Hi everyone, I’d appreciate any advice or experiences thus far with treadmills as it relates to my primary two goals: a highly cushioned, and very quiet treadmill. I do not mind paying more for those two things. When trying to look up reviews online, it seems many articles are clearly biased and have some type of referral fee associated with them, so it’s hard to get a grasp on what’s true or false. Thanks so much for any guidance!
The most cushioned treadmill I’ve ever run on is the type used at orange theory fitness studios. It’s a free motion with a reflex deck. Go try a free class at an OTF if you want to demo. They don’t sell direct to consumers so you’ll have to pickup one second hand for about 4-6k
Just be sure you know what the deal is with ultra-cushioned decks. They can be great for recovery, or especially if you have an arthritis limiter that you need super cushioning for so you can keep running at all without continual pain or injury.
But racing on roads lacks that cushioning, and the more cushioned your treadmill, the more adaptation you will have to do to go from road to treadmill.
One way to get surprisingly good cushion on almost any normal $1500 range treadmill is to run it at 3% incline. Most treadmills in this price class don’t have super sturdy immobile deck position while inclined, and you can actually see the ‘bounce’ of the deck as someone runs on it, meaning it’s absorbing itself a fair amount of impact.
Went on a trip 2 weeks ago to Palm Springs. I like to run outside as much as possible but it was vacation so I wasn’t going to wake up early to beat the heat and wasn’t going to run in 112deg weather, so I hit the fitness center. They had Precor 885. I literally told my wife I loved this treadmill and was going to buy one. I got home and happened to find a refurbished one for 1000 (Talked down from 1200) on Offerup a week later. I saw other refurbished ones in the 2-2.5 K range, new they are 7+. It is by far the quietist treadmill I have run on. I am not sure about “cushioning” but it does not feel like I am landing on concrete with each step. -3 through 15% incline, 12mph. Its a commercial model, does not fold so takes up some space (why the other guy was selling).
For cushioning the Nordic Track i series is hard to beat because of the way the treadmill is designed (back to front from a traditional design). Very easy on the limbs and a useful mill to run on if you are coming back from injury. Check out the review at about 2 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4mELFF_vNk&t=18s
They are not the quietest - but not the loudest either. They do weigh a lot and take up a lot of space though. Don’t plan on moving one around very often if you get one. Great features to boot!