My wife and I purchased a Landice L7 Cardio demo from the floor this last year and really love it. We received an extremely deep discount due to the unit's demo use but still have the lifetime warranty. Its one of the few expensive things I've purchased in life and not regretted one bit. The unit is compatible with Polar heart rate straps and has nice functional programmability for pace and grade.

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

We bought a Horizon 4.1 & are very happy with it. We've owned it for almost a year & zero problems.

In US dollars it should be much less than your $3-5k range.

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Paul "Speedy" Gonsalves
http://www.rollingthundercanada.com
RollingThunderCanada

Canadian distributor for HED Cycling, Blue Competition, Akona Biospeed & Aerus Composites

Get her whatever equipment she needs to be happy. During that phase of our life, my wife would have gone insane without her exercise machines. Definitely do this.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

I picked up a pacemaster bronze this winter for a lot of the same reasons & really like it. the bronze doesn't have all the fancy features you are looking for but I didn't need them. The company has a solid rep & is always in the top choices for a treadmill. Checkout http://www.pacemaster.com/gold.htm I think it has everything you are looking for

With 3-5K you can buy a great treadmill. Check out the website called Treadmill Doctor to find out more than you ever wanted to know. The reviewer is brutal on just about anything under two grand, but with the cash you will be spending you should be fine. Make sure you buy the kind that has a heart rate system that will vary your speed to keep you within a specific range. That sounds like a pretty cool feature, if you have to run indoors.

Chad

I bought a Pacemaster Gold and am pleased with it. It goes to 12 mph (unlike most of the True's) and has 0.5% increments on incline (unlike Landice). Is Polar compatible, comes with a strap, and only a little over $2K. It's not quite as heavy and stable feeling as some.

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

LANDICE.COM

Cardio trainer L7--lifetime warranty all wear items.

consumer reports #1 --two years in a row!!!

While I don't have any specific recommendations, I can point you to a buying guide that showed me that I couldn't afford a treadmill that would be good enough for what I wanted....

http://akfit.com/...DMILLS-JULY_2004.pdf

Lots of useful info to help you filter all the features out there.

[reply]I'm looking at buying a "dreadmill" for home use (now before I get the "suck it up and go outside" routine, believe me I have. But I have a new kid and stay-at-home triathlete wife who wants to run during the day. Hence, a treadmill).

What I'm looking for is something durable, in the $3-5K range, can get up to at least 10-12 MPH and 15% gradient, long enough deck to accomodate a decent stride. Hopefully a HR display that works with a polar strap. Don't really care about fancy programs but that would be nice. I've heard good things about Landice and True but I'm not set on anything particular. Any specific recommendations?[/reply]

In my opinion, if your wife is a stay at home triathlete she would be much better off putting some PowerCranks on an exercise bike, if you have one or getting one of our modified LeMond Revmasters (the whole shebang is way less than your budget) and pretty much forget the running. If she is already riding her trainer indoors, just get PC's for that and save even more money. PC's is running without the impact and the LeMond, at least, is really quiet so it isn't going to be waking any baby up. If she does this and uses it regularly, when it comes time to run regularly outside again I will guarantee she will be faster than she was before this all started, probably a lot faster.

Let the flaming begin.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

I have had a True 525 for about six years now and it has been utterly flawless under heavy use. I am a sole custody single parent and have it for the reasons that you indicate, except that there's just me and my daughter. By all means, get a treadmill. It allows for training and responsible parenting all at once (though not as fun as the Ken Lehner strategy of dropping the little tykes at the mall).

The 525 is discontinued now but basically is the lowest end of the club size line. No HR protocols or any of that. My personal experience is that a $40 heart rate monitor and a good strong index finger can do the same thing as HR control for several hundred $ less than the HR automation. It is big and fast enough to run intervals on, and I used the incline extensively to train for Pike's Peak Ascent a few years back. The only potential drawback is its size. It's kind of like having an aircraft carrier in my study.

True and Landice are both exceptional machines, and well within your budget.

I've had a True treadmill as well for a few years. It is GREAT. I enthusiastically recommend.

True: I have had mine for 6 years and it still runs like the first day I got it

Also look at Precor. 10 year warranty, solidly built. We have the 9.3.3, which includes the Polar receiver.

RoadWarrior:

Multiple "great" recommendations are posted above. Obviously you would like to "try before you buy." An article that I have kept from one of the Commercial Fitness Trade magazines wrote this when looking for a treadmill.

1. At least a one and a half horsepower, commercial, continuous-duty motor. Notice where the emphasis is and watch out for words like "peak horsepower" because it's not the same thing.

2. Speeds to 10-12 MPH.

3. Auto Incline feature.

4. At least an 18-inch by 60-inch deck.

5. Safety features including an automatic shutoff if someone falls.

You write that your range is $3-5K. This would place you in the Commercial Model category too. If you have the opportunity, there is a traveling Fitness Trade Show called Club Industry (http://www.clubindustryshow.com/), where all of the top commercial manufactures come to show their newest items.

-Joe

Here's what I got for X-Mas from Horizon Fitness. Works well.

http://www.efitnessdirect.com/product.php3?id=515

I've got a TRUE HRC 500. Excellent machine, quiet, fast enough for me, and flawless use in the past 1.5 yrs...

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gbassett.com