Wondering if the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical is right for you? Here’s a full review of this elliptical that is perfect for doing online classes and getting in killer shape.
The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 is one of the best elliptical machines on the market for home gyms.
It’s got a big, glorious 14” HD screen that is perfect for doing online workouts, the biggest flywheel available for residential ellipticals (32lb), and NordicTrack’s legendary brand reputation backing it all up.
In other words, the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical is the perfect trainer for people who love doing online classes and want an insanely smooth striding experience in the comfort of their home.
In this review of the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9, we cover the pros and cons of the machine, compare it to other NordicTrack ellipticals, and compare it to the competition.
By the end, you will know with total confidence whether the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical is the cardio machine to help you achieve your health and fitness goals.
Let’s jump—or rather, stride—right in!
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical – Key Specs
- Price: $1,499
- Screen: 14” HD touchscreen
- Interactive programming: iFit compatible (30 days free with the machine, $39 a month afterward)
- Bluetooth connectivity, two speakers
- Flywheel: 32lbs
- Commercial steel frame
- Resistance levels: 26
- Adjustable incline: 0-20 degrees power incline
- Machine weight: 210lb
- Max user weight: 350lb
- Footprint: 67” x 29”
- Financing available (12, 39 or 43 months)
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Warranty: 10 years (frame), 2 years (parts), 1 year (labor)
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical – The Pros
Okay, without any messing around, here are the key things that make the Commercial 14.9 stand above other elliptical machines in its class.
They include:
✅ Heaviest flywheel for ellipticals for home gyms
The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 lives up to the “commercial” in its name with a flywheel that weighs a whopping 32lb.
(After testing and reviewing over 50 ellipticals over the years, this is easily the heaviest flywheel on an elliptical designed for residential use.)
A heavier flywheel increases the inertia of the elliptical, which has several key benefits. The primary one is a smoother and more natural elliptical stride, reducing choppy or jerky movements on the elliptical.
A heavy flywheel also gives you more resistance level options and increased stability when in use (i.e. less rocking and “clunking” of the drive).
The 32lb flywheel on the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 is the sturdiest for an elliptical designed for home use. It’s also sturdier than most of the ellipticals at my local gyms.
✅ A big screen that is perfect for immersive workouts
Cardio machines have come a long way in recent years regarding the console screen.
Where at one point the “standard” was a basic LCD display, now we have crisp, 4k screens broadcasting trainer-led classes from across the world.
The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical jumps on this trend with both feet, with a 14” high-definition touchscreen that is perfect for striding away to trainer-led classes or one of the thousands of workouts in the iFit library.
Note: The iFit membership includes more than just elliptical workouts. You also get access to tons of yoga, strength training and many other types of workouts.
If you don’t want to do the online classes (or pay the monthly iFit subscription), the Commercial 14.9 does have 35 onboard workouts. You can also hook up Google Maps to the machine, allowing you to experience virtual outdoor workouts and personalized routes.
✅ Auto-adjusting stride length
While I wouldn’t consider the NordicTrack 14.9 a pure elliptical with adjustable stride length, it does have SOME variability with the length of your stride.
The 14.9 automatically adjusts the stride between 17.5” to 18.7” to your natural gait and form.
For most people, this is awesome news–you can hit that perfect stride that feels most comfortable when working out.
✅ The online training is legit.
Having worked as a personal trainer for years, I’ve seen the difference it can be having someone coaching you and pushing you while working out.
The iFit trainer-led classes are awesome for giving you a little motivation. iFit is one of the best when it comes to immersive workouts, including virtual training via trainer-led classes.
The Commercial 14.9 comes with four user profiles–perfect for multi-user households–and the vast collection of iFit workouts can be accessed from the elliptical as well as from your smartphone.
The huge range of other workout programs that are guided and trainer-led, including strength training, HIIT, yoga, and other functional fitness exercise routines, are all part of the iFit subscription, making it the next best thing to having your own cadre of personal trainers.
So while it’s obviously not the same as a personal trainer or coach in real life, having someone cheering you on through a screen can be a legitimate game-changer.
✅ Quiet magnetic drive.
Cardio equipment can be loud–anyone who has owned a treadmill, rower, or an assault bike can attest to this. Making a racket while kids, wife, and/or dog try to sleep in the next room tends to lead to grumpiness and protests.
