A cross trainer works for a UK home when it fits the room, stays quiet enough for the household below and
survives the first six months without becoming a clothes horse. This page compares 9 real cross
trainers and ellipticals by price, resistance type, footprint and stride length. Each one is matched to
your home type: flat, terrace or house.
Every model below sits in one sortable table. Tap Flat, Terrace or House and the Fit column re-ranks each
machine and flags it green, amber or red for that setting. No manufacturer in this set publishes a verified
decibel rating, so the table shows resistance type, the checkable spec that best predicts noise, rather than
a number nobody stands behind. Where a brand makes a noise claim we treat it as marketing, not a measurement.
Two worries turn up repeatedly in UK owner reviews. The first: a cross trainer becomes an expensive
clothes horse within months of arriving. The second: it is louder and bulkier than the listing photos
suggest. It can carry through the floor to a flat below.
This guide covers comparing machines by home type, what to spend, whether "cross trainer" and "elliptical"
mean different things, which models are quietest for a flat, whether a machine will actually fit your
space and how to choose between them.
Compare cross trainers by home type
The table below ranks all 9 machines by price, resistance type, footprint and stride length. Tap
Flat, Terrace or House above the table and it re-orders by fit for that setting. A flat has the tightest
tolerance: floor space is scarcer and noise can carry to a room below or next door. A house is the most
forgiving. It has more space to spare and fewer shared walls or floors to worry about. Each row also links to
its source: either a manufacturer product page or a named UK retailer listing.
Compare by home type
Tap your home type. We re-rank the table and flag each machine green, amber or red for its fit in that setting.
No manufacturer here publishes a verified decibel figure, so the table shows resistance type, the checkable spec that best predicts noise, see how we compare.
Cross trainers compared by price, resistance type, footprint and stride length, filterable by home type
Model
Resistance
Footprint
Fit
Buy
Body Sculpture BE7312G Foldable Magnetic Elliptical Cross Trainer
The Body Sculpture BE7312G is the only one of the 9 machines compared here rated a good fit for a flat, a
terrace and a house, and the only one that folds down for storage. That combination makes it our starting
point for a genuinely small space. Its stride length and flywheel weight are not published anywhere we
could source them, so it is a starting point rather than a confident outright winner.
#1
B
Best for flats and box rooms
Body Sculpture BE7312G Foldable Magnetic Elliptical Cross Trainer
Body Sculpture · £290 to £300
Flat: Fits well Terrace: Fits well House: Fits well
Resistance
Magnetic
Footprint
151 x 57.5 cm
Stride
n/a
The only model in this set that actually folds down, from 151 x 57.5cm to 110 x 57cm, at a sub-£300 RRP. A realistic pick where floor space has to be reclaimed after every session, though flywheel weight and stride length aren't published anywhere Body Sculpture or its retailers list.
Budget from £149 for the cheapest current model to £1499 for a premium motorised trainer across
the 9 machines compared here.
The Pro Fitness CT100 sits at the bottom of that range at £149, with the JLL CT300 and Body Sculpture BE7312G
just above it at £270 to £300. Machines below roughly £300 tend to use lighter frames and smaller flywheels.
UK owner reviews of budget machines commonly mention rocking or creaking under heavier use, and the Pro
Fitness CT100 in particular draws assembly and stability complaints alongside praise for its price.
Mid-range machines from £369 to £499 add a heavier flywheel or a wider stride for a sturdier feel. That
range includes the New Image FITT Strider and JTX Strider-X8. Spend past £600 on the ProForm Sport or
Bowflex Max Trainer M6. That extra spend mostly buys app-connected programming or a motorised resistance
system rather than a bigger machine.
The Pro Fitness CT100 at £149 is the cheapest model in the comparison and sits below this chart's range. Most of the rest sit under £700. The Bowflex Max Trainer M6 is the outlier at £999 to £1,499: a motorised vertical trainer rather than a traditional cross trainer.
The full budget breakdown lives on best cross trainer under £300.
