Treadmill opinions.

Sep 20, 14 17:54

Post #1 of 15 (2663 views)

Sorry to bother everybody with this here, I haven't posted in a while but I don't trust many of the opinions that come up via a google search. I'm buying a treadmill to supplement my indoor cycling equipment (and to have everything in-house thus eliminating the not-well-maintained local gym from the equation) for the winters which, where I live, averages ~5 months or so in the -20 - -40 range with everything covered in snow and ice. I live in a fairly remote part of northern Ontario, Canada so availability is a consideration. Anything not available in the general area makes shipping cost a serious consideration. Right now I'm looking at the Sole F85 vs. the Smooth 9.65LC because I can get either without involving shipping. The Sole F65 and Smooth 7.35 are also available as well as a few options I've already eliminated on my own. I know there are arguably better options available at slightly above the same cost but they're not available where I live and would involve enough shipping cost to remove them as options. I'm not even convinced on the money for the F85/9.65LC but there's nothing available in the area in the range between those and the F65/7.35. I don't care about touchscreens, number of factory installed workouts, bells, whistles, etc. but I do care about enough motor for good run quality and the difference those 2 groups is 4 chp vs. 3.25 chp for a $400 price difference. Opinions?

P.S. Harden up and run outside is a valid opinion... but it's not gonna happen often enough to change my mind about a treadmill.

Thanks!

--------------------------------------------------------------
"A bucket...if you haven't puked in it you could be going harder."
- Lazy Ben

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 18:23

Post #2 of 15 (2634 views)

I can't be of much help other than, if you can, try them out in advance and see how smooth they are or are not. See if they bounce at all. Think of where you are going to put it and try it on that kind of surface if you can. From my experience, putting in the basement, on a rubber mat works really well as long as it is a decent enough Treadmill but I wouldn't want to subject my floor joists to hours of a heavy treadmill with me pounding away on it.

BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [BCDon] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 18:47

Post #3 of 15 (2605 views)

The only significant spec difference between the F85 and the 9.65 is folding vs. non-folding. I don't care about that feature one way or the other. It will be going on the main floor in a spare bedroom so getting it up or down stairs isn't a concern. If me running on a treadmill is going to compromise the floor joists, I feel like I may have more to worry about than which treadmill to get but I appreciate the reply.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"A bucket...if you haven't puked in it you could be going harder."
- Lazy Ben

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 19:16

Post #4 of 15 (2575 views)

can you find a precor anywhere by you? they're pricey, but worth every penny - especially if you're going to be indoors as much as you suggest.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 19:32

Post #5 of 15 (2565 views)

Either the Sole F85 or the Smooth will work great. Get either - they will not limit you in any way, and it's worth buying from recognized brands like this in case there is a problem of any sort given your distance from stores.

Contrary to what some people say, you do NOT need a 'commercial' grade treadmill - they often require nonstandard power receptacles anyway, so no sense in dealing with that. Either of the TMs you mention will be near-bulletproof, and even if you were an Olympic-level runner, would still be able to destroy you. (Unless you can run a 5:30 mile on a 15% incline for distance.)

I have a Sole F80 and it's rock solid and outstanding for training. I can run outdoors year round, but I do most of my miles on the TM anyway because of convenience and the erg-mode like pacing of a TM which keeps you honest.

Buy either, you can't go wrong. No sense in making it more complicated than that.

(As an aside, since you're going 'everything in-house', do you have a Vasa? I have a Vasa, TM, and Kickr in my garage, and it's awesome for training - the TM/Kickr I expected to be, but the Vasa has been my secret weapon for swim improvement.)

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 19:35

Post #6 of 15 (2563 views)

Are you a bit of a bigger guy? How fast do you plan on running on you're treadmill? I'm on treadmill no. 3 and I've never regretted getting the bigger motor in mine. I started out at 218 and now like it when I'm putting down intervals at 12.0 mph belt speed. If you're lighter or just jogging slower you may get away with less and still get good life out of it.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [OkotoksLawyer] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 20:21

Post #7 of 15 (2514 views)

Emilyk318 wrote:

can you find a precor anywhere by you? they're pricey, but worth every penny - especially if you're going to be indoors as much as you suggest.

Precor was the brand I was referring to that became a non-option. The shipping expense combined with the additional cost of the machine took it too far from what I can spend. I'm trying to stay around $2000 all-in and would actually prefer to stay closer to $1500... but that doesn't look realistic.

lightheir wrote:

(As an aside, since you're going 'everything in-house', do you have a Vasa? I have a Vasa, TM, and Kickr in my garage, and it's awesome for training - the TM/Kickr I expected to be, but the Vasa has been my secret weapon for swim improvement.)

I gave up the swimming. The long winters and lack of an indoor pool in the area combined with the fact that I just don't particularly enjoy swimming all that much made it an easy decision once the local tri added a duathlon to the event a few years ago.

OkotoksLawyer wrote:

Are you a bit of a bigger guy? How fast do you plan on running on you're treadmill? I'm on treadmill no. 3 and I've never regretted getting the bigger motor in mine. I started out at 218 and now like it when I'm putting down intervals at 12.0 mph belt speed. If you're lighter or just jogging slower you may get away with less and still get good life out of it.

