Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)As a Vine reviewer I'm fortunate to have received a Sole F65 Treadmill free of charge and I'm glad to share my experience with it:
The F65's overall workmanship is solid.
The rubber treadmill surface feels durable and hard enough that you'll want to cushion your feet and legs with sneakers or tennis shoes rather than work out barefoot or in socks.
For the most part there's metal where you want metal and plastic where it's tolerable - with possibly one exception:
That one exception is the folding release lever used to let down the treadmill base after being secured for portability. I think this lever is designed to have some play in it and the plastic may lend itself to that, but I'd prefer metal. It feels mismatched to unlock the heavy treadmill base with a plastic handle, even a solid one. This is a minor point: The lock/release mechanism works very smoothly and, depending on how portable you intend your treadmill to be, you may rarely use the handle.
Some of the bells and whistles on the operating console are very cool: There a mini-jack to connect your mp3 player of choice (or a Walkman for us dinosaurs) to small speakers that sound surprisingly good. They even threw in a short mini jack connector. My treadmill happens to be in an unfinished basement where sound gets lost and I prefer the headphone jack. It's safer to store a player in the console's pockets and run your ear buds off the console jack than to keep the player off to the side or on your person.
Dual cooling fans with an easy to read on/off switch blow right at your face and once the warm weather rolls around should provide pleasant relief.
The design of the bottle holder rack is kind of odd: The F65 comes with a water bottle (nice touch) but it doesn't rest very snuggly in the rack holes. Not a big deal; I can stuff a washcloth or something in there to pad it. Your favorite bottle may fit better.
The console LED display comes with an assortment of programs that vary both speed and inclination. What's important for me is first deciphering how to run the treadmill in manual mode, where I can strictly control the speed and incline resistance without the interference of some program. Once I got a feel of what the treadmill could do and how it responded, I was more comfortable setting the `auto-pilot'.
I've used similar consoles on stationary bikes and had no problem picking up the Sole's. As far as operating the F65, I found the manual much more useful than I did during unpacking and assembly, but more on that later.
The speed and incline controls offer two levels of granularity: the large console buttons are in whole-number increments while the side handle buttons let you to fine-tune your settings in tenths. I found this very useful because the gradual response of the controls - particularly the speed - takes some getting used to for someone like me who's not that experienced with electronic treadmills.
These gradual transitions are by design to avoid injury and more closely emulate the way people do in fact walk, jog and run. If you've ever played with airplane simulator software (or flown the real thing) you know how flight controls can lag in their response.
Applied to the treadmill: If you're striding along at speed level 4 and want to slow down to level 2, be sure to give yourself what feels like 15-20 seconds to get there. The larger the speed interval you're shifting add a bit more time. In contrast, the incline will immediately begin to climb or descend smoothly at a consistent rate of speed so I found it easier to judge how long such shifts will take.
The incline mechanism is really a blast: it feels very realistic, moves smoothly and really intensifies the resistance.
The F65's motor is surprisingly quiet on a concrete floor. If you're in an apartment though, you'll probably want to ask around to see if floor thickness and sound/vibration transfer is going to be an issue. I once lived in a building with parquet floors so crunchy it was mandated tenants install runners along trafficked areas. I couldn't imagine operating a treadmill in such a place without some serious floor padding beneath it.
The F65's folding mechanism allows you to easily raise and lock the treadmill base and wheel the unit around. The base lets down effortlessly to about waist-height where a hydraulic mechanism kicks in to slowly and safely lower it to the ground. It feels sturdy and well-balanced when you're wheeling it, which is important because it's heavy.
A side-benefit (unexpected or not) of the F65's portability is to compensate for drift: After a forty-minute session I noticed the back of the treadmill had fishtailed about 10-15 degrees from its starting position on my concrete basement floor. How much of this can be blamed on the imperfect leveling of the floor versus my favoring one leg over the other, I don't know. It's a minor annoyance I've had with other pieces of equipment but fortunately, the F65 is a breeze to reposition back where I want it.
