It always is a great feeling when you buy something site unseen and your expectations are exceeded. I was very hesitant at first to pay $1,000 for something without seeing it first, but I went ahead and figured if I was not happy I could always return it to Amazon. Prior to buying a did my share of research and found that the treamdill had won several recent awards and there were several features that drew my attention.

The PRO’s:
#1 – When I jog on the treadmill there is NO movement in the console. This treadmill replaced our old Proform and the console would shake violently.
#2 – I really like the handlebar controls. It is nice when jogging to be able to adjust the speed and incline from the grips instead of slowing down and moving closer to the console to make the adjustments.
#3 – The USB feature and membership kit has been great for accountability and tracking. I don’t think that I am using all the features yet but what I am using so far is great for logging.
#4 – The treadmill is very quiet even at the 5-6 mph range that I usually run at. The console does have the speakers and iPod jack but I have this set up in a den / game room where we have a TV so I have not needed to use the speakers yet.
#5 – The treadmill is easy to fold and unfold. I am not sure if this is standard or not but our old treadmill had the pin on the side that you had to pull to lock it into the side of the frame when folded and when you unfolded all the weight was on you when you lowered. This treadmill has shocks and you just push the shock with the foot and the treadmill unfolds itself.
#6 – We are trying to get the family involved more in fitness and being active. I just got the boys a heavy bag and getting them to use the treamdill as well. The treadmill has a step counting feature…which is really fun for us to play games with the boys like — who can go 1,000 steps the fastest. things to try to keep their interest and make it fun for them.
#7 – Assembly and delivery was easier than expected although see Con’s below for one trouble spot
#8 – This really has nothing to do with the performance but the design and aesthetics are really nice. The old treadmill was big, black and an eye sore and we tried to keep it out of the way (out of sight out of mind) but this treamdill has nice platinum colors and looks really nice in the room.

The Cons:
#1 – To date the only con that I have is the treadmill is almost fully assembled in the box. However you do need to attach the console and make the wire connections. The issue that I had was that there is a three sets of wires…they are color coded and labeled which was fine but you have to be carefull where you house the wires when putting on the back cover.

Overall our family is VERY pleased with the treadmill. It really is exciting to see our kids being more active as well. I would strongly recommend this treamdill.

I received a call from ABF about a week after ordering to schedule the delivery appointment and the driver placed the treadmill in our garage as he says he was not able to take it into the house. The treadmill was easy enough to move into the house with our furniture dolly and if you turn the treadmill sideways and keep the heavy end down it goes right thru the doorways. The assembly took us about an hour till we removed from the box and had it plugged in.
We did not notice any packaging damage but we did have a cracked handlebar cover out of the box. The part was very easy to order as they have an online customer service option and we received an email the same day acknowledging the order and received the part 4 days later, very nice and very easy. The treadmill is very easy to fold and move out of the way when you are not using. To unfold it is even easier by pushing the shock with your foot it unfolds itself. There is alot of program options to break up the workouts. The treadmill is quieter than I would have thought which is nice as you can watch TV at normal volumes when working out. The running area is plenty big as my husband is 6’4″ and he has plenty of room on the length and the width is nice especially when jogging and watching TV as I tend to “drift” so the wider belt is nice. We use the treadmill almost 30-45 minutes per day between us and are very pleased with our purchase.

I recently purchased the 1200i model treadmill from Lifespan fitness and I have used this treadmill for about two weeks now. I am very pleased with the treadmill. I particularly enjoy the layout of the treadmill. It has a perfect size console, depicting the information very clearly. It is almost overwhelming that some treadmills have humungous dashboards in front of you when you are running. The LCD screen is very clear and easy to read. I especially enjoy the incline adjustment right on the handles. It doesn’t disturb the flow of the workout. The belt and motor are very quiet. The console and handlebars are stable even when I am running. My last treadmill made a belt slapping sound and the console shook like crazy when I ran. The technology on this machine is also very unique. This unit has a program that records steps, like a pedometer which is motivating rather than just staring at the time slowly shave away! Also, you receive another perk when purchasing this unit: a free LifeSpan fitness club membership. I have only begun to use this capability, so I do not know if it’s beneficial or not. But, the concept is to record your workouts electronically and manage fitness goals. The treadmill allows for the capability to listen to music while you workout. Surprisingly, the sound quality is very clear, even with the belt running. I look forward to many years of usage with this machine and it comes with my full recommendation.

