Tuesday, September 23, 2008

epic treadmills good value or not

Epic Treadmills - Good Value Or Not?Writen by Peter Clark

Epic treadmills are well known in the treadmill market for their budget range of treadmills. Epic treadmills are one of the lines of treadmills manufactured by Icon fitness, the largest of all the fitness equipment manufacturers and the company which manufactures, amongst others, Proform treadmills.

Icon has over $1 billion of sales of fitness equipment worldwide so is a substantial manufacturer. It manufactures reasonable quality machines for the lower end of the market but doesnt compete with the much more expensive brands at the upper end.

Epic treadmills are sold by Costco, the discount gym equipment retailer (amongst others) so you should expect low prices.

The most well known of all the epic treadmills is the epic t60 treadmill.

In fact this treadmill is really the only model amongst the epic treadmill range that is well recognised.

One of the reasons for this is that the epic t 60 treadmill is well rated by some of the nets treadmills rating sites as a good value buy. And the epic t 60 is therefore a good seller.

The treadmill doctor rated the epic t60 a best buy in the price range $500 to $1000, however noted some deficiencies in the treadmill none the less. In particular they noted problems with the keypad and the rollers, but youre not going to get the perfect treadmill for under $1000.

The epic t60 has a powerful motor. It has a good cushioned running platform and can accommodate runners up to 350 lbs. It has an impressive range of user features including iFit technology, an interactive feature that Icon put on their Proform treadmills as well.

With iFit your workout becomes more interesting. Hook up to the internet and track your fitness and progress. iFit will devise a personal workout program for you, so that each time you set foot on your treadmill, you will have a new goal to reach, and a personal best to beat. Competing with yourself is a great way to increase the challenge.

iFit technology also allows you listen to music as you workout, and provides inspirational images that can be the backdrop to your run.

And the epic t60 allows you to fold it away after you have done your workout. This is a worthwhile feature as treadmills are very large pieces of equipment and take up a lot of space.

The epic t60 treadmill boasts a worthwhile warranty on the motor, but not necessarily on the rest of the treadmill. A 12 year warranty on the motor is good, but 90 days for the rest isnt so good.

Epic treadmills arent known for long warranties.

But are epic treadmills the best value? There is no point in buying an epic treadmill merely for a great price if it isnt the best value.

And good value isnt just a case of a good price. Customer service and warranty come into it too. And on those the epic treadmills tend to fall down a little.

So if you are looking for an epic treadmill, or even an epic t 60, theres something to think about. Dont dismiss them out of hand, however, they are good treadmills for the price, just not as well supported as they could be. And if you can buy an extended warranty with your epic treadmill at a reasonable price then this would be worthwhile.

Where do you buy them? Well they are available at Costco, but the range is very limited. And at the time of writing the epic t60 is not listed for sale at Costco. Thats something else to think about. If you really want one then try and find out why they dont seem to offer them at the moment.

This may of course change though.

So, epic treadmills, good value or not? It depends, but dont buy one without a little more investigation.

Find out more about Treadmill Reviews as well as Treadmill Maintenance cheap treadmills, used treadmills and folding treadmills at Peters website, Terrific Treadmills

 

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