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Sole ST90 Slat treadmill
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I know this is probably a longshot, but has anyone run on the Sole ST90 treadmill? I'm returning my Peloton Tread+ finally and came across this one. I have LOVED the feeling of that slat belt on the treadmill but I can't find much on this one.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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thanks for posting, i didnt know sole introduced a slat treadmill. i run regularly on woodways and it would be nice if this unit was a "poor man's" woodway.

i had an F80 for a while and for the price it was a fantastic unit.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [damon.lebeouf] [ In reply to ]
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I had an old, old Sole F80 before I got the tread and it was nice enough before I got the Tread+. I've enjoyed the Tread+ for 3 years but the recall and no seeing of a fix in sight makes me worried about getting it serviced in the future. I can get my money back on it so figured I'd get a nicer treadmill and the cost would wash.
The safe option is a Landice L7 but the Sole had me wondering.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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Pretty nice specs for 3499. Hopefully it is as good as it looks.

Let food be thy medicine...
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome thank you!
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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Danwelchdpt wrote:
Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.

please do as much of a detailed review as you can. very excited to hear your review. a woodway is WAY overkill for home use for a lot of us. id buy one if i had the money sitting around. this sole unit may fill the niche perfectly at the price point.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [damon.lebeouf] [ In reply to ]
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damon.lebeouf wrote:
Danwelchdpt wrote:
Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.


please do as much of a detailed review as you can. very excited to hear your review. a woodway is WAY overkill for home use for a lot of us. id buy one if i had the money sitting around. this sole unit may fill the niche perfectly at the price point.

You can get a used woodway in great shape for less then this, and these things last forever. There are a few threads about it here.
Not that its the same as a brand spanking new treadmill, but just highlighting that there's that option.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [DoronG] [ In reply to ]
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DoronG wrote:
damon.lebeouf wrote:
Danwelchdpt wrote:
Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.


please do as much of a detailed review as you can. very excited to hear your review. a woodway is WAY overkill for home use for a lot of us. id buy one if i had the money sitting around. this sole unit may fill the niche perfectly at the price point.


You can get a used woodway in great shape for less then this, and these things last forever. There are a few threads about it here.
Not that its the same as a brand spanking new treadmill, but just highlighting that there's that option.

can you link to some of these used woodways (i assume desmo or 4front) "in great shape" for less than $4000? would be very curious.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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I’d figure with a doctorate you’d use those overpriced brains to figure out a way to get that thing down the stairs on your own by now.

___________________________________
MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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Interesting that it uses a 2hp motor compared to 4hp for the F85. I don't know that it really matters functionally but priced as a premium product against the rest of their line it seems odd to downgrade the motor.

I like my F85 enough. I just wish it wasn't so painfully slow to change speeds. It takes a full 30sec to get up to a moderate speed when I first start and then doesn't respond fast enough if I want to do any sort of intervals.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [IKnowEverything] [ In reply to ]
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Work smarter… not harder.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [TH3_FRB] [ In reply to ]
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Huge difference between DC motors (F85) and an AC motor (woodways and st90)

A 2hp AC motor is nearly instantaneous with speed changes and is why they last so long in gyms.

Google AC treadmill motors vs dc motors for more info.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks - didn't realize the were using AC in the ST90 vs DC.

Still, the F85 is unacceptably slow to change speed.


Danwelchdpt wrote:
Huge difference between DC motors (F85) and an AC motor (woodways and st90)

A 2hp AC motor is nearly instantaneous with speed changes and is why they last so long in gyms.

Google AC treadmill motors vs dc motors for more info.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [jkhayc] [ In reply to ]
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jkhayc wrote:
DoronG wrote:
damon.lebeouf wrote:
Danwelchdpt wrote:
Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.


please do as much of a detailed review as you can. very excited to hear your review. a woodway is WAY overkill for home use for a lot of us. id buy one if i had the money sitting around. this sole unit may fill the niche perfectly at the price point.


You can get a used woodway in great shape for less then this, and these things last forever. There are a few threads about it here.
Not that its the same as a brand spanking new treadmill, but just highlighting that there's that option.


can you link to some of these used woodways (i assume desmo or 4front) "in great shape" for less than $4000? would be very curious.

I got a 5 years old Woodway path (shorter version of 4front) in practically new condition for $2,500 (+200 for moving company) from Facebook market.
If you search Slowtwitch for Woodway you can find a few threads discussing people getting used Woodways
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [TH3_FRB] [ In reply to ]
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not a 100 % sure but I was reading the the slats vs belt also require much less power to maintain speed. As Woodway push the electric consumer for gyms as a sales pitch to long term investment.

I would order one of these in a second if I could get $800 for my older belt treadmill.

Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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Why are you returning the Tread+?
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [TH3_FRB] [ In reply to ]
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TH3_FRB wrote:
Still, the F85 is unacceptably slow to change speed.

ill second this. i liked my sole treadmill, but i DID NOT like running intervals on it. geez it was irritating. for the price point though i couldnt really complain much.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [iamuwere] [ In reply to ]
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iamuwere wrote:
Why are you returning the Tread+?

