NordicTrack - Fusion CST - Black

I’ve only had it for a month and so far all is great !

First, take note that there is no way to leave a review about this product on NordicTrack's website, yet there's a ton of glowing reviews about how great the CST is. Take that for what it's worth. This thing is so bad, it drove us to pay the $700+ in wasted shipping costs and restocking fees it takes to have it sent back. The hardware itself is fine, but like another reviewer said, we bought this thing because of the guided workouts, the automated resistance settings and instructors that are heavily sold as the primary value of this thing. After using it for a month and a dozen or so workouts, I got ONE workout to run without excessive buffering, timeouts or just flat out quitting in the middle of the workout. We bought our own tablet because it seemed to be clearly the issue of the tablet included. That greatly helped the initial 10 minute+ buffering and took it down to one minute (the new tablet has a 70Mb connection to our wifi, included one would get 3-4 at best). Now it just buffers mid-workout, never to load again. And you can only start workouts from the beginning. There's no resume feature. There's no way to fast forward a workout. For the many that I'm sure are trying to replace the guided gym experience during COVID lock downs, this falls woefully short of doing so. The unfortunate thing is, if it weren't for the constant buffering or general unreliability of iFit (the app that runs on the tablet), this thing would be awesome and exactly what we wanted. It's clear the software was such an afterthought. The hardware is otherwise solid. When I opened a ticket with NordicTrack about the software issue, they told me they couldn't help me since it was an iFit problem....it's the same company and ships as the same piece of equipment. What?! The app hasn't been updated since 2018 and there is zero correlation with the CST and any other NordicTrack product even though they all use iFit. The CST is clearly an afterthought for NordicTrack and a waste of floor space. Do yourself a favor and save yourself from the same expensive mistake we did and choose something else.

The tablet is like a $30 non branded Android 5 tablet. It is complete junk. Now, I have a TV in my workout room and have a Chromecast, which should allow the tablet to be mirrored. That works pretty poorly honestly. It may be my wifi, but having only one screen for the machine makes doing workouts difficult in my opinion. If you are trying to mimic what the trainers are doing, half the time you are facing away from the machine and half the time you are facing the machine. They included a stand for the tablet, but that is marginal at best. Plus, the tablet is pretty small once you start getting any distance from it. Connection between the machine and the tablet leaves a lot to be desired as there are constant issues with it not working. The software does not get updated very much, and the tablet probably never will. No matter what security risks that creates. iFit, does not work great, and the software leaves TONS to be desired.

I really wanted to like this product. It's a great idea but the table and the Fusion CST app make it unusable. I bought it because of IFit and the classes with automated resistance, I did not buy this to manually adjust myself and look at a poster on a wall to do workouts and adjust resistance based on experimentation. The 1 year included IFit membership (that goes for over $400 supposedly) is not usuable since the Bluetooth and videos on tablet have a very difficult time syncing and videos buffering. This makes workouts unusable. You cannot fast forward or rewind so if a video loses connectivity you have to start all over, with all progress unsaved. I have to wait 15 minutes for a video to load and then it will buffer for 5 minutes, just to play 1 more minute of video. All the while the timing for the machine resistance is ongoing so it comes out of sync with the instructor and class. This is a very common issue from back in 2018 and it hasn't been fixed since. I won't spend $2500 with warranty and the next couple years frustrated with this equipment when Nordictrack hasn't even updated their app in a year, which also says is not optimized for the tablet they give you. No other Android tablet cannot be used. It must be the Portal 10i, which is total garbage. I will look into other options at this point.

We are extremely impressed with the NT Fusion CST. We are always pressed for time when it comes to exercising, and we feel like this machine allows us to squeeze in quick workouts. It's easy to set-up, and use regularly. Simply press the power button, dial in your resistance, and go! Quality is impressive, and the machine operates smoothly. There are a few exercises where I could use more resistance (like chest and curls), however if you focus on form you can get just as good of a workout. We do not regret this buying decision, and openly recommend it to everyone.