Customer Reviews

Sole F80 Treadmill (2009-2010 Model, DISCONTINUED)

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I owned a Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill for a couple of years. It was repaired several times after suffering mechanical and electrical problems, but never again ran properly. After disappointing customer service with Bowflex (Nautilus), I replaced it with a Sole F80. When comparing my ownership experience with both treadmills, I recommend the Sole F80.

Bowflex Series 7:
a. 20x60 running surface (better for tall runners)
b. 3.0 hp motor gets belt to full speed in about 2-3 sec
c. no countdown before belt begins to move
d. stylish console, but not as easy to use
e. no speed or incline controls on handles (only on console)
f. metallic handrails (causes static electricity shock)
g. must tip/lean treadmill backwards to move (dangerous!)
h. warranty: 10 yrs motor, 2 yrs electronics, only 1 year labor

Sole F80:
a. 20x55 running surface (good for most people)
b. 3.0 hp motor gets belt to full speed in about 6-8 sec
c. 3 sec countdown before belt begins to move
d. console not stylish, but functional and easy to use
e. speed and incline controls located on handles AND on console
f. hand rails covered with rubber compound for better grip
g. treadmill slides along ground without tipping or leaning
h. warranty: lifetime on motor, 5 yrs electronics, 2 years labor

Delivery of large box is supposed to be made inside front door or garage. Both times, I gave the delivery person a generous "tip" for their prompt delivery service, and both times the treadmill was generously brought down into my basement. Delivery drivers were quite pleasant both times.

Assembly for both treadmills was relatively easy and both treadmills took just under 2 hours to assemble (screwing in hand rails on BOTH treadmills can be tricky-need to make sure you don't puncture and/or pinch console wires!). All necessary tools were supplied for both.

The Bowflex Series 7 and Sole F80 both have powerful and quiet 3.0 hp motors.

The decks on both feel about the same when running/walking on them. Neither deck is "whisper quiet" when running on it. To me, the deck of the Bowflex Series 7 was slightly louder (a problem that became progressively worse during my ownership of the Bowflex Series 7). If you're a taller runner (over 6 feet tall) or run with a long stride, then the F80's deck may be a little too short for you (or course, Sole makes a longer treadmill for a few hundred dollars more). But for most of us who walk/jog/run on a treadmill, the Sole F80 is a very good size and fit.

I can see why hotels use the Sole F80 treadmill. First of all, the F80 has a much better warranty (about double of what Bowflex offers). Also, from a safety or "hotel liability" standpoint, the Sole F80's has better user-friendly features such as: (a) 3 sec countdown before belt begins to move (avoids surprises/injuries); (b) belt takes 6-8 sec to get to full speed (avoids surprises/injuries); (c) easy grip handles with rubber compound (remember: most people grab the handles when they get into trouble!); (d) speed/incline controls on console AND handles (really easy to use controls on handles when running or walking); and (e) no need to tip or lean treadmill backwards when moving (easy on your back, plus treadmill won't fall on you).

Had I done my homework the first time, I would have initially bought the Sole F80 instead of the Bowflex Series 7. Although the Bowflex Series 7 was highly recommended, it did not hold up well over time. If you are considering a folding treadmill for under $1,500.00, you should consider the Sole F80.

Good product. Great value. Great warranty.

I just finished my first week with my Sole F80 and I'm still sure I bought the best treadmill for the price. I had been looking at treadmills in the $700-up price range since I saw a Nordic Track in [...]. I'm 6ft and 360lbs so I quickly decided I needed something most industrial than what you get at the sub $1000 range. Also my only other experience with tread mills has been full blown gym units so I'm probably a little more bias towards spending the money for a machine closer to what I've used previously.

I read a lot of review but only really looked at the Sole F63 and F80. Honestly I really had a hard time spending the extra $500 on the F80. With some of the occasional horror stories out there I was tempted to get the F63 and an second party extended warranty, just to cover the bases. I was lucky enough to be able to see the machines in person as a Dick's Sporting goods. The pictures and product description just don't convey how much more substantial the F80 is. The F80 has the higher weight rating and much longer warranty on parts than the F63 for a reason.
So I ordered the F80, I didn't go look up exactly how many days it took but it was timely, about 10 days from order to delivery. For west coast people, mine shipped out of a Reno, NV. warehouse and the delivery company called me on a Wednesday and gave me a two hour window for that Friday (9-11am) and they were there at 9:00 sharp. If you take away only one thing from this review, let it be this: HAVE HELP UNLOADING! Even if they bring a truck with a lift gate, this thing weights in around 300 lbs in the box and it's BIG. It's packaged pretty well but you WILL damage it trying to manhandle it into the house.

