Treadmill Reviews 2011

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Physical fitness is becoming one of the biggest headaches for people nowadays. While in past generations illnesses had more to do with pathogens that caused diseases, nowadays the leading causes of death are not external disease causing germs, but lifestyle related problems.

The incidence of problems like heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, respiratory illnesses, etc that are the leading causes of death in the country are all directly related to poor health.

The problem is that finding the time to exercise is becoming more and more difficult. With working hours lengthening we have to find unique alternatives that will help us get fit.

Although a treadmill is not necessarily unique, it is still one of the best ways in which you can keep fit and at your convenience too.

There are many advantages to a treadmill, they are very good cardiovascular machines and can help you strengthen your heart. At the same time it is mild enough so that any one of any age can use it. In fact treadmills were first used in hospitals in conjunction with ECG machines.

And the good thing is that purchasing a treadmill is also cost effective. Do the math. Let’s say you join a gym with a monthly membership of $30. Over a 10 year period you will be spending about $3,600 on your fitness.

Considering that most good quality treadmills last more than 10 years and you can get quite good ones at $1500, it’s a savings of $2,100 if you get one of your own.

With more and more people beginning to worry about their fitness, a treadmill is becoming the best choice for many. A regular half an hour workout a day can bring down several pounds of fat a month easily, and there are very few other machines that can compare with this.

Finding the Best Treadmill for You

Starting with manual, non-powered models that cost a couple of hundred dollars to luxury treadmills that can go up to $20,000 or more, there are a number of different companies offering a number of different models with a number of different features.

Sifting through all this information is not easy. And if you are relying on recommendations from users, you’ve just jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Each one will recommend a different company or even if they agree with a certain brand will recommend different models to you. Ultimately they will only leave you so confused that you’ll get fed up and just get the first thing that crosses your mind.

What you really want is somebody else to do all the hard research and find the best treadmill for your needs.

TreadmillCritic.com – The Home Of Treadmill Reviews

That is why we created TreadmillCritic.com. In this site we review different treadmill manufacturers and then break it down to each model that the company brings out. We discuss their pros and cons and give you an idea of what they are capable of.

Everything is laid out in a very simple format; you have the different manufacturers listed on the side. Click on them and you go directly to the page that reviews that particular brand and list all the treadmill models underneath.

User feedback, both good and, is taken into consideration when we review the product and we also let you know what the most common problems are with certain models so that you know exactly what you can expect. Our intention is that when you finish reading a review, you’ll have a good idea of what you’ll be letting yourself in for with a particular model.

And just to make comparing different models easier for you, we have assigned a star rating to each of these models. The rating is based on a number of different criteria including features, price, value for money, brand quality, ease of setup, after sales service and reliability. We want to be a one stop shop for you in your hunt for the right treadmill and want to make everything as easy for you as possible.

If there is anything you would like to say to us to improve our site or you just want to add your own review please be sure to leave us a comment.

To get you start we have listed our best selling treadmills below…

Top 3 Folding Treadmills

Folding treadmills are the cheaper, and lighter weight cousin to their bigger non-folding counterparts. Most manufacturers in fact have more folding models in their line than they do non-folding models. Generally we go with the brand when it comes to expensive stuff, and in this case Sole would probably be the top contender.

Well we aren’t saying that Sole isn’t there, just that you’ll be surprised at what our number 1 is.
Our first choice would be the NordicTrack commercial 1750 treadmill. A few years back Nordictrack would not have made it into the top at all, but they have improved so much, have brought down their prices quite a bit, and have brought in quite a few features that they have made it to the top of the list here. Just look at what you get with the Commercial 1750.

You get a 60 inch running surface, the patented Nordictrack cushioning system, a dual ply commercial grade treadbelt and a 3.5 HP motor. Then comes the extra goodies like the 7 inch full color display, an assist feature that makes raising and lowering the deck a breeze, much larger 8 inch fans, 36 built in programs, and the iFitlive technology that allows you to not only download any number of programs, but also allows you to choose a route on Google maps and have your machine replicate it for you.

And that’s not all. The kicker is that for the same price as a Sole F80 you also get the decline function, not something that you will get on machines that cost even $1000 more. And their warranty is industry standard, with 5 yrs for parts and 2 yrs for labor which means that Nordictrack is confident about their machine, confident enough to give a good warranty.

Our second choice would be the Sole F80 treadmill. Sole is always a very strong contender simply because they make such robust machines. They don’t give you so many features, in fact when compared to the Nordictrack commercial 1750 the Sole F 80 almost seems bare in comparison. And they retail at the same price. Yet F 80 is not the top seller in its category for no reason. You pay money for the build quality and even if you lose out on some of the extra features, you get a machine that will work well for you, day in and day out for years. There are people who have reviewed their F80 at the end of a year of use and 2000 – 3000 miles on the clock with nary a problem. And if you are covered under warranty, sole replaces any defective part at no cost and no complaint too, even if the use you are putting it to is a little more than most other users would.

Our third choice would be the Smooth 7.65 treadmill. Smooth may not have as good a name in the market as the Sole, but over the past 5 yrs they have improved so much that they are as good as any of the top brands now. In fact you get a lifetime warranty on the frame and motor, 7 yrs on all parts including electronics and 2 yrs of in-home labor, and you know that Smooth is serious about their machines and are confident enough about it to offer such a warranty.

They also give you more for your money than most other machines, except the Nordictrack. You get a 62 inch running surface which is the biggest you will get with a folding model. You get 25 different programs and a 3.25 HP motor. You get a heart rate monitor with a wireless chest strap, and a cushioning system that is as good as anything else you can get elsewhere. At the price that they offer it, it a little difficult to get any other machine that comes close to it.

Top 3 Non Folding Treadmills

When it comes to the non folding treadmills the options are much more limited. Yet for just a little more than what you would pay for a folding model, (and if you have the space) you can get a non-folding model that is much more robust in construction and will last you much longer without any of the rattles and squeaks that the folding models get after a few years.

Our first choice would be the Sole S77 Treadmill. It is a fixed model and is basically the F80 with a longer and fixed deck. It costs only a few hundred more than the F80, but for those who have the space (and the money of course) the S77 makes a very good buy because it is a fixed model and fixed models are always more robust and reliable than the folding ones.

Our second choice would be the Sole TT8 Treadmill. The TT8 is nothing but a more upmarket S77 and gives you the same basic machine with more added features like a larger display at 9 inches and a wider 22 inch belt. It also has a more powerful motor and a higher weight rating. Barring this it is just the S77 done up to look better which is why it is in second place.

Our third choice is really a very distant one. When you are looking at fixed models at less than $2000 only Sole has this option.

The second cheapest ones are the Smooth Fitness ones, and although they are very good they cost nearly $4000 which is a lot of money.

They are basically commercial models and are built to really take a beating, but for most home users, it is just too much machine for them.

As we said in the beginning, not all treadmills are th same, and depending on what you are looking for, different ones will seem better for you. In this review we have set out the overall best machines that you just can’t go wrong with.