This may be blasphemy here, but I don’t like the feel of the Woodway.
I vastly prefer the Technogym
The TechnoGym Unity looks promising. I’ll check it out. Is that the model you have. Why do you prefer it over the Woodway?
I think the Unity is just the screen interface. I don’t actually own a treadmill, but I travel frequently and pick my hotels based on treadmills haha
The Unity interface is super easy to use, speed/elevation paddles are great, and I really prefer the running surface over the Woodway. Downside is they cost like $15k new and there isn’t much of a used market. The Unity 3.0 adds something like $3k alone.
Still want to try the Peloton at some point. Looks interesting and not a ludicrous price point
Oh, your right. I meant the Skillrun.
The Woodway “QuickSet†interface looked pretty easy to use also. $10-15K was about what I was expecting to spend. The Woodway Quixote came in at $14K after delivery and taxes.
I will preface everything I am saying, by stating that I sold, installed, repaired, and serviced commercial and residential fitness equipment for the better part of my life.
Peloton is a great marketing company, but that said, the value is in their classes, not their product. The bike is a POS, I would take a 10 year old star trac spin bike over it any day of the week. I have not seen or touched the treadmill, but it does look nice. However, who is manufacturing it? Have they been making treadmills for years and years? Will you be able to get parts and service in 5,10, or 15 years? And I can bet you that big touchscreen does not last as long as the other parts, and how much will that thing cost when its out of warranty.
Technogym products are fancy, but they break far more often then their high end counterparts and they are super expensive to fix (think of them as the Ferrari of fitness). When I still owned my business, I got to the point where I would turn down work because they had techno products. Their customer service is the worst.
I am happy to always answer questions when it comes to equipment, since dusting off my law degree I sort of miss the industry.
I will preface everything I am saying, by stating that I sold, installed, repaired, and serviced commercial and residential fitness equipment for the better part of my life.
And I can bet you that big touchscreen does not last as long as the other parts, and how much will that thing cost when its out of warranty.
Technogym products are fancy, but they break far more often then their high end counterparts and they are super expensive to fix (think of them as the Ferrari of fitness).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS X1,000^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
After working at Life Time Fitness and using the best of everything, (including lots of TechnoGym) Woodway, all the way.
I am kind of an idiot for missing out on two different Woodways this week in Craigslist here locally… one was $2k and the other was $3500 but he said he was super flexible on price. They weren’t perfect but I am sure they would have still been great.
Anyone know how the TechnoGym Skillrun and the Peleton Tread compare to the Woodway as far as running? I don’t love the Peleton subscription/classes side of their model but if the treadmill gives the same (or nearly the same) running experience as a Woodway then at $4k is seems like a decent deal.
Yeah, you definitely missed out at that price if they were in working condition. Not to rub it in or anything 😜.
We pulled the trigger on a 4Front earlier this year, before the shirt hit the fan. The unit arrived last week. My only regret at this point is not buying one years ago! The past few weeks have proven life’s uncertainty. Prioritize what is important to you and go all in (within your means). Who cares that my treadmill cost more than my car? Me.
FWIW, I’ve also run on a Technogym and consider it a comparable experience. However, user feedback on this forum combined with Woodway’s customer service and heartland USA culture made that decision easy.
I got the basic screen with the speed dial buttons and they are great and all I needed. And yes it connects to Zwift and I use an IPad for that, thus no need for a fancy screen. re
X2; Quickset all the way.
Woodway’s customer service and heartland USA culture made that decision easy.
Combine that with the German engineering (Woodway is from Germany originally) and the decision becomes easier yet 
.
I’ve seen multiple for sale by me on Craigslist for $1000 to $3000, and looking to pull the trigger soon. Other than going to run on these used Woodways (Desmo) to make sure everything feels good, is there anything else I should look at closely on these used models? Are they so solidly built and dependable that I shouldn’t worry if they run well while I’m on them?
As for moving them, is this a 4 person job? Professional mover?
A Merc S is posted for $1000. I assume by the serial number (1135B97) that maybe it’s a 1997 model? But maybe I’m wrong in that assumption. I’ll call Woodway and ask about the serial number when their customer service is open. Would I be stupid not to buy this if it ran well when I tested it out?
We went with a Peloton Tread. For those that bash Peloton, seem to do so b/c it’s cool to do that (much like politics)…but I digress.
We have 2 bikes and a Tread and they have been bulletproof (my wife has done literally just shy of 1000 rides and about 100 runs). I haven’t done many rides on the bike since I prefer my personal bikes on the Wahoo KICKR. But, I absolutely love the Tread and have logged hundreds of runs. It is built like a tank and should I decide to do any of the classes, they are pretty good. However, I mostly do the “JUST RUN” and have my own run program for the day’s workout. The incline and speed adjustments are super easy and convenient (very well thought out). The “tread” of the Tread is a really good springy/spongy surface to run on and more comfortable than the belt type treadmills as the rubber slats are quite forgiving. It’s just a great running experience.
