Proform TDF=Piece of [censored]

If anything your posting this last night was very timely. I was at a large family Christmas gathering and was asked about the Proform trainer. I didn't have much to go on except for two things and just after telling my thoughts I saw your post and showed him on my phone. That pretty much ended the conversation.

The two things I was able contribute to his question

My experience in the fitness equipment industry I have rarely seen anything from Proform that has lasted more than a couple of years. Disclaimer: doesn't mean I have a statistics on their equipment, but most of what I have experience with has not been good. My wife insisted on buying a Proform treadmill even after my warning and the warning of the store clerk suggesting we buy a different brand that they had. It looks nice and display was very flashy, but the display lasted just past the warranty period. The motor is still working and the function buttons still operate the treadmill so she is still content.

The consumer reviews for this trainer have mostly been bad concerning reliability. I am not sure if their second generation has more reliability, but I can't imagine it will be a good long term investment.

I have used mine for over a year and only had one issue with the console which they replaced. Mine is very quiet and smooth. I will say you are right about the estimated times of finishing a stage but it takes me 1 hour to burn 900 calories going at a hard rate. Have you gone to IFIT ,completed the profile and update the firmware? This might help with the power readings since mine seem pretty accurate.
You may want to contact Proform about the noise. They were pretty quick to send out my new part.
so far I love mine especially since I created a few favorites routes on Ifit. Hope it gets better for you.

Maybe mine has a problem. It just seems way too easy an i'm not in great shape. I also hate the incline feature. When you're doing tour de france routes what's the point of having a 13% decline, you can't even pedal it's so easy. I'm having a tech come out and check it out. Wish I had my $1300 back.