Treadmills

[stevesuk]

Hi guys,

My venerable "eBay special" treadmill, has finally failed in a terminal way. After giving 10 years of service, the frame has cracked next to one of the mounts for the running deck. I could possibly find someone to weld it up, but the rest of the machine is also 10 years old and has been used for many 1,000s of KM. It actually still works, but it makes an awful noise when you run on it.

So I've been looking around at what to replace it with. My criteria (hopefully right) is to look at something with a wide/long running deck (I'm 6ft 4" and 16 stone). I also want one with a high weight limit and a fairly powerful motor - because to me, that indicates its built to last.

Myself and the wife use the machine regularly. During the winter, one of us will use it for a 5K run almost every day.

It's a bit of a minefield, because it seems all treadmills claim to be discounted to somewhere approaching 50% We want to spend somewhere between £600 and £900 - mainly because we do use it a lot (it's not a glorified clothes horse), and I want the new machine to last as long as the one it's replacing.

I've kind of narrowed it down to the NordicTrack T12.2 ( https://www.nordictrack.co.uk/treadmills/t-series/... ) - £664 with a voucher code I found, or the DKN RoadRunner I ( https://www.dkn-uk.com/fitness-machines/treadmills... ) - £899 with a voucher code I found.

I'd never heard of DKN before, but this review site - http://www.treadmill-running-machine-review.co.uk/... - seems to rate it very highly. On the other hand, I've no idea who they're affiliated with (since they are providing a hefty discount code for that particular treadmill).

Has anyone used either of these machines (or similar)? Is there something else in that price range that I'm missing?

Steve.

Edited by stevesuk on Sunday 15th January 12:25

[timetex]

What did you opt for in the end?

I'm looking at getting something that'll take my weight (18+ stone) and be comfortable to run on.

My gym has the Technogym stuff (actually just replaced it with the WellNess Cloud stuff) and the treadmills are nice, but I don't have the budget for one...

[The_Doc]

I'm in the process of repairing my wife's treadmill. She runs about 15km a week on it, and therefore in the four years she's had it it's probably done about 3000km. It has a faulty Motor Control Board.
A fixer bloke came to look at it and I asked him specifically: "If this one dies totally, what should I buy next time that would have some longevity? Or in otherwords, you fix them for a job, which one breaks the least?"

Nordic Track was his answer. Outside of the £3000 ones....

[stevesuk]

Hi guys,

I managed to apply a temporary fix to mine - which held through the winter. Now the weather is getting better, it's not being used so much - I've run 100 KM so far this month, all outdoors - so the problem has been forgotten about for the time being.

So the answer is that I didn't buy one in the end, but will probably need to look again during autumn/winter this year when it starts to get cold, wet and dark again.

I keep hearing good things about DKN, and also Sole Fitness machines. Both of these are around the £1000 point though.

I'm sure I read an article that pretty much said Proform, Reebook and Nordic Track treadmills are all churned out at the same factory in China. If you look at the Proform and Nordic Track treadmills in particular, you can see the design similarities. Proform are usually a bit cheaper,

Cheers,

Steve.

[C0ffin D0dger]

stevesuk said:

So the answer is that I didn't buy one in the end, but will probably need to look again during autumn/winter this year when it starts to get cold, wet and dark again.

I maintained 3 x 5km runs a week throughout the winter this year, few pairs of running tights and a jacket is pretty much all you need. Just pick your route carefully so that it's all street lit. The reality is that it just doesn't rain as often as folk think and even if it does you just work a bit harder to make up for it.

[stevesuk]

C0ffin D0dger said:

I maintained 3 x 5km runs a week throughout the winter this year, few pairs of running tights and a jacket is pretty much all you need. Just pick your route carefully so that it's all street lit. The reality is that it just doesn't rain as often as folk think and even if it does you just work a bit harder to make up for it.

I definitely prefer to run outside when its convenient, but there are times when I find the treadmill invaluable. Personally, it helps build on pace. When I run outdoors, I tend to start off fairly quickly, but by the time I get to the 3rd or 4th kilometer, I start to slow down - often without realising how much. On the treadmill, I set the speed to say 12 KPH and if I don't carry on at that pace, I know I'll fall off the back of the machine - which is quite motivating Most of my runs in December were on the treadmill, and when I went back outdoors again in January, I'd knocked a minute off my previously static 5K time.

[timetex]

I'm back doing the couch to 5k again... I do actually really like running, but my body isn't keen.

I was trying running outdoors but I'm getting terrible shin splints / dead ankles, which I just don't get when I'm on the treadmill - so it was back to the gym today and the run was fine.

I want to be winding up to being able to do regular 5km runs, preferably outdoors, so will be treadmill running until my body decides it can cope with the road again.

But I've been considering a treadmill at home rather than going to the gym, as I think I'll use it more...

Food for thought, but how does one get that Nordic Track at 1/2 price?!

[stevesuk]

I think that NordicTrack machine is discontinued, but it was available in January for that price.

The DKN machine I mentioned seems to have gone too.

Have a look at this one though...

http://www.treadmill-running-machine-review.co.uk/...

Not sure if that review site is affiliated with DKN, but it gets a good review and they provide a voucher code to bring the price down to £599.

[Halb]

Wish I had the spare cash for this.
https://www.woodway.com/products/force