The ratings experts at Consumer Reports [1] have recently compiled a report on the best treadmills [2] and ellipticals [3] for the home and it's looking like if you want something that works well, you're going to have to shell out a few thousand bucks for it. That's because the Landice L7 Cardio Trainer treadmill [4] (pictured) and the Precor 5.31 elliptical [5] took the top spots overall and are both well over $3,000.

The best value in terms of elliptical machines was the $1,000 NordicTrack AudioStrider 990 [6]. Overall it was found that ellipticals that cost $2,000 and up were well-built and felt stable to testers, more like the $5,000 machines at gyms. And they were less likely to have defects.

To see the best values on treadmills just .

For the best value on treadmills, the magazine recommends two $1,300 machines — the Vision Fitness T900 Simple [7] and the Epic View 550 [8]. However, in treadmill tests the magazine found that you have to spend well over $2,000 to get a machine designed for serious runners, though lower-priced models are just fine for walkers.

Online subscribers can read the full reports here [9].

If you own a treadmill or elliptical tell us about it in the comments section below. Do you like it? Was it pricey? Ya know, give us the dirt.

Source [10]