(NOTE: LifeSpan upgraded my order to the TR 3000i. The TR 3000i is identical in appearance and function to the 1200i, but has a longer warranty, an upgraded motor, and a slightly thicker deck, all of which give it a higher rated weight capacity.)

I ordered the LifeSpan based exclusively on the positive Amazon reviews. It was a few hundred dollars more than another model I was considering, but for something this big, this heavy, and this expensive that I will hopefully use for a few decades, I figured the few hundred dollars would be worth the investment. I tried to find local fitness equipment resellers where I could look at treadmills, but it was very difficult to find any, and they were far away, making a trip inconvenient. Ordering on Amazon was just a few clicks.

After placing my order, LifeSpan called me to tell me that they were out of stock of the 1200i, but would upgrade me to the 3000i at no charge. The 3000i is identical physically, it apparently just has an upgraded motor and warranty. I said “Sure!”

A day later, I received a call from the custom delivery company to schedule the delivery time. The next day, they arrived an hour early (8am).

It took two very large delivery guys to bring the large box into the house. The box was in good condition and nothing was damaged inside.

I was able to push the box through my house and into my office by myself, and unbox and fully assemble the treadmill nearly all by myself (my wife helped with a few steps). A second person will be helpful, but with patience, a single strong person can do it.

I took my time on the assembly, and in about an hour I had it all done. It powered right up and worked perfectly out of the box. The platform and belt are fully assembled, so there is no need to mess with adjustments or difficult assembly.

The treadmill is well designed and is physically very stable and solid. Excellent construction.

Since I will be using this in my home office and wanted to use it while on telephone calls, I was concerned about how quiet it would be. The treadmill motor itself is very, very quiet. What actually makes the most noise are my footsteps hitting the belt/deck, and the resulting noise from the friction on the belt. But it is quiet enough that unless I tell people that I am on a treadmill and they listen for the background noise, they would never know.

The console display is bright and relatively easy to read. It displays speed, incline, steps, calories, elapsed time, pulse, and probably a few other things I can’t remember. From what I can tell, I can’t change the values displayed. For instance, I would like to have it sometimes display the clock / current time of day instead of the elapse time–or have it cycle back and forth every X seconds. From what I can tell, the clock only displays when the treadmill is stopped and the session is ended. (although admittedly I haven’t scoured the manual or tried very hard to look).

I personally only use two buttons on the console: Start and Stop. I don’t use any of the predefined routines and presets and programs. I just want to start and stop. The buttons on the handlebars are great, allowing me to easily adjust speed and incline without having to reach up to the console.

There are two large cup/bottle holders on each side of the console that are very deep. They completely swallow the typical small 16oz water bottle, so on one side I put something in the bottom to raise my drink up higher.

The only very minor complaint I have is with the fit of the plastic pieces on the ‘arms’. The edges where the top and bottom pieces join aren’t flush, so there’s a sharp plastic edge along the seams of both sides of both arms. This is totally trivial, but it’s the only minor flaw I’ve found with the treadmill so far. I will probably shave the edge down with a razor blade so that it is smoother.

The most surprising feature for me was the USB port and the Fitness Club ‘membership’. I didn’t think I would care about it or use it, but it’s a really great feature to see exactly how much time, how many steps, how many calories, and average pulse all displayed online in a daily and weekly exercise journal. It serves as a great reminder of how much you’ve ‘accomplished’ on the treadmill.

