I was pretty shocked to see the other reviews saying such good things about the 500 HRC. I have the top of the line 500 CIS version of the 500 HRC. As treadmills go, I guess it runs pretty good, but I bought it because of the heart rate control feature and it's RS/232 interface that would allow me to measure and track my progress on my computer. Well the only software that TRUE will tell me about doesn't work very well and the company who produces it (it's not produced by True even though it has their name on it) doesn't produce it anymore to work with the True treadmill.

When I'm in heart rate control mode, I can't make any changes on the control panel without the treadmill stopping. So, if the treadmill starts going to fast, I can't slow it down without ending my workout. Also, when I'm in heart rate control mode, three of the read-outs show my heart rate (I only need one) but they no longer show other information (e.g., calories) as they do in other modes. Why wouldn't I want to see calories burned when I'm working in heart rate control mode and why is it so important to show my heart rate in 3 different places?

The treadmill is very heavy and extremely hard to move. We had to hire some movers to come in when it needed to be moved once. Sure would be nice if it folded up, but we had to disasemble it to get it to fit through the doors. Talk about a pain!!

But the thing that irks me the most is the poor customer support from True. They won't return my voice mail messages or answer my email. The only time I get to talk to them is when I get lucky and someone actually answers when I call. But when I talk to them, they don't know the answers to my questions and tell me I have to talk to the dealer who sold me the treadmill. When I tell them the dealer is the one who told me to call them they say they'll call me back. In the 2+ years that I've had my 500 they've only called back once from dozens of messages I've left them. I sure wish I had never bought this treadmill and I certainly will never buy another product from True.

Followup note (1-13-02): I sent True email offering to write a software program for them for free and with no royalties (I'm a professional software developer of commercial store-shelf programs) as a means of getting the codes from them to read the data from the RS/232 port. First of all, it took several nagging emails to get a reply from them and, finally, they turned me down. I don't know why they won't give me the codes; they even admitted in the emails that the code is "not proprietary" but, still, they won't share the information with me. I paid extra for the RS/232 port specifically for this purpose; but the port is useless without the codes or software that can communicate with it. I'm beginning to think they must be hiding something; that's pretty scary for me considering I bought the treadmill to try to overcome my heart problems. The stress they have caused me, though, I suspect has caused nothing but damage to my heart.

Recommended: No