Hello everybody! I am continuing with my mission to bring you simple, short, and easy-to-read treadmill reviews, so here is another treadmill review at a glance!

The Horizon T101
Hello! It’s been an adventurous weekend, and I’m back safe and sound. After camping out at a guys night out party down at Kolob Reservoire (an interesting place), eating some crodads, and shooting some old toilets, one of my friends and I decided to go for a run. We thought it would be neat to run through the meadowy forest rather than on the trail. As we ran through the sunflowers and Sego Lillies and dodged through the trees and bushes, I kept thinking to myself “I should get out and do this more often, this is way more exciting than running on a treadmill.” Really, if you usually run on a treadmill, you should try to get out and run in nature now and then. There’s just nothing like chasing after the sunset in the Horizon…

The Horizon T202

I’m here today with a review about the Horizon Fitness T202 Treadmill. Actually this is more like a description, since I wasn’t actually able to check it out in person. But, I will try to inform you the best possible based on the things I know about Horizon and their treadmills, this treadmill in particular.

The The Horizon T100 Treadmill

It’s another day in the neighborhood here at Treadmill Sensei. The treadmill of the day is going to be the Horizon T100. One of the most inexpensive treadmills out on the Market. Horizon’s specialty is right in this price range, so if anyone has experience making these kinds of treadmills, Horizon does.

The Horizon T203 Treadmill

Ohiyo!

I’m back with some good stories for you. However none of them have anything to do with treadmills, so I will forbear. I would tell you about my day and what I’m going to be having for lunch, but I just don’t think you would be interested in that. So let’s get down to business! Let’s rest our eye sockets on the Horizon T203 for a moment.

What should you look for in a sub-$1000 treadmill. A lot of people don’t know what to expect in a treadmill this cheap, so they settle for much less than they could have got if they had known more. Let’s see if the Horizon T203 is a good sub-$1000 buy.

Horizons’ EX-77 is a Magnetic Force to be reckoned with!

Horizon offers an elliptical that is compact yet super fluid in movement! The EX-77 is on the smaller side, but still boasts a 14 pound fly wheel and a motorized resistance range of 1 to 16.

I really like the power incline on this machine and the variable stride is a feature that many elliptical in this price range would never consider offering. The fact that users can decide on stride length make the movement while working out much more natural, not choppy. The spacing in between pedals is also narrow, so this makes most feel more comfortable, and not that users are “on” a machine. Not only is the stride on the EX-77 more comfortable, but the foot plates also pivoting foot a more natural stride. The front drive frame is amazingly quiet and the flywheel placement is above the pedals so that access is much lower and easier than many models.

The EX-77 by Horizon also offers magnetic brake resistance which is super quiet and super consistence! The brake and frame are both covered by a lifetime warranty! The power incline is also covered under warranty for a year, as well as, the parts and labor!

This elliptical is ranging in price from anywhere to $1399 to $1099! Again, I found the best deal at Amazon.com for an amazing $751! This also ships free and there is no sales tax in most states!

We are looking at updating our home gym, and this elliptical is one that is defiantly on my short list! I really do not like to work out on elliptical, it is really hard hahahah! But I know with the 14 programs and the speakers and headphone outlet that this makes a workout tolerable! With a price like this, I better hurry before you guys beat me to them!

Ohiyo!

Is it me or is this year just flying by? I apologize for not updating the site more this past month but things have been hectic here at the DOJO for the Treadmill Sensei. It looks like the busy season is here and it’s kicking the heck out of us! I was able to finish up a review from a batch of units that we ordered through Amazon a few months ago from Horizon Fitness. So, without further ado, the Horizon T83 treadmill review for your perusal.

Back in August or thereabouts, we received an order we had placed for 6 Horizon Fitness units – a number of treadmills and ellipticals, most of which I have already review. One of the last ones that came in was the very slick looking Horizon T83. I was a bit wary of the new look for the upper end Horizon line because, at first, I didn’t think they’d stand up to much abuse. In the box they just looked like flimsy plastic. Luckily, Horizon knows what they are doing and the T83 was quite a bit sturdier than I had first thought.

The unit itself weighs over 210 pounds and is very bulky for an under $1000 treadmill. The uprights are very solid and attach well to both the console and the deck. There are a few more bolts in the frame design than I normally like, but that is not at all uncommon in these upper end budget treadmills.

