WhichIconTreadmill.com

Treadmill FAQ

1. What’s an Icon Treadmill?

An Icon treadmill refers to a treadmill made by Icon Health and Fitness. Icon Health and Fitness is the company behind such well known brands like Proform, Nordictrack, Healthrider, Epic Fitness, Healthrider and Gold’s Gym. With total sales close to one billion dollars annually, Icon Health and Fitness is one of the biggest players in the fitness equipment industry today.

2. Why Should I Buy An Icon Treadmill?

An Icon treadmill is a great choice for the average home user for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason you should buy an Icon treadmill is how well it balances price and features. For the price you’re paying, you get a boatload of features many of which are found in treadmills that are a few thousand dollars more from competing brands. The quality isn’t too shabby either considering the price you’re paying.

3. Why Shouldn’t I Buy An Icon Treadmill?

A recurring theme with basically all products by Icon is the short warranty. Up until 2007/2008, Proform’s favorite and most common warranty is a 90 days parts and labor. Lately, the warranty has been extended to 1 year parts and labor and in some cases, even 2 years parts. Luckily, an extended warranty can actually be had for very cheaply at only a little more than a hundred dollars for a 3 year extended warranty which includes labor!

There are also concerns in regards to the treadmill’s durability. The answer to the next question addresses this issue.

4. I’ve read horror stories from previous Proform and Nordictrack owners where their treadmill broke down shortly after purchasing. Should I be worried?

The answer is it depends.

One thing you must accept is that all companies produce defective products or lemons from time to time and with the sheer number of units sold by Icon in years past, there are bound to be a few negative reviews because of this that have surfaced on the internet.
But there are also instances where the unit was not defective to begin with but the treadmill still broke down. So how do you explain that?

In reality, there could be many possible explanations. One explanation is if the user was too close, right on or even over the machine’s max weight capacity. Another explanation is overuse. A third explanation is that there are inherent problems with the machine’s construction. It is this issue of poor construction that is of main concern to us.

Before 2007, the Icon lineup of treadmills such as Proform, Nordictrack, and Healthrider has received enormous criticism from experts in the industry denouncing it of poor quality and poor construction. But times have changed.

In fact, Treadmill Doctor who is the most authoritative expert on the internet said “If you had told us we would recommend NT (NordicTrack) a few years ago, we would have looked at you like you had two heads.” If the most authoritative figure on treadmills has stated their opinion as such, who are we to question it?

But beyond what the Treadmill Doctor said in their reviews, let’s look at this logically. Most treadmills under the Proform or Nordictrack brands are sold for less than $1300 meanwhile most commercial treadmills sell for more than $3500. With such a large gap in price, there are bound to be huge differences in quality. You can’t expect a home treadmill to take half or even a third of the beating that a commercial treadmill can take because you’re not paying half or even a third of the price. Yet, many buyers buy a $1000 treadmill with the expectation that it will last them forever and ever. This is simply unrealistic. What I will say however, is that for a budget treadmill under $1000 or even $1300, you’ll have a hard time finding something that beats an Icon product especially after the great improvements they’ve made in their quality in recent years.

In the end, the price is generally a pretty good indication of the quality of the treadmill. If you are going to be putting a ton of miles on your treadmill, perhaps an Icon made treadmill is not the best choice. But before you decide to abandon all products made by Icon forever, read the answer to the next question to determine if you really need a higher end treadmill.

5. How much should I spend on a treadmill?

For usage of less than 4 miles a week where those 4 miles are WALKED (less than 4 MPH), you’re looking at spending around $500.
For usage of less than 8 miles a week where those 8 miles are WALKED or JOGGED (less than 7 MPH), you’re looking at spending around $1000.
For usage of less than 12 miles a week where those 12 miles are MAINLY walked or jogged with the occasional run (more than 7 mph), a $1200 to $1500 treadmill is recommended.
For usage of more than 15 miles a week where there is a fair bit of running, don’t consider Proform, Healthrider, or Nordictrack. Take a look at Sole instead.
Of course, there are many other variables that come into play in determining how long your treadmill lasts such as the weight of the user, the length of workout session, the maintenance of your treadmill and so on. But the above is a good general guide for determining how much to spend for a treadmill that’s going to be problem free for three years or more.

6. Do you have any tips on picking the right treadmill for my home?

We’ve already completed task of picking the best treadmills from Icon Health and Fitness at the $600, $1000 and $1500 price points. Please refer to our home page or the best buy tab at the top of this website to see which treadmills we think you should buy.

7. Why isn’t INSERT BRAND or INSERT MODEL reviewed on this site?

Icon Health and Fitness has had a long history and literally thousands of different models over the year. There’s no way we could ever review them all. That is why this site only contains the newer models (2007/2008) that are currently sold online. Although we strive to update this website on a regular basis, there are times when we do miss a new model that has just been released. If you know of any recent treadmill models sold under the Proform, Nordictrack, Healthrider, Image or Epic brands and is under $1500 that is not reviewed on this site, please drop us a line using the contact link at the bottom of this page.

This site’s main focus is on treadmills made by Icon Health and Fitness so we do not review other brands such as Sole, Smooth, Landice, Vision, Precor, etc. We might review some of the lesser known brands from Icon such as Gold’s Gym or Reebok in the near future.

8. How are treadmills on this site rated?

Refer to the “How We Rate” tab at the top of this page.

 

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