It was curiosity at first sight. And love at first workout.
That’s the response I had after first seeing – and then trying out – the Cybex Arc Trainer at a client’s fitness center last year.
I was so impressed with the Cybex Arc Trainer that I decided to purchase one for my home gym.
After a false start with the home version of the machine (the 350A Home model, which I didn’t like – more about that after the jump), I upgraded to the top of the line Cybex Arc Trainer 630A (now the 750AT) – the same commercial grade equipment at the gym.
The Cybex Arc Trainer 630A is far and away my favorite cardio fitness equipment. Here’s my assessment of the Cybex Arc Trainer – and why I think it is the best elliptical trainer / cross trainer on the market.
What I Like:
- A great workout but not hard on the joints: The unique ”reverse arc” motion moves your legs in a biomechanically correct pathway – reducing stress at your knee. The arc never places your toe behind your knee (when your toe moves behind your knee there is significantly more stress applied to your knee joint).
- Adjustable stride height: This is where the Cybex Arc Trainer really shines. With other elliptical trainers, your stride height remains fixed in the same position. With the Cybex Arc Trainer, the stride height – how high your knees come up as you stride – is adjustable. As Cybex describes: “At the lower incline levels, the ‘glide’ is a cross country skier. In the mid-range levels, the motion is a ’stride’ (like an elliptical except with proper positioning). At the high levels, the ‘climb’ of a stepper or climber.” I like the variety this provides in my workouts, both physical and mental. Especially during the “Hill Profile” programmed workout.
- Natural movement of legs and arms: With the Arc Trainer, as your right leg moves forward, your right arm moves forward at the same time. This allows you to always maintain optimal posture during exercise, which virtually eliminates stress on your back. And it tracks similarly to the way your legs and arms move same side when running (which I prefer). With other cross trainers, your arms and legs move in opposite directions.
- Display: The digital display is easy to use and easy to read. The upper display shows distance, calories, calories/hour, METs, watts, strides per minute and heart rate; lower display shows time, incline and resistance level.
- Solid feel: everything about the fit and finish of the Cybex Arc Trainer is solid and well put together.
- Smooth ride: The Cybex Arc Trainer is the BMW of elliptical trainers.
- Self powered: does not require a power cord (one less tangle of power cord = simplicity).
- Wide cup holder: Accommodates even my relatively wide CamelBak bottle.
- Cybex employees: The employees I spoke with on the phone were helpful, friendly and professional. Particularly Bill Domineau, Vice President of Customer Service, who enabled me to do a paid upgrade from the 350A Home which I hated, to the 630A which I love. Dear Cybex, you have a winner with Bill!
What Could Be Better:
- Tray: the “magazine rack” lacks a good place to put your iPod, the shelf is too narrow. In an otherwise well designed high-end machine, this is an oversight, given that most of users have MP3 players.
- No cool down function: The Cybex Arc Trainer doesn’t have a cool down function. You can get around this by starting another 10 minute workout in Manual program, with low level and low incline. But on a high-end machine, I’d expect the work out programs would have the option for a cool down.
- Safety of children and pets: the way the hinged parts move, you MUST be 100% sure that children and pets are kept out of the room while you workout. This is not optional, this is otherwise potentially extremely dangerous. A child or pet investigating the machine while you exercise could be seriously injured or worse by the force of the moving parts near the base of the machine. While there is a warning sticker on the machine, I’d like to see Cybex engineers design a machine that has more safety space between the base and the moving parts.
After the jump:
- My mini-review of the Cybex Arc Trainer 350A Home
So what do YOU think? What’s your favorite exercise equipment? What do you like best about it?
My Mini-Review of the Cybex Arc Trainer 350A Home:
The 350A Home (now 360A Home) version of the Arc Trainer machine is not the same as the commercial version. Not even close. It’s sort of like the difference between a Chevy and a BMW. Both are cars and will get from point A to point B. But the BMW has the far superior ride.
While they look similar, there are many key differences between the home and commercial versions. At the time I purchased, Cybex marketing materials did not adequately explain the differences. So I’ll detail the differences here:
What I Didn’t Like:
- The control panel buttons look and feel cheap, like they are from a science fair kit.
- Resistance levels go from 1-20, but at maximum setting of 20, the resistance is merely 50% of the 630A model.
- Incline level of 1-10 on the 350A Home does not equate to incline level of 1-10 on the 630A (approximately 70% less stride height – this is a BIG difference, and IMO makes the 350A a non-starter.)
- The arms of the machine feel too far forward, causing you to lean in to reach them and taking you outside of the ideal position Cybex describes with the 630A.
- Not as smooth as the 630A.
- While doing a programmed workout that includes changes to incline, the display doesn’t show the incline number changing as the inclines changes (unlike the 630A model).
