Bowflex M3 Max Trainer, Elliptical & Stepper
Bowflex M3 Max Trainer is a high-end low impact elliptical trainer with a premium look and feel, that is both an elliptical and a stepper for burning calories efficiently without putting a burden on your joints. You can get the great aerobic (cardiovascular) interval training benefits by dedicating just 14 minutes to the program.
It has a smart interactive back-lit display panel with a unique design that will let you set your targets for different activity levels and the amount of calories burned per minute. There are 8 automatic levels of resistance with the click of a dial and 2 preset exercise programs of manual and interval. This M3 model does not have the Bluetooth functionality like the M5, M7 and M8 models and the Max Trainer and Explore the World apps are not available here.
A chest strap is included with your purchase for measuring the heart rate. You can adjust the speed and resistance level easily through the control panel and tension dial. It has a vertical design with a small footprint to fit different rooms easily. The M3 is more affordable than the other members of the series or some competitor models of other brands on the market. Black Bowflex M3 Max Trainer is quite a heavy elliptical stepper trainer that weighs 159 pounds and measures 46.5 x 22.5 x 26.5 inches. The total maximum user weight capacity is 300 pounds on its sturdy steel frame. How high your ceiling needs to be is your (user) height with 15 inches added.
Although it is the most affordable unit in the brand new Max Trainer line it uses pretty much a similar technology and with only less of the bells and whistles and shorter warranty to be able to offer the customers that attractive price tag. It will still get your body working and burning calories efficiently. You can set up two user profiles on this M3 Max Trainer. The LCD display panel is easy to operate and 
read and can be quite helpful to the users. You won’t get any speakers, USB ports, MP3 or iPod connections on this one.
You don’t have the heart rate contact grips on the handles but a chest strap for a more accurate heart rate reading. There is a cup holder for you to put your water bottle or other small items. You can put your iPad or smartphone on the media shelf provided and watch videos or do whatever you wish to do and get to work out longer. You’ll get 600 exercises on the free membership to Daily Burn for 8 weeks. There is no doubt it works better than the standard elliptical trainers. And although it is quite a powerful and efficient calorie and fat burner, it applies much less pressure on your joints and knees.
What makes it special is it is rather compact while being quite powerful and feeling very sturdy and stable. And it happens to be a better alternative to an elliptical trainer. Bowflex M3 Max Trainer is reported to burn around 2.5 times the calories than an elliptical in the same amount of time. It will move and work your arms and upper body too, especially at the higher resistance levels. But it naturally won’t be as good as working out with weights (resistance training). The warranty for the M3 Max Trainer is one year by the manufacturer. You also get a 100% money refund guarantee for 6 weeks from the day of your purchase. Please check out the different Bowflex Max Trainer models at Amazon.com and compare them side by side with this M3 and see which one suits your needs better within your budget.