To Gym or not to Gym?

A friend of mine called me the other day and told me that she wanted to join a gym and invited me to join with her. She said that since we both need to lose weight we can go together to motivate each other and have more fun.

I liked the idea, but I'm not so sure. I've been to a gym before, the one in the university campus, and I liked it then. I went for about 2 months and lost like 13 kg (~28 pounds). That was about 4 years ago (then I got busy and stopped and gained all the weight back).

I'm actually exercising right now according to SparkPeople fitness programs and I did succeed in losing some weight too. I do cardio (walking or rope jumping) and strength exercises, but should I take it to a new level and join the gym?

What is making me so indecisive is (1) the price. It's $1,400 /year. I think it's a bit pricey compared to the college gym I used to go to, which was only like $400/year. Of course, this gym is larger and has more and better facilities than the humble collage gym, but the latter was also OK and did the job. (2) My friend is planning to joining for 1 year, which I'm afraid would be a too-long commitment for me. We can sign up for 1 month or 6 months too, but she wants to take advantage of the special promotion that they're offering which is 30% discount if we sign up for one-year before the end of July. Well, the offer is really tempting, but will I be able to commit myself for one whole year? I can "freeze" my account for a total of 3 months during the year whenever I want to, but still I'm kind of hesitant.

The college gym is currently closed for maintenance, which think is a stupid thing to do in summer when most people want to run away from the heat and exercise in a closed place. I don't know when they'll open it again.

I went to the other gym with my friend. She said she's been looking for a gym for some time and she visited several ones before she decided that this was the best. The place is large, kind of new, the equipment seems new too, and the people are friendly. The opening hours are from 8 am to 10 pm 7 days a week. They have all kinds of classes on different days and at different times every day. They have aerobics classes, yoga, pilates, dancing, spinning, and more (I can't remember all of them right now!). They also have a nice swimming pool and offer swimming lessons. They have courts for tennis, basketball, and squash. There is also a relaxation lounge and a "healthy" coffee shop were they serve low-calorie and healthy snacks (with wireless internet too!) Of course there are treadmills and stationary bikes and other sorts of cardio machines..

Another good thing is that this gym is located on the way between home and college, so I can stop by either in the morning or the afternoon (depending on my schedule) and work-out for an hour or two then go on my way.

So what do you think? Should I join? Do you think home exercising is as effective as going to a gym? Do you think the place I described is worth the price?

Happy to hear you opinions and advice