We had been hearing some complaints about assembly issues with last year’s Horizon Treadmills, thankfully Johnson Tech has listened to its consumers and has radically improved the assembly process and requirements on the 2007-2008 treadmills. Assembly on the Horizon T83 was a snapp and we had ours together in about 10 minutes. Figure 30-45 minutes for those with average mechanical ability. I would suggest having a second person on hand to help out with mounting the console. The T83 has a bigger console this year and it can be a bit tough to get situated just right if you’re by yourself.

The Horizon T83 has a very good sized running area, at 20″x55″, and a fantastic 2.5 horsepower motor. The increase in size by Johnson Tech is an excellent addition to this year’s line and the T83′s motor is easily one of the biggest in the under $1500 treadmill price range. I was also surpised at how quiet ours ran, even during heavier duty workouts.

Probably the best feature found in all of the Horizon line is their shock absorption system. Any regular reader of the site knows how much I hate the long, often very silly names that manufaturers come up with their technolog, and the Horizon is no different. They call it the “Air Cell Shock Absorption System” this year — how that is different from their “Gel Cell” technology of the past is anyone’s guess. All that matters is that it significantly reduces the impact on your joints even during running…something my tired old tennis knees were appreciative of.

The only real downside to the Horizon T83 treadmill is one of the features that Horizon has been pushing for it — the MP3 speaker system and iPod dock. Truthfully, the speakers aren’t the best in the world and you’ll do better with headphones. I’m just glad that Horizon decided not to increase the price of the units because of that feature and we’re still left with a very solid under $1000 treadmill even without the speakers.

All-in-all, the Horizon T83 treadmill continues Horizon’s streak of very impressive treadmills and ellipticals this year. If you’re looking for a great buy for under $1000 then check it out. You’ll be as pleasantly surprised as we were.

For being a solid treadmill with some nice features for under $1000, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon T82 Treadmill 4 out of 5 golden buddahs.

A solid offering for under $1000 from Horizon Fitness, the T83 treadmill gets 4 gold buddahs out of 5.

Get the best price online and find more information by clicking HERE.

Horizon T83 Treadmill Specifications
Motor: 2.5hp
Running Area: 20″ x 55″
Max Speed: 12 MPH
Max Incline: 12%
Console: LCD
Programs: 16
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: No
Max User Weight: 325 lbs
Unit Weight: 216 lbs
Price: $999

Ohiyo!

It’s a new day and the Treadmill Sensei is glad the Ichi-Ban Best Buy Awards are now finished. You, my loyal readers, how no idea how much work goes in to compiling those every year. My brain is fried!

Today I want to talk a bit about one of the top offerings from Horizon Fitness this year, the Horizon T82 treadmill. We got in a batch of their equipment a couple of months ago and have been slowly sorting through and testing it all. We reviewed the T82 back in September but this is my first chance to sit down and actually write that review up.

As with all of the Horizon units, assembly is fairly straightforward and easy to manage on the T82 treadmill. The instructions that come packed with the Horizon T82 were clear and simple to follow. On the unit we reviewed, there was a minor alignment issue in one of the holes in the console, but nothing major at all. Total assembly time, even with the alignment problem, was less than 10 minutes. For most people that time will probably be in the 15-20 minute range or so. Very quick and hassle-free.

It seems like Horizon upgraded the plastic they use in their equipment this year. Normally on these lower cost treadmills you have to be very careful when you put them together for fear of cracking the thin, rigid plastic that makes up the consoles and shrouds. However, the plastic on the Horizon T82 was very sturdy and thicker-feeling than normal. This is an excellent addition and will allow the Horizon T82 to hold up to more of a beating than other treadmills in the under $800 price range.

The Horizon T82 is a great buy at about $799, featuring the standard large and cool running Johnson-Tech motor, coming in at a fantastic-for-the-price 2.25 horsepower. The T82 also features a good-sized 20″ x 55″ running area, 10 mph top speed, 10% incline, heart rate monitoring and a staggering 14 programs. Horizon went all out when putting together the design for the T82 treadmill this year, making it a huge upgrade over last year’s award-winning Horizon T72 treadmill.

The key to the Horizon T82 is that it is an incredibly sturdy treadmill, weighing just under 190 pounds. With the addition of that plastic upgrade, the T82 is one of the most solid treadmills available at its price point. For being a great new unit from Horizon, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon T82 4.5 out of 5 golden buddahs.

The best value Horizon treadmill on the market today, the T82 gets 4.5 gold buddahs.

Get more information on the award-winning Horizon T82 Treadmill NOW and get the lowest price online. Click HERE.

