Equinox Darien

Great classes, nicest gym in Fairfield County and the cleanest. Highest priced too.
The sales girl who signed me up was excellent to deal with!
Too many annoying FC housewives on their freaking phones while on the elliptical. I mean seriously — what is soo important in your life that you have to chat away, annoying everybody while working out? If I can somehow put the obnoxiously self-​centered members at this place out of my mind, it is a very good workout experience.

Love the Darien Equinox! I’ve been a member for about 8 months. I go for the Group Fitness classes and have been very happy with the variety of offerings. The two gym floors are full of top of the line fitness equipment. All the machines work and are clean! The staff — instructors, trainers, front desk and maintenance are top notch! All very warm, welcoming, friendly and I strongly believe that they want to get to know you. For me, it’s a nice personal touch.

Very good. Great equipment and always clean. Usually not over crowded.

This is one of the low end Equinox gyms in comparison to the New York or Greenwich venues. At least 80 percent of the heart rate monitors on the treadmills don’t work and every time I’ve reported it, I get a pasted on smile with an assurance they will be fixed… 6 months and counting! There aren’t many classes for men who don’t like the small room for spinning or believe yoga is a great way to sustain an injury.

So I had a lot of trouble convincing myself to spend this kind of exorbitant amount of money on a gym. But I broke it down like this:
Would I rather join an average gym and never go (because the facilties are yucky and there’s no real motivation)
or
Would I rather join a good gym and go frequently (facilities are great, machines are clean, classes are good)
And after trying the gym out for a couple of days I finally convinced myself it’s worth trying for a year. For me, Equinox makes sense because:
— It’s on my way to work: very easy and convenient to get to as it’s right near the freeway
— Not usually crowded, even during peak hours (8am, 5−7pm weekdays)
— Great classes (I got my butt kicked by Yoga)
— Great steam room
I feel like I get my money’s worth because I use the gym sometimes not just for working out, but when my wifi at home is out (STUPID, STUPID ATT, that’s another review), I actually am motivated to come to the gym and run so I can catch up on my work email or TV shows.
Anyway, the high price tag isn’t for everyone. I’ve found that I’ve had to cut back in other areas of my budget for gym expenses (so far, cable was the first to go) but in the end, I feel a lot better after exercising and it gives me an excuse to pig out massively on the weekends.
I knocked off a star because the treadmills can really use its own personal TV’s for the prices you pay for this gym. That, and there seems to be a couple of oddballs that insist on using the treadmill RIGHT next to me even though there are a ROW of empty ones. Kinda creeps me out, just sayin.
Oh, and the Pom Pure smoothies at the juice bar are AWESOME. Crazy expensive at $ 6.50. But awesome.

One of the better Equinox locations! always clean! great staff! plenty of parking. great climate control. Great steam room.

Like the other reviewer I didn’t even know they had a location in CT but boy am I glad I found it. I joined mainly for the group classes. To be honest, to date, I never even used any of the machines although there is quite an assortment. Yes they are somewhat pricey but I take a class everyday Mon-​Fri which works out to about $ 7/​day, quite reasonable. I could never be this motivated working out on my own. My favorite classes are anything with Liz, PJ and the boxing class taught by Lukas. I live in a high end condo complex with an excellent «free» gym and even with that I would not give up my membership to Equinox.
I took away one star because it could be a bit more affordable and it can be a bit intimidating when you first start (think women with 5% body fat abound). Makes for super motivation though.

Equinox needs to advertise their CT location more — I’ve lived in the area my whole life and had NO IDEA it was there!
I used to belong to NYSC and was getting fed up that they closed the most convenient location to me and started all these cool small group training classes but then charged you ridiculous amounts extra for them. (and the membership wasn’t cheap to begin with — about $ 70/​month) Locker rooms at some locations were also not always the cleanest and were sometimes overcrowded in the mornings when I work out.
Equinox was just what I was looking for — although not cheap ($ 140/​mo), they have tons and tons of classes at all times of day with amazing instructors and they are all included in your membership.
I’ve tried 3 or 4 different cycling instructors and while I have my favorites, none of them were bad.
Inside/​Out class is really neat, a mix of ballet and pilates.
The trainers are top notch and really know their stuff. I got my free «Equifit» assessment when I joined and they really go through everything with you — VO2 max test, push-​up test, flexibility test, blood pressure, weight, body fat %, etc… we came up with a plan for me to work on and even though I didn’t buy any personal training sessions yet, the trainer checks in with me often and asks if I need anything.
I also had a free pilates session on the reformer machines when I joined. These things kind of look like medieval torture devices but were very effective. Again, I didn’t buy any sessions, but the woman who instructed me was super helpful and friendly.
One of my favorite things… they have kettlebells out on the exercise floor! NYSC kept them locked up so you could only use them in their small group training class.
I’ve had the chance to go at different times of day and each time the locker room is spotless. There is plenty of space and the design is very aesthetically pleasing. Bonus… Kiehls products are being introduced in all the locker rooms this fall/​winter!
They have great towels for the showers that actually fit around you, unlike the paper towel sized ones NYSC had. As a result of this, along with the great products, the size of my gym bag I constantly lug around is greatly reduced. I no longer bring my own shampoo/​conditioner/​body wash/​towels.
As you can see, I’m a happy camper. I go so often I definitely get my money’s worth!
Tip: Sign up during their Company anniversary month (September) and you don’t have to pay the ridic $ 300 – 400 joining fee — mine was $ 20.09…much more reasonable!