Special Editor’s Note:This year we have formatted Octane’s reviews in a different way than we did the rest of our elliptical reviews. Over the past year we have gotten literally thousands of emails asking a simple question: IF Octane is overpriced, at what price does it become a good value? We decided to answer that question this year by changing the format. We give you the MSRP, What we think the MSRP should be, and what we think you should pay to get a good deal! We then based our ratings of their equipment based on the good deal pricing. We hope this helps when you are asking for a discount with your local specialty fitness dealer.
General Information:Octane is the brainchild of a former Lifefitness product manager/engineer and a former Lifefitness salesperson. Their idea was to develop their own elliptical designs, have them manufactured in China/Taiwan, and sell them for a premium price point. They figured they could do this if they offered specialty fitness dealers outrageous markup and made their dealer network adhere to their minimum advertised pricing policy. This brand concept has worked well, with dealers loving the outsized profits that they make off of Octane and pushing the product to unaware consumers.
Manufacturing Philosophy:In keeping with the quality price point Octane gives the consumer a reliable product with good fit and finish. While the internal quality is not up to the standard of brands like Lifefitness and Precor in our opinion, their fit and finish is. Octane wants to sell people decent products for a premium price giving their dealer network the benefit.
Company Outlook:The outlook for Octane has been solid up to this year due to the loyalty of their dealer network. Specialty fitness dealers, however, have been dropping like flies due to the recession. It will be interesting to see how much of their dealer network is left after the recession leaves its havoc.
