Last Updated: 1/11/2022
Over 30 years old and owned by Nautilus Inc., Bowflex machines are well-known thanks to their highly aggressive marketing. Often, the advertising revolves around the home gyms, but Bowflex does produce some excellent treadmills. It is one of the only treadmill makers which has attempted to make an incline trainer to compete with NordicTrack’s excellent incline trainers.
Along with their treadmills, Bowflex manufactures home gyms, ellipticals, a fitness tracker, and stepping machines. If you’re interested in companies related to Bowflex, its sister companies are Nautilus, Universal Gym Equipment, and Schwinn.
Bowflex Treadmill Product Line Summary
Only 4 treadmills make up the Bowflex treadmill line, two of them being regular treadmills with two incline trainers. The regular treadmills are of better quality and higher utility than the treadclimbers. Along with the treadmills, Treadmill Reviews.com has opted to review some of Bowflex’s treadmill alternatives, as many of our readers have expressed interest in other Bowflex products.
Bowflex Max Trainers
The Max Trainer series from Bowflex is their attempt at crossing an elliptical with a stair climber. You get the low-impact movements of a stair climber and elliptical with the resistance controls for increasing or decreasing the difficulty of your workout. With a combination of using both the upper and lower body to work the machine, you get the added benefit of a higher calorie burn than your standard elliptical. These home cardio machines range from $1000 to $2500 dollars. They have very basic functions with minimal pre-set workouts and some require a monthly subscription to Bowflex’s program called Max Intelligence.
BXT Series
We were pleasantly surprised by the Bowflex BXT treadmill series. They are reasonably priced, starting at $1,499. There are many features both treadmills have in common, such as LCD screens, 4 user profiles, heart rate monitoring contact grips and chest straps, Bluetooth-syncing, USB charging port, and media shelf. They are a little low-tech as they lack touchscreens and have a limited amount of workout programs. However, this is less of an issue for some buyers than others. While they don’t quite break into our best treadmills categories, the BXT treadmill series are still good quality treadmills.
Treadclimber Series
While the Treadclimber series attempted to create an incline trainer, it doesn’t match up well if compared to the NordicTrack incline trainers especially if you consider they start in price at $1,999. These treadclimbers only have a speed range of 0.5-4.5 MPH, contact handlebar heart rate monitoring, backlit displays, water bottle holders, and short warranties. You also cannot control the incline range as it is an automatic function and you have to just keep up with it. One of the few upsides of these machines is the fact that they are quite compact so you can save on space.
Out-Of-Stock Bowflex Treadmills
With a company that has been producing fitness equipment for over 30 years, it only makes sense that there will be out-of-stock Bowflex treadmills. While we do not test all out-of-stock treadmill, some of the treadmills we have reviewed move into this category.
Our Ruling On Bowflex Treadmills
Here at Treadmill Reviews, we have mixed feelings on the Bowflex treadmill line. Overall, we like the BXT treadmill series for several reasons:
- The prices are reasonable, ranging from $1,499 to $1,799.
- They have strong motors, with a 3.75 CHP motor in the BXT116 and a 4.0 CHP motor in the BXT216.
- A heart rate monitoring chest strap comes with both treadmills.
- High weight capacity on both, with the BXT116 able to hold 375 lbs and the BXT216 up to 400 lbs.
On the other hand, the treadclimber treadmill series is much less impressive than the normal Bowflex treadmills. Some of the areas they fall short are:
- High priced for limited functionality, ranging in price from $1,999 to $2,999.
- Small speed range of 0.5-4.5 MPH on both treadmills
- Only a 2-year warranty on the TC100 and 3-year warranty on the TC200.
- Minimal workout programs, with only 5 on the TC200.
So, while the BXT treadmills are worth some consideration when you’re looking for a new treadmill, we do not recommend the treadclimbers. One of the NordicTrack incline trainers would be a much better choice as they have higher utility and most expensive incline trainer X22i is the same price as the TC200.
