Just came back from seriously trying out these treadmills. Dragged
the family to the sporting goods store so we can all test it out. Mom
walked on it and my brother (5' 6" and 160-170 lb.) and I jogged on
them and played with the buttons.
The bottom line: although the Schwinn was about 50% the price of the
Pacemaster, we noticed several things that we did not like. One: the
treadmill bounced a lot standing on the hard showroom when either my
brother or I was jogging at 3 or 4 mph. Two: the buttons were not too
responsive--we had to press hard on the numeric pads that determine
how fast you're running. Three: the Schwinn, although responsive, was
not as responsive as the Pacemaster. Four: the Schwinn felt a bit
stiffer than the Pacemaster under my feet. Five: when adjusting the
incline, the front of the Schwinn visibily rose up and the back end
appeared to tilt down--not a very good feeling while jogging on the
treadmill. Both treadmills appeared a bit short for my brother's
stride when he took big steps.
So if you're on a tight budget, and you're not too heavy, the Schwinn
might be a decent treadmill to buy. But since safety and stability
were big issues with us, we ended up with the Pacemaster.
Lil