Dream Fitness D1000 Treadmill Info???

Hi there everyone. I'm interested in buying a treadmill. There are a couple models I'm looking at but was hoping to get some advice from people that might own them. Firstly i have seen a Dream Fitness D1000 for ??499. This can be found at this website http://www.dreamtreadmill.co.uk/D1000%20Treadmill.html Now spec wise this looks like the best treadmill you can buy. But I'm skeptical as they seem to be a small company in leicester and I can't find any reviews about them or the product. Anybody have any information??? Own one of these??? The other treadmill i was looking at is a reebok z8. This is available in Argos for ??499 with a two year warranty and it seems to have good reviews. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First rule: ALL treadmills are PERMANENTLY on a "was 2X now X" offer.

Second rule: Try before you buy. The treadmill that looks just right for you on paper may be the one that feels horrible under your feet when you try to actually run on it (but may feel fine to someone else). That said, it IS worth reading some of the reviews and comparing machines on paper to narrow down your search (e.g. http://www.treadmill-running-machine-review.co.uk/index.html as one I used while back).

Third rule: You're looking for a good warranty, such as lifetime frame & motor and 10 years everything else. You want your treadmill to last. If the manufacturer doesn't trust it to last more than a couple of years, why should you do so?

Fouth rule: You do NOT want to be using the treatmill at the absolute top of its capabilities most of the time you are using it or it willl be under a lot of strain, so lok for a relatively high HP motor and a decent top MPH and top incline (e.g. 12 mph and 12% incline on a home folding machine).

Extras like i-pod docking stations and inbuilt fans just means more to break, and you probably won't use all the fancy programmes.

 

 

 

Giggle, sorry... I'm very cynical... I read this as an advert....

i own one ..... the first 2 months i had it, i could not ... use it , as i tore my achilles tendon ....road running

i then used it for about 6 months , nearly everyday ...untill it broke ...i contacted dream fitness ( in birmingham ) ....who said NO invoice NO fixy or replacement parts ...... ( they said it came with the treadmill....but i don't remeber seeing it )

   i asked them to send me a copy of the invoice as they would still have the records , as they must keep them for 6 years for tax purposes .... he declined very quickly , giving an excuse that they were with the accountant

I then knew i should not conduct the neogiations by phone and keep everything in writing , i advised dream fitness , that my purchase using my debit card was sufficent to prove purchase , they then relunactantly ( after trying to FOB me off ) said that I need  an engineer out to look at it ,at my cost 

as this was in there terms and conditions

I DID ... the main circuit board was fried after only 6 months of using it , they did in all fairness dispatch it very quickly ....the board they sent me was not the same but did work ....( loads of loose wires not needed to connect to the new board )

the treadmill how ever did not run as the engineer did not pick up that the sensor was also gone ....

what you have to realize is , it does not matter what they put in the terms and conditions ie: i pay for the engineer .... you are protected by the sale of goods act

i paid a different engineer to come out, as could not be bothered waiting an arguing anymore  ( £200 total for both )  to confirm that it was the senor as well .... a new sensor was sent out within days .....

 

the manufacturer of the treadmill is from korea ( i think ) ..... it took me about 4 months of constant e-mailing to dream fitness  ,to get te issue resolved ., i don't think they know anything about treadmills as all my correspondence was sent to korea .... i was giving them every chance to fix the issue then i was going to ask them to replace or full refund me ( as per the sales of goods act ) ....

since it has been fixed , more probelms have arisen ,  i used to have a top speed of 25km  i now can only run 13km per hour before it cuts out .... i have used the treamill for about 1 year ( actually running on it )  an now the belt has gone of course leading to cut outs ...... the cut outs started  when i installed the new board and sensor ... ( the sensor  does not fit the board , it is meant to clip into the board but instead is just hanging there loosely )

and lastly the haudrulics ( incline and decline )   has also broke

the ipod connection is just silly ,and nothing more than something to put in the  SPEC ,  there is no drinks holder , the heart rate sensor works when you put a towl over it ,

apart from the that , it is sturdy and the running platform is nice to run on

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about the problems you have had. But thanks for your reply as i now certainly won't be buying one of them. Booktrunk you are indeed very cynical. And maybe no need to post as you offered me no help on this subject. regards james

I've bought a D1000 second hand recently, EBay £300, this is in preparation for another sub 0 winter. I will say that I am a sprint based athlete and will use this for high speed (18-25kph) short duration runs when the snow comes.