Assembly was pretty straight forward. In fact the hardest part of the process is the plastic covers. One of the reviews I read stated they accidentally cut some of the wiring with a screw for the covers near the hand grips. This is VERY easy to do if you aren't paying extra attention. If you're not too worried about it looking pretty, heck just toss the covers in the closet.

I try and use the beast an hour a day, the stock programs are 20 minutes so I mix and match the fatburn, cardio, and interval programs to make up my hour. More me personally this just breaks things up and time seem to pass faster then a single 60 min program.

Good stuff:
I love the wireless heart monitor. When I was comparing the F63 to the F80 I don't really care that the F80 had the monitor, now I can't imagine not having it. Was shocked that it fit my 3x torso without issue.
It can take as much punishment as I can endure. The interval program includes 4 mph peaks at 6-7-8 inclines. Does it move, sure it does, but I don't have a second thought about whether it's stable and concentrate on what I need to do.
Other stuff:
The fans are...well...."subtle", they are fine for me but if you are expecting something to blow your hair back, you're going to need something else.

Speakers... I'm kind of a music person so I've WAY over critical, they play music, and it's nice they included a cable. I used them for about 30 seconds and then fired up my home system.

In another review someone complained that you can't change the time remaining on a workout once you start it. This seems to be true and it is something I was able to do on the gym machines I used. Not really that big a deal, you can adjust the time of a program before you start it and stopping one program and starting another takes about 5 seconds and 3 seconds of that is the 3-2-1 countdown on the start.

I also didn't think I would be folding up the machine very much. I ended up leaving the treadmill in a front room for awhile until I decide it's final home so I fold it every time I use it. VERY handy even it you're just going to fold it up and not move it. Rolls ok when folded, just bare in mind the 265 pound weight.

To sum it up, the F80 works, looks and feels like a home version of the expensive machines at the gym, not the bigger brother of a cheap machine you'd buy at the fitness version of best buy. Get one..

*** Update 20 August 2009 ***

I didn't really get in the groove of daly use until about the beginning of July. Since then I've put 130+ hard charging miles on my F80. I've also had to disassemble it so I could move it into a different room in the house (just wouldn't make the turn down a hallway). I'm now 30 lbs lighter and still love my F80. I've been giving it a pounding, typically doing 60-70 minutes (time to get to 1000 Calories). with a manual program of 3.0 mph @ 8 deg or I use the autopilot with a 135 heart rate. The A/P is a little evil. It seems to discover I have a harder time with higher speeds compared to more incline and it slowly transitions from my normal workout to something like 0-4 degrees at speeds between 3.0-4.0 mph when it needs to raise my heart rate.

All the good stuff I mentioned previously is still just as good today. The wireless heart monitor and being able to fold it up are still my two favorite features that I use. More a "wish list" than cons, here are a few new thoughts:

- able to change the time of a program on the fly

- a way to change speed/incline in more than 0.1 increments. There are the 2-12 buttons but I always seem to be beween them. I was thinking it would be nice if the buttons on the console did 0.5 increments and the buttons on the arms did 0.1

- a little bigger feet on the rear. The feet make a pretty good indentation in the carpet which you can see all the time since its folded up. Not a big deal to put something else on the floor to stop this, but as long as I'm wishing....

- In it's new location the front and left sides of the F80 are very close to the wall. It works great here but the heat from the motor has nowhere to go but straight up the wall to where the fans are. This makes the air temperature blowing out noticably hotter. Again not really the F80's fault. I didn't have this problem before when it wasn't close to any walls. Just something to keep in mind if you're going to try and put this in a small space. I just leave the fans off and turn on the ceiling fan in the room.

I have been a runner for over 30 years and this is the second treadmill I have owned. I bought my first treadmill in the mid 90s and paid exactly what this Sole F80 cost me. There are barely any similarities between the two. Technology advances and bells and whistles aside, the Sole F80 is nearly commercial grade and I do not believe there is a better buy on the market. Simply stated, this treadmill is a substantial piece of gear and gets the job done handily.

