I am considering purchasing a Precor elliptical.  I prefer the older models and am open to a refurbished one.  Given the investment, I want to do this "right".

I read an opinion that one should buy from an authorized dealer rather than 2nd Wind, online or some other retailer.

CR didn't comment on that aspect of the purchase.  Can anyone offer insights?

I bought my Precor elliptical cross-trainer in 1997 for around $2,800 ... it has been the best piece of sports equipment we've ever bought.  In fact, I checked today and we've done 9.2 million strides on it (a typical workout is 3,600 strides, so this is around 2,600 workouts).

I've only had 2 issues with the machine in 11 years:

1. Needed to replace the nylon wheels because they wore out (dirt often gets left on the tracks, this wears the wheels).  Precor sent me new wheels for free and I installed them.

2. One wheel's bearing broke (sheared) ... went to a Precor dealer and they gave me two "barely" used wheels for free and I installed them.

I guess I think the product is very well made and supported by the dealer network in a high-quality way.  Perhaps this is worth a few extra hundred dollars for a product that has lasted for 11 years with regular use and will probably go another 11.