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(More customer reviews)I purchased this item through Amazon on 2011-Dec-06. It arrived on December 18 through prior arrangement with the local freight carrier (Pilot Freight).
The day it arrived there was only one driver; he and I had to bull this thing up two flights of steps and along a 40-feet long sidewalk. Its shipping weight is 235 pounds.
We deposited it in the room where it was to be set up and used - fortunately, because it wasn't going anywhere else.
The room it is in has an 18-inch poured-concrete slab beneath it.
I started opening the shipping box and realized the front end was not pointing to the front. Asking my cockatiels to help swing it 180 degrees did not endear them to me.
About an hour later I had all the parts extracted and stored in neatish stacks around the room.
The manual - you *do* read the manual? - states that you should have at least two people for the assembly.
One can do it, it just takes a little more time, thought, and improvisation.
The manual is well written, laid-out well, and printed well. I recall no spelling, grammar, or typographical errors.
As with most products of this type you'll probably end up with a few extra bolts, nuts, or washers.
At two points during assembly you are required to tip the unit on its side and position and attach one of two support columns. With two people it's easy.
With one you need something to support the far end of the column as positioning and alignment is important.
A 32-gallon Rubbermaid trash barrel without the cover (that's what I had) is exactly the correct height for positioning.
When the far end is correctly supported the bolts line up perfectly with their threaded bushings.
I must note, also, that this product is one of the best-machined items I've seen or assembled.
Nothing was loose. Nothing was out of alignment. Parts Just Fit.
If any readers are familiar with the old Heathkit Electronics kits, the attention to detail in this product is every bit as high in my opinion.
If you have access to a ratchet set with sockets and Torx drivers, I'd suggest you use it.
Although the wrenches supplied work well, you won't get the torque that, in my opinion, you need to make this really solid.
Assembly took me about 5 hours all told; take your time and double-check things.
I enjoyed the assembly; I enjoy using the machine even more.
The treadmill has adjustable incline and variable speed.
The incline is adjustable in .5% or 1% increments from 0 to 12%.
Speed is adjustable in .1 mph or 1mph increments from 0 to 12mph.
The full-stop settings (0,1,2,3, etc) are available from dedicated buttons on the control panel.
Increments are selected by using one of the control arrow buttons below the columns of dedicated buttons.
Selected settings are clearly shown on a large backlighted LCD display with several display modes offered through a button on the control panel.
A pulse monitor is part of the system. By placing your right hand on the monitor "handle" below the control panel the system will switch on the monitor.
Grasping the other monitor "handle" with your left hand will allow the unit to read your pulse. It takes about 15 to 20 seconds to acquire a stable reading.
A wireless option with a chest-strap unit is available, but as of this review I've not tried it.
Built into the the console are 8 workouts selectable from a button on the console.
So far, I manually change settings as I feel the desire or need to go faster, slow down, or raise the incline.
Currently I use the machine one to two hours per day.
An intriguing feature I've not yet tried is called "iFit".
iFit workouts can be purchased on pre-programmed SD memory cards.
The cards are plugged into the SD slot on the console and the system reads the data from the card, automatically changing incline and speed as programmed.
Poking around Google reveals there are methods to create your own iFit-compatible recordings.
One more feature is a built-in audio system that can control most, if not all, members of the iPod family.
Lacking an iPod, a portable music player can also be used through the input connector at the back of the control panel.
Personally, I watch an episode of "Farscape" for each session.
I'll likely come back to this review for updates. For now I'll just note that I'm extremely happy with the machine, the quality of engineering, and smooth operation.
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