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Keys Fitness Elliptical Trainers
 Keys Fitness started in the industry in 1988 selling free weights and accessories. They launched their first treadmill in 1997 and in a short period of time they became a major player in the fitness equipment industry by selling on value. They jumped on the elliptical bandwagon in 2002. Like many fitness equipment companies, they are relatively new in producing elliptical trainers.
Keys elliptical trainers are designed and manufactured in Asia. They sell their models primarily through mass merchant sporting goods stores and online retail businesses. Once a sale is made, all future service issues are handled directly by Keys.
There are five different brand names for Keys ellipticals:
- Alliance
- Discovery
- Healthtrainer
- Ironman
- Cardiomax
You'll find that the some of the models are similar for the different brands. This is a typical strategy where a manufacturer basically sells the same product with a different name to different retail customers. In this case the different customers would be mass merchants, fitness specialty stores and online stores. This way they are not competing directly with each other and can charge different prices for the same product.
Keys elliptical trainers offer both mid and front drive models. There is nothing about Keys ellipticals that stand out. From a value perspective, they are better than an Icon product since they focus on the basics and don't get carried away with bells and whistles.
Since Keys is focusing a majority of their attention on their spa business, they have let the fitness business slide in terms of product design and marketing. In fact you can almost only find the Ironman brand from Keys at select locations including some Costco stores and on Costco.com.
Manufacturer's web site: www.keysfitness.com
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