I really love the Tread+, but it is in a recall state now with no news of a retro fix coming. I'm concerned about possible break/fix options down the line. They are offering a full refund until November so I'm going to go that way and get a new treadmill that will be serviceable in 8 years or so. I've been looking at Sole (had one before and liked it), Nordictrack and Landice. The L7 is up there and it's about a wash from what I'm going to get back from Peloton. Nordictrack or Sole were going to be a "budget" option. But I saw this slatted one from Sole and it jumped up the list of possibilities.

Another reason for making the decision was the price hike for the monthly membership. I'm not sure I get $40 a month value out of it with the treadmill workouts, and the $5 just pushed me over. I'll likely downgrade to the Digital membership because I still do enjoy the classes.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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Danwelchdpt wrote:
Got one in a box in my garage. Waiting for the service to take it in my basement and setup. 400# beast. Once ready, I’ll let you know how it compares to a woodway.

+1 from me as well for a review, a few people on reddit seem to like it, but would be great to hear an opinion from somebody that can compare it to a woodway
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Marco in BC] [ In reply to ]
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Many apologies for the delay but the “expert installers” have screwed me over and I’m still waiting on someone to bring this tank into the basement. I’m hoping Thursday but honestly I’m not too optimistic.

So my first part of the review is maybe skip the extra money on moving and setting up through assembly authority and ask a few friends to help instead. I promise to do an in depth review once set up though.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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Curious if you know if this wait time cuts into your 30 day trial period?
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [nonobovey] [ In reply to ]
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Not according to sole… They said 30 days after set up.
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Danwelchdpt] [ In reply to ]
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there appear to be several videos on youtube about assembly/service for this treadmill, but given the weight I am not sure I'd want to have to take it down the stairs myself...
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Re: Sole ST90 Slat treadmill [Marco in BC] [ In reply to ]
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Ok... here we go.

Long story short.

I'm going to return it. I have run 3 times for over 2 hours total and there are some issues I can't get beyond... My limited experience with woodways lead me to believe they are trying to emulate the woodway while cutting corners leading to an inferior product IMHO.

Longer story with details:

After ordering and having a small hiccup with their wenbsite it was shipped and delivered within 5 or 6 days. Heres where some problems began. The shipping company refused to bring the semi up to my garage despite accurate description of my property prior to delivery. (i have a LONG driveway and live on acreage). Luckily I have a flat bed trailer and was able to drive it down to have them drop it on the trailer. I then was told "good luck getting it off of the trailer" by the truck driver and he left. With alot of manuveuring and some sliders I was able to get it into the garage.

The problems worsened from there... The "expert" delivery technician called me to set up about 36 hours later and we scheduled something the next week on a monday morning. He complained his company has him going everywhere and he can't get to my house this week. We scheduled for 9-12pm... at 11:30a on monday I reached out to him because I hadn't heard anything and he told me the van was in the shop and he wasn't sure when he could come out. After several back and forths and several unprofessional texts, I realized he wasn't coming out and I wasted a half day off. He then attempted again thursday later that week and he stood me up again. FInally got him to come out the monday after that. He was incredibly unprofessional, made a mess of my bathroom, stained my carpet, and spilled an entire glass of water on my carpet without telling me until he was about to leave. He argued loudly with his coworker the ENTIRE time making it very uncomfortable for me. Once he left he tried to con me out of 20$ cash to remove the box. I told him to fly a kite. The other issue is he is a "guy with tool and a manual" not an expert. I would have NEVER paid the extra money given this situation.

As for the machine itself...

The first run I felt a considerable vibration under my feet. So much so that my feet were numb afterwards. Understand, I do nearly 75% of my runs inside and with my marathon blocks, I am running 60 to 70 MPW, so I am not new to treadmills. I did not like the feel of this treadmill. It creaks, squeeks and vibrates to the point where I could not put a bottle in the bottle holder. I tried everything to rectify the situation including reassembly, realign belt, put a treadmill mat underneath, tighten belt, loosen belt, etc. I called customer service and they were ABSOLUTELY clueless, very nice, but clueless. I have lost all confidence at this point.

So after several more runs and more tweaks, nothing has changed or gotten better. For nearly 4k I feel things should be better. I don't want to run on this treadmill sadly.

Other issues include bolts don't line up well with the arms, there is NO WAY TO QUICKLY CHANGE SPEEDS (I am used to specific speed buttons and there is no option for this currently) and signifcant light bleed with the LCD screen.

WIth all due respect, the treadmill is more quiet (despite the increased vibration), the rubber slats feel good and the streaming services on to the screen works well.

I desperately want this treadmill to work but I jumped on my 12 year old proform this evening and ran a quick 10k and, damnit... it felt better despite being louder...

Thank god for the 30 day return period.

Sorry to "rain on the parade" but the Woodway I ran on prior to delivery was much better. I MAY have gotten a bad one but to be honest, I am not willing to play games with SOLE to figure it out.

Back to the drawing board... thankfully my proform is still functioning.... for now. :(
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