York Fitness Diamond x301 Elliptical Trainer Review

The York Fitness Diamond x301 elliptical trainer is without a doubt a quality machine. You only have to look at it for this to become obvious.

This is confirmed as soon as you step on it. The chrome finish, the design and the quality of even the most insignificant parts such as the bottle holder tell you it’s a winner – we loved it!

We may appear to go on about looks sometimes but they are important. When you’re a bit low and don’t feel like training the appearance of your machine can make all the difference. The York x301 practically says ‘get on, workout and feel better’ as you walk past it!

Okay, so now we are going on a bit too much – so how does it perform where it counts?

Well not surprisingly it can do what it says on the tin! It has 22 pre-set programmes designed to enhance fitness, build strength, tone up various parts of your body, burn fat and improve posture and flexibility. By varying the levels of resistance, it has 16 of them, you can switch from an aerobic workout to a strength and conditioning session with a touch of a button.

The York x301 also comes with a fitness test so you can measure your progress against a set workout plus a body fat % analyser via the console – it’s pretty clever! All you do is press the body fat button on the console and hold the pulse sensor grips for 8 seconds and then it will tell you your body fat percentage, which you may or may not want to know! There’s a convenient table in the user manual to let you know whether it’s good or bad news. The body fat analyser uses the data you enter for your user profile – the Diamond x301 can support up to 9 different profiles.

As with most other models in this price range you’ll get heart rate controlled programmes, four in total. Briefly, the machine will vary resistance levels to keep your heart working at its optimum level for fitness and fat burning. Unlike many other models the York Diamond x301 has pulse sensors in both sets of handles so youcan keep training your upper body whilst your pulse is measured.

Better still, you can use a chest strap which comes with the x301, to get a more accurate reading as the sensor is right next to your heart and not on your sweaty palms :0)

The 16 inch elliptical action is very, very smooth and incredibly quiet even when you belting along against the higher levels of resistance, and when you start to stir the treacle at the high end you really know your muscles are getting a proper working over! You can adjust the pedals if more than one user is using the machine, and you can also create up to 9 user profiles to monitor each persons progress.

Our score : 8.5 ( out of 10 ) A great trainer, one of the best we’ve tried for under £500.