The silent magnetic resistance flywheel on the NordicTrack 14.9 uses magnets to create resistance–the magnets close in on the flywheel as you crank up the resistance–which means no airflow or loud motors are banging around and making a ton of noise.
No matter how hard I went to town on the Comercial 14.9, that magnetic drive quietly hummed along, resulting in a quiet and virtually noiseless operation with no one else in the house the wiser.
Great for those early morning workouts when you want to get a cardio session in without waking up the house.
✅ Most comfy foot pedals on the market.
I’ve tried a TON Of elliptical machines over the years, from the $6,000 Life Fitness Ellipticals in home gyms to the super cheap, questionable-seller third-party seller no-name ellipticals found in the dregs of Amazon’s 12th page of ellipticals.
And while the focus on these machines, particularly when investing in one for a home gym, tends to be price and ride, the comfort of the foot pedals plays a sneakily important role.
After all, if your feet get sore from a bad pedal, that $1,500 elliptical will turn into a towel rack mighty fast.
The Commercial 14.9 (and the Commercial 9.9, as well), have the most comfortable foot pedals I’ve ever used. The pedals have a corrugated foam cushioning that helps to reduce foot discomfort, and by extension, eliminating ankle and knee stress from extended use.
✅ Comfort features
The goal with investing in an elliptical machine is to spend lots of time on it, torching calories, improving cardiovascular fitness, and soaking up all of the benefits of an elliptical machine.
Which means comfort features are crucial.
In my review, I found that the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 nails it here, too, with everything you need to slay those workouts in relative comfort, including:
Oversized water bottle – The water bottle holder is housed right underneath the console. Easy to reach during those sweaty workouts.
One-touch controls – Adjusting ramp incline, resistance, turning the fan up or down, and checking in on your heart rate is easy with one-touch controls on the screen and console. The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 also has one-touch incline and resistance controls on the handles.
Dual handlebars – I love that there are plenty of grip options on the Commercial 14.9! This is an underrated feature on elliptical machines. The 14.9 has both stationary and moving handlebars with different grip positions for maximum comfort and isolating different muscle groups.
Heart rate monitoring – Heart rate training is also a breeze—sensors on the handlebars keep you in the zone, whether it’s a high-intensity anaerobic workout or a long, steady-state fat-burning training.
Auto-adjusting fan – Speaking of things that are a breeze, the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 has a fan that can be adjusted among several speed settings. It has an “AutoBreeze” feature that adjusts the fan speed based on your workout intensity. As you increase your pace and effort, the fan blows harder to ensure you stay cool and comfortable, especially during intense workouts.
Easy to move – While the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 is a beast of a machine in terms of features and functionality, it’s relatively light for a commercial-grade elliptical. The 14.9 weighs just 210lbs and combined with the transport wheels at the front of the frame, it’s surprisingly easy to move.
✅ Assembly is straightforward
I have assembled more cardio machines over the years than I can count, both for my home gym as well as at my own gyms.
The ease of assembly is all over the place, with some brands and cardio machines being an absolute pleasure to assemble (Rogue Echo Bike sets the record for fastest assembly time at 15 minutes) while others have unclear instructions, missing parts, and lots of hair-pulling.
The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 wasn’t the easiest elliptical to assemble, but it certainly wasn’t the most difficult.
More importantly, the instructions in the assembly manual were straightforward and clear.
Nothing grinds my gears more than assembly manuals that a) stuff every step into one image and b) don’t properly label parts.
The NordicTrack 14.9 took me less than an hour to assemble on my own, but people less experienced in putting together cardio machines may want to consider opting for in-home assembly or recruiting a friend to help with assembly.
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical – The Cons
Not ideal for really tall people.
Calling all tall people–you probably won’t love the Commercial 9.9.
As a card-carrying member of the “low doorways are sometimes a problem” club, I found the 14.9 to be a little too short of stride for my liking, adjustable stride length and all.
My wife, who is 5’11” loved it, but me and my gangly legs at 6’5” were a little too tall.
Really tall users will want to check out an elliptical with a longer stride length.
My suggestions include the Sole E95s Elliptical (which has an adjustable stride length of up to 24″), the Nautilus E618 Elliptical (22″ stride length), or the Diamondback 1060ef Elliptical (with your choice of 17″, 20″ or 23″ stride lengths).
No ledge for smartphones or tablets.
I know, the Commercial 14.9 is designed to be an immersive online training experience with that big and shiny 14” HD touchscreen.
