In Tim Hawkin's comedy song "Things You Don't Say to your Wife" comes the line, "Happy Anniversary, I bought you a treadmill!” A treadmill could be considered by many to be an insulting gift for your wife. Many would say that it would be the worse gift you could think of - unless you were married to my wife. This Christmas 2006 gift has topped them all, especially since it is a Sole F83.
Everyone wants to hear the background, right?
Some of you just want to get on with it and read the details about this treadmill. You can skip on ahead to the next section. But a few of you want to know and be assured that I'm really not a dipstick who would give his wife a 'hint' that she should get in shape by buying her a treadmill. A dipstick like that wouldn't spend $1,600 on such a risky venture. In my case, my wife was almost begging me for a good treadmill. It was a cold, wet, snowy fall in rural Pennsylvania, and winter was only going to get worse. Those who want to run in this weather do so at their own peril. My wife was training for a half-marathon and old man winter was not cooperating. I started doing the research months ahead by reading some of the very Epinions under this category. I settled on the Sole F83 for reasons you will soon learn. But the end of the Christmas story is that I was able to ship the treadmill to my neighbor’s garage, load it with my tractor loader on Christmas Eve, and set it up in its new home without her discovering it. Then Christmas morning after all of the other presents were opened, I blindfolded her and took her to the new 'exercise room' (formerly my office). I wish I would have videotaped her reaction, because it was priceless. So, there you go, not all women take it as an insult when you get them exercise equipment as a gift. Now, on with the Epinion which, by the way, my wife is helping me with because she uses the F83 much more often than I do.
An added benefit my wife has found in having a treadmill is that she doesn't have to leave the house to do a workout. As a home school family my wife is able to do a spelling test or study for a Biology exam on her 6th mile of her long run.
Best Features: Quality
With a lifetime warranty on the 3.0 HP motor, the frame, and the deck; and with a 5 year warranty on electronics and wear parts, I knew that Sole was backing their product with their life.
While setting up the treadmill that December 24, which took about an hour by myself, I discovered how strong the metal beams, deck and handles really were. It was a good thing I had a tractor available to move the treadmill to the house because this beast weighs in at 260lbs. far more than one person could normally handle. I was able to open the French doors to the house, extend the bucket of the tractor into the room, and gently slide it across the floor. Whew. Step one accomplished.
The powder coated paint is baked on and hides scratches and scuffs well.
Of the deck, the website http://www.treadmilladviser.com/sole-f83-treadmill.html states:
"The Sole F83 treadmill uses high-end rollers that are usually fitted on $5000 treadmills. These are 2.75 inch rollers with a sealed bearing design and copper ground wires for each roller to reduce static. Larger rollers make for a larger contact surface against the belt and longer roller and belt life. This makes for smooth, quiet, static free motion that will stand the test of time. The Sole F83 uses a double woven 2-ply belts with four layers. Two rubber layers over a middle PVC layer with a nylon backing that rolls over the deck and rollers. The rubber provides the durability, the PVC stops the belt from over-stretching and the nylon provides a smooth static free surface to glide over the deck and rollers."
The Deck is solid enough that it doesn’t bounce and vibrate while running. At the same time it has built-in shock absorbers which help lessen the impact of running. Many say that this helps prevent injury.
Electronics
Besides the belt going around in circles for miles and miles, the main priority of a treadmill is the electronics. It is easy to get bored on a long run. Sole helps out by giving you a very busy display to look at. There are no less than 36 buttons to push. 15 different display fields give you all of the information you need during your run without having to toggle between settings to view various aspects of your data. Information is displayed in 'tri-color' - lights may be red, yellow, or green. This helps differentiate, for instance, between speed and incline on the progress screen. The colors also help locate your position on an oval track.
All buttons are laid out and labeled for easy use. They are large enough that you can easily press them while running at full pace without accidentally hitting the wrong button. Here are the groups of buttons:
Upper display -
On the left side are 6 buttons going up, numbered by twos (2,4,6,8,10,12) showing potential percentage of incline. Pressing a number instructs the treadmill to progress directly to that incline without having to press the 'up' button repeatedly. To incline at 11%, you would press the 10 button and then press the 'up incline' button once. This button and the 'down incline' button are located on the left handle for easy reach while running. You can actually go past the 12 button all the way to 15%, but this is for serious mountain climbers only. By pressing and holding the up or down incline buttons for 2 seconds, it will fast-increment the incline until you let go.
Mirrored on the right side of the display are 6 more buttons numbered just the same (2,4,6,8,10,12). These are for speed in Miles per Hour (mph). Again, you can jump almost directly to any speed by pressing the nearest number, and then use the 'up speed' button to increment in 10ths of a mph. This is a bit more tedious since getting from 6 mph to 7 mph requires 10 presses of the 'up' button. The up and down speed buttons are located on the right handle for easy access while running. Fortunately you can press and hold the up or down button for at least 2 seconds in order to fast-increment the speed to get where you need to be faster.
What I like about the speed buttons is that if you are sprinting along and need to slow down quickly, you can press one of the lower numbered buttons and then micro-adjust your speed with the up or down button.
Just under the main the display are the 6 feature buttons and the 4 custom setting buttons. When starting a new run you can choose from 6 programs:
1) Manual - You choose and adjust the speed and incline as you want to during the run.
2) Hill - The computer designs a hilly course for you where the incline and speed are adjusted automatically throughout the run/walk.
3) Fatburn (sounds painful) - The computer regulates incline and speed to help you burn the most fat.
4) Cardio - This program works in conjunction with the heart monitor to give you the best workout to strengthen your heart.
5) Strength - A program to strengthen muscles.
6) Interval - a combination of faster and slower paces gives athletes who want to do interval training without the brain work involved.
