Okay, after all that hard work, finally we’ve sifted out the losers of the first round, and moved the winners up to round 2. We’re getting closer to the best buys. This round is going to be more intense, and require serious performance of each treadmill, or they’re out. This is great because it lets all of you who are curious to go through and find out why the best buys are in the best buys, and how they got there. I’ve got the whole tournament laid out for you.

The competitors of this round will be:

I know, I know, we have another Smooth/Proform duo here, but there’s another set of them that I feel like I should compare. They’re in about the same price range as well, so we’re just giving Proform another chance to redeem itself after yesterday’s failure. Smooth 6.75 and the Proform 850T.

What happens when we put the Smooth 6.75 up against the Proform 850T? We get a compelling review! Exciting right? Well, the Smooth 6.75 is about $1,299 and the Proform 850T is the same, so whichever wins the round will get a pat on the back, and move onto the next round of the Best buy Tournament. Sometimes I wish, rather than explaining the whole story, I could just tell you which one is better and have you believe me. That would sure save me a lot of time. I guess if I did that though, this wouldn’t be much of a site, and you wouldn’t learn anything about treadmills. So, I guess that would defeat the purpose. So, I will explain the whole story the best I can.

In the ring today is the Proform Power 1080 and the Smooth 7.35.

The proform Power 1080 and the Smooth 7.35 are almost the same price. The smooth is $1,499 and the proform is $1,299. So the smooth might have a big of an edge on this proform, but we’ll give it a chance. The 2 treadmills are in a competitive price range. The Smooth 7.35 is a very smooth and comfortable treadmill. The Impression shock absorption system works great and gives it a soft but strong feel. The steel frame is welded and so it stays in place without any problem. You could probably put almost as much weight as you want on it and it should be okay. This is one of the strong points of almost every Smooth treadmill.

Our treadmill showdown of the day involves the Freemotion XTr and the Nordictrack Reflex 4500 Pro.

Well, both of these are made by Icon, so we’re sort of comparing Icon to itself. However the lines are different enough in what they offer, and how they choose to design and price their treadmills, that we can almost compare them as two different manufacturers. From the start, I will say that Freemotions main strength and focus is in Club and high end treadmills, while Nordictrack focuses on in-home treadmills. Treadmills at $1,999 are in-home treadmills for the most part, so the Nordictrack may have an edge, but let’s check it out.

Today’s Treadmill Contestants are the Yowza Keewadin and the Gold’s Gym Trainer 1190.

This will be short. Seriously. Comparing a Yowza to a Gold’s Gym shouldn’t take long at all. The Treadmills are both priced at $1,299, which will make this even easier. To start: Yowza Treadmills are awesome. They have some of the best ratings from all sorts of different review sites. The Keewadin is right in the middle of what they offer as far as quality, size, and price go. The sale price fluctuates a lot, so it’s hard to tack down an exact price. It may be a different price when you’re reading this, but when I included it in the competition it was $1,299. The Gold’s Gym Trainer 1190 is Gold’s Gym’s most high-end and expensive treadmill in their line. Compared to their other treadmills, it’s the best, but how does it compare up to a Yowza? Well, let’s see…

Get ready for a faceoff today between the Proform Performance 600 and the Horizon T202.

Okay, it looks like Horizon is getting another chance against a Proform today. Let’s see how they do. Don’t just jump to the conclusion that Proforms are always better just because they’ve won every time in the past. The Horizon may have something to offer. Both this Proform and this horizon in particular have best buy badges pinned to their shoulders, so there must be something good about them both. Anyway, let’s jump in.

Here are the treadmills we are going to compare today: The Smooth 9.35HR and the Proform Trailrunner 4.0.

When I included the Proform Trailrunner 4.0 in the tournament, it was on sale for $1,699. It has since gone off sale and is now $2,999. Although sales and prices fluctuate all the time, I am trying to review these treadmills at the price they are most often priced at. So, while the Trailrunner 4.0 isn’t on sale right now, I imagine it will be again soon. So I will continue to treat it like it’s $1,699 rather than $2,999.

Today’s treadmill showoff is going to be a between the Gold’s Gym Crosswalk 570 and the Horizon T101.

Oh boy..This is going to be an exciting comparison today. If you’ve read from my other reviews, You’ll know how much I absolutely love treadmills this cheap. Not.
These treadmills might or might not be good treadmills for their price, but regardless, I’m going to have to hold my tongue back to keep from comparing it to what I feel is a standard solid machine worthy to be called a usable adult home treadmill. I will try to make sure to compare them to eachother, and not to more expensive units.

The treadmill battle begins as the Sole S77 challenges the Freemotion 770 Interactive to a dual.

These two treadmills we’re comparing today are in the $1,800 Price range, making them near the top of the home models market. With these two stalwart treadmills, we should find some pretty impressive specifications, so dive into them and check them out.

The motor: Well, I’m not going to say anything I haven’t said before, but in case you’re new to these reviews I will say it again. No matter what technical people try to say, a bigger motor is better. There may be a few instances where a smaller motor is built and designed better than a bigger motor, making it the better choice. But in general the smaller the motor, the harder it has to work, the hotter it gets, and the quicker it wears itself out. Bigger motors are in most cases, stronger and more durable. So with that being said, these motors are both about the same size, so I don’t know why I said all that. Both are 3.5 Horsepower which is about standard for this price. There are a few treadmills with bigger motors at this price, but 3.5 is pretty standard. The Sole motor is smoother, quieter, and designed better than the Freemotion in this case.

Today we’re going to figure out who’s the better treadmill between the Yowza Siesta and the Sole F63.

The Yowza Siesta and the Sole F63 are both at the bottom of the price line in their brands. Both are on sale price for $999 so let’s check out their specs and quality shall we?

We’ll start with the motors. Yowza has earned quick respect from the treadmill world for their quality motors. They have great reviews all over the web. The Motor of the Yowza Siesta is 2.5 CHP and it runs smooth and quiet. Although it’s small, the quality is great. The Sole F63 motor is not far behind. Sole motors are also well known for their quality and performance. The only downside of these motors are their size. It not uncommon to find 3.0 CHP motors at this price, so while they may be good, it’s hard to settle on a smaller motor than what you know is available.