The seller told me it had been used at most a dozen times, this would appear to be true due to the lack of dust/fluff and signs of wear. I tried it out before buying and notice that I seemed to be veering left, I assumed it was just because I had just spent an hour sat in the car and was not stretched out.

After getting it home I checked the bed is level with a sprit level L&R and front to back, this can be adjusted with the feet. I tried it again and noticed the same thing but not as bad. I realised that the closer I run (16kph/10pmh) to the control panel the worse it becomes.

Doing a bit more investigation I found the incline motor is not centre but to the right and raises the deck on parallel bars. This appears to cause the left side of the base to drop away slightly when my left foot strikes the deck. Just to confirm this I went to my gym and tried a few treadmills out there but there was no veering so it does appear to be the D1000.

The answer for me is to place a solid piece of hard wood, or metal if can find something suitable, under the L&R bars so it can't sink away.

I agree with the above:
The heart rate sensor is crap, mine just keeps going up the longer I hold it. Without exercise, I stood and held the sensor it just climbed to 145 over about 60 secs.  It seems to work if you only hold it for about 5-10 seconds.
The Ipod didn't seem to work but hey your indoor so use a Radio/CD/TV if you want music.
The whole thing is solid.
It does have stacks of programs which if would be really good I did distance.
The fan is just a typical desktop PC fan (£5).

On the general above:
Yes they are always on sale.
Do try it out, the deck, controls, display may not suit.
Warranty, you'll always spend money to get the "Free" elements and your time is still a sort of money.

So my thoughts are:
It is a genuinely cheap alternative, even new, if you J Bloggs just wanting to do a bit to "Keep fit" at lower speeds.
If I burn it out it's just a cheap to buy another rather than spend money on an engineer and parts.
Worst case, I can always weight the it in as scrap yard for a few quid.

 

feel i was a little harsh with my last comment

yes the treadmill is a cheap one , and in fairness it does have a good spec

when i opened the hood ..... the motor is HUGE .... and i don't thnk will break even if a meteor landed on it

i have found it a little dispoiting though ..... the spec is so good  ( i have not seen another treadmill that does 25kmph  )

the robustness of the treadmill is brilliant , it is strong ......

there must be a problem with the circuit board though , i have seen lots of dreamfitness treadmills for sale with the same problem as mine ... i believ the supplier has sorted this issue out by upgrading the board (  to new models )

i find it , just a little bit sad ...... to be so close to being a good releiable treadmill ....( .needs a bottle holder !!!! )  

 

like  .....G Reddington  said .... it might be worth a chance as it is only 600 squid

 

With the snow I seem to have got a bit more use by just doing a bit of normal walking on it without worrying about slipping.

I agree with the lack of bottle holder, but the T2000 (no not the terminator) has one.

I too have had the covers off, and as an electrial/electronics person, I think the motor isn't physically that big.

More importantly, I thought it was really cutting it at the top end speeds and just for my own peice of mind I decided to measure how fast it really was going.

I measured the running belt (3.09m) and timed how long it took to do 100 revolutions of the belt with proper lubrication and no load, then did some sums to work out the actual speed.  All seems fine up to about 15KPH but then it's rather disappointing as the numbers below show.

Readout Actual
16.0    15.5
17.0    15.9
18.0    16.6
19.0    17.0
20.0    17.7
21.0    18.4
22.0    19.0
23.0    19.8
24.0    20.1
25.0    20.3

For my purposes I set it to 25KPH and set the max incline, it seems to get me on my toes which is what I want.  If I had the time I'd fit a smaller drive wheel on the front roller.