I’ve had my X7i for four months.  My wife and I have two toddlers, and routine exercise has been sporadic and difficult to manage since our first child was born, so we were looking for a piece of exercise equipment for use at home as a tool for losing weight and improving our overall health & fitness.  I was originally looking for a treadmill so I could “hike” at home, and while researching a specific treadmill, I visited my local Sears store and I discovered NordicTrack incline trainers with iFit Live that would allow me to create/map my own “hikes.” 

Although Sears didn’t yet have the X7i available in my local store (at the time I learned about it), I did see and read about it online and we then ordered it and waited for it to arrive at Sears for in-store pick-up.  For a first piece of exercise equipment, it was pretty expensive (for us), so I tried to save everywhere I could.  I chose to purchase through Sears instead of directly from NordicTrack because I didn’t want to pay shipping.  I picked-up from Sears instead of having to pay to have it delivered locally.  Product pick-up was my last interaction with Sears for this purchase.  I never even talked with anyone in the store; I only talked with the guys at the loading dock as they helped me squeeze  the  huge crate into the back of my ’95 Pathfinder!   In hind sight, although it just barely fit in my SUV, it was difficult to remove from the SUV.  I set it up myself in an afternoon with the help of my wife and our neighbor.  At first the incline didn’t move, but that was resolved when I followed the included directions and updated the firmware for the console.  So my interaction with Sears was minimal.

I did have a few operational problems, all of which were corrected with firmware updates and via conversation and e-mail exchanges with people at Icon fitness (the company that owns the NordicTrack brand).  Over the first couple of months the X7i developed an irritating squeak; NordicTrack sent a few replacement parts and scheduled a local tech to come to my home to do the warranty repair.  After tightening a few bolts, the squeak is now gone and hasn’t returned.  For people who choose to put this together themselves, I recommend discarding the included allen wrench because it’s not substantial enough to get some of the long bolts as tight as they need to be.  Instead buy an allen tip that can be used with your existing socket wrench set.  Overall, I’m happy with the support I’ve received directly from NordicTrack and “UTS,” the repair company that NordicTrack sent to my house to do the warranty service.

I chose the X7i over other options largely because of all of the marketing materials posted on the web and because I felt it best met my own needs/expectation.  I’m over 300 pounds, and the X7i was the only incline trainer rated for someone of my weight.  The photos, videos and the promise of iFit made it looked FANTASTIC!  However, after buying it I learned  that the online demos showed the future promise of the product, and they didn’t reflect what it would really do when I plugged it in the very first time.  On one hand, I was disappointed that iFit on the X7i wasn’t as fully developed as I’d hoped.  On the other, whether iFit was ready or not, I was still using my X7i regularly and I was enjoying my workouts enough to want to keep working out.  And, NordicTrack continued to publish new firmware updates that continued to improve my incline trainer, and they’re continuing to make improvements to the overall iFit experience.  Over the past couple of weeks the now-available Jillian Michaels workouts were added, and they kick my butt – which is what they’re supposed to do.  Physically, I'm losing weight and I feel great, and my X7i has contributed to making that possible for me.

I read the other X7i reviews here on the Sears website, and my comments are based solely on my own experience.  My interaction with Sears was minimal; I bought a product and I picked it up and took it home.  There was nothing good or bad about it.  I had a couple of technical problems with my device, and those were resolved to my satisfaction.  I had a few disappointments about how the overall experience met my expectation, but that too seems to be resolving itself as NordicTrack continues to improve the iFit experience.  I would recommend this product for people who want to walk or jog (or "hike") on an incline.   I’m now happy with my choice and I look forward to using my X7i for many years.

x7i trainer. we brought the trainer home from Sears. The fan did not work. Your warranty will have the company send you refurbished parts With OUT instructions on how to make repair. I was unable to repair, and now the belt assembly is make a horrible noise. What next?