Sole Fitness E98 Commercial Elliptical Trainer
In terms of its design, the Sole Fitness E98 Commercial Elliptical Trainer represents a clear upgrade over the earlier E95 model, with an extra 20 degrees of incline, heavier flywheel, and additional weight capacity.
By taking a look at the design, functions, and preset training programs, this review aims to provide you with all the information you need to decide if this is the best elliptical for your own home workouts.
Design features
As with most cardio equipment, there tends to be one feature that decides how effectively you can workout on the machine.
For treadmills it’s the running area, as not having the space to reach your running stride will impact on your results. But for ellipticals, it’s the length of the running stride.
Although there are a small number of machines that allow you to adjust the stride, this isn’t the case with the Sole Fitness E98.
Instead, you have a fixed 20″ stride, which is getting towards the longest you can expect to find on any elliptical, even in commercial gyms.
This essentially means the running stride will be more natural for taller users, unlike lower priced machines with 14″ strides, which can feel more like a light jog at best.
Being able to build up to a longer stride at higher resistance and incline levels will not only increase the number of calories you burn, but also activate a wider range of upper and lower body muscle groups.
In terms of adjusting the speed and incline, both can be managed directly through the display console, without the need for any manual adjustment.
The incline can vary between 0 and 40 degrees, while the 20 levels of resistance provide a challenging workout for every user, regardless of your current fitness level.
Ergonomic foot pedal design
We also want to quickly mention the design of the foot pedals.
Oversized and with a raised lip at the front, you can also adjust their angle through a range of 10 settings using a small hand wheel positioned at the back of the pedal.
As a result of the research performed with a leading sports scientist and physical rehabilitation expert, a 2-degree inward angle was also added to the foot straps to put the user’s joints back into a neutral alignment.
This acts to reduce the stress on your ankles, knees and hips.
Simply keeping your foot in contact with the pedal more at the right time during the elliptical motion can lead to a much more efficient use of energy, leading to greater distances covered in faster times.
If you do need to move this machine at any point after its assembly, Sole have also added a set of transport wheels to the front stabilizer, which are engaged when the rear of the machine is lifted.
Sole Fitness E98 – Features Summary
- 14kg heavy duty flywheel weight, total inertial weight 42.5kg
- Oversized 20″ stride length
- Electronic Incline Ramp: 0-40 degrees
- 20 Levels of Computer Controlled Magnetic Resistance
- Commercial console programs
- Blue Backlit LCD Display
- Oversized Footplates
- Sound System
- Cooling Fan
Display console design
If you were to compare the functions and quality of the Sole Fitness E98 display console with those from lower priced ellipticals, it’s clear to see that a lot of thought has gone into its design.
Together with ProForm, Sole have built a reputation for providing some of the largest, yet most fully functional consoles available for home use.
So it comes as no surprise that the E98 includes a combination of entertainment, cooling, and workout features, designed to help you enjoy a variety of indoor fitness routines.
With such a large amount of space available on the console, this prevents the need for any scrolling through the display, and also allows you to quickly start the workout program you find most effective.
The two lines of buttons added just below the display screen are used to choose the specific workout program, operate the fan, and adjust the resistance and incline by smaller increments than the quick-select buttons allow.
But that’s not to say the quick select buttons don’t have their uses.
When your workout involves the ‘manual’ program, you will have to set the incline and speed yourself. This can be a time consuming process, particularly if you are a fan of interval training.
The quick select buttons for the incline and resistance are positioned on either side of the screen, with increments that can be used to enhance your cardiovascular fitness over the course of future workouts.
One final feature of the console worth mentioning is the display screen. In keeping with the scale of the console, the extra large screen has enough space to provide your workout feedback in a quite unusual way.
Through the combination of a virtual running track, clearly displayed workout feedback, and ‘speedometer’ style dials, the extra space is really something you will appreciate if you are upgrading from a mid-range elliptical.
The display screen for the Sole Fitness E98 is also clearly backlit, helping to create greater contrast with the white text. This text is your workout stats, and includes your heart rate, time, program name, calories burned, laps, resistance, and incline.
Preset workout programs
Even if you’re someone who likes to plan their cardio ahead of time and be in control of the incline and resistance changes, the Sole Fitness E98 includes a workout program for you.
That being said, one of the only downsides with the E98 is that it has a fairly low number of preset workout programs for this price range.
The 7 that it does have are carefully chosen according to how well they can help you achieve specific fitness goals, with programs designed to emulate hill climbs, improve fat loss, and increase muscular strength.
In addition, you also have a cardio program for boosting your cardiovascular endurance, heart rate control programs, and an interval program that guides you through varying levels of workout intensity.
This helps you to use oxygen more efficiently, thereby reducing the time it takes your heart rate to recover after periods of intense exercise.
Together with these 7 preset workouts, the E98 also lets you create your own custom workout, manually adjust speed and incline with the ‘manual’ program, and even measure your fitness level with the built-in fitness test.
This test simply requires you to maintain a predetermined pedal speed for just a few minutes. Once it’s complete, your fitness score will be displayed on the console screen.
It’s recommended that you take this fitness test the first day you have the elliptical setup, so that you can clearly record your improvement across the course of future workouts.
Ease of assembly
Despite not having much of an effect on your workouts, we also wanted to review the quality of the user manual, and how easy it is to get the machine setup.
In terms of the assembly instructions, Sole Fitness have opted for a slightly different plan to most user guides we’ve come across.
Rather than trying to fit a diagram and text instructions on the same section of the page, what you actually get is the diagrams on completely different pages to the written instructions.
In our opinion this actually makes them a little easier to follow, with the larger diagrams and step-specific parts lists providing you with all the information you need to get setup quickly.
Although the flywheel casing is delivered already pre-assembled, you will still need to put together most of the base unit, the display console support, and the moveable arms.
The entire assembly is actually covered in just 4 steps, with reference numbers used to match up each bolt and washer to its correct location.
While there isn’t as much heavy lifting involved as some of their treadmills, you will probably still need to allow 60 to 90 minutes to get the Sole Fitness E98 ready for its first use.
If you want to take a quick look at the user manual for a Sole Fitness E98, feel free to download a copy from us.
What’s covered by the warranty?
- Labor: 1 year
- Parts and electronics: 3 years
- Frame: Lifetime
Sole Fitness E98
As a light commercial elliptical, the Sole Fitness E98 does have an impressive stride length, weight capacity, and ergonomic foot pedal adjustments.
The display console also includes just about everything you could want during a workout. Although there isn’t any sign of a tablet shelf for watching movies while you exercise, you do still have some excellent features.
The water bottle holder to hold a sports drink or water to keep you hydrated and energized, the cooling fan to maintain higher energy levels, clear feedback on your workout stats, and speakers with MP3 connectivity for listening to your favourite motivational music.
Overall this is an excellent machine for the price, and despite the lower number of workout programs, can still provide challenging workouts for all fitness levels with its combination of resistance and incline settings.
Product dimensions: 171cm (H) x 209cm (L) x 55cm (W) Weight capacity: 180 kg Product weight: 113 kg
Update October 2021
This product is no longer available for purchase online. To find current alternatives, please see the recent reviews of Cross Trainers.