The treadmill comes with a tube of lubricant (looks like grease) and the manual is actually quite good describing scheduled maintenance and cleaning.
Some Practicalities: It's definitely worth your while to give some thought as to how you'll get the F65 treadmill into your space and assembled. The manual unfortunately, like many others, takes for granted the pieces just magically emerge unwrapped from the box. That's a shame because this is a good-quality product that's packed well for shipping and it deserves better documentation.
Take the following as one guy's experience:
The box is 83" x 37" x 17" deep and marked 255 lbs (the driver told me they weighed it at 275). This is a two-person delivery: Amazon used an in-state company who contacted me and offered convenient Saturday delivery. They showed up promptly and were great to deal with - I really wish I could give them a plug.
I'm in a house and they carried the box straight into the garage. If you're in a condo or a high-rise do yourself a favor: jot those dimensions down, grab a tape, and scope out any doorways, halls, steps, freight elevator, whatever beforehand to save yourself (and the delivery guys) a lot of grief.
(I had an awful time once with a piano and swore never again to utter the words, "I think it'll fit." without being absolutely sure of it.)
The treadmill's final spot in the basement wasn't cleared so the next day I used a small hand truck to get the box from the garage over a single step into the basement. Again a two-person job: my wife held the raised end with the truck while I pushed the box forward and up over the step. (I know, sounds like trouble but it actually went more smoothly then anticipated - and yes, we're still on speaking terms).
Unpacking something like the F65 can be more work than assembling it. With a box this size you'll need more room than the assembled product will occupy so plan accordingly.
Find the top arrow and lie the box down widthwise with at least an equal amount of room beside it. Pry the large staples out of both sides with a screwdriver, clip the nylon bands and lift the front of the box off.
Everything except the treadmill base can be removed and placed aside. Getting the plastic wrap and supporting Styrofoam blocks off of the base will require you to lift the heavy end. Keep a couple of those blocks close by; they'll come in handy later on for the same purpose.
In fact, there's enough Styrofoam in the box to fill 4-5 large garbage bags (unless you want to relive that Flintstones Building Boulders set of your childhood or care to spend time breaking the pieces up). Not to mention - unless you've got kids who love to play in large boxes - it'll take you awhile to cut that box into pieces suitable for the garbage (or at least the private carting around here).
The manual again proved barely adequate for assembly - I'm pretty comfortable putting stuff together but I was stumped in a couple of places:
The resolution of the printed figures and parts was too small compared to the better quality figures describing how to use the treadmill. The exact location of some parts was unclear due to poorly positioned arrows. Identifying which screws and bolts to use where could have been clearer.
Each of two console mast covers is attached using three speed nut clips: Not mentioned is that the front one requires you to prop up the treadmill to put it on. I still have no clue how the middle one and its bolt are meant to be attached (they went back in the bag). Fortunately, the front and rear clips are more than enough to secure the covers.
Two other pieces, the left and right side caps, were mislabeled with tiny `L' and `R' stickers that were reversed (Or are you really expected to judge left/right by standing in front of the treadmill rather than on it? As we say in software: "Not intuitive").
I'd also question the order of some of the steps: I think it would be better to screw the horizontal bar between the main supports in loosely before the supports are fully tightened rather than squeezing the metal bar in which can slip and catch a finger.
All in all unpacking and assembly took a few hours (I left the boxes and Styrofoam for the following week).
What else to say? I'm extremely happy with the Sole F65 and can easily imagine getting many years of reliable use from it.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sole F65 Treadmill (2011 Model)
Work your way to a rockin' body from the comforts of home with the Sole® F65 treadmill! The 20" x 58" running surface lets you take longer strides to a better you, and the speed/elevation controls located in the handles enable you to customize your workout with ease.
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Click here for more information about Sole F65 Treadmill (2011 Model)
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