Customer Reviews

Sole F63 Treadmill (2009-2010 Model, DISCONTINUED)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought the Sole F63 a few weeks ago. It's my first treadmill. I should mention that I got a great price on this unit at Dick's. It was on sale for $999, but the floor model had a small sticker on it that said $849.99 (which was clearly marked as the price for the '08 model). When I pointed the sticker out to the salesperson, he offered to sell me a new 2009 unit at that price, so I jumped on it. Otherwise, I had planned to order it from the factory and save the sales tax! Having said that, I think this is a very nice treadmill, even for $999. It's not without its issues, though.

First and foremost, this unit is very sturdy. I weigh 170 lbs and run for 1/2 hour at a time and average 5.5 - 6 mph, so I'm not exactly stressing the treadmill, but to me it seems extremely sturdy (actually, the unit I tried in the store seemed much less stable than the one I bought.) The console doesn't have any visible shake to it and the deck is also very stable. The deck has adjustable feet to compensate for an uneven floor (which I have).

It's not exceedingly quiet, but I can easily hear my iPod using the built-in speakers, or my nearby TV. The speakers are adequate, as are the fans, although neither are great.

I chose this model over the F80 for several reasons. First off, although the F80 has a slightly larger motor, there is a lifetime warranty on the motor, so who cares? The motor seems more than adequate for someone my size. The belt seems a little slow to get going, which may be a drawback of this size motor. Second, I didn't like the F80's LED display, which I found very difficult to read in the store. The F63 has a bright blue LCD display which is very easy to read. And lastly, the F80 has heartrate control programs, but I had read that the included heartrate monitor was not very reliable, so I didn't want to gamble on that feature. Imagine my surprise when I found the F63 also has heartrate control programs built in! They are not advertised, but they are there, and they are explained in the manual. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them to work very well. The chest strap heartrate monitor, which comes with the treadmill, works fine. But the heartrate program went for several minutes at a very slow speed, at which point I gave up. Perhaps they work if you have more patience, but they didn't work for me. Suffice it to say, you should not go for the F80 just for this particular feature, if it's anything like the the F63!

A few other minor complaints:
1. The included programs have much too large a speed range for my liking. They can go from 2 mph to 6 mph, which (for me) ranges from slow walking to running very fast. I'd rather have more subtle steps in my programs. The F63 does allow you to create two custom programs, with separate speed and incline profiles. I use them almost exclusively.

2. The cupholder/accessory tray is so low and far forward as to be useless. If you are a child or are 5' tall, maybe you can reach them while running or walking. For me, at 6' 2", I can't reach my water bottle without hitting my head on the console! Fortunately, there are two accessory holders up higher which work fine for water bottles.

3. The heartrate handles, similarly, are too low and far forward for running.

4. Assembly was somewhat tricky, and I assemble equipment for a living! Plus, it weighs a ton - plan on having two strong people to move it in.

Some of the good things:
1. As I said, the unit is very stable, and does its job. Whether you run or walk, this treadmill does the basics well. It would not be out of place in a health club! Although the deck isn't the cushiest or quietest I've tried, it's not too bad. I believe the F80 is supposed to have a cushier deck, but I couldn't discern a difference in the store.

2. The fan and audio input/speakers are a nice touch, if not the highest quality.

3. The unit folds up and down very easily.

4. The price! I still can't believe I got such a high-quality machine for less than $1000. I tried many other units and found that I could have easily spent $2000 on a treadmill that isn't as nice as the F63.

If you are looking for a basic, reliable treadmill and don't require an absolute top-of-the-line unit, you'll be doing yourself a favor by trying the F63. I believe mine will be a long-lasting, reliable machine for years to come!

I searched long and hard before deciding to buy the F63. Runners up were the Sole F80, Smooth 5.45 and NordicTrac 1500. It finally came down to the F63 and the F80.