The four custom buttons are designed to allow the owner to save the data for two different individuals for use in the various programs mentioned above. USER1 and USER2 help store specific fields such as time (duration of workout), weight, age, speed, and incline. This allows you to refer to the stored data instead of entering these values each time you do your workout.
HR1 and HR2 are used to store two separate target heart rates. The manual helps the user decide what target heart rate is appropriate for each person. When used in conjunction with the wireless heart rate monitor, the computer will adjust the speed of the workout automatically in order to keep the user's heart rate in the target range. This is used in the Cardio program.
An additional 5 buttons on the lower section of the display are used when entering data at the beginning of a workout. At the bottom of the display are the Start and Pause/Stop buttons. These are used to begin the workout, to pause the workout for a quick breather, or to stop the workout completely.
The last button is the on/off button for the fans.
Description of the various displays
The main visual display is also the largest. It has three modes with are Track, Speed, or Incline. Depending on which mode you use you can monitor your progress on a virtual track, or see which speed level is coming up next, or which incline level is coming up. An additional mode can show you speed and incline at the same time. A beeping sound warns you briefly each time the speed or incline is about to change.
Other displays fields in the upper section of the display show things such as Incline, Calories, Time, Distance, Speed, Pulse rate, Target HR%, and Program selection. In the lower section there is an additional multi-purpose display that can give written instructions while starting up a program or it can duplicate some of the other data in the upper display. In addition it can show your current pace - such as 10 minutes per mile.
Safety Features
This treadmill sports a number of safety features. There is a magnetic 'key' that must be placed on the lower display in order for the treadmill to begin operating. A string and clip attached to the key can be attached to the user's clothing. In the event that the user falls or jumps off the treadmill, the magnet will be pulled off and the machine will instantly stop.
Strong arm rest handles allows the user to regain balance if needed, or can help the user to lift herself off the treadmill for a quick exit in the event of a problem (like your 7 year old rolling a soccer ball across the moving deck).
This treadmill is a folding model, and Sole has designed a wonderfully save 'lift assist' mechanism to save strain on your back. The deck is quite heavy, but even my smallest child can lift and lower the deck safely. The lift assist keeps the deck from accidentally falling too fast and hurting someone by only allowing the deck to descend at a very slow rate of speed.
A built-in circuit breaker protects the valuable motor and electronics from overload. This unit must draw quite a bit of electricity at high speeds. Several times when my wife has been running the treadmill our 15 Amp circuit breaker has tripped when I started my printer or a small electric heater. This almost sent her sailing into the display because the treadmill stops almost on a dime when electricity is cut off. A 'coast' feature would be nice in some ways, but that would defeat the 'instant stop' of the safety key being pulled.
The heart rate monitor, if used, is a safety feature for those concerned about overdoing their workout. There are warning lights on the console that indicate if your heart is reaching a dangerous point.
I believe that the shock absorbing feature of the deck helps to prevent impact type injuries such as shin splints and sore joints.
Other features
The heart rate monitor, which is a wireless strap that attaches around the user's chest, was one of the reasons I picked this particular treadmill. As it turns out, we rarely use it. It is really nice if you want to do a cardio workout because the computer will adjust the intensity of the workout to keep your heart rate at a certain target pulse. We have don't use the heart rate monitor for several reasons. 1) It is uncomfortable. 2) It is a bit difficult to put on, 3) we don't care what our pulse is most of the time.
Special handles on the treadmill can also monitor pulse, but the manual is correct when it says that pulse readings are not accurate during a run (only walking). Also, the handles are too low for a tall person like me. I have to stoop over to reach the handles and it is very uncomfortable when trying to run.
What don't we like about this wonderful treadmill?
I personally have had a hard time setting up a programmed workout that fits my pace. I generally just use the manual setting and adjust it as needed during a workout. I only run on the treadmill less than once per week, so I lose track of which settings work best. An example is that on the Fatburn workout, it asks you for a speed setting when setting it up. If I put in 6 mph, then I find the workout is too slow, even though 6 mph is my standard running pace. I have to set it to 7 or 7.5 to get the workout I need, and it doesn't make sense to me how the computer figures all that out. A typical Fatburn program will start you out slow with a slow incline, then gradually move both speed and incline to a peak near the end of your run, and then finish with a cool down period near the end. From what I can see, the speed that you enter when setting the program must be the maximum speed for that workout. That means that most of the workout is in the 4 to 4.5 mph range.
My wife has said that she does not like that the Interval program always increases the incline along with the speed. She would like it to have the option to only increase the speed without increasing the incline.
As I mentioned earlier, the pulse grips are mostly useless for running. They are not accurate and are uncomfortable to hang on to. Someone shorter than me or walkers may find the pulse grips handy.
What are the other little things that I like besides the sheer power of this machine?
I love the twin fans. Even in cooler weather, the fans add some necessary air. You can direct each fan up or down as needed. The fans also can give you a feeling of 'I'm actually running'.
The treadmill is VERY quiet; whisper quiet, actually. I can work in the same room while my wife is running with out being disturbed (unless she sings while her mp3 player is on). With the door shut I cannot hear the treadmill in the other room.
The fold up feature is very nice as it keeps the treadmill 'in the corner' when not needed. This treadmill has an extra long and wide deck, which again is necessary for a tall person like me.
Sole has had great warranty service so far. When the string came off the magnet, Sole sent a replacement very quickly at no charge.
Overall, this has been a great treadmill - and it better be at the nothing-to-sneeze-at price of $1,600. My wife says that it is better than any treadmill she has ever used; which includes our local YMCA, hotel fitness centers, and other commercial grade treadmills. I purchased it on ebay from a reputable dealer (brand new) and saved $200 from the normal online price.
This winter my wife is training for a marathon and she still would say that this is the best Christmas gift she has ever received.
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