_another_ treadmill advice question

[email hidden] (Lil) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I'm planning to spring for a family treadmill, which I will
occassionally use when I can't swim or hop on my windtrainer. The
principal users of the treadmill will probably be my aged mother--65
and sporadic arthritic knee and ankle issues, and my exercise adverse
brother. By my reckoning, the treadmill will be primarily a walking
treadmill.

I've been going round to the local sporting goods store and scoped out
the various treadmills on the internet. The bad thing is the ones I
might be interested in buying on the internet are not available for
trying at the stores and vice versa.

Treadmills tested so far: LifeSpan, Proform 845??, Proform 850,
Pacemaster Pro Plus II and Schwinn 825p. I also wanted to try the
Schwinn 835p, but it was broken so I couldn't check it out. (The
sales associate assured me that the Schwinn 825p and 835p are
essentially the same, except the 835p folds.) The ones that I like
the best are the Pacemaster and the Schwinn. The Pacemaster seems
more powerful and seem quieter, but is twice what I was planning to
spend on a "walking" treadmill. The Schwinn, particularly the 825p,
is more in my range--about 1K on sale. However, it's not foldable...

So the questions are: how important is foldability? It's not like
these machines will be wheeled around and moved from spot to spot like
a couch....Also, how easy are they to fold and unfold? If it's a
pain, it's probably not worth my while to fold up the thing...Space
can be an issue because we're planning to park it in the room that
leads to the garage and has an occassional guest camping out in it.
If it's not foldable, it _will_ be in the path from the garage to the
rest of the house...

The other question is, would the Schwinn be good enough for a walking
treadmill or would the Pacemaster have the better "shock-absorbing"
system to warrant the extra expense?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Lil

No.
You're welcome.

On 31 Oct 2004 10:16:31 -0800, [email hidden] (Brilliant

moron) said:

[email hidden] (Lil) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I'm planning to spring for a family treadmill, which I will
occassionally use when I can't swim or hop on my windtrainer. The
principal users of the treadmill will probably be my aged mother--65
and sporadic arthritic knee and ankle issues, and my exercise adverse
brother. By my reckoning, the treadmill will be primarily a walking
treadmill.

I've been going round to the local sporting goods store and scoped out
the various treadmills on the internet. The bad thing is the ones I
might be interested in buying on the internet are not available for
trying at the stores and vice versa.

Treadmills tested so far: LifeSpan, Proform 845??, Proform 850,
Pacemaster Pro Plus II and Schwinn 825p. I also wanted to try the
Schwinn 835p, but it was broken so I couldn't check it out. (The
sales associate assured me that the Schwinn 825p and 835p are
essentially the same, except the 835p folds.) The ones that I like
the best are the Pacemaster and the Schwinn. The Pacemaster seems
more powerful and seem quieter, but is twice what I was planning to
spend on a "walking" treadmill. The Schwinn, particularly the 825p,
is more in my range--about 1K on sale. However, it's not foldable...

So the questions are: how important is foldability? It's not like
these machines will be wheeled around and moved from spot to spot like
a couch....Also, how easy are they to fold and unfold? If it's a
pain, it's probably not worth my while to fold up the thing...Space
can be an issue because we're planning to park it in the room that
leads to the garage and has an occassional guest camping out in it.
If it's not foldable, it _will_ be in the path from the garage to the
rest of the house...

The other question is, would the Schwinn be good enough for a walking
treadmill or would the Pacemaster have the better "shock-absorbing"
system to warrant the extra expense?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Lil

No.
You're welcome.

I agree.

Lil said:

I'm planning to spring for a family treadmill, which I will
occassionally use when I can't swim or hop on my windtrainer. The
principal users of the treadmill will probably be my aged mother--65
and sporadic arthritic knee and ankle issues, and my exercise adverse
brother. By my reckoning, the treadmill will be primarily a walking
treadmill.

I've been going round to the local sporting goods store and scoped out
the various treadmills on the internet. The bad thing is the ones I
might be interested in buying on the internet are not available for
trying at the stores and vice versa.

Part of this will be due to the fact that models available on the internet
may well be older (if they're second hand) or newer (if they're at an online
store) than the ones you can find in the stores.

One way to address this issue is to become very familiar with the brands
you're shopping for, so that you have some idea which models are similar to
which ones.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

the best are the Pacemaster and the Schwinn. The Pacemaster seems
more powerful and seem quieter,

If you can, try to track down the spec sheets of these models. Websites like
runnersworld.com have several articles about buying treadmills that may be
helpful. For a 65 year old female walking, your durability needs may not be as
extreme as those of a 200lb male runner (which is good, because a good running
treadmill would probably cost you more than 1k).

Quoted message said:

but is twice what I was planning to
spend on a "walking" treadmill. The Schwinn, particularly the 825p,
is more in my range--about 1K on sale. However, it's not foldable...

So the questions are: how important is foldability? It's not like

It's really up to you. I suppose the main advantage of foldability is that it
saves space. I don't know how easy it is to fold though.

Quoted message said:

these machines will be wheeled around and moved from spot to spot like
a couch....Also, how easy are they to fold and unfold? If it's a
pain, it's probably not worth my while to fold up the thing...Space
can be an issue because we're planning to park it in the room that
leads to the garage and has an occassional guest camping out in it.
If it's not foldable, it _will_ be in the path from the garage to the
rest of the house...

How often is that going to be an issue though ? On those occasions when it
would be an issue (when you have a guest), could you just move it ? Just
some things to think about. You should think carefully about how you would
use it.

Quoted message said:

The other question is, would the Schwinn be good enough for a walking
treadmill or would the Pacemaster have the better "shock-absorbing"
system to warrant the extra expense?

I don't know if anyone can answer that question except yourself.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Lil wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

I'm planning to spring for a family treadmill, which I will
occassionally use when I can't swim or hop on my windtrainer. The
principal users of the treadmill will probably be my aged mother--65
and sporadic arthritic knee and ankle issues, and my exercise adverse
brother. By my reckoning, the treadmill will be primarily a walking
treadmill.

What are the chances your exercise averse brother will use it? It takes
more determination to exercise indoors than outdoors in my experience.
Outside there is sensory experience, inside you must have TV or music, but
it's still very hard for most people to stay motivated to use a treadmill.
I agree with Donovan the needs are different for running and walking, and
the weights of the people who are going to use it.

I always highly recommend that people read their local classifieds or look
for treadmills at garage sales first, particularly for one that will be used
for walking, which can be any basic working model. I've found 2 perfectly
fine working treadmills other people were throwing away. I used one for 2
years until the belt wore out. The second one is in better shape and I've
used it about 100 days of this year so far, and it looks like it will last a
while. Usually they only need batteries and/or a circuit breaker reset.

-Tony

<< (Brilliant
moron) >>

You're just an Ox!
Moron.

_______
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<< > The other question is, would the Schwinn be good enough for a walking

Quoted message said:

treadmill or would the Pacemaster have the better "shock-absorbing"
system to warrant the extra expense? >>

My counsel:
Go for the extra expense. A small difference, and besides, after you start
walking regularly, you're likely going to feel the instinct to run...

So take the long view, that will serve well...

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Blog, or dog? Who knows. But if you see my lost pup, please ping me!
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"Tony" <qtrader2@(remove)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<G6ehd.776$a24.41@trndny07>...

Quoted message said:

What are the chances your exercise averse brother will use it?

Yeah that part got me too. She thinks it's like leading a horse to
water, and it's not. Just cause it's there, doesn't mean he'll use it.