Best cardio machine?

I will be graduating from college at the beginning of may, and am thinking about what I want as a gift. I want to ask for a cardio machine, and have a certain thing in mind that I can't find! I'm beginning to think I made the whole thing up. What I'm thinking of is similar to a treadmill / eliptical (I actually thought it was an elipitical until I began doing web searches on elipticals). Your feet sorta swing back and forth in an arc, and your arms do the same..... anyone know what I'm talking about? I swear I used to use them like in the YMCA and places like that.

Anyone know the name of that machine?

Also, what are all of your favorite cardio machines? I'm really wanting to start eating healthier and working out so I can lose the 15 or so pounds I've gained in college, and then some!!

Hmmm, are you thinking of that Tony Little Gazelle machine?? The infomercial dude?? My favorite when I am working out is the elliptical

Its really similar to that, but not his machine! (Thats the closest I found while searching online.) The motion is the same, but it was bigger and built similar to a treadmill. Maybe I just dreamed this machine!!

I think it's great that you want to do something that will help you stay healthy! But...

In all my vast experience of exercise equipment lo these many years, I have found not one single machine worth owning. I've had three kinds of cardio machines, I've had a NordicTrac, I've had treadmills and stationary bikes and stairsteppers and trampolines... and they all had at least one of the following problems:

1. Either they force you into an unnatural motion that doesn't feel right, isn't sustainable, and actually causes injuries...

2. Or the motion they require is just a hinge motion that doesn't really involve your muscles -- just wears out your hipjoints and knees...

3. Or they're simply too clumsy, clunky, and difficult to use.

It's been a few years since I was really able to exercise, so I admit I'm not current on what's out there -- but back when I was doing it, the things I found most helpful were those big exercise balls that you can lie back across to do crunches and leg lifts and so forth, and simple hand weights and stretch bands. And those things are 'way less expensive and take up 'way less room.

This is all my own experience, of course -- it might be that you would just love some of these machines! But before you invest, please take time to try them out at length in the store, preferably for a few days in a row, to see what's the right machine for you.

Congratulations on your graduation!