And since I have mine in my home office, I wanted to work while walking. It turns out that my laptop fits perfectly on the console. I bought the Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315 from Amazon.com, which rests on top of the handlebar and console, perfectly level and in a good enough position to let me type, use a mouse, and see the laptop display.

Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315

I’ve also mounted a 32″ LCD TV in front of the treadmill, allowing me to send my my laptop display to the TV and do work on a really large screen.

Like most everyone else, I had reservations buying a big, expensive treadmill online without seeing or trying it first. But like other purchasers, I’m very happy with my purchase.

I have zero regrets about choosing LifeSpan, about the price, or about having purchased a treadmill. It has been fantastic, and has completely changed how I work at home and exercise.

I now spend 1-2 hours a day on the treadmill while working, which is more exercise than I would normally get in an entire week. It has been a fantastic investment, and I only wish that I had bought one sooner.

Jan 2012 Update: The treadmill is still working great, zero issues. One caveat to consider. I am having the carpet replaced in my house, and I realized that the assembled treadmill is too large to move out through my office door. In order to remove it, it has to be disassembled. Just pay attention to how it is assembled, and make sure to keep the included tools, and the disassembly can be done in under 15 minutes. The key is to fold down the bars so they are parallel with the deck, just like it was in the shipping box. You can then tilt it up on one side and slide it out of the room. It is much easier to move collapsed like this than to try and move it fully assembled. I don’t know where I put the original tools, but luckily I had a set of metric hex wrenches–other than that, you need a phillips screwdriver and a crescent wrench.

I have been using this treadmill religiously since it arrived in May. I log between 25-30 miles per week and am aboslutely in love with what it does for me. If you are reading this you too, like me found that there are more treadmill options out there than imaginable. I was reading a review in Runners World about this company and their treadmill called the 4000 which has a USB/logging/personal trainer feature included in the console. I was excited to buy that unit until I saw it was double my budget but after more reviews found that they just released a new treadmill for $1200 with the same feature. I always seem to be on the go with the kids and have started to monitor and journal my calorie intake and exercise. I have been using the Body Bug which I have been using to monitor my daily activity but now my treadmill also does the same thing for me and more. The console and USB saves your workout data throughout your workout and then you upload it to your account which is GREAT but even better is you fill out information about your family history, exercise preferences, equipment owned, goals and other information and you will receive weekly exercise routines that include “how to” videos for specific exercises, images and the ability to print off and take with you. I find that I waste 20-30 minutes a day waiting for the kids after practices and now I am doing lunges or exercises with the stretch bands that I leave in the car at all times. The program is fantastic and there is NO costs. You only get one account per treadmill so if you and or your husband or if you want your kids to have their own you would need to buy accounts BUT that one time cost is alot cheaper than a personal trainer.

As far as the treadmill goes it feels great when jogging and is extremely quiet. the handlebars have some real nice features like the ability to adjust the speed or incline while you are checking your heart rate. Console is super easy to read and when you plug the USB in it shows your name with your gender, age, height and weight so that you don’t have to enter that each time you use the treadmill to get an accurate calorie readout. The treadmill folds and folds easy enough, although we have not done that one time yet.

I could not be more happy with our purchase. The treadmill has a nice design and colors and looks good in the room. It comes with a nice warranty and had all the features that I wanted and more. The fitness club is much more than I thought it would be and can not stop raving about how it has helped me to become more active. This is a great treadmdill and recommend to anyone.

