Customer Reviews

Merit Fitness 715T Plus Treadmill

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

We purchased the machine and the shipping was very quick. The treadmill was easy to set up and beginning maintenance was well explained. My wife ran on the treadmill for a half hour with no problems. I tried to use it right after her and it wouldn't work. The machine was displaying an "E1" message on the instrument panel. We emailed the company whom we bought it from and they gave us a list of things to check for. After checking over the items that the customer service gentlemen told us too, the treadmill still didn't work. We called the customer service line and they told us a technician would be out to help since the machine was under warranty. 3 weeks later we finally heard back from the service technician and he claims he can't come out until he gets a warranty purchase order from Merit Fitness. So to make a long story short, we've had the treadmill for a month and have only been able to use it once. Who knows how long it will be before it's fixed.

Beware...

I did a lot of research before buying this treadmill. The horsepower is about the most you can get. The warranty is good, and includes in-home repair (although you probably won't need it). The belt is both long and wide enough to be completely comfortable. I'm 220 (for now) and the treadmill feels very, very stable under me and the belt doesn't pull or anything. Got 45 minutes in yesterday and even jogged on it with no problem at all.

The treadmill came with a sheet of paper with check marks where the factory tested the machine's proformance before shipping it to me. The box was in pretty bad shape, and I worried about it not working, but the treadmill was in great condition and wasn't damaged AT ALL. It is packed in a way that allows for the box to be somewhat beat up in transit.

Also, there is a place for a water bottle on each side of the console, as well as room to hold a book or Kindle so you can read while working out. The console is much, much larger than I expected, and the treadmill is larger and sturdier than I anticipated for the money.

I put a piece of velcro on it to attach my mp3 speaker and another velcro piece to hold the ipod in place and now, it has an mp3 speaker and a tv on it. I can still see the heart monitor, speed, and calories burned. I love it!!!

Assembely took only about 30 minutes for me and my husband while our son was napping. It's mostly together out of the box, so it's really NOT hard to screw in the bolts and put the handles on.

The only more expensive feature I miss a little is the automatic incline, but I can deal with having to set it by hand, and I wouldn't spend $200 more just to get this feature right now.

If you want to get in shape, and don't have a ton of money to spend on a treadmill, you should buy this one. In fact, if you do have a lot of money to spend on a machine, I would still recommend this one. It's a good, solid, heavy treadmill. Get something else with the extra money you saved.

First the product was shipped right on time and second I love it! The programs are great and adjusting the speed is simple,and for the price you can't go wrong and it's American made! Since i've had the machine I have to use it every day. I've been having more energy in the day and I'm sleeping well at night. I am a 53 year old male and haven't felt this good in over 20 yrs.I have a degenerated spine and yet I have had no problems. So thanks for a good machine! Rick Covino

I wanted to purchase a tredmill to complete my home gym. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy using one so I didn't want to spend too much. I chose the Merit Fitness 715T Plus mostly due to the price. Frankly, for the price, I wasn't expecting much. It arrived promptly and I was able to put it together without any problems or help. Once I started working out, I was really impress. While I don't exceed the weight limit, I am about 20 lbs shy of it. Still the operation is smooth with no signs of motor distress. The work out programs are challenging and you will work up a sweat! Even though changing the incline is done manually, it's a snap to do. I especially like the fact that this machine folds and doesn't take up much room. It's perfect for a small home gym. At this point I doubt I will upgrade to a more expensive machine with alot of bells and whistles. This one is practical and gets the job done. I'm very satisfied with this purchase.

7/1/11 Update: I've been using this machine for about six months now and I'm just as impressed with it as I was day one. No signs of motor distress or excessive wear. I stand by my original five star rating.

This treadmill is fabulous! I wanted something that was not too obtrusive because I live in an apartment. Also, the settings and everything are very helpful. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for an affordable treadmill!

Bought this treadmill 6 months ago off Amazon. Everything went smooth, from purchase to delivery, even piecing it together. Worked great for about half the year. After low to moderate use (140 lb male here), it began having motor issues. It now takes the treadmill 10-15 minutes to "warm up" at the maximum speed of 10 mph in order to run it at anything above even 5 mph. Every time I use it, the "warm up" period gets longer. If this patter continues then soon this treadmill will be lost to me.

I don't think $400 for 6 months of use is a good investment. Both thumbs down.