Still bigger than I want to be at 195 but I'm working on it. Not doing anything at 12 mph for very long.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"A bucket...if you haven't puked in it you could be going harder."
- Lazy Ben

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 20, 14 21:00

Post #8 of 15 (2491 views)

I have the F85. It's a really nice treadmill. It's quiet and the deck is solid and smooth. There's no flex or bounciness in it at all. It has a pretty big flywheel in it so it doesn't change speeds very quickly, but you also don't have the weird pacing on it like with a lot of other treadmills where you can literally hear them speed up and slow down with every step. (I'm usually at about 200lbs BTW)

I've never even seen a Smooth unit so I can't compare, but you can't go wrong with the F85.

Last edited by: RZ: Sep 20, 14 21:03

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 8:52

Post #9 of 15 (2383 views)

I bought the f80 because of the 22 in deck. I love having 2 more I ches to work with. The f85 would be my choice, great price, great warranty and free delivery. Spend the $99 for inhouse delivery...they put it right in the room.i also bought a piece of plywood and put it under the treadmill because we have carpet.

Another thing I did was to buy a nice small tv (costco) and wifi bluray player to stream netflix and watch movies. I love my setup.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 10:35

Post #10 of 15 (2334 views)

Just also as a helpful tip if you want one -

This treadmill tripod stand is awesome - worth every penny. Rock solid, made of metal, and has a very grippy surface for your laptop or TV - it's been an awesome addition to my TM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028IKTHQ/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 10:42

Post #11 of 15 (2327 views)

A entry level Precor is very good for the money and offers a firm deck feel with accurate speed.

Sole treadmills, not so much. If you do a search on this forum, you'll see the same people praising them.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [Nick B] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 12:21

Post #12 of 15 (2287 views)

Nick B wrote:

A entry level Precor is very good for the money and offers a firm deck feel with accurate speed.

Sole treadmills, not so much. If you do a search on this forum, you'll see the same people praising them.

I can give a list of options for my area if that helps. But it's not going to add anything too high end to the mix for the reasons mentioned previously (just not available to where I live or shipping costs prohibitive). Sole, Smooth, AFG, ProForm, LifeSpan and Nordictrack are pretty much what I realistically have to work with.

Precor and Life Fitness can be ordered to my area but at a very hefty shipping (Precor) or machine (Life) cost. The final price is too far from my budget in the timeframe I have in mind. I could wait until next winter and move the budget up quite a bit... but I really don't want to.

My only real concerns are enough power to actually run and some degree of reliability. I won't be thinking "this sucks compared to the one at the gym" because the machines at the only local gym are old and badly maintained. I mean, if the other options are really so bad that I'd be better doing without for another winter, that is an option (but definitely not a preference). But if it's just a matter of "that one's not bad but this one is better", I'm not worried about that.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"A bucket...if you haven't puked in it you could be going harder."
- Lazy Ben

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 13:44

Post #13 of 15 (2247 views)

Again, ALL of the options you list will work, excellently. I'll bet you will think they are better than the commerical TMs in the local gym, as unless you're a member of a very hi-end gym, the wear and tear by group use on the commercial TMs often gives them little hiccups in performance or pacing (like pace calibration). I prefer my $1400 Sole F80 to pretty much every commercial TM I've tried in the area, including the brand-new Lifefitness ones at the local Y - I think I"ve just grown into the way it runs and feels.

Treadmills in the $1300-$2000 price range are pretty much idiot-proof for purchasing, honestly. Any of the brands you listed are popular, widely used, and have customer support. You can still get unlucky and get a dud that needs immediate service, but odds aren't too much higher than getting a dud $4000 TM. You will NOT be too studly a runner to outperform a $1400 treadmill. You can literally have a monkey choose one for you from that list, and it won't be functionally a ton different than the others listed. There are no killer features that one brand has that others do not, and TMs have been around long enough that the technology is standardized and proven so you can be sure it's extremely unlike to fail early (or ever.)

I'd pay some attention to the console to see if the buttons are sort of where you'd like or what you'd like, and other than that, order the most convenient to get, cheapest one, or one with the best possibility of convenient local service in case you get a dud. It's a waste of your time to overthink this one - they'll all be great.

Re: Treadmill opinions. [lightheir] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 16:25

Post #14 of 15 (2191 views)

lightheir wrote:

It's a waste of your time to overthink this one - they'll all be great.

Probably... but it's what I do. I was looking at ProForm and Nordictrack mainly because of the decline feature but what little information I could dig up outside of what seemed like obvious promotional review sites seemed to favor Sole over those options. I really couldn't find much either way regarding the Smooth but I like the specs and thought it might be a little more solid since it doesn't fold. Anyway, thanks for the help.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"A bucket...if you haven't puked in it you could be going harder."
- Lazy Ben

Re: Treadmill opinions. [LWP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 21, 14 20:21

Post #15 of 15 (2122 views)

I'm going to be that guy and hijack this thread:

Would anyone hesistate to do a 20-30 mile run on a Sole F85 treadmill or any treadmill in the $2,000 range? I've never owned one and think that's probably going to pull the trigger. It wouldn't be uncommon for me to hit 40-60 mpw and could see some runs going in the 3 hour range. Also, any reason to avoid a folding treadmill vs. a solid state tm?

Thanks for the help as always guys!

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