I took the hint from some of the other reviews and paid for inside delivery. The delivery company was nice enough to haul it up to our second story bedroom. They were two brutes, and even they struggled a bit with it. The box is nearly seven feet tall and the marked gross weight is 295 lbs. If you feel froggy, go for it. At my age, I prefer to sip a cold beverage and let the young folks vent their excess energy. The roads are safer that way.

Assembly took about an hour, mostly by myself. The only assistance I needed from my wife was when connecting the control unit to the treadmill arms.

Here's a helpful hint for anyone who plans to assemble this treadmill himself: Do not tighten any of the bolts until everything minus the plastic trim is put together...just get the bolts started in the holes and leave it at that. This allows the structure to flex for all of the holes to align properly as you progress through assembly. Doing it this way, I did not have any problems with hole/bolt alignment. After you have the structural bolts tightened, THEN put the screws and bolts into the plastic trim pieces (this is out of order per the instructions, but it works better this way).

It is fair to say that the assembly and operation instructions are not the most extensive I have seen, but they are sufficient.

Most of my running these days is confined to treadmills due to a knee problem I encountered a few years ago. I think I know treadmills pretty well and can spot a treadmill that is up to the task. The Sole F80 fits that profile in my eye.

I got this treadmill because of the great reviews on Amazon. So far, I can say it's all right. Let's start with the bads:

Heavy..you get ONE giant box. It's curbside delivery. The local company that delivered it to me helped me with it into the house and into the room i wanted it in..I gave em 20 bucks each.

You have to put this together. The instructions aren't that bad, though I put a lot of stuff together. Watch out for the wires in the feet and the top of the handles..you have to be careful not to pinch them when putting them together..its not that bad but just go slow.
The holes on the side pieces don't line up to well..just like the reviewers said. I got the trick for you...you need to wiggle it or have someone else wiggle it while you put in each of the 4 screws per side...don't screw them in, just start them and keep wiggling the leg back and forth until the screw goes in smoothly.
The worst part was putting the side pieces on the part that covers the wires up top....took me like 1.5 hours. It's HARD. It's Frustrating. Get yourself some nice long screwdrivers that are small.

Programming...most people didn't like this...i figured it out quickly. I'm a techie so i figured it out pretty quickly.

The goods:
Quiet quiet quiet.
Commercial Grade
Great Warranty
Folds up
extras(water bottle, wireless heart monitor, speakers(decent), fans(more of a novelty than really functional-they are like computer cooling fans), mp3 player support.
So far runs great, gave me a good workout.

tip: You get a battery with the wireless heart monitor..DON'T open it to put it in...it's an EXTRA battery. I had to find the smallest screwdriver, get out 4 screws only to find a battery already existed.

We like this treadmill. However, when it arrived we had to put it together. It seemed easy enough, but there are wires going in one of the handles that are tough to get in without pinching them. Well we got it together and the belt did not work. So we called SOLE and someone finally got out to us in 2 1/2 weeks. It turned out we went through one of the wires with a screw when trying to put the handle together. The tech said this is the big flaw with SOLE treadmills, it happens a lot.

This thing is solid. I'm very happy with it. We've put over 150 miles on it since X-mas and have only one small complaint, the heart rate monitor sometimes cuts out during your workout but a little water on the chest strap contacts usually does the trick.

I was also concerned that the tread length might be too short but it is more that adequate for me running at full pace (I'm 5'-10" tall).

Very solid, stable, quiet and comfortable to run on, as good as the ones we used to run on at Bally's. You won't be disappointed with this one.

I researched treadmills for MONTHS before finally deciding on a Sole F80. I've been running for about 8 months and ran my first Half Marathon a few months ago. I usually run about 3-4 days per week, 15-25 miles per week. I am an outdoor runner, but this winter has been a doozy and I wanted an option for days that it's too icy to hit the trail. I spent hours reading reviews on Amazon and other treadmill review sites.

A few things I learned, both online and from experienced runners:

1) Most treadmills with < 2.5 Continuous Horse Power (under $999) are NOT made for running - they are designed for walking. If you run more than about 3 miles on a small motor treadmill on a regular basis, you will burn it up. ESPECIALLY is you have more than one user in your household, it will not last.

2) Most treadmills under $999 are made by Icon Fitness, whether they are branded Reebok, Gold's Gym, Weslo, ProForm, etc.