Horizon T82 Treadmill Specifications
Motor: 2.25 hp
Running Area: 20″x55″
Speed: 10mph
Incline: 10%
Display: LCD
Readouts: Time, Pulse, Distance, Calories, Incline, Speed and Program Profiles
Programs: 14
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: No
Max User Weight: 300lbs
Unit Weight: 185lbs
Price: Under $800

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com

Ohiyo!

The Treadmill Sensei and company are still very hard at work on this year’s Ichi-Ban Best Buy Awards which we hope (cross your fingers) to post sometime in early October. We are still waiting to find a few more units to test and are sad that some new equipment won’t be shipping until late October after the awards go live. This is one of the most fun parts of doing this website. We sit down with all of the reviews we’ve done (including some that haven’t been posted yet) and compare specs, pricing, positives, negatives, complaints we’ve come across (heard, experienced) and put together the best buy lists. We’re also doing another round of Baka Awards this year for the compaines, people and equipment that was just plain Baka (“stupid”) from this past year. Lots and lots of fun.

However, in all that fun I’ve been neglecting the site just a bit and am going to try my darnedest to get back to posting a new review once a day. Today’s review, for the Horizon T81 treadmill, is one of the more difficult ones. Not because of anything exceptionally good or bad about the treadmill, but because the lower end units are harder to rate and rank. One of the things I had to decided when I started this site was “do I rank budget units in the same manner, and up against, the more expensive units?” or “do I rank budget units only against other units in the same class and price range?” Both modes of thought are valid – budget treadmills (and ellipticals) are ALWAYS going to be less sturdily constructed and with lower cost components than higher end or commercial equipment. There’s no way around that.

2008 Best Buy Award Winner.

What I decided was to rank units against others in their own class. A budget treadmill goes up against a budget treadmill and I give you my opinion on which one is better. What that doesn’t mean is that a 4.5 buddah budget treadmill is better than a 4 or even 3.5 buddah commercial treadmill. You’re comparing apples to oranges at that point and, most of the time, the lower ranked commercial treadmill will blow away the budget one.

With that incredibly long build up to a fairly short review, we received in a batch of equipment we ordered from Horizon Fitness a few weeks ago. In that batch was the new Horizon T81 Treadmill, which replaces the 2006/2007 Horizon T71 Treadmill (check out the T71 Review). Now, a lot of you may be wondering why Horizon seems to come up with new model numbers every year for what is generally the same equipment. I can’t answer that question for Horizon but my guess would be that they are pressured to do so by their big box (Sears, Amazon, etc.) retailers so those retailers have something shiny and new to sell, even if it is basically the same unit.

The Horizon T81 Treadmill is indeed, basically the same unit as last year’s T71, with a few decent upgrades. The main differences (aside from the cosmetic differences in the console and plastic tooling) are in the slightly larger motor in the T81, which clocks in at 2 horsepower this year versus 1.75 in the old Horizon T71. It really isn’t a major change and not one most people will notice.

The other change is in the size of the running area on the Horizon T81. This year the model gets an additional 2 inches tacked on to the sides with a 20″x50″ inch deck. As with the motor, this isn’t something most people will notice.

Overall, the Horizon T81 Treadmill is a very decent budget treadmill for under $600 and should more than meet the needs of anyone looking to do a light work out a few times a week. If you’re working out daily or putting any major mileage on it, I would suggest moving up to a heavier treadmill.

For being a solidly built treadmill for those on a budget, the Treadmill Sensei gives the Horizon T81 Treadmill 4 out of 5 Golden Buddahs.

Another solid budget treadmill for Horizon, the T81 gets 4 gold buddahs.

Find out more about the very solid Horizon T81 Treadmill.

Horizon T81 Treadmill Specifications
Motor: 2hp
Display: LCD
Readouts: Speed, Distance, Time, Calories and Heart Rate
Programs: 8
Rollers: approximately 1.75″
Running Area: 20″x50″
Max Speed: 10mph
Max Incline: 10%
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Heart Rate Control: No
Folding: Yes
Max User Weight: 275lbs
Unit Weight: 175lbs
Price: Under $600

Ohiyo!

Today I’d like to start with a story and tell you about my first encounter with Horizon Fitness and their equipment. It all started about 4 years ago out in the now-defunct Van Nuys, California DOJO location we had for about 10 years. An Internet company (which will remain nameless but I hear is now going out of business) had a customer in the area who needed a then-new Horizon T54 treadmill set up in their garage. The seller had a freight company deliver the equipment to our warehouse. I happened to be at the DOJO location and decided to help unload the treadmill.

