Her indoors is looking at getting one for home so we went around to someone's house today to look at a 2nd hand one to buy.
I had a go on it (at 14 km/h I think) and it seemed to "brake" under my weight, i.e. whenever my feet touched the ground it seemed to slow the belt down and make an odd noise. I take it this isn't normal / could it be the sign of a weak motor? ... just that I've used treadmills a fair bit in the past and don't remember this happening.
Thanks for any input!
Ash
I did some research before purchasing mine and it does look like you need to spend a bit more to get one with a decent motor (similar in power/speed to those used in gyms). £600 seemed to be about the entry point for new ones.
I ended up going with a Nordictrack C2000, which has been excellent. It has a 2hp motor and does up to 20kmph - but I'd expect anything with a similar power and speed motor to be good.
Run outside and spend the money on something nice.
...but if you must, give these people a ring. They sell refurb and new gym equipment. I have used them in the past and was satisfied:
http://www.restylefitness.co.uk/
Why I think I'd call jognrun first. 🙂
Cheep treadmills are nowhere near as bad as cheep cross trainers/excercise bikes/rowers.
We've got a v-fit one, about £200 s/h I think and works well enough.
Sometimes they do that when the belt needs tightening. Mine has a coupla adjusters thatstop it from braking/slipping. There's no way you'd stop the motor with body weight and there's a 'deadmans clip' to stop it if you collapse and fall onto the belt.
The point about buying s/h gym kit is a good one so long as it's not been hammered (usually during the first coupla weeks of Jan each year :-)).