Treadmills

That's it, I've had it. Where I liveenow there is no lighting on the pavements and they are all completely potholed. I will get a broken ankle before I get a PB in the 10k.

The only time I can run is in the mornings and now it is dark in the mornings. I am therefore contemplating buying a treadmill and placing it in the garage and doing my morning runs that way.

Any recommendations on treadmills or links to reviews would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Got one of them. My LED headtorch could be used from the top of prison towers to take potshots at escaping convicts it's so powerful. But no good around potholed pavement. Tried and tested. There's also safety issues here, with morning traffic and pedestrians. You ever seen the sidewalks in a German town? They are about 2 foot wide with cars buzzing past at 50 miles an hour. Not very pleasant even if you are dressed up as  a well lit Christmas tree (like myself).

 It will have to be a treadmill I'm afraid.

Thanks, will do that search thingimy. I think you are right. If you are going to buy a treadmill you need to buy a proper one. That means forking out some serious dinero.

I have given much consideration to the gym idea. There is one close by. My real worry on that front is that I am fast approaching middle age red blooded male.

If the gym is full of fit women I'm liable to get excited.

I bought a reebok treadmill via e-bay - new - for the princely sum of £150.

Its lasted 2 years so far and still going strong.

I use it maybe once a week / fortnight, but the wife runs on it 3 times a week.

Loads cheaper than a gym and serious waddage not neccesary in my opinion.

There's a lot of different treadmills out there of varying degrees of quality.  We bought one mainly so the wife would have a chance to get some exercise while looking after our little nippers.  However we ended up spending a bit more (£1000) to get what we felt was a good one that would last us a while.  I use it myself during winter and think it's a great piece of kit. 

 Your choice will really depend on what features you want in the treadmill and how often you plan on using it.  What top speed you want, how high an incline level, the motor power, linkage to your heart rate monitor if that's important, does it need to fold up, what length/width of belt......

I spent a long time researching ours and based on lots of other good reviews went for the Horizon 507 - So far it's worked out very well, had it for over 3 years now and haven't had any complaints.

Thanks for that.

What about the noise on the Reebok and the Horizon?

 J

Ghost Rider. Wife and kids is a very good becnhmark. Exactly the situation I'm in.

I think I found one EUR 650.

I have a ProForm 360P which I paid £399 for 5 years ago! It has never given me a bit of troble and I use it fairly regularly.

I live on my own so I'm not worried about waking anybody up but I don't think it's too loud. I suspect that reading the post above that this model has long since been superceded but when it does go to that great scrapyard in the sky I would have no hesitation in buying another.

Cant really comment on the noise. I mean - it makes a noise - but then the sound of 12 stonme of me pounding along is going to make a racket no matter how quiet the treadmill motor!

The cheapest reebok doesnt have a motorised incline etc, but I just stick a couple of phone books under the front end! For £150 its belting!

Thank you all for the advice. I have now bitten the bullet and am a little under EUR 700 poorer.

The thing should arrive Thursday or Friday let's see if I live to regret the purchase.

I bought it from German Ebay. I live in Germany. Below is a link to it, all the specs seem right, but I guess when I manage to give her a good thrashing I'll know if it was worth it. Oi Oi! You just had a dirty thought.

 Here's a link to the ebay site Daily Run 4500

Well I hope you have better luck than me.  I bought a Pro-form 585 perspective just over 3 years ago. It was on the recommendation of Runners world and it wasnt cheap (about £750) It has developed an intermitent fault rendering it useless.  It would appear that the only way to fix this -(since it is now out of warantee) is to replace the entire console bit at a replacement cost of £500.  I loved this machine....any suggestions?  It is gathering dust now.