It covers which sub-£300 models are genuinely worth it.
Cross trainer or elliptical: does it matter?
No. Cross trainer and elliptical describe the same machine in the UK: a standing cardio machine with two
foot pedals and moving handlebars.
UK retailers use both words interchangeably on the same product listing. Elliptical is the more
common US term; cross trainer is the more common British one. The detail that actually matters when buying
is not the name. It is the stride length and the resistance type.
None of the 9 machines compared here has a fully verified manufacturer decibel rating. Treat "quiet"
marketing claims with caution.
JLL describes the CT300 as "whisper-quiet" on its own product page but publishes no decibel figure to back
that up. Dripex markets one elliptical as "sound at less than 20dB". That claim has no stated test method
or standard. We do not treat that as a real spec. It is not shown as a noise figure in the table above.
Resistance type is the more reliable signal. Every magnetic-resistance machine in this set is generally
quieter in normal operation than a motorised system. The Bowflex Max Trainer M6 uses motorised magnetic
resistance instead. Check that in person before buying for a flat.
Measure your space before you buy. Cross trainers are consistently described by owners as deceptively
large once assembled.
Published footprints in this set range from 105cm by 65cm for the New Image FITT Strider up to 150cm by
65cm for the ProForm Sport. Add clearance front and back to step on and off safely. Only one model here
folds down for storage: the Body Sculpture BE7312G. It goes from 151cm by 57.5cm unfolded to 110cm by 57cm
folded.
Only the Body Sculpture BE7312G folds down: 151cm to 110cm. It is the sole folding model among those charted here.
Match the machine to your home type first, then your budget, then your stride length.
That order matters. A machine too big or too loud for your home will not get used. Price and programme
count do not change that.
Our buying-guide pillar defines every term used on this page: flywheel weight, resistance type, stride
length and footprint. It links each term to the page that puts it to use.
We don't run a testing lab and we don't pretend to. Every noise figure on this site is the
manufacturer's stated decibel rating, labelled as such: we never present a spec-sheet
number as something we measured ourselves. Footprint and stride length come from the same
published specifications, cross-checked against retailer listings and real UK owner reviews
where the numbers disagree.
We then match each machine to a home type (flat, terrace or house) based on
how much noise and floor space that setting can realistically absorb. Where a figure isn't
published anywhere we can source it, we say "not published" rather than estimate. We earn
affiliate commission on some links, but it never decides which machine is flagged as the
best fit. Read our full method.
Frequently asked questions
Will a cross trainer just become a clothes horse?+
That depends more on the buying decision than the machine. Owner reviews consistently link abandonment to two mistakes: buying one that is too loud or too large for the room it ends up in. Match the machine to your home type first. Check the Fit column in the table above before you buy. That removes the two most common reasons it stops getting used.
Will the noise disturb people downstairs or next door?+
Possibly. No manufacturer in this set publishes a fully verified decibel rating. Magnetic resistance is generally quieter than motorised resistance in operation. Use the Flat filter above and check the quietest cross trainers guide before buying for a shared building.
Is a sub-£300 cross trainer worth it?+
Yes, for light or occasional use. Three of the machines here sit at or under £300: the Pro Fitness CT100 at £149, the JLL CT300 at £270 to £280 and the Body Sculpture BE7312G at £290 to £300. UK owner reviews of budget machines commonly mention rocking or creaking under heavier or longer sessions, and the cheapest, the Pro Fitness CT100, carries the most of those complaints. Weigh that against how often you plan to use it.
How much floor space does a cross trainer need?+
Between 105cm and 151cm in length across the 9 machines compared here. Add stepping clearance front and back. Only the Body Sculpture BE7312G folds down for storage: it goes from 151cm to 110cm. Measure your space before you order. Cross trainers are routinely reported as larger in person than in photos.
Is a cross trainer the same as an elliptical?+
Yes. Both terms describe the same standing cardio machine in the UK. Retailers use them interchangeably on the same listing. The detail worth comparing is stride length and resistance type. The word printed on the box matters far less.