Home Treadmills

[Brodirt]

My 12 year old True 450 died this week and I'm in the market for a new one.

My research says I don't need to spend near the $2k the True cost me during the Clinton era to get a quality machine.

Our treadmill gets used....figure 6-8 hours a week, depending on season, between 5-8 mph, I'm the "heavy" user in my house at 162 lbs.

I'm budgeting 700-1000 for the new machine and am down to an Evo Fitness fx25, a Smooth Fitness 5.45 (although Smooth and Evo are the same company) and Sole F63.

I am leaning heavily to the Evo, for cost and features.

Has anyone used any of the above machines or any other machine in the price range that they like. If so any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Scotto]

I have a Sole F80 on the way. My gym went out of business, so I decided to suck it up. It is reviewed well, so we will see next week when it shows up and I put it through its paces.

[PTurchan]

http://www.tmuscle.com/readArticle.do?id=3136264

"And since the treadmill switches your hamstring and glutes off — your foot hits the belt and the belt pulls you through — it's mainly a quad exercise.

So long term walking or running on the treadmill is almost guaranteeing knee pain. And that's not even the worst part. Since the hamstring is switched off you're actually burning even less calories than you would if you were to walk on the ground!"

[Mr. Clean]

Can't add any experience regarding your treadmill question. So, I throw out a question. Knowing you're a biking man, I wonder why your choice of indoor cardio is not a "spinner"?

And following up on PTurchan's point, would an elliptical trainer be more beneficial mechanically (body) speaking?

[MrGuy]

You might want to call around to your local gyms. I used to work at a small chain in the Phoenix area, and the owners definition of "old" equipment was still very usable, especially in the home. You might get lucky and find someone who just wants to get rid of it and let you haul it for no charge!

[Brodirt]

Can't add any experience regarding your treadmill question. So, I throw out a question. Knowing you're a biking man, I wonder why your choice of indoor cardio is not a "spinner"?

And following up on PTurchan's point, would an elliptical trainer be more beneficial mechanically (body) speaking?

We have an elliptical...I hate it, it is useless. All it does is give you an excuse to say you are exercising while your watching TV.

As for why the treadmill, versus indoor cycling...I have a cycling trainer set up in the home gym too. I use it year round as there are many days when I don't get home from work early enough to ride outside even in the warm weather months. I need the treadmill for the same reason. I run 2 days a week, in the winter its 3, and its usually at night, or I do intervals while I am cooking dinner at 7pm. Hence the treadmill.

[Brodirt]

So I went with the Evo Fitness fx25. I bought from Amazon on 7/4 and received on 7/7.

It was easier to bring in the house and easier to assemble than I could have ever imagined. It took about 45 minutes, at most, to assemble, but Tues. and Wed. are cycling days for me so I didn't use it right away.

Initial impressions are that a $755 treadmill is cheap, much more so than my True. The new machine is lighter and made of a lot of plastic and tubular metal whereas the True is all solid metal. The True is a substantially smaller machine and is a good 50lbs heavier, even with the same horsepower motor and the Evo with bigger rollers!

Anyway, I ran on it today and it was an absolute pleasure. It is very quite and very smooth with a substantially different suspension system than the True.

I also learned why my spring running, with no speed work, still led to 7:11 min. miles in my last race...the True was no longer true to speed! My slow on the True was actually pretty speedy. I can't attest to whether or not the new machine is true but I knocked off a 10k today in 48:30, about as fast as I ever have done, and finished off the hour jogging and walking for a 7.2 mile hour, also about as fast I have ever done.

I am very happy with my comparatively very inexpensive purchase and can highly recommend the machine even at the obvious lower build quality. If it holds up for only 5 years I will be ahead of the game.