I have been a bad Treadmill Sensei these past two weeks and haven’t posted in far too long. I inted to fix that this week. Look for a post a day! WE’re going to get started today with a reader asking about a Sole F63 (a popular unit these days) versus a View 550 from Icon Health and Fitness. This letter is from Kerry:
Good Afternoon, My question is concerning the purchase of my first home treadmill. I’m leaning towards the Sole F63 per your recommendations, but I am concerned. At 6ft+ and 245 I want to be sure it’s 2.5HP motor can take it. I hate treadmills that slip and want to avoid it at all cost (well not all costs..My budget is about 1,300).
I know your hatred for all things ICON, but they have a View550 with a 3hp CHP motor and 2.5 rollers at about $1,000. The warranty is not as good (12 years motor, 1 year parts/labor). Will the larger motor make much of a difference.
Thanks for your time. -Kerry
Thanks for your note! You bring up something that comes up quite a bit. The difference between an ICON 3hp motor and one by a more reputable manufacturer. If you were to open up most ICON units (Proform, Image, Weslo and so on) what you’ll find is a fairly small motor — some as small as a soda can! What they do is take a 1.25 or 1.5 horsepower motor and then gear them up to run at 3-4 times their normal RPM. What this does is cause the motor to run faster and hotter in order to get the same kind of power that a larger motor has at lower RPMs. It will wear down much faster and not offer as consistant enough of a run. In other words you’ll quickly find the motor changing speeds suddenly in the middle of a running work out, which can be a bad thing.
For those of you who haven’t read my earlier review of the Sole F63/Spirit Z88, you can check it out here: Sole F63 Review
Thanks for your note, Kerry, and take care!
http://www.treadmillsensei.com
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