But I prefer having my smartphone on me while working, if not to listen to a podcast while working out than to keep my phone on me to stay in touch with my goings on of the day.
The Commercial 14.9 surprisingly doesn’t have a ledge to park a smartphone or tablet on.
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Reviews – What Others Are Saying
The reviews of the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 across the web are largely positive, with people consistently praising the stability of the machine, the silent drive, and the big touchscreen for online classes.
Reviews of the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9, where people were dissatisfied with the elliptical, cite the ongoing subscription costs for the iFit membership and that the starting resistance was too difficult for some users.
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 vs. Commercial 9.9
NordicTrack has six different elliptical machines on the market right now, and they are clumped in big brother/little brother pairs.
The Commercial 14.9 is the feature-rich, big brother version of the “commercial” grouping, with the NordicTrack Commercial 9.9 Elliptical being the little bro. The 14.9’s main upgrades include a significantly larger screen (14″ vs 7″) and a heavier flywheel (32lb vs 25lb).
Here is how the two machines stack up against one another in terms of features:
| Commercial 14.9 | Commercial 9.9 | |
| Price | $1,499 | $999 |
| Screen | 14″ HD touchscreen | 7″ HD touchscreen |
| Resistance Levels | 26 | 22 |
| Flywheel | 32lb | 25lb |
| Machine Weight | 210lb | 244lb |
| Max User Weight | 350lb | 350lb |
| Footprint | 67″ x 29″ | 68.3″ x 28.8″ |
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 vs. the Competition
In my opinion, the strength of the Commercial 14.9 lies in its huge screen for iFit classes and the heavy-duty flywheel that leads the industry in terms of performance for residential ellipticals.
Here is how it compares to other elliptical machines that are primarily designed for online workouts and trainer-led classes:
Bowflex Max Trainer 16. An elliptical and stepper combo that has a 16” (!!) HD touchscreen for immersive programming. The Bowflex Max Trainer 16 is more of a stepper than an elliptical, which is harder and better suited to more experienced users looking to crank out sweaty interval workouts.
NordicTrack FS14i. The NordicTrack FS14i is a unique trainer in that it is a 3-in-1 machine, including a stepper, elliptical, and the running gait of a treadmill (without the impact). The FS14i offers the same 14” HD touchscreen as the Commercial 14.9 that is built for doing iFit programs and workouts but is also significantly more expensive ($2,299).
ProForm Pro HIIT H14. Another elliptical and stepper combo, and made by the same parent company as NordicTrack, the ProForm HIIT H14 also has a 14” HD touchscreen that carries iFit classes and programs. The footprint is tiny on the elliptical/stepper combo, making it ideal for people who are low on floor space in their home gym. It also costs exactly the same as the Commercial 14.9 at $1,799.
NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 Elliptical — FAQs
Can you lose weight on a NordicTrack elliptical?
Yes, you can lose weight with a NordicTrack elliptical.
The Commercial 14.9, in particular has a wide range of features that makes it an excellent option for people looking to lose weight, including lots of resistance levels, power incline, comfortable foot pedals, and a durable flywheel for a smooth and jerk-free striding experience.
To lose weigh on an elliptical, spend lots of time in the fat-burning zone (65-80% of max heart rate), do longer workouts (40+ minutes), and mix up your elliptical workouts with HIIT sessions to crank up fat oxidation.
Are ProForm and NordicTrack the same company?
NordicTrack and ProForm are both owned by Icon Health and Fitness, otherwise known as iFit. Other brands under the iFit umbrella include Freemotion, Weider, and Sweat.
The Bottom Line
The NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 is an awesome elliptical.
The thing rides like a tank with its 32lb flywheel, the sturdiest of any elliptical I’ve come across that is designed for home use.
And with the 14″ HD screen, you will never be at a loss for workouts to try and trainers to follow.
If you are the kind of person who really gets a kick–or, stride, hehe–from online programming and want the sturdiest stride for home gyms, the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 will be perfect for you.
| ✅ PROS | ❌ CONS |
| 14″ HD touchscreen | Probably not for people who won’t use iFit |
| Compatible with iFit for almost unlimited workouts and trainer-led classes | Relatively short stride length; not ideal for very tall users |
| Most comfortable foot pedals on the market for elliptical machines | |
| 32lb flywheel; exceptionally sturdy striding experience |
+ Adjustable stride (17.5” to 18.7”)
+ Power incline (up to 20 degrees)
+ 14” HD touchscreen
+ Heaviest flywheel on the market
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