- Cupholder is too small.
- The unit I received came with backlevel firmware, and the wireless heartrate monitor did not work correctly.
- The unit I received had a backlevel manual.
- Set up issues: the arm bolt wouldn’t fit as intended, and as a result a service call by a technician was required; there was a loud vibration inside the motor housing, that required yet another service call by a technician.
What I liked:
- The tray is well-suited to place an iPod on it.
- Functional
- Less expensive than the 630A.
- Design looks good.
- Despite the things I didn’t like, it is still better than a standard elliptical trainer.
- While I’d prefer to never have to meet a service technician, the independent service technicians I met with outstanding. A+
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Thanks for the review. I think, asfter reading your review that I owuld not purchase the home version or 350A as I had considered.
Not sure if the 650 price range is worth it though…:(
@Deb, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.
I’d encourage you to find a local store that sells the 350A and try it out for yourself. Everyone is different, and perhaps it just wasn’t what I like, but could be what you and others like. It’s a good machine, just not the same as the 650, and you just have to know what the differences are going into the purchase.
And I’ve got to tell you: the 650 is more than worth the extra price! I am very happy with it.
At cap maison we have a few gim equipment and my cybex arc trainer model;425a is not working .serial number co4-17425a9044n2497 . There is no power on the display but power goes to the unit.
Any assistance will be greatley appreciated
Thank You
Popo
@popo – you’d have to contact Cybex about that! (But if you want to fly me to St. Lucia, I’d be glad to provide business consulting or coaching!)
Very helpful review. I would have got the 360a before I read your review. But on the 610a at my gym, I only get a good workout at 7+ incline. If you had to compare the 360a to the commercial models, what percentage of incline do you think you can achieve?
Also, do you know the difference between the 610a and the 630a? I think right now I’m leaning toward getting a used 610a – that is, assuming the 610a is as high quailty as the 630a. Maybe the 630 is the same as 610 but newer? Or the legs-only version? help?
Bryan
Comparing the incline for the 350A Home with the incline for the 630a commercial, here is what I found: Incline level of 1-10 on the 350A Home does not equate to incline level of 1-10 on the 630A (approximately 70% less stride height – this is a BIG difference, and IMO makes the 350A a non-starter.)
As far as comparisons between 610a and 630a. I think your best bet is to call Cybex and ask them, they should be a better source of info on that.
David i also am upgrading to the 750at the 350 was riddled with problems from day one .Bill is currently looking for a refurbished model for me,wondering what you had to pay to upgrade.
I purchased a 350A about 12 months ago but the retail store replaced it for free with a 360A 3 months into the purchase when a piece within the main mechanical unit broke. I’ve had the 360A for about 9 months now and I like it a lot. I have a treadmill and switch between the two. I’m a big guy and the 360A still works well with my extra weight. Its mostly steel (very little plastic) which is good and a bit unusual in a home unit. But the two foot pads have both recently cracked. They still work but I will now seek to replace them. Not sure why these foot pedals are plastic if the majority of the devise which takes the weight & stress is metal. But all-in-all, I recommend the 360A.
I’m looking into a used 610A. Any recommendations at to height clearance for this machine? That is to say with an 8 ft. ceiling height, is it enough room to use? Thanks for response.
Ok so don’t go w the 360A? I have a commercial treadmill the Nordictrack 9600 incline but I like the arc trainer to, I have no way to try out a home version we don’t have any stores anywhere remotely close to me! I love LOVE the arc trainer at the gym so smooth and the incline is awsome! I’m going to use this machine all the time lime my treadmill and don’t want it to feel flaky! I would
like to know if I like real quailty no crap what do u think?! Is the 360a just really cheesy?! Thank ya
Hey Amy, thanks for stopping by and reading my review. I really don’t have anything to add to my review, other than to answer your question by saying that if you love the arc trainer at the gym for being so smooth and the awesome incline, you might not like the 360a home version as much. It isn’t really cheesy, but it is clearly not in the same galaxy as the professional level arc trainer. I have used them both, and I wasn’t happy with the 360a home version. That doesn’t mean it is a bad product. And it doesn’t mean that everyone would be unhappy with it. “Your mileage may vary”, as they say. But it wasn’t or me. I LOVE the professional version of the Arc Trainer, and am delighted to own one! :)
Ok thanks! Im deff going to go w the the 630a! What’s the differnce between the 600 mods? Like the 610a total bod the 620a & the 630a?! Sorry I want to be sure to get a good one! I’m into the figure comps and that’s all I do is workout so I want to do it with the machine I use at the gym! It works me out perfect and if the home one isn’t exactly like that one I don’t really think I will like it either;) thanks
While I haven’t tried the 750AT, my gym has older models, one style with fixed straight handles (600?) and the other with curved handles that move (610?). I use the latter on virtually every visit, and it’s my favorite machine. It’s the only elliptical machine at the gym that I can use without any risk of bumping my knees, and the only one with adjustable incline.