I chose the F63 because the F80 was 50% more in price and I couldn't justify the price difference. The F80 does have a better deck, larger motor and better warranty. But the warranty on the F63 is not that bad. The deck is a little harder but it's more flexible than the street! I also liked the electronics on the F63 more than the F80. If you are deciding between these two units you can visit a Dick's Sporting Goods and try them out.

I'm a jogger who is 6'1 and weighs 170lbs. I cruise along between 6 and 7 Mph. The 2.5HP motor can definitely pull me along with no strain and the running deck is plenty long for my stride. If you weigh more or run at or above 10mph you may want to upgrade.

The treadmill is very sturdy, even on a carpeted floor. There is no rocking when I'm jogging. It weighs 260lb. It took three guys to get it up our stairs due to its weight and the awkwardness of its size and shape.

Assembly was easy, you just have to mind the points where wire harnesses are involved. Once assembled its easy to roll around even though it weighs 260lb.

Why I like Sole. I went to their website to order direct. It was cheaper than Amazon and free shipping. They also have all their manuals online so you can see what you are getting into before purchasing. They also provide you repair and maintenance manuals. One person reported that his belt started to come apart after a month of use. It could be that he did not adjust the unit to his gate and step pattern. You see, if when you are walking or jogging and you favor your right foot for power, then the belt will tend to start moving toward the right of the deck. You need to adjust the belt to your gate and stride. The Sole manual shows you how to do this. It also comes with your first supplies for general maintenance. That is what I like about this company.

Also it says it does not come with a heat rate monitor program but it does. You get the chest strap plus two programs that allow you to work out according to your heart rate.

The heat rate handles on the front of the unit are too low for my liking and I find it hard to use while working out. For my wife , who is shorter, this is not a problem. The cooling fans are OK. They could be a lot stronger.

Another neat feature I like is the up/down speed and incline buttons build into the hand rails. This is great for me because I like to lengthen my stride and move away from the console. These buttons are easier to reach than the console buttons.

Overall I am very impressed with the treadmill. For less than 1,000 you can't beat it. It feels like it should be more.

I have owned this treadmill since January of 2009. I normally don't write reviews on the internet, negative or positive, but I felt that I owed it to this company for the way they have changed my life.

There are alot of reviews, both negative and positive on this treadmill, but they are all written shortly after the treadmill is received. I will say that right out of the gate, I had an issue with some wires coming out of the wiring harness before we got the unit assembled. I was disappointed, and wanted to return the unit. My husband convinced me to let Sole try to remedy the situation first.

He contacted their tech support, and we were sent a wiring harness, which was installed by a very nice local repair man, and the unit was working perfectly within a week. After a few "I told you so's" from my husband, I got to use the machine, and I will never buy another brand again. The features are easy to use, the programs make sense, and I am within 10lbs of where I was when I graduated high school.

The machine is quieter than most on the market, and I love the backlit screen. I had looked at a model by Smooth that was comparably priced, but I didn't like the display. I didn't realize then how much I would have hated not having the screen backlit. It allows me to workout early in the morning, without turning on a bunch of lights, and still see my stats.

If you are serious about a treadmill, don't let the negative reviews fool you, and don't let the positive reviews sell you. Look at the specifications, and you will see, this treadmill really is in a class of it's own, and you won't regret the purchase.

My new F63's belt started to separate at 2 weeks, with 75 miles and 15 hours on the meter. I had to call Sole not once but twice only to discover that their local warranty tech no longer worked with them. After a third and demanding call they shipped a replacement belt and contracted another tech to come and replace it. The only problem is the new belt is not the same as the original with the engineered, designed, safety "stripe" or words Sole down each side. If you're not an avid treadmill user you may not understand that it's there for a reason; to help you with a quick glimpse over an extended use period or high rate of speed where your feet are relative to the moving belt and the remaining stationary deck. I find this change unbelievable and inexcusable for a $1000 piece of exercise equipment. Sole Fitness could offer no acceptable resolution and since my 30 days for return have past I'm stuck with machine that is substandard to design. And don't forget that all the time you think you're dealing with Sole for warranty you've actually been redirected to their contracted warranty service company
Did I mention that the machine also started to make a horrendous noise when lowered to the ground? And there's all sorts of noises from the plastics and drive area when moving at over 6MPH?