Overall I have been very pleased with what the TR1200i has done for my cardio workouts. Purchasing a treadmill always has been an afterthought of mine because I felt as though they were unnecessary. As I have gotten older, I did not like how my energy level has started to deteriorate. I wanted something in my home I can have unlimited access to and was comfortable to use. The LifeSpan TR1200i has not disappointed me one bit. I did enjoy the fact that it came with virtually no assembly required. I had the assistance of my family to lug it down the basement and set it up. Within the hour it was all set up and ready to go. The belt is 20″ x 56″ long and has shocks built into the deck. I noticed how stable the unit really is. Other pros from my runs are the fact that the belt and motor do not make a lot of noise and I was able to adjust the incline levels with a press of a button on the handlebar or the direct buttons on the console. There are also heart rate control features, if you need to access your heart rate when exercising. I feel as though if you can stay motivated, this machine will yield great results. Safety was another issue I had, having two toddler boys. You never know what things they will do to a machine. It has the traditional safety key BUT it also has a feature that will pause the treadmill if you get off to get a drink, answer the door or phone. The other feature I like is the step counting. Pretty cool how the treadmill counts the steps while you are working out. It makes cardio fun to play your music through the built in speakers while taking advantage of the interesting features the console provides.

My wife and I researched treadmills for almost a year now and boiled down our search the to TR 1200 and the Sole F63. We decided on the 1200 for a couple of reasons with the most significant being the benefit of the fitness club. My wife and I consider ourselves “techies” and love the fact that the treadmill automatically stores your workouts to the USB drive and then you can upload the data to your personalized online account. The logging features are very nice but the other features are really cool. The workouts and data on your account is nit just limited to the programs that the equipment offers. For example, my workout program for the day had me working out on the treadmill and then doing lunges…cool feature is the online descriptions are linked so if you do not know how to do an exercise you can watch videos or print off images that show you the proper techniques, it is really slick. Each week you get an email with your programs for the week and it allows you to track your progress weekly and over other periods of time. I don’t use it but my wife uses the journaling section. I have not seen anything even close to this comprehensive and we love the accountability that this creates for us. It has become our FREE personal trainer.

In regards to the treadmills performance we are equally impressed. You can hardly hear the treadmills motor even at the highest speeds, it has enough incline to be challenging. The suspension is excellent and the treadmill is extremely stable great for walking, jogging and running. The handlebars have a very functional design. They are wide enough that when you are swinging your arms when running you have room to roam, the handlebars also have the speed and incline controls integrated which makes it easier to make adjustments the fly.

The safety feature is something that this treadmill has that we did not see on others. We don’t have kids yet but planning on a family this year so it was not a decision breaker but just something else that was different. If you are reading this you probably went thru the same exhaustive process we did…it can be overwhelming but we looked for the reviews and awards and then looked into the “difference makers” and the specs of this treadmill were the same as the others we looked at the price points. The other difference that did have play in our decision was the overall look and design of the treadmill. We have the treadmill in our living room and after going to Dick’s and seeing the Sole in person we did not want something that hige and dark overtaking our room. The 1200 has very nice fit and finish and the softer silver tones cause the treadmill to blend in.

PLEASE NOTE…the treadmill comes standard with (1) Free membership. In our case, we bought another membership kit for my wife so that we both had an account.

Overall…STRONGLY RECOMMEND

I bought this treadmill for a couple reasons, the first being the Amazon rating – spectacular for the price range: nearly 5 stars from over 40 reviewers. And second, most (if any) of the complaints seemed to do with the shipping company and not the actual treadmill itself. With that said, thank goodness for Amazon ratings and customer feedback. This treadmill lives up to the hype.

About 4 years ago I had bought a treadmill from Sole fitness for about $1,200 and was completely unsatisfied. Long story short, product issues which resulted in phone calls, parts being shipped, and me fumbling about trying to fix the issue myself. I ended up selling the thing for $300 a year later. I am so glad this treadmill experience was so much better. Let me point out some things about my experience:

1) Wanted to put this upstairs but had read from other reviewers that the shipping company only does minimal delivery: right inside the front door or in the garage. So, when the deliver driver came, a quick $20 offer to help me for 5 minutes put it upstairs did the job. So much easier than trying to get a neighbor, family member, or friend come over and haul this thing. Best $20 I’ve ever spent. *Tip: Have a cold bottled water waiting for the delivery guy after the haul upstairs, along with the $20. It’s only nice.

