If you want to get serious about fitness at home and have your heart set on a treadmill you need to decide whether you want a cheap treadmill with virtually no warranty, or whether you want to invest in something a little more serious. The NordicTrack 7.5 S bridges the gap between mid level to commercial series treadmills.
That means it’s choc full of features like these.
- 50 workout programs built in
- another 16 000 online with iFit
- Flexselect cushioning protects your joints
- One year subscription to NordicTrack iFit including custom spec programs for this treadmill
- 12 mph top speed- good for pacy runs
- 12 percent incline ramp with responsive one touch controls
- Responsive powerful 3.0 chp motor- this engine quickly adjusts to your speed and gradient changes
- It’s all interactive- integrates with iFit workouts, which means you don’t have to adjust any of the settings, the iFit coaching program automatically takes over speed and ramp controls
- 7 inch interactive touchscreen monitor
- Can incorporate cross-training options like strength and weigh training and fitness bootcamps
- real-time stats including heart, distance covered
- 4 household users can store their profile info and stats
- pulse grip heart monitor (good for zonal training and to make sure you don’t overdo it)
- 2 x digitally acoustically enhanced speakers
- 2 year parts and 1 year labor warranty + 10 year frame warranty
- It also folds vertically to reduce half it’s footprint
- 300 pound user weight capacity- ideal if you are large and want to downsize
- tray to hold your ipad, phone, magazines, water bottle or chihuahua if you dare.
What Does All These Features Mean In The Real World?
One of the banes of entry level treadmills is that they sacrifice build quality to cut the price. So low life parts are used and the technology is stripped down to the bone.
That means if you want to frequently use the treadmill you will be doing well to get a year out of it. There is no way manufactures can make cheap treadmills except by using sub standard running decks (usually single or double ply), low powered motors and low impact dampers.
If you want to go fast on an entry level treadmill forget about it. You probably can’t anyway, but even at the treadmills top speed you are causing some serious wear and tear {Not only on the machine, but most likely your joints}. That’s why 90 days parts is the most common warranty on them.
If the company were to offer labor and any longer warranty they would go bust. If you want to make use of more advanced treadmill features such as automated incline ramps and responsive one touch controls you need to move up a level.
The T 7.5 S comfortably fits this bracket and even encroaches on top end luxurious commercial models $1-2K more expensive. What you will receive further on up the price scale is large touch screen monitors and even maintenance free belts, and more advanced cushioning systems.
What you do get with this treadmill is more than adequate. The motor is powerful enough to last for years as it hits the top speed of 12 mph, at an incline of 12%.
Some users have noticed it gets a bit wobbly up at this end, which is fair as this model is trying to pack in quite an array of features for it’s price.
You will get a bit more peace of mind with the 12 month labor and 2 years parts warranty. If you have multiple users in your home you will soon have saved over yearly gym subscriptions.
Where This Machine Triumphs
NordicTrack are extremely renowned manufacturers. They have a proven track record with commercial and home fitness equipment, and they also have a respected range of ellipticals and incline trainers. You can expect reliability from your purchase, and if you are going to be using iFit reliability is a must.
Ifit takes your workouts from being mundane to the domain of excitement. If you struggle with motivation you can simulate a route of any city or rural location in the world, powered by Google maps.
For extra variety and to take you away from training alone you can choose one of the 16000+ workouts from iFit coaches. NordicTrack have teamed up with them to provide workouts tailored to your treadmill.
Many of these involve charging up hills and fast acceleration zones. Thankfully all you have to do is keep up as the iFit coach adjusts the treadmills incline and speed settings for you.
That breaks you away from standard one dimensional treadmill graphics. You still get the universal track graph to check how much of your route is left, but it also looks very impressive in the colorful 7 inch interactive smart monitor.
You can even incorporate strength circuits into your workout. For this you will follow your PT (naturally off the treadmill) and you perform body weight squats, lunges, Russian twists, and even butt kicks and push ups , dependant on the trainer.
Complete T Series Range
What Could Be Beefed Up
The T 7.5 S makes some great improvements on it’s entry level little brother, but the monitor size is sacrificed to meet all of the new features. The warranty on labor is a little short at 12 months, would have liked to seen it at 24 months.
Is This The Right Treadmill For You?
This beats the base level T series treadmill in overall specs. It does have some serious competition from the next 2 treadmills in this range, most notably the T 9.5 S which is reviewed here.
But for that privilege you will have to pay almost $1k more. If you aren’t a serious runner this is a very good choice. It has great engineering (good engine and cushioning system), looks great and also folds for easy storage.
The fan will cool you down during exhilarating iFit training sessions, which look great on the monitor and sound very impressive on the digital speakers.
Pound for pound this is a great buy for fitness enthusiasts who aren’t trying to break the land speed record. If you want something that is going to keep going long term you do not need to spend upwards of $2k to get what you need.