One opinion of many you'll get here...

I'm 35-40lbs lighter than you and started my search at 3 HP. I ended up going with a Sole F80 which is a slight bump at 3.5 HP after reading about longevity and just wanting slightly more than what was generally recommended. I've been happy for the 9 months of use put into it over winter and covid. No issues, great warranty, happy customer.

You are a big person, doing fast workouts. I would look very seriously at a used commercial unit. Yes the Sole treadmills are built very well, and you can get 3.5-4hp motors with them, they just are not the same as the big boys. Plus, you are pretty much looking at the same price, although they do need their own circuit in your house (don't try and plug it into your 15A circuit in your spare bedroom that is converted to a workout room).

Don't go buy from those warehouse type resellers, they have a lot of junk, and a few good units. Get one from a smaller reseller that goes through their stuff and stands behind it. Guy I bought mine from does 12 months full warranty, and in reality will cover repairs for MUCH longer if there are any issues, because his just don't break.

This is from someone who was in the exact same position you are, I walk around about 195 and will occasionally do some pretty tough interval workouts on the tread. I was VERY close to pulling the trigger on and F85 but ended up picking up a Star Trac. Only negative is the thing needs a 36" door (clear opening) to wheel it in, otherwise you have to break it down pretty much completely and need another big friend to help you move it.

Buy nice or buy twice

I'd say 3.5 is a bare minimum. Agree with others that commercial grade would be ideal

I don't intent to sound like a cynic, but treadmill horsepower is just a marketing buzzword. There's not any regulation for how that number is even figured or a standard of the RPM it's measured from (when they do list one of a few different types of horsepower). Your home electrical outlet can't even produce 2.5 horsepower. A normal 15 amp line could do about 2.0 horsepower on a fairly efficient motor.

I would be pretty surprised if you find noticeable differences between direct current (DC) motor based treadmills rated for at least 2 continuous HP if all else is the same.

Thank you. I was about to say the same thing.

Drives me nuts.

Three posts above all advising to buy treadmills with HP ratings FAR in excess of what is physically/electrically possible in a standard US home.

Unless you are plugging your TM into a dedicated 220V / 20A circuit, you aren't getting 4HP out of the damn thing.

It seems to come up here every few months.

Also take a look at the TM motor-specific warrantee.

On most $1500ish TMs like Sole, it's a LIFETIME motor warrantee. And from experience, it's not because it's so impossible to change out the motor (it's actually not hard at all), it's because the motors on TMs tend to last forever unless you are a professional athlete (like LS).

I had my SoleF80 motor replaced for free just because I was replacing nearly the rest of it out of warrantee (deck, console, rear roller, etc.) - they sent me some things free out of courtesy, and one was the motor, even though my old one seemed to be working fine.

If there's a lifetime warrantee on the motor, unless you're a pro-level athlete, you'll almost certainly be fine.

Some basic math folks:

1 HP = 750 watts
AC Power (watts) = Volts * Amps
Small Eletrical motors are AT BEST 90% efficient and 85% is more reasonable.

So, a 110V socket in a normal home is limited to 15Amps if its the only one in use. 110*15 = 1650 watts. At 90% efficient, that's 1485 watts of output power. 1485/750 = 1.98 Horsepower.


You can double all that for a 220V socket, if you plug the 4HP motor into your dryer socket. If you aren't doing that, you're being sold a bill of goods.

You are absolutely right that a 5HP motor will not generate 5 horses on a typical circuit, which is why I suggested dedicated. Hell, mine would very easily pop the breaker on a 15A circuit, even if it was alone on that circuit.

What is ignored in the above calculations, is a motor rated at 2HP, will only put out 2HP before you are overloading the coils, and will run quite hot in the mean time. What you get with higher HP motors, is headroom to handle the spikes in demand, and yes, your house will provide extra power for a second (not quite a full second) to allow for those spikes. Plus, most homes will actually pull 120v, which on a dedicated 20A circuit will support 2.9HP output continuous before tripping the breaker, plus the treads have regulators inside that limit that draw. Now a Sole F80 will fit that bill (and it does recommend a dedicated 20A).

I have run on plenty of 2HP treads, and I usually get about .1miles before I have to just get off it's so jerky. There is a reason lots of commercial treads are 4HP+

I only responded to this thread because I am also a larger individual, and I know how we can destroy equipment that isn't up for the task, only suggesting commercial units because that is where I found the best value for what in my experience, I needed.