This is a long term review of the Sole F63 treadmill. I purchased from Dick's Sporting Goods and purchase the 3 year extended warranty. August of 2010 will be the end of the third year so far I have had the console replaced twice because the display was starting to fade out in certain places and have replace the front roller once because one of the magnets that controls the speed kept falling out and the roller started squeaking. Also had the "running" deck replaced and I imagine it is going to break again. I bought this treadmill thinking it was for running. I haven't really seriously used this machine till the summer of this year as I had increased my running up to 25 miles per week, 6 - 8 miles per hour. I think this is the reason the running deck broke. I would recommend buying a more heavy duty treadmill, but if you were like me you could not afford it. At least buy the extended warranty. I have received pretty good service from the warranty company. Hope this long term review helps.. Final words buy a better machine if you really plan to use it for running.

I did my research online and found that the Sole F63 is a Consumer Reports Best Buy... which means it's one of the top-rated machines but also a good value. I was kind of ready to just buy it based on that, but I thought it would be nice to actually see one in person. First, it's pretty hard to find Sole machines in person - Dick's Sporting Goods is the only place that carries them in-store.

The Fitness staff guy answered all my questions (how is the Sole brand, is there a reason I should buy the more expensive model, do they ever go on sale - good brand, he's never had one returned and his customers all praise them; for most people, the F63 works great but if you have a long stride or run really fast you might want one with a longer running area; he's never seen them go on sale like the cheaper machine sometimes do) and then trucked the boxed treadmill to the front of the store. We planned to take it home in the back of the Prius (with the hatch tied down). No one believed us when we said it would fit (it totally fit). So, if you can find one in-store and want to take it home, it will fit in the back of a Prius, but you have to tie the hatch door down.

The thing is heavy - like 240 lbs heavy - but when we got home, we loaded it onto a dolly and wheeled it to the patio so we could bring it inside in pieces and then assemble it. It's actually really easy to put together; way easier than our elliptical was. You bring in the base, with the side rails and belt and whatnot all in one piece. You attach the front "legs", then the console. And you're pretty much done! You probably need two people to get the base part in, but the rest can be done with one person.

The F63 is a folding treadmill, but I don't foresee us folding it up on a regular basis. Maybe when we have people over and want more space. But, it's really easy to fold up and put back down. There's some sort of hydraulic lift, so it doesn't feel so heavy when you lift it up. I can do it easily (and that's not the case with a lot of treadmills I tried). Then, you just pull a lever to release it and the hydraulic thing slowly lowers it to the ground for you. Some of the other machines, I would have been smushed if I tried to lower the platform. And, once it's folded up and locked, it's actually pretty easy to roll around and position. It's a pretty nice feature to have, I think.

We've had it for less than a week, so I can't comment on long-term use, but I've taken it to the maximum incline of 15% (the buttons only show 12%, but you can push the "up" button a few more times to get to 15%) and both walked (2 mph) and run (6 mph) on it. I spent about an hour on it the first day, mainly seeing how the installed programs work and how you can adjust it. One thing I like is that even if you start with a set program, you can manually adjust it after it starts. So, if you find that it's too easy (or too hard) you can fiddle with it so you're comfortable. With our elliptical, once you've set the difficulty level, you're pretty much stuck with it. The programs are also set to different patterns so for each program it will vary based on incline only, speed only, or a combination of speed and incline. There's a 2.5 minute warm up and cool down period on either end of a programmed workout, but you can skip either of them by hitting the Start button. I really like the incline and speed adjustment button on the side handles. They're easy to find, so I can adjust what I'm doing without ever looking down.

The F63 also comes with a wireless heart rate monitor, but it's compatible with our Polar monitors, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's probably compatible with most heart rate monitors. The wireless heart rate monitoring and the 15% maximum incline are two features that aren't mentioned in any of the specifications but definitely exist in the machine.