For me, money wasn’t really an object when deciding on equipment for our pain cave, but I just didn’t see the jump in bang of the buck from the Tread at $4K to the Woodway at more than double that. It also didn’t cost us $39 for the membership since we already own the bike and it includes the Tread with that single membership. $39 a month for me, my wife, and my 2 young boys get a ton of use out that and $39 for a family of 4 is insanely cheap.
Never an issue and never a need to question the build quality. They are built like commercial products. We opted for the extended warranty (3 years) for something like $300 extra and that was peace of mind for me as I feel that if anything major is gonna need attention, it will show itself inside of 3 years.
I would highly suggest finding a Peloton retail location to test it out. That’s what I did before I bought mine.
A bit off topic, but imho Boston is very run-able in the winter. Everybody has their own thresholds of course, but I had no issues doing 50-70 mpw through the whole winter. Last time I was on a treadmill was ‘snowpocalypse’ of 2015. Since then, thanks Greta Thunberg, winters are getting milder and milder.
For me it is rarely about the weather. Mostly it has to do that I can’t leave the house as a stay at home dad, and with the kids not having school and now no summer camps there is very little time to run outside except for weekends when my wife and I give each other exercise windows / the grandmother helps out.
This morning the boys played outside on a relatively cool 64 degree morning and I ran a progressive 9 miler on my Woodway on Zwift while the boys were playing outside.I steadily pushed from 10 minute pace to 6:40 pace and that would actually been hard to do outside with such precision.
And along those lines I have never hated treadmills, as I always enjoyed them for their utility. No traffic lights, no wayward strollers and texting pedestrians. Also no weird hills or false flats when you need to push extra hard for an interval. Plus a water bottle is always within reach. I would also claim now that Zwift running with all these various workout groups has made me a better runner.
But yes I think the Woodway is amazing. About a week ago on Saturday I ran 9:39:51 on it to get 100km done, since my 12 hour race was cancelled. And the hardest part was not physically running on the mill, but the mental aspect of keeping going when the sofa is so close.
Great feedback on the Peloton treadmill. I have a typical decent consumer treadmill, but I’ve been waiting for it to die so I have an excuse to get a better one. Mine is very bouncy and it’s a pain to adjust speed because you have to hit tiny buttons. I need to find a place to demo the Tread. Main thing holding me back is the required monthly fee, and I don’t have any other Peloton products.
Great feedback on the Peloton treadmill. I have a typical decent consumer treadmill, but I’ve been waiting for it to die so I have an excuse to get a better one. Mine is very bouncy and it’s a pain to adjust speed because you have to hit tiny buttons. I need to find a place to demo the Tread. Main thing holding me back is the required monthly fee, and I don’t have any other Peloton products.
Totally understand about the monthly fee. If I’m not mistaken, you can also purchase it w/o the membership and then it’s just a dumb treadmill like all the others. But, you’ll still get the metrics on screen and if I’m not mistaken the “scenic” runs which I really don’t care about. I usually do the “just run” and have my TV on in the background.
One other thing…I do enjoy doing the non-running programs and I typically do the “crush your core” program after every run. You just screencast the Tread to your TV and do your workout.
I have a Sole F80, and I am happy with it. Max speed is “only” 12 mph, for me this is 2k to 3k race pace depending on fitness, so it works well other than for very fast repetitions. Faster runners might need something with a bit more speed.
Somewhat related: I kind of wonder about the softness of the treadmill not being that great for some workouts. I am still a bit sore from 20 miles on sidewalks and asphalt trails yesterday, but it would have hurt less if I would have done it on the treadmill. Personally, I need a few long and tempo runs on hard surfaces to build up for road races so maybe I wouldn’t want the treadmill to be too soft. But then again if you are coming back from an injury or want to build up a bit the mileage. Now I have an excuse to get a Woodway too 
I just checked Peloton’s web site, and the monthly membership fee is “required” at purchase but you can cancel it any time.
Peloton stopped selling Treads because they require in home delivery and set up, although the web site says they just started back up. Not in my area yet though.
Big Woodway fan. Bought mine used off of Ebay for $4K. Bought it sight unseen. Ended up having to replace the motor but it was a relatively straight forward fix. Honestly love the damn thing. Comfortable and accurate. Look for used ones. Parts are available and not too hard to replace. Thing is also tank. Yes, the customer service in WI is impeccable as well.