ HD touchscreen to view it through. iFit is their subscription app, and it’s not super expensive if you choose a subscription for one person. It only costs 50c a day.

This is a pretty good price considering you get access to over 17 thousand workouts, including global routes where you can run anywhere in the world and all their trainer-led workouts where you can let the trainer adjust the incline and the resistance depending on the workout you have chosen or the global route you are running (one of my fav features).

It’s a cool app, and there’s loads of other stuff I haven’t mentioned.

However, you dont have to use the app. You can use this elliptical without iFit.

Other features of the monitor include BlueTooth Google Maps, auto breeze fans, two speakers, and its tracks all the usual workout stats such as distance, speed, time, etc.,

Adjustable Stride, but It’s Disappointing

You will only find the stride length of this elliptical disappointing if you’re 6’2″ or over for everyone else, it will be just fine. But really, we should have a max of 20″ on an elliptical in this price range, not 18.5″.

I dont know why NordicTrack would offer a shorter stride than its competitors, but they have, so for taller users, this elliptical isn’t your best choice.

What I like about it is that it’s adjustable by an inch (17.5 to 18.5) which is excellent news if you have more than one person using the elliptical at home as you can adjust it to suit.

Whisper Quiet Magnetic Resistance

Something else you’ll love about this elliptical is how quiet it is when in motion, and thats mainly thanks to its magnetic resistance system. Magnetic resistance is a frictionless resistance system which is why it’s so quiet, and because it’s frictionless, it’s also maintenance-free, which is always a good thing.

You get 22 levels of resistance with the NordicTrack 9.9 elliptical, and we know the upper levels will feel strong because you have that 25lb flywheel. Making it suitable for most fitness levels. The resistance levels can be adjusted using the one-touch buttons of the monitor, or you can allow the iFit trainers to adjust it for you.

Moving and Stationary Handles

Most ellipticals come with two pairs of handlebars, one moving and one static pair. The stationary pair are useful if you want to focus on the lower body, you can crank up the resistance and give the legs a really good workout.

The static pair are also great for beginners because they allow you to get used to the elliptical motion. And once you’ve built up your confidence, you can move on to the moving pair for a full-body workout.

2 Hour Assembly

It would be best if you gave yourself a couple of hours to assemble this elliptical. Ellipticals are a little more tricky to assemble than exercise bikes and treadmills, so set aside an afternoon to do the job properly is best. It’s a heavy elliptical, so having someone to give you a hand will be a big plus.

You’ll need to attach the front/rear stabilizers, the uprights, the pedals, the handlebars, the console, and covers. Detailed instructions are provided, and all the tools for the job are provided.

For maintenance: Maintenance is pretty low on this elliptical as it uses magnetic resistance. Still, all ellipticals, at some time in their life cycle, will develop an annoying squeak, so its best to keep things lubricated. 

Alternative

Sole E55 Elliptical

Sole Fitness are a company that stands behind their products. They offer some of the most impressive warranties out there. These guys pride themselves on the build quality of their fitness gear, and I’ve always been a big fan.

So with Sole Fitness, you dont get as much tech. There’s no HD touchscreen here. Instead, Sole concentrate their efforts on all the essentials, and with the E55, they get everything right.

The E55 is pretty similar to the NordicTrack 9.9 elliptical in that both come with surprisingly heavy-duty builds for mid-level ellipticals. The Sole E55 weighs 216lb, so it’s another heavy solid machine.

And both ellipticals boast excellent power adjustable inclines of 0-20 degrees.

The elliptical motion on the Sole E55 is particularly smooth thanks to the dual rails and four wheels. It’s the only elliptical in this price range that offers dual rails; they really help keep the pedals straight and moving smoothly. Also, the Sole, just like the NordicTrack elliptical, uses magnetic resistance and a belt drive system two other features that help keep things smooth.

Disappointingly the Sole Elliptical can only boast a 20lb flywheel compared to the 25lb of the Norodtcrack machine, but you do have the 20″ stride with the Sole E55, which is important for taller users.

Also, Sole provides the HR chest strap. No need to buy separately.

It’s a tough choice between these two machines. There’s not much in it. The NordicTrack 9.9 has the more impressive tech, still the monitor on the Sole is slightly larger (not HD or color) and includes more built-in workout programs, but there’s no auto-adjust feature as you get with the NordicTrack 9.9.

Finally, you get an extra year warranty on parts and labor with the Sole, which is appealing. However, both shine on quality and the essentials, with just a few minor differences. The Sole has a better warranty and larger stride, while the NordicTrack elliptical has a heavier flywheel and more advanced monitor; whichever one you choose, you won’t be disappointed,

To Sum Up

There isn’t much I didn’t like about the NordicTrack 9.9 elliptical. The heavy-duty build is impressive, and so too, are the features. NordicTrack seems to have put a lot of effort into the design of this machine, and they didn’t forget about the essentials, which is great to see.

The incline is important with front-drive ellipticals if you want to get the most out of your workouts, and the 9.9 boasts one of the best power inclines I’ve come across in this price bracket. But best of all this machine is nice and heavy, so you almost get a commercial feel which is what you want from your home elliptical.

Yes, I was disappointed with the stride length, as we really should be seeing 20″ in this price range, but it’s only a deal killer for people over 6’2″, so shouldn’t affect most of you.