Best treadmill - money only slightly an object

nordictrack 1500 is great and sears is offering free delivery and setup right now. costs around $1300.

Nice one! I see it does 5:00 miles, which is enough for me!

Woodway Desmo, Mercury, and Curve are all good, but pricey. If you go for one of these, it might be a good idea to find it refurbished.

5:00 miles? I thought you needed something fast.

There are many consumer treadmills out there that reach 15 mph, or 4:00 mile pace.

Although you may not think you need it, you may find the speed headroom valuable--I understand that good marathoners throw down some sub-5:00 miles in the course of a race.

But what do I know, I'm not an endurance runner! Good luck.

IDK what model they are, but my gym that I will go to on occasion has some treadmills that go under 5:00, by quite abit, they are really nice, offer inclines up to 15% I think, heart rate sensors, all the big stuff, cupholder things on each side which are cool too, they are really big, and look very expensive. made by lifefitness, I'll get the model 4ya when I go today or tommorrow.

You really need to specify how much you will use it, how often you will use the top end of the speed range, and what the top end of your speed range is.

A $1300 Sears special may be too little, just right, or not even close depending on your usage and needs.

I really like the woodway treadmills they have at our gym. The belt is a thick rubber, which keeps it from slipping when you land, and provides a nice cushioned surface.

But holy sh1t are they expensive! I just looked and some of them sell for over 10 grand.

I totally agree with common on all points.

We have 3, one that goes to 15 mph. I burnt it out, now we need a replacement.

Cheaper mills will have a lower duty cycle--at higher loads, they will either trip their protective breaker, requiring a waiting period and reset, or else they will fail.

If you're not going to sustain high speed, maybe a less expensive lower-duty-cycle mill will do just fine.

Also, I think it depends on your body weight. Maybe I killed ours because I'm 180-185; maybe if I were 130, it would have survived, and maybe if I were 250, it would have died much sooner.

Also, mills get VERY high-end, to laboratory-grade. Assuming you don't want a $25-40k machine, you really should specify a rough price point. There can be a fair bit of difference between a $1k and a $5k mill, in terms of stability and reliability.

Sprint Geezer wrote:

Cheaper mills will have a lower duty cycle--at higher loads, they will either trip their protective breaker, requiring a waiting period and reset, or else they will fail.

If you're not going to sustain high speed, maybe a less expensive lower-duty-cycle mill will do just fine.

Not to derail this thread, but this seems to be happening to my lower end treadmill. It runs fine up to 9MPH but it will trip it's breaker if I go above that for even a minute. Any way around this? Would a really good lube on the belt help lower the load?

Is joining a gym an option for you? That may be a cheaper alternative with additional benefits.

The duty cycle rating applies to the motor--different motors are rated for different duty cycles at a given load.

You can reduce the load on the motor by minimizing all the friction in the system, which is certainly a good idea.

The best solution would be excellent lubrication, combined with a higher-duty-cycle motor. Motors in general aren't that difficult to swap into and out of machinery--there are standardized configurations, physical and electrical.

With the web, you could find a better motor relatively easily, but it will take some work installing, and it might be easier to buy another, better, mill.

Another vote for Woodway. They're expensive, but our facilities guy said they are lower maintenance, so you may re-coup the additional outlay over time.

Landice treadmills a solid and built in the US of frikin' A. They hit 5min pace.

I have a True 450 that is 13 years old and a Landice L7 that is less than one year old. The True still gets daily use, and other than being loud, it's still going strong. The Landice is a dream to run on, and is rock steady at any pace from 5:00 per mile on up.

I spent 2400 on the True and 4000 on the Landice. Both were/are well worth the money for the performance and durability we expect from them. I've also spent 1800 on a Bladez treadmill that ended up being a huge mistake. It worked well (for 13 months) until it didn't work at all, and the company hung me out to dry for warranty and repair.

In my experience, your cost must match your expectations, or you will be disappointed while wasting a lot of money.

I have had a Sears NordicTrack E4400 for 5 years. I use it during the winter when the outdoor conditions or work schedule makes it easier to get the workout indoors.

The reason I bought at Sears was for the convenience of the maintenance contract which provides an annual tune up and repair when needed. NordicTrack no longer allows Sears to work on their machines. As a result, the process is cumbersome and lengthy. Last year, I couldn't use it for about a month while waiting for a part delivery and then an appointment for the repair. As a result, I won't buy another NordicTrack even though I like the machine.

I own a Sole F-85. $2,000 delivered, folding (gives you more space), but strong deck strong motor and big rollers. Goes down to 5:00 per mile with incline.

If I'd had the money I would have gone higher end and bought one of the True commercial-grade treadmills. However I have no complaints with mine.

If you need something that goes up to 5:00/mile do not go any lower end.

By the way, definitely look for something with a big-diameter roller. The higher mass tends to smooth out the strains on the motor that your footsteps cause.

Agree about the flywheel effect of the rollers.

Hearing praise for True machines here, the machine that I burnt out was a True 850 HR ZTX, that went up to 15 mph. It will apparently cost around $1400 to fix.

True was bought out some time ago, and quality has suffered since.

Landice is the industry leader for home treadmills right now. The machines are overbuilt with regard to the frame, rollers, flywheel and motors. The rollers are so massive, they function like additional flywheels.

I would also echo Average Joe's comment from above: if you expect 5:00 pace to be usable and repeatable, you have to spend some serious cash. No way around it.