The BodyCraft TR1140 Treadmill Review — A Best Buy Treadmill Under $1500

Ohiyo!

For the Treadmill Sensei this website is a bit of an exercise in contradictions. You see, when I’m wearing my “Service Tech” hat I love low quality machines like Proform or Bowflex, or machines with a lot of issues like Spirit’s are currently having…but, when I’m weaing the robes of the Treadmill Sensei I despise those machines and warn my readers away from them because of those very problems. Today’s review is a great example of that. As a repair tech I am always annoyed to have to install a Bodycraft TR1140 treadmill because the darn things last so long and never have any real issues at all — unless of course an owner just doesn’t take care of it. However, as the Treadmill Sensei I just can’t say enough good things about it.

We received a call from a local gym owner a couple of weeks ago that said one of his members was going to be ordering a BodyCraft TR1140 Treadmill and asked if they could have it shipped to our shop. A lot of customers do that because we will bring their equipment inside and set it up for them, making sure everything is working and there is no freight damage. I agreed said we’d do a free installation if we could keep the unit for a week to give it a good review. The customer agreed and I was very happy to be getting in a TR1140 Treadmill to wreck…er..to review.

When we received the BodyCraft TR1140 in here at the DOJO I decided, since my son wasn’t doing anything constructive, I would turn the review process over to him. As a bigger guy he would be able to test the stability and durability of the TR1140 Treadmill a lot better than someone of my smaller build (that’s right…I’m down to 161 pounds! I lost another 8 pounds on the forced diet Mrs. Sensei has placed me on). Of course, I was right there to supervise the entire process.

To start off, my son is not the most mechanical of people — his skills are in the much more difficult fields of playing video games and not taking out the trash. That being said, he was able to assemble the BodyCraft TR1140 treadmill with little to no trouble. The process took him about 40 minutes and there was minimal cursing during that time. If you have someone to assist, it should only take 20-30 minutes.

From there we noticed the TR1140 has the same very solid steel frame build of all the other BodyCraft units. I would have been surprised to see anything else from a company like BodyCraft which is known for its high quality components and ultra durable gyms and strength equipment. It seems they’ve taken that same philosophy of building the most solid equipment on the market over to their treadmill line. The best example of that is watching my son run on the treadmill. He’s a bigger guy (260 lbs and about 6′ tall) and even with his extra weight (something my wife is working on getting rid of before he goes back to school) the uprights and console of the BodyCraft TR1140 treadmill didn’t move at all…there was very little shake in the unit at all even when I had him up his rather causal 2.5 mph walk to a brief 7 mph sprint.

The BodyCraft TR1140 treadmill also had a surprisingly large motor for one ranked at 2.25 horsepower. I’ve seen smaller motors from Spirit and Proform ranked as 3 horsepower or higher! To test the power of the motor I had my son stop the treadmill (something he was more than happy to do after having run off and on for nearly an hour a day for the previous 4 days) and do a cold start while standing on the belt. There was almost no slowdown from his weight as the TR1140 kicked on and started to move up to a higher speed. This is a great demonstration of the power and quality of the TR1140 treadmill’s motor and is not something you often see in a treadmill priced at under $1500.

Over the course of 6 days of testing, we found the BodyCraft TR1140 to be a great performer with very reactive pulse grip heart rate monitoring (and wireless as well), 10 programs and a large 20″ x 56″ running area. It was easily one of the best treadmills under $1500 that we’ve reviewed this year and should last 10 years or more for the owner with little trouble.

For being a top rated treadmill under $1500, the Treadmill Sensei gladly gives the BodyCraft TR1140 Treadmill 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com