ProForm 1050T Treadmill Review - Part 2

For this treadmill you paid $900, as a 2010 special offer from ProForm. Now, in 2011 you pay $1,600.

The price is higher, the brand is good, the features look decent and the warranty is strong. But is this new offer worth it?

What are its disadvantages? See our Conclusions for more details.

ProForm 1050T Specifications

Speed: 0-12 MPH 1-Touch
Quick Buttons available on the console are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12.

Inclination: 0-12% 1-Touch

Motor: 3.0 HP DurX Commercial Pro Motor

Belt: 20″ x 60″ (50.8 cm x 152.4 cm)
The belt is backed by an adjustable cushion system which gives you control over the firmness of the belt.
As a running tip, the more you run or the more you weigh the firmer the cushion must be.

Frame: metal

Supported user weight: 325 lbs (147 kg)

Warranty:
You receive a lifetime warranty for frame and motor, 2 years for parts and 1year for labor.

ProForm 1050T Special Features

Display:
Below you see few of the details you can have as feedback during workout:

- Track display in Manual Mode (400m or ¼ miles). As you walk or run, your steps will be indicated on the track.
- Speed
- Distance ran/walked
- Elapsed time or time remaining
- Pace in minutes/miles or minutes/km
- Approximate number of Calories burned
- Heart Rate
- Workout segments

Heart Rate readings: through Contact Handles

This is just a feature. The pre-set workouts’ design make it difficult to use properly as you can’t know your target heart rate unless you use a 3rd party tool. Without this info, which is based on your age/weight, the true purpose of the Heart Rate (to use this info in calculating an approximate number of calories burned during exercise) is not fulfilled.

Workouts:

- 1 Manual Workout
- 20 Quick Calorie Burn Pre-Set Workouts
- iFit SD cards workouts (optional, not included in the treadmill’s price)

When starting a Quick Calorie workout or an iIFIT workout, speed and incline are automatically changed. You have control over these values but only for a specific workout interval. If you’re a beginner, we recommend you start with using the manual mode.

iFIT SD Workouts (Not Included)

The treadmill is compatible with iFIT workouts, but you have to buy them separately. These are very interesting workouts. You should take a look at how they work before you make a decision. Click Here for more info.

Information Mode:

In this mode you have control over some extra features of the treadmill, such as:
- See total distance the belt has moved
- See total time the machine was plugged in
- Change display in miles or km
- Turn off the display demo
- Turn on/off the voice of the personal trainer when using the optional SD cards
- Control Volume level

Sound System:
The audio jack is compatible with iPOD, MP3 or CD player. You control the volume from the console.

Folding treadmill:
This is a heavy machine, but you can fold it and save space when you’re not using it. You can also move it, as you can do with most folding treadmills, because it has 2 wheels attached.

Conclusions

Is ProForm 1050T a good treadmill? Yes. Is it worth more than $1,000? No.

We had a good experience when running on this treadmill. The most important advantages are its motor and adjustable cushion.

These are the 2 features that make this treadmill worth its money, when comparing it with other treadmills in the same price range.

On this treadmill you can run. It’s true that you can use it at maximum power for about 30 minutes daily, but it’s important you can, even with these limitations. If you want just to walk or jog, this is even better. ProForm 1050T is a very good treadmill for this type of exercise.

The adjustable cushion makes the treadmill useful even for larger persons. It’s an excellent feature to use.

The warranty is decent for the price paid. Lifetime warranty for frame and motor is the same warranty as $2.000 treadmills have.

Still, the treadmill has some minuses which, although not deal breakers, you’re obliged to accept. The sound system is not good. The advantage is the motor is not that loud, so if you plugin your iPOD you can understand the music lyrics. But the sound is not crystal clear.

Another minus is the pre-set workout system. We couldn’t use the Quick Calories workouts during our training, not even one from the 20 included. And these are the only options you have.

As long as you don’t have an individual user profile to insert your weight, we don’t understand why these workouts are included at all. The number of calories burned displayed can’t be used as reference as they are almost inaccurate and knowing that the motivation disappears from the moment you hop on the treadmill.

Yes, you can buy the iFIT cards, which are good, but it will cost you extra.

If you’re the kind of person who appreciates variety, as we are too, note there are other options you can look into which offer you what ProForm 1050T does but with more interesting workouts and in a good price range. You can search right now for another treadmill by Brand or Price if you click here.

Although the folding process is difficult, it’s worth it if you don’t train daily and you have little space to spare for equipment storage in your home.

Some difficulty can be met when assembling the machine. ProForm offers In Home Assembly service. It costs extra which is not pleasant but it saves you some time and patience if you’re accustomed to the process.

To resume our conclusion, this is a good treadmill and we recommend as your home training machine for light running. But only if you pay under $1,000 for it. If you need more details you can visit this unit page on Profom website.

You can buy this treadmill:

At Workout Warehouse: ProForm 1050T for 1599 $

Comments

5 Responses to “ProForm 1050T Treadmill Review”

  1. Frank Weibel says:
    April 21, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    I have had this mill for one month. I like the quick entry of speed and incline. The cushioned deck seems quite soft. If I can get the machine running right, it should be a good mill. Now the problems; The belt came quite loose: I tightened as per the instructions; It would repeatedly track right every couple days and require readjustments; also when it was tracked to the right, there was a banging noise each footfall while running at an incline; when the belt was readjusted, the banging noise goes away. Adjusting the loose belt to specs didn’t work to help another problem until done several times; problem was a slipping belt; to solve I had to tighten to maximum as per the specs; next, the heart rate feature didn’t function at all; heart rate was usually high and all over the place no matter how long I held the contacts.
    I talked to two Pro Form techs about the problems. I am still trying to get everything to work right based on their help; they are sending me a new electronics console to try to solve the heart rate problem. Now about the warranty; the two year parts warranty seems OK, but the one year labor is misleading; when problems arise, the owner has to install the new parts until all avenues seem exhausted; only then will they send out a tech to look at the machine.
    My final opinion- too many problems; it “might” be a good machine after we fix the flaws.

  2. admin says:
    April 22, 2010 at 6:02 am

    @Frank- Thank you for the feedback. I really hope you will be able to use the treadmill soon and compensate for the hassle Pro-Form put you through till now. It’s unpleasant to know what 1 year Labor Warranty implies. I really hope they’ll change their policy, especially if they need to replace parts from the moment they ship it to your home. If you can, keep us posted with what happens next. Happy Running :)

  3. Tim says:
    July 15, 2010 at 10:41 am

    I purchased my mill in February 2010. MY first issue was the belt loosening as Frank described. I got new bolts shipped and that seem to fix that problem. Then a bolt holding to motor broke. First replacement motor was bad and second one worked fine. Display then went on the fritz and pending the replacement unit. Last night wierd noises surfaced when incline/declining. Have to call support agains when I am with the unit to troubleshoot further but sounds like a new incline motor. I am still within my 30 return due to all the problems and think I might return as too many problems.

  4. admin says:
    July 22, 2010 at 1:11 am

    @Tim. Your decision is good. If there are so many problems for a new machine, it’s safer to return it. Thanks for sharing your feedback with us.

  5. Pete says:
    December 28, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    I also experienced the display issue Tim mentioned. I purchased my 1050T in Feb 2010 and started experiencing display issues in October of 2010, and by December my display pannel was not working at all. I have called the customer service number provided 888-533-1333, but after holding for more than 20 minutes hung up. I hope the call volumes decrease or they hire additional customer service reps.

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