3) Most treadmills come with a 25 yr or lifetime motor warranty. This is because it's not the motor that will fail you. It's the computer that will get fried, from the heat of the adjacent motor that is not designed to handle high speeds for prolonged periods of time. You may get a treadmill for $700, but it will end up costing you $1400 if you have to replace it in a few years.

4) A good warranty is just as important as choosing the right treadmill. Look for something that has at least 2 years parts and labor.

I was torn between the F63 and F80. I finally decided to spend the extra $500 on the F80 for more horsepower, higher weight limit, larger rollers and most importantly, the 2 yr labor + 5 yr parts warranty. I also paid $119 for an additional 2 years on the warranty.

Once I knew the Sole F80 was the treadmill for me, the big question was WHERE to order it. Several reviews here mentioned that Amazon shipped via ABF and the delivery was to your driveway only. I found that SPORTS AUTHORITY was running a free shipping promotion on orders over $99. Additionally, this included 'FREE INSIDE DELIVERY' - defined as: Two men will bring the box into the designated room in your home. THIS is why I ordered from Sports Authority. I'm a DIY (30-something) girl and was confident I could handle the assembly with a bit of lifting help from my husband.

I got a call from ABF to set up a delivery time. Imagine my surprise when the delivery guy showed up and began unpacking the box in my driveway, saying, "The last treamill I put together took about 2 hours. I think this time I can do it in 90 minutes or less." Apparently, this FREE INSIDE SHIPPING was an even better deal than I'd thought! I smiled and nodded and let him go about carrying in all the parts. A second guy showed up to help him carry in the heavy part (the deck) and put it together. They had it completely assembled and tested inside of an hour. They made sure I was comfortable with their work and answered my questions before leaving. They were SUPER professional and nice and treated me like family...and they wouldn't accept a tip! After they left, I looked up ABF on the web and figured out that I'd received what they call 'TURN KEY SERVICE.' All I can say is that I would've PAID $100 for that delivery service and it was completely free.

I've only had the Sole F80 for a few days now, but it is everything I thought it would be. Smooth, quiet, substantial. It feels like the treadmill I use at the gym. The fans don't really do much, but that wasn't a deciding factor for me. I wanted something that will perform consistently for a LONG time and I'm confident that this machine will do just that.

Unexpected bonus: This treadmill is so 'sexy' that my husband has started jogging!

Putting the treadmill together was relatively painless. You will need help to install the console and ensure no wires get pinched/broken.

The treadmill is very solid with a good engineering design. Parts, holes and instructions were average.

Treadmill motor runs very quiet. Console is functional with no complaints.

Speakers are average at best. Fans are weak.

Raising the belt drive to move is very easy and safe. Moving the treadmill takes two persons and a little extra work on carpet. You can move it yourself easily on tile floors.

No problems with the treadmill so far. A safe buy.

We've had this treadmill for several months and it gets regular weekly use. First off, it's heavy...which we like because the heft lends the treadmill stability, an important quality when running; the treadmill doesn't shift or move around due to the pounding it receives. However, the treadmill IS easy to move around (when you WANT to move it); the running deck easily folds up and then you can position it without fuss using the wheels underneath. We VERY much like this feature! Its weight is also due to its solid construction. This machine doesn't seem to have many flimsy, plastic parts. It was fairly easy to put together and a nice feature is the audio speaker setup that comes with the treadmill. With the supplied cable, you can easily hook up an iPod and the output is very decent. Why not five stars? My wife mentioned that she would like a number pad so that a person can just enter, numerically, what speed they would like to run rather than pushing the, "faster," button multiple times to set your desired speed. It's not a deal-breaking factor; just for information purposes only. Overall, it's a good addition to our home gym.

Like everyone suggests, this is a decent machine. It does, however, have faults:

1. Trim construction is patchy. On self-assembly you will find a number of holes don't quite line up and you have to coax them into alignment. Have seen better mass production on Ikea furniture.

2. User manual is slight. Lots of built-in programs on this machine, not a word from the user manual on what they do. Sure, 'cardio' and 'hill' on the buttons give you an idea of what they'll be like, but why should I be guessing how far/fast/inclined I'll be going before pressing them?

3. Fans are useless, like a puff from an asthmatic. Plus they only swivel in one direction (not the one you are running in)

4. Speakers are poor, forget them.

$1500 may not be top money for a treadmill, but hey, that's still $1500 for a 3hp motor with a plastic belt and some pretty lights on. The above issues COULD be corrected with more attention to detail.