I purchased this product and received it within 3 days. When I got it the box was damaged but the fex-ex guy assured me it would be fine. I hired someone to put this treadmill together for me and he told me that the main part that holds the treadmill together is missing on one side. This is a factory installed part. I immediately called the number listed on the booklet 877-50-MERIT, it gave me a message they were experiencing a high volume of calls and to call back tomorrow and hung up. I tried for 2 hrs and got the same thing. The next day I began calling and called off and on all day long, same thing. This went on for 5 days. Then I put in my request for help via their website. I got a response that my request would be answered within 1-2 business days. I received nothing. I have since put in 6 requests over a 2 week period, as of today I still have not heard one word from them. This isn't like a blouse where you can just pack it up and return it back for being defected. I called so many people trying to get help to no avail. This is horrible. I will never ever again purchase something like this on line. I just hope that Amazon takes them off their website.

Okay, so my husband and I read the reviews: the good ones and the one from the woman whose treadmill didn't work at all, which we thought was maybe a fluke. Turns out, she was 100% on the money.

The treadmill arrived yesterday--without a manual I might add (which we downloaded from the Merit website)--and we spent 2 1/2 hours carefully putting it together. All set up, we plugged it in and NOTHING! We have checked and rechecked the connections.

So, here comes the best part: I have called the company four times today and have been on hold minimum 30 minutes each time,(twice I was hung up on just as the person was to answer the phone) so I finally left a 'message', which they said would be returned when my number came up in the queue. Ha Ha. Four hours later and no phone call back.

We are going to continue to try to get a real person to talk to, since we have 90 days parts and labor. It really looks like we are going to have to lug the thing to our local UPS Packaging Store and send it back (original packaging is torn and unusable) and pay that price.

Why didn't we just go to a bricks and mortar and pay double the money in the first place? Good lesson learned... Don't buy this unless you are masochistic!

I purchased the Merit Fitness 715T Plus Treadmill at $299 and shipping was free. I saw it soon after for $450 I believe so I was lucky to buy it during whatever sale they apparently had. I wanted a basic treadmill that folded up since space is an issue for me, but I did not want a manual one.

Delivery:
It was delivered within 10 days. It was about 130lbs with the box and all packaging materials. I (mainly my boyfriend) had to lug it up an extra three flights so it would have been nice to have some kind of sturdy handles on the box.

Assembly:
Somehow in the shipping or delivery process a piece of the console chipped but it was from the back and unimportant so I just glued it and did not make a big deal out of it. I assembled it myself and I've never assembled anything like this by myself before. It took me a couple hours but again- I have no experience here. One of the safety covers for the back of the track does not fit correctly to where the predrilled holes are. With help or being done by someone who's experienced, it should take an hour max. This model does not have a way to level the machine after it's put in place if the location is not level. I would have liked this feature.

Performance:
It works well for my needs so far. No bells and whistles though. The incline is manual and is in three intervals (zero, five, and somewhere in between). You cannot add to your exercise time after you've started unless you end your session and redo the time, or wait until it's done. There is a pulse indicator but you must put your thumb on the console which is a little awkward when running.

Other notes:
There is a 250lb weight limit, speeds are between 0 and 10pmh in .5mph intervals, there is an emergency off clip you can put onto your clothing.
I have not tried the programs yet so I cannot comment on them. It is a bit awkward to move from room to room which is what I had originally wanted- the wheels should be larger as well. It is not very noisy but I would be lying if I said it was quiet.

Overall, this is good for my needs as I am a beginning runner. I would have liked to be able to adjust the incline while running instead of ending my session in order to change it but it's okay without it. A fan is convenient but not necessary. I am happy with it so far and I could not have beaten the price. Had it been $450 I would have passed.

Strongly recommend having 2 people when assembling the console. The support bars do not exactly line up the way they are suppose to. I put it together myself but pinched my finger twice during the process. After a few poorly chosen words I was able to get it together without severing my finger :) Everything else went together fairly quickly. The belt looks good (not perfect) I believe that it may have been in the box for quite some time which caused a very small indentation on both sides of the belt. It still moves fine you just get a little noise when it rotates. Hoping that will work out in time. I don't use the incline function, however if you are someone that likes using this function I would recommend getting a treadmill that inclines automatically. The only other issue I experienced was with the folding option. Because the support bars do not line up as they should, the treadmill does not have enough clearance to fold without jamming it into the right handlebar. I held the treadmill while using my other hand to gently move the handlebar out of the way and it folded up fine. Folded or unfolded the treadmill took up pretty much the same amount of space. So I leave it unfolded. The belt moves, it looks decent, serves my purpose.