Bad, bad idea.

You see, the driver was what I like to call a “moron” and he proceeded to drop the boxed treadmill (weighing in at around 210 pounds if I remember correctly) on my hand. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Now, you’re probably saying to yourself “you had your hand in his way 3 times, so who is the real moron, Sensei?” and you’re probably right, but that’s not the point. Because of those injuries I never forgot who Horizon was and, in spite of the pain (and me yelling “Use your damn head, man!” a couple of times), was happy to see they made some darn good treadmills and ellipticals. I never did find out what happened to that driver.

Horizon Fitness is one of the newer kids on the block that is fitness industry. They are one of the many Johnson Health Tech sub-companies — Johnson itself has been around since the mid-1970s while Horizon has only been around for the last 6 or 7 years. In that very short time Horizon has used the Internet to make itself in to a very fine brand (they even produce some of the better equipment for the Schwinn line at Nautilus). Early on, the only retailers to carry or push Horizon were the Internet dealers. Over the past 2 years or so Horizon has expanded much more in to the big box retailers such as Sears.

Unfortunately, with that expansion has come a a bit of a dilution in their product.

When Horizon started they had somewhere around 12 units (6 in the “Horizon” series and about 6 in the “Elite series — the major difference in the two lines was where to buy the units (the Elites were available exclusively through brick and mortar dealers) and the cost (the Elites tended to be quite a bit more expensive without any real upgrade in components). Now, however, a quick Internet search will show somewhere in excess of 30 units…every dealer out there seems to have their own model numbers in spite of the units being almost exactly the same from location to location. I’m assuming this is to keep customers from price matching in order for Horizon to keep all of their vendors happy.

Luckily, all those varied units tend to be well engineered and well manufactured. In other words, if you see the Horizon name on a treadmill or elliptical then you can be confident in the quality of the unit. Their parts are of a better quality than most everything else in a similar price range as long as that price range is under $1000. Once you hit that magic $1000 price point the competition gets a lot tougher and higher end Horizon treadmills and ellipticals don’t quite match up.

If you’re looking for good solid equipment from around $500 up to $1000, then keep Horizon in mind: the do good work. If you’re wanted something a bit heavier and over $1000 then I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Here’s to hoping that Horizon gets their insane range of model numbers down to something a little more reasonable in the next couple of years. I can’t imagine the customer confusion has done their sales any good.

Horizon Elliptical Reviews

• Horizon CSE 4.6 Elliptical: Solid performing. Same as the EX75 with spiffier handles.
• Horizon E30 Elliptical: A folding elliptical that doesn’t suck! 3.5 Buddahs.
• Horizon E70 Elliptical: A let down elliptical from an otherwise good company.
• Horizon E900 Incline Elliptical: 4.5 buddahs for this budget incline elliptical.
• Horizon E1200 Incline Elliptical: 4 buddahs for this excellent adjustable incline unit.
• Horizon EX55 Elliptical: A great budget elliptical for under $600. 4 Buddahs.
• Horizon EX56 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical for under $600. 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX65 Elliptical: One of the best performing ellipticals under $1000 with 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX66 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical and best buy under $800 at 4.5 buddahs.
• Horizon EX75 Elliptical: A best buy elliptical under $1000 and the top end unit from Horizon. 4 buddahs.
• Horizon EX76 Elliptical: 2007/2008 elliptical with an adjustable stride and incline feature. A best buy under $1000 with 4.5 buddahs.

Horizon Treadmill Reviews

• Horizon T71 Treadmill: A solid treadmill for the most budget conscious of buyers. 4 Buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T81.
• Horizon T72 Treadmill: A $1200 treadmill at an under $800 price tag. 4 Buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by the Horizon T82.
• Horizon T73 Treadmill: Decent performer with 3.5 buddahs. Worth a look but consider an upgrade. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T83.
• Horizon T74 Treadmill: Fantastic treadmill at just under $1000. The best from Horizon and a solid performer with 4 buddahs. Discontinued and replaced by Horizon T84.
• Horizon T81 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill with 4 out of 5 buddahs. Best buy award w
  inner.
• Horizon T82 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill and best buy runner up. 4.5 out of 5 buddahs.
• Horizon T83 Treadmill: 2007/2008 treadmill with 4 out of 5 buddahs.

-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com