RFI: Treadmills

[PNWTO]

Even though winter is slowly breaking here my morning run at 12 degrees is getting old. The wife and I are looking to kill off our gym subscription and add to our garage gym. I am looking to see if anyone has any good scuttlebutt on what treadmills they have or have had. I am looking to keep it under a grand but I am willing to raise that bar a little bit for quality/performance.

I also made a deal with myself to run an ultramarathon before I'm 30 (20 months to go) so there is a chance that next winter some long hauls may have to spent on it.

Thanks in advance.

[rauchman]

Even though winter is slowly breaking here my morning run at 12 degrees is getting old. The wife and I are looking to kill off our gym subscription and add to our garage gym. I am looking to see if anyone has any good scuttlebutt on what treadmills they have or have had. I am looking to keep it under a grand but I am willing to raise that bar a little bit for quality/performance.

I also made a deal with myself to run an ultramarathon before I'm 30 (20 months to go) so there is a chance that next winter some long hauls may have to spent on it.

Thanks in advance.

I have a lot lower ambitions than you in this regard, but do have interest in this as well. Curious, would ellipticals and non motorized treadmills be included in your data search?

[Skroob]

I quit the treadmill a long time ago. The issue of treadmills is they cheat you. While yes they help every now and then. I found I lost ground over the winter. I got used to the treadmill helping me and found I had to rebuild my base mileage in the spring.

Winter months I have now switched to strength training with a focus on indoor cycling and swimming.


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[PNWTO]

I have a lot lower ambitions than you in this regard, but do have interest in this as well. Curious, would ellipticals and non motorized treadmills be included in your data search?

The wife and I don't really enjoy ellipticals and for the training I would be progressing to I'm not sure they would be a good idea. I really love the idea of a non-motorized treadmill but the ones that strike me as impressive, like the Samsara, are upwards of $5,000 and the low-end manual ones tend to have awful reviews. I am more than content running in the elements but I would like an item that is stable enough for multi-hour training when the weather is just too bullshit. My wife would likely use it 5-6 times weekly as well.


I quit the treadmill a long time ago. The issue of treadmills is they cheat you. While yes they help every now and then. I found I lost ground over the winter. I got used to the treadmill helping me and found I had to rebuild my base mileage in the spring.

I dislike them too. Winter for me brings cross-country skiing so I'm not too worried about a base for next winter as long as I can get some good back-to-backs in. I like to think I have the right gear to keep me running outside in all but the worst conditions we have here.

I should clarify now that the coffee has kicked it, this treadmill would be 70% for the wife's use.

[Robinson]

I would rather run outside than on a treadmill but recurring injuries to both my Achilles tendons now prevent me from running in the hilly area i live in. So I've been using our treadmill for several months. I have a Sole F63 and it works pretty well for both running and walking. Nothing too advanced, but has what I need and I don't have any problems with it.

[BobM]

How about a Concept tower? It's not motorized doesn't take up too much space and you avoid the impact of running

[JTQ]

My treadmill data is very dated, such as 15+ years, but even then I found you weren't getting a quality treadmill until you were up in the $3,000 range. I'd expect to beat a sub-$1,500 treadmill to death in rather short order with any kind of reasonable mileage on them.

A completely different product, and I have no idea what they cost now, or how well they're currently made, but I'm still using an $800ish Nordic Track ski machine that I bought back in the mid-1980's. It gets regular use and surprisingly, I have yet to replace any parts. One downside to a ski machine is adjusting the device for different heights. It's not hard, but somewhat like adjusting the driver's seat in your car, that has a lot of adjustments, but not the one-touch adjustment button for each driver. Getting it back to your sweet spot takes some time after it's been used by somebody with a significantly different height.

[PNWTO]

How about a Concept tower? It's not motorized doesn't take up too much space and you avoid the impact of running

I love rowers but I am specifically looking to have an option to run.

[mmc45414]

I am older, and not anywhere near the level being discussed, but am also interested and watching this for feedback.

As far as the cheating, I have heard that you want the treadmill to be about 2.5 degree incline just to offset the fact that it is motorized. I am up to 10 degrees now, and when I was recovering from some issues a few years ago I was stunned at what a difference a slight grade made.

[JTQ]

Check out the treadmills at the gym you're using. Most gyms have a range of treadmills from good ones that everybody wants to get on to the not so good ones that only the new folks ever get on. Figure out what the crummiest one costs. That's probably what your baseline should be.

[PNWTO]

Check out the treadmills at the gym you're using. Most gyms have a range of treadmills from good ones that everybody wants to get on to the not so good ones that only the new folks ever get on. Figure out what the crummiest one costs. That's probably what your baseline should be.

$1600 per. I'm sure the gym got a better a rate when they bought 15 a few years back. I have a friend who owns his own gym and he is looking to see what kind of pricing he can get on single units.

[Duces Tecum]

The wife and I walk to lunch five days a week, probably 15 miles total. Additionally, four evenings a week she treadmills in the community gym from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Speed runs around the 15-20 minute mile. It's important, she finds, to add 3% elevation to offset the mechanized assistance. She's gone beyond that, and is currently at 12% to 15%. Total of lunch walks and her evening treadmilling comes to between 50 and 60 miles a week.

The treadmill is a commercial model TRUE. TrueFitness.com (http://tinyurl.com/jye53xd) The machine is about 7 years old, maybe a bit more. A serviceman has to visit every couple of years. They no longer sell our model, but the link will take you to the PS900 which is similar.

Lots of people buy treadmills and never use them very much. In our condominium project of 380 units (probably 700 people) there are only 3 or 4 people who treadmill with any regularity. Lots of people have good intentions, but bore easily. If we did not have convenient access to a common area gym, I don't think I would buy a treadmill for the first couple of years. Get over the boredom stage. Instead, I'd try to contact a reputable commercial treadmill company and discuss leasing a used (again, commercial) machine. An all-inclusive maintenance contract, included in the lease payments, would be required. That would shift the repair burden from lessee to the lessor, so how "worn-out" the used treadmill is it becomes less important. The maintenance agreement, I would think, incentivizes them to give it a good overhaul before delivering it to you.

Good luck.

[modrecoil]

I like Proform treadmills. Just bough a Proform Pro 2000 to replace my old model. Pretty happy with it. Only a few hundred miles on it but no issues so far. Bough it for $800 on a Black Friday sale. You can probably find it for under a grand if you shop around online. I'm no longer a serious runner but I trained for two spring marathons on my old one. It took a lot to kill it.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

I run on a Woodway treadmill 3-4 times per week. Very springy and low impact on my joints.


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[peterb]

One way to make treadmill running more interesting:
http://www.titaniumgeek.com/gear-reviews/zwift-running-ios-review-your-treadmill-just-got-upgraded-titaniumgeek/

I've been using Zwift with a bike trainer and enjoyed it. I don't know what else is out there for running.