Used Commerical Treadmills - Any Good?

[Paul Walker]

In looking for a treadmill for home use I have been offered some ex-club
user commercial treadmills.

I've been told the machines are 3 years old but even in a health club would
be good for another 3 years.

The makes I've been offered are Johnson (JET7000) and Panatta (Power
Runner). I've been told that these units have been serviced every 2 months
from new.

What do you think about such an offer?

Price is about $US2400.

Thanks in advance
Paul Walker

[Steve Freides]

"Paul Walker" > wrote in message
u...
> In looking for a treadmill for home use I have been offered some ex-club
> user commercial treadmills.
>
> I've been told the machines are 3 years old but even in a health club
would
> be good for another 3 years.
>
> The makes I've been offered are Johnson (JET7000) and Panatta (Power
> Runner). I've been told that these units have been serviced every 2 months
> from new.
>
> What do you think about such an offer?
>
> Price is about $US2400.

My 2-cents-worth is that you needn't pay that much money. I got a used
commercial treadmill with 90,000 miles on it for $200. It was regularly
maintained and I had the same guy who took care of them at the gym come to
my house and fully test/calibrate it for me - cost me another $200 but it
was worth it. It'll probably outlast me.

You can buy brand new commercial-grade treadmills, if you look for things
like model year-end closeouts, for about what they're asking you to pay for
a used one. You don't want or need something that would stand up to 3 more
years in a health club because that'll means it's good for 300 more years in
your basement.

Just my opinion.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

[Paul Walker]

"Steve Freides" > wrote in message
...
> "Paul Walker" > wrote in message
> u...
> My 2-cents-worth is that you needn't pay that much money. I got a used
> commercial treadmill with 90,000 miles on it for $200. It was regularly
> maintained and I had the same guy who took care of them at the gym come to
> my house and fully test/calibrate it for me - cost me another $200 but it
> was worth it. It'll probably outlast me.

That's interesting. I'm in Australia and I don't know if they get higher
prices here or not.

In perspective, that's about 25% of the new price.

> You can buy brand new commercial-grade treadmills, if you look for things
> like model year-end closeouts, for about what they're asking you to pay
for
> a used one. You don't want or need something that would stand up to 3
more
> years in a health club because that'll means it's good for 300 more years
in
> your basement.

So how old could I go and still get a quality unit?

Paul

[Steve Freides]

"Paul Walker" > wrote in message
u...
>
> "Steve Freides" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "Paul Walker" > wrote in message
> > u...
> > My 2-cents-worth is that you needn't pay that much money. I got a used
> > commercial treadmill with 90,000 miles on it for $200. It was regularly
> > maintained and I had the same guy who took care of them at the gym come
to
> > my house and fully test/calibrate it for me - cost me another $200 but
it
> > was worth it. It'll probably outlast me.
>
> That's interesting. I'm in Australia and I don't know if they get higher
> prices here or not.
>
> In perspective, that's about 25% of the new price.

Brand new commercial treadmills here seem to have a list price of $5,000 -
$6,000 - I looked around a bit after your message. But my local YMCA
managed for find some for half that by buying last year's model from someone
looking to get rid of them.

> > You can buy brand new commercial-grade treadmills, if you look for
things
> > like model year-end closeouts, for about what they're asking you to pay
> for
> > a used one. You don't want or need something that would stand up to 3
> more
> > years in a health club because that'll means it's good for 300 more
years
> in
> > your basement.
>
> So how old could I go and still get a quality unit?

A treadmill is a treadmill. The newer ones are lighter, more energy
efficient, and have better features in terms of the programs they come with,
the programs you can create on them, etc. - the newer ones might have a
heart rate monitor built in, for example. My old one has 10 built in
programs and no heart rate monitor, but I always use it on manual, anyway,
and it does what I need, which is let me run.

A better question is how soon do you need one? If you're patient and can
look around for a few weeks or even a few months you're much more likely to
find a bargain (but there's nothing specific to treadmills about that
statement).

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

> Paul
>
>

[Paul Walker]

"Steve Freides" > wrote in message
...
> Brand new commercial treadmills here seem to have a list price of $5,000 -
> $6,000 - I looked around a bit after your message. But my local YMCA
> managed for find some for half that by buying last year's model from
someone
> looking to get rid of them.

We seem to pay a lot more for treadmills in Australia. Certainly more than
the currency differnce. I guess freight can be an issue.

> A treadmill is a treadmill. The newer ones are lighter, more energy
> efficient, and have better features in terms of the programs they come
with,
> the programs you can create on them, etc. - the newer ones might have a
> heart rate monitor built in, for example. My old one has 10 built in
> programs and no heart rate monitor, but I always use it on manual, anyway,
> and it does what I need, which is let me run.

I do want one with heart rate control.

I guess my question was if I buy say a 5-10yr old machine, is it gone to be
troublesome?

> A better question is how soon do you need one? If you're patient and can
> look around for a few weeks or even a few months you're much more likely
to
> find a bargain (but there's nothing specific to treadmills about that
> statement).

Certainly a few weeks is acceptable. I'm not desperate. I have been looking
in various classified papers etc.

Paul