Talk to me about treadmills

[Britishbane]

My wife and I are looking for a treadmill for home use. They suck. Running isn't fun, but we're looking to increase our chances of exercise with 2 (soon to be three) little ones at home. What are you're experiences? How much maintenance are we looking at for a well built non commercial model? If you have specific recommendations please throw them my way.

As of right now I'm looking at something like the SOLE F80.

[marley]

There are cheaper options for a Standing Valet then purchasing a treadmill......

[HorsCat]

The only "advice" I can give is this - in the Fall of 2005, shortly after our first child was born, we purchased a treadmill to help my better half lose the baby weight. Fast forward to 2018, we have two more kids, she lost the baby weight, she's managed to keep it off, and the treadmill has had about 50 miles run on it in the 13 years it has been owned. If you live in the metro Atlanta area, I will pay you to pick it up.

[Britishbane]

The only "advice" I can give is this - in the Fall of 2005, shortly after our first child was born, we purchased a treadmill to help my better half lose the baby weight. Fast forward to 2018, we have two more kids, she lost the baby weight, she's managed to keep it off, and the treadmill has had about 50 miles run on it in the 13 years it has been owned. If you live in the metro Atlanta area, I will pay you to pick it up.

There are cheaper options for a Standing Valet then purchasing a treadmill......

Ha! Noted.

[Britishbane]

My wife and I are looking for a treadmill for home use. They suck. Running isn't fun, but we're looking to increase our chances of exercise with 2 (soon to be three) little ones at home. What are you're experiences? How much maintenance are we looking at for a well built non commercial model? If you have specific recommendations please throw them my way.

As of right now I'm looking at something like the SOLE F80.

That "you're" up there is killing me. KILLING ME.

[funcrusher]

we've had a landice treadmill for over a decade...i don't think you want all the fancy electronics that will seem obsolete in a year...this one just has the basic stuff and it has held up well...the pitch was "gym" quality and all the major parts were alloy

that said, for the money you're about to spend consider getting the concept 2 ski erg...i'm guessing you ride a lot...why run, when you can ski-erg...get a great workout with using a different set of muscles

it is easily the best workout per unit of time

[robin3mj]

We had a Nordic Track incline treadmill for a while. Ultimately it wasn’t getting used enough to justify keeping during an interstate move. I think it could tilt up to 15 degrees or so, so I would do shorter runs at steep levels, just to keep myself sane.
The one downside was the deck was short, so when running on flat ground, my stride was too long for it. A little disconcerting.
I think you’re a tall guy so would recommend making sure deck length is not an issue with your stride before you buy.

The only other thing I would mention is that if you can find the time to each run outside while the other one (or babysitter) is at home, that’ll be vastly cheaper and more entertaining than a treadmill. I’ve been knocking out ½ hour runs one or two weeknights after the kids have gone to bed, and it’s not that bad.

[Too Tall]

Bought a Landice 5 or 6 years ago. No bells and whistles just a sold treadmill with a lifetime warranty. The warranty paid off. It had a squeak that was making me nuts. The techs replaced everything except the frame!!! It works, no drama.

[Saab2000]

Join the YMCA (or similar) and find out if they’re for you. A treadmill workout can be great. But they’re awful devices most of the time. Less bad in a gym setting.

[guido]

Best I've ever found is a Woodway. Quite expensive new, worth looking for on the used market...

[Daverino]

My wife and I had a Landice that we had for about 8 years with no problems whatsoever. Great, reliable, solid— the White Industries of treadmills. We just sold it a couple weeks ago. Why? Because it’s a treadmill. The attraction wears off fast, and we found excuses to exercise outside in crappy weather to avoid using it. That’s where it’s true value came in— we expanded our envelope of tolerable exercise weather and became more organized to allow one of us to exercise while the other watched the kids.
It made for an excellent drying rack in the end.

[xjoex]

We had a Horizon CST3.5 for 5 years, In that time I replaced 5 rollers, 10 belts, 2 motors and a running surface. Maybe a $900 treadmill?

I gave up on it, we have an elliptical now. I really like the elliptical. I spent quite a bit more ~ $2200 but it gets used all the time. Where I never used the treadmill (only my wife) we both use the elliptical. It is a LifeFitness X3. Going on 6 years and 0 maintenance.

-Joe

[Mabouya]

that said, for the money you're about to spend consider getting the concept 2 ski erg...i'm guessing you ride a lot...why run, when you can ski-erg...get a great workout with using a different set of muscles

it is easily the best workout per unit of time

+1 on this.

I'd say either a C2 rower or ski erg.

Best-selling Rowing Machine -SkiErg -Exercise Bike | United States

[Mabouya]

Just a short post to plug the rower, mostly because that's what I did last night. I've recently discovered pyramid intervals, and really like the 2000, 1500, 1000, 500 w/ 3 min rests in between, for a total of 5k. I hold back a bit in the first two pieces, because if I go too hard there I won't have anything left for the last two, but they're over half of the total distance, so you can't take it too easy otherwise you'll end up with a lame average pace.

A video to motivate the OP's wife:

(At this pace they are putting out an insane amount of power here, and would likely crush the guys on this forum.)

[htwoopup]

I have had a True that lasted with almost 20 years (it is still going at our local firehouse that we donated it to but I am not counting that). It was used by at least one of us for about 4 days a week for a 45 minutes to a couple of hours a day. We had the deck re-waxed and rollers redone every 3 years if we remembered or when it would squeak or seem uneven in its rolling. I think the key was that I intentionally spent more on a mechanically better machine (but not in what it did in fancy electronics) than I could have under the theory that you get what you pay for on machines that aren’t a fashion item. I also followed the maintenance schedule that came with it (although I had the gym machine store service it rather than DIY).

One thing to remember with a mill is to set it at an incline of 1% to simulate outside...half a percent because of no air resistance inside on a mill and half a percent because the ground is moving under your feet instead of your feet moving over the ground.

I loved the thing and I would have kept it if we had room in our latest apartment. But then again I may be abnormal as I don’t mind and kinda like the bike trainer when I can’t get outside.