When you start the treadmill, it's a little slow to get going, but once it reached 1.5-2.0 mph it's nice and smooth. Ramping up speed and the incline is also smooth - I hardly notice it's happening until it's done and I notice I'm working harder to keep up. The F63 has a blue back-lit display screen, while the higher models have a red LED display (I like the blue one better). There's a 1/4 mile track on the display, but I barely pay attention to it. I just keep running until my time is up and then I see how I did. I can say that running on a treadmill seems harder than being on the elliptical machine. I used to be able to log 5.5 miles on the elliptical in 45 minutes (maybe the measurements aren't really compatible) but an hour of running (jogging) only gets me 4.9 miles on the treadmill (and I feel it more). Running seems pretty smooth, though. Maybe it's the fancy cushioning or whatever, but it doesn't feel like my feet are just slapping onto a hard surface with each step. There's a little bouncy give when I run.

I'm optimistic that it will keep performing well in the long run. We did our research on an elliptical machine three years ago and paid a comparable price (not a bargain sale type of machine) and it's still going strong and hasn't needed any adjustments.

I love the treadmill. Smooth, quiet, comfortable. My husband is 6' 3", 225 lbs. and he has the same feeling. He was worried that the deck wouldn't be long enough for him (it is) or sturdy enough (it is). We both run intervals and find the transitions are easy for both the speed and incline. The extra stuff (speakers and fan) are nice add ons, though the fan isn't very strong. Very happy with our purchase.

I bought this treadmill at the SOLE website and ABF delivery (Los Angeles area) was crap. The delivery driver left me a message and gave me a phone number to someone's cell phone. Then never called back and decided to show up when I'm not home and dropped it off to my neighbors. The driver mentioned to my neighbor that if they had to come back, they will charge me for delivery. But that has nothing to do with the machine. My friend helped me moved this into the house and I was able to install it by myself (I'm 5'2" (155 lbs)). Installation somewhat frustrated me because I had to make a trip to Homedepot when installing the handgrip side caps. The screws provided were too short (go figure). The speed nuts clip were hard to install also.

One thing I've noticed is that if you are at 15% incline and walking at a slow speed (1.7 or less), the motor will start to slip and it will start going faster and faster. If you try to decrease the incline, the motor will stop until the incline level comes down to the desired level. This was just a test that I did, I don't usually walk at 15% incline anyway but it is worth mentioning. At the gym, I can walk at 15% incline at any speed but that is a different machine which probably will cost around $5K.

Sole stated on their website that the maximum speed is 10 mph, this thing actually goes up to 12 mph. Someday, I will be able to run at this speed. Other than that, my wife and I love the machine. We get a good workout without going to the gym especially now that we have a baby.

The F63 is the best treadmill in it's price range. I know because I basically tested out every single one I could find in my price range. This machine by far is the best one. It was pretty heavy to bring inside, I'd recommend having a friend or two to help get it in the home. It was an easy set up though, some reviews I read said the machine was too big but the dimensions I found on the machine were accurate so I just measured in the room where it was going and it fit perfectly.
It's been about a month now and I haven't had any issues. I haven't been using all the programs as much as I thought mostly because I just like the cardio best. I'm too weak to use just the manual I wouldn't challenge myself enough if I did. I need that program to keep me consistent.
All in all I'm happy with this treadmill.

I bought a Sole E25 elliptical a while back, and have been incredibly pleased with it. My wife and I decided to expand our fitness room, and we contacted Sole to buy a treadmill. Because I was a repeat customer Sole gave me $100 off on this item, so I got the F63 for $899, shipped.

I couldn't be happier. It's nice to have our own little fitness center, and I know it's a little obssesive compulsive, but I love the matching equipment from Sole.

This is my second purchase from Sole, and if they come out with any other type of equipment I will be buying it. I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with them. They also gave me 10% off an LCD TV that they recently started shipping.

This is a company that will be around for a while.