graylocks Wrote:
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> is it possible to find a durable treadmill in the
> $400 range?
No.
What you do is buy the $400 treadmill, understanding that it's a throwaway.
If you end up not using it, you've thrown away only $400. If you DO use it, you'll use it up and throw it away--and it will have been an investement in your treadmill education. You will have proven to yourself that you do use it, and you'll know what you like and don't like, and now you'll know what to buy for real.
Then you'll go out and buy a Landice or similar.
I've had a Landice for over 8 years now. It rocks. So does the company.
Trust me when I tell you: all the bells and whistles that are on the $400 and even $900 treadmills are meaningless. You want one with speed and incline controls, and you don't need anything else. You don't need programming or anything automated.
What you DO need is a good solid set of motors. The incline motor on my Landice is twice as big, powerful, and sturdy as the tread motor on any treadmill you're looking at. It makes a huge difference. You really do get what you pay for.
But as I said, don't pay for that up front. Buy the throwaway unit until you know you've committed to the program.
In fact, I'm about to get on my treadmill in a few minutes. I do two sessions a day of 30 minutes at 4.3mph on a 6% incline.
>
> my research is not encouraging on this. i don't
> need a lot of bells and whistles. it's for walking
> and possibly moving to light jogging. incline
> capability would be nice.
>
> am i dreaming?
Not really. You *can* buy a treadmill in your price range. What you won't get is a good or reliable or long-term treadmill in your price range.
I'll never forget having worn out our $900 treadmill and going to look for a new one. I told the guy: I want one with no bells and whistles. Do you have one? He took me away from the sub-$1000 section (they all had silly useless bells and whistles; that's what sells the sub-$1000 treadmill) and we went over to the entry level Landice--$2200. You'll find that the serious machines can afford not to have all the bells and whistles, while the cheap "BUY ME!" machines on the floor can't NOT have the bells and whistles. It's the bells and whistles that attract the masses who don't know any better and who haven't done their research.
It was $2200 well spent, in retrospect. But so was the initial $900 unit that didn't last me 3 years, because it was a great proof of concept.
BTW, I do the TV thing while I walk. But it's ReplayTV, so I'm not sitting there for 4-5 mintues at a stretch watching a commercial break. It's also the TV that I want to watch when I feel like walking; I'm not stuck in THEIR schedule.
If I had to do it around the network schedules and watch commercials throughout, I wouldn't do TV, either. But then I'd be bored out of my mind.
And the treadmill moves too much to do any reading, even with a reading stand.
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