I'm shopping for one but wrote them off as I thought this was a mandatory membership (for at least a year). The Sole f85 and f80 get great reviews FWIW and no subscriptions.

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Human Person

I think it may vary by model. I ordered a NordicTrack 1650 this month with no iFit subscription.

i am pretty sure that unfortunately the ifit subscription is required for internet access. it is on "sale" right now for 9/month. cool, but not sure it was/is worth the money.

Only incline, I believe. Speed control is too big a liability.

I bought the nordictrack c990 recently, looked at the ifit but too expensive.
BTW,my software on the treadmill is messed up, the motor is intermittently unserviceable.
We'd use the ifit if it were more affordable.

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res, non verba

I literally just passed on a commercial 1750 because they force you to pay for iFit. Not sure where anyone saw $9/month but they quoted me $468 for the year, which again was mandatory with that model. All the models with the 22" wide track forced the iFit. Found a Sole F85 on craigslist for $500 I'm driving 2 hours to get on Monday instead.

I have a C1750, and iFit was not a requirement. I got it, though, so I could run different terrain. The $30/month is way steep. I have $175 for two years. The iFit platform is pretty much crap other than the ability to build a route and share it. This feature let me train for St. croix and Chattanooga with surprising accuracy. I live where there are no hills, so it was a great tool. Is it worth it, debatable. Depends how much training you will do on it and how much you can replicate what conditions you want on your own.

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https://www.endurancelab.fit
https://www.teamodz.com
https://discuss.endurancelab.fit

Same for me. That was my top treadmill buy the iFit premium that we had to get made the somewhat affordable $1500 treadmill unaffordable at $2k. But they did offer to throw in a treadmill mat!

Now looking at a Sole F80. Used would be great but a bit weary since the warranty does not transfer owners so if something needs to be fixed the savings from buying used is probably eaten up having them fix it. But I’m still looking.

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Twitter - Instagram

Yep exact same thing I got. They even offered to thrown in some crappy weights if I bought the year upfront rather than paying monthly.

I was a little leery about buying used but found a 2 year old F85 for $400. I figure if anything should happen I could fix it and still be under what a new one would have cost me. I haven’t heard anything bad about the sole treadmills though.

Yeah the “deal” they tried to throw me wasn’t a deal at all. They even said something like “why would you only want to do boring cardio when you can do weights?!” I was like “umm because I’m a runner and I can get a gym membership for $33 a month to get weights!”

The only used Sole around me is around $800 so after I get a truck to pick it up the hassle is almost not worth it. Now for your price I’d jump on it but to save a few hundred it’s not worth it.

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Twitter - Instagram

Just purchased a Pro From Pro 9000 from Pro Form online. This is the same company as NT but they do not require the iFit subscription on the Pro Form models. Been researching for awhile and pretty happpy with the deal- $1,599 for a 4hp motor, 10 inch touch screen and 15incline/3 decline TM. I did pony up for the in Home assembly though... time to start some run focused training..:)

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Team Every Man Jack

http://www.teamemj.com

No it does both spee and incline, at least on mine, but you can override the speed during the program if you are following one.

Also, I had no requirement to get iFit and never seen that anywhere. I did use it for a year, was nice for programming in the course for a race you were going to do and pre-run it, but I found that I did not use iFit much, and just use the machine as a treadmill, doing things the way I want more, so I got rid of iFit. All functionality is still there, but the ability to upload a workout plan/course to the treadmill.

So, has anyone figured out how to program a custom workout that automatically changed incline and speed? Was reading up on the Wahoo Gym adaptor but am still unclear...

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Team Every Man Jack

http://www.teamemj.com

Update on this - I bought a NordicTrack 1650 for $1299. I was able to buy it *without* the iFit subscription.

First impressions are that this is a pretty good treadmill. It's solid and well-built. It folds up easily when not in use which is a nice space-saving feature. The built-in fan is good. The display and buttons are all clear and easy to use.

Best feature for me is the cushioning which is excellent - this was a big decision factor for me (bad knees - 7 surgeries and bilateral ACL reconstructions). You can also switch it off if you don't want it.

It's also very accurate - I checked it against my (fully calibrated) Garmin footpod and it's within 2%. Certainly better than the average gym treadmill (although we'll see how the NordicTrack is after a couple of months' use)

Re: iFit - well, they really want you to buy this. The 1650 has built-in wifi but from what I can tell, the only thing you can do with it without an iFit subscription is firmware updates. Without the subscription, the browser doesn't work. And obviously you can't get to any of the workouts. All you can do is a manual workout.

Frankly, none of that really concerns me. There are much better options out there that are a fraction of the price of iFit (by the way, the treadmill flashes up a message that says "starting from $9/month" but the best offer NordicTrack would give me was $162/year). So I'm using RunSocial.

There's only really one iFit feature I'd like - and this absence really pisses me off. I like to see my heart rate whilst running. The treadmill is compatible with BlueTooth Smart HRMs but you can't pair unless you have an iFit membership. That's just plain, cynical, exploitation. There's no technical reason you need an online membership to pair your HRM.

Still no huge deal - there are a hundred free iPhone apps that will happily display my heart rate. I just prop my phone up on the treadmill.

My $0.02 - would love to hear your experiences.