I always do a 40-minute hill program, watch strides per minute, and keep track of total calories burned, aiming for more than 800. I check calories burned every 5 minutes to see how I’m progressing. An improvement I would like to see in the software would allow users to vary the incline and intensity in the hill program.
My second and third favorite cardio machines are the First Degree Fitness fluid rower and the upright Expresso bike. I hope you will try them out and write reviews. The First Degree rower has a more natural feel than the Concept 2 rower the gym used to have. The Expresso bike is the most natural stationary bike I have used, but unfortunately, the software needs work. The video display of the trail program is inconsistent with the resistances programmed. You may be pedaling uphill while the video is showing a downhill grade. They must have released it without any beta testing. I see from their website that the latest model, the S3, has different, more complex displays, so perhaps they have fixed the clunky video on the prior generation.
David, great review. Like the others, was considering the home version, but now want the commercial version, but ah, where to dig up the extra 3 grand. anyway, my quick question is – with no power cord, how does the digital display work? Where does that power come from? And if even that display is powered by people energy, does that mean if you stop moving, the display goes away?
Thanks. Mickey
Mickey, thanks for stopping by. Correct, no power cord. Your pedaling is what provides the power for the display. I never paid much attention to this, but I think it doesn’t just turn off the moment you stop pedaling, if I recall correctly, it continues to display for a bit. But again, I never paid much attention to this, so I might be wrong. If it is important to you, then you might want to check it out at a gym, or call Cybex, to confirm!
Excellent review and exactly the info i was looking for!
I WANT BUY A 350A HOME ARC TRAINER &750ARC PLEASE SUPPLY FOR RATE CONFORM
URGENTLY
Thanks a lot for the review! The reason I came here is because I tried the commercial grade one at the gym & wanted to purchase it thats before I knew the cost though.
What I liked about it is that it works you out yet it’s easy on your body.
What I mean by that is to lose 2 pounds a week, I aim for 500 cardio calories & I tried the treadmill & other machines but they were too”difficult & after 80 calories I was done & tired & unmotivated.
With this machine though, I can stay on there for an hour & burn my 500 calories in an hour.
David, since I can’t afford the professional one, what do you recommend for home usage? I feel like trying an ordinary elliptical is too much of a downgrade.
Would you recommend a gym grade elliptical or the home version of the cyber??
Thanks please REPLY: what home machine do u recommend?
It’s me again. One other question: What is the name of this machine. I can’t afford this brand the Cybex brand but am willing to look at other brands but its not exactly an elliptical or a strider, what is it called?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbtjCznrNXI&feature=related
Is that a good cheaper alternative or not? I really want this machine but can’t afford it! LOL!
Anyone tried that?
Great review. I was looking at the home version having used the 630 in the gym. If the 350A is nothing like that i’d prefer the 630. I’ve noticed some websites sell refurbished 630’s for around the same price as a new 350. Does anyone have any idea whether these are any good and worth the money?
Hi Dave!
Can you give me a COMPARISON of the Vision Fitness s7200hrt suspension elliptical vs the cybex 750A total body Arc Trainer?
Would this be comparable? But of course more affortable? Similar motion with arms that move like you are running on the Vision, vs arms that move with the same leg?
Thank you for a quick response!
Hi Joy! Thanks for stopping by and reading and commenting. I’m not familiar with the Vision Fitness s7200hrt so I really can’t compare them. If you learn more about it, please do post here and let us know!
As a technician for Cybex I can answer a few questions posed here on the Arc Trainer. first, a few people asked the difference between 610 and 630 Arc models. these are visually identical, and the difference is that the 610 is a corded unit (it needs to be plugged into a wall outlet to work) and the 630 models are self-powered, which brings me to the second question, how does the self powered unit power up and stay on during the workout? the 630 and 750 models are equipped with a generator as part of the resistance brake, that generates power during periods whan the unit is in motion. for the times that the motion is not enough to maintain the console power, or at the review after the workout is complete, there is a battery incorporated into the unit that handles the power needs during these times. i hope this answers soe of your questions.
David do you know the difference between the 630a and 750at (features)? I am looking to buy one but don’t know the difference between the two. I know that the 630 is the older version which has been replaced by the 750. I can get the 630 for much less money but would pay for the 750 if it is a superior machine. What do you recommend?
@Maryam, thanks for your comment and for stopping by my blog. I don’t know the difference between the 630a and 750at. Perhaps Ed from Cybex who posted in the comment above can answer that? Or – if you’re thinking about dropping this amount of $$$ on equipment – it might be worth a call directly to Cybex to ask them!