2) Set-up took me about 2-3 hours. Everything was packaged very solidly, a sign of quality in my eyes. The only issue I had during assembly was a metal screw hole in one of the treamill arms (the left) not aligning correctly. I actually ended up having to get a screw driver, a rubber mallet, and bang the screw driver down and make the whole bigger in one direction. That was really annoying and frustrating, and I think other reviewers had have similar issues. However, once I got the screw to go through my now bigger metal hole, the rest of the setup was fine and easy. **** Take note LifeSpan ****

3) Treadmill use and functionality is simple, easy, and very effective. At first the screen size and overall simplicity of the buttons makes it look like more frills could have been added, but layout and design was well thought out and very effective. Some treadmills try to incorporate all the frills and gadgets into their display, but ended up lacking some of the finer quality elements. I really, really like the rubber buttons that this treadmill has instead of the plastic overlay push buttons that most other treadmills use. This treadmill does not have a fan (which some reviewers complained about), but I kind of glad this one doesn’t, again, cause they don’t want to sacrifice the effectiveness and simplicity of their display and buttons. Another thing to note on this treadmill that I haven’t seen on any other treadmill is that the whole top portion: display, cup holders, front handle – actual rotates away from you. This is actually very useful. For example, I like to watch TV while walking/running, and it’s easier to put the remote on the display area where you would put a magazine book, instead of the cup holds. Well since the display panel is on a magazine type angle the remote can easily fall off the little ledge. However, since the whole thing rotates, I simply put my hands on the front handle bar and push up so the console panel flattens back a bit. I can still read everything on the display panel (and my cup holders are still good) but the remote now has a better flat laying position so it doesn’t fall down. Really, it’s the simply things the count.

4) Like other reviewers, Treadmill is relatively quiet. I’m most impressed with how well I can run on it without my calves hurting. I got the treadmill to get in shape as I am not in shape currently. I was expecting the some “growing pains” with getting back into walking/running as has been my experience in the past. At the gym when I use the treadmill, after only a couple minutes, my calves began to really hurt and I have to go back to walking from merely jogging. No fun. But on the LifeSpan they must have some sort of shock absortion that minimizes the impact of running. The first time I tried the treadmill I started with a brisk walk at speed 3.2 for five minutes. Then I upped it to a slow jog at speed 5.4 (no incline) and WOW – after another five minutes, no pain. I just kept going without problems and it felt great. I slowed it back down to 3.2 after I was jogging for 12 minutes and that was when I truly realized what a great product this was.

5) Now, this is not a reflection of LifeSpan, just a word of caution if you’re setting this Treadmill up in your house and you want to watch TV at the same time. I have AT&T Uverse for my TV and found out that as soon as I turned on the Treadmill, my TV signal would freeze and be lost all together. At first, I thought the AT&T guy that came to setup a new box in my new exercise room had installed it incorrectly. Or that the new receiver box was bogus. But then I noticed everything would work fine until I turned on the treadmill. A quick google search immediately came up with tons of other people having Uverse problems with their Treadmill. Talk about annoying – all this work to buy a new treadmill, tv, treadmill mat, tv wall attachment, Uverse install technician – only to have the Uverse wig out when I turn on the treadmill. Long story short apparently the issue is with the electricity noise that all treadmills create that get transmitted through the circuitry of the house. The solution was to buy a surge protector that include noise filtration, in which some persons were saying they spent $50 to get and it worked. Well, I had a huge Monster Surge Protector (PowerBar 2100) behing my plasma screen down stairs that I moved into the new treadmill room. Plugged the Treadmill into that and that into the wall. Good to go. Now, I don’t know if this is specific only to AT&T Uverse, but word of caution.

So, to sum-up, super super happy with the purchase and two weeks later I am already feeling better with my exercise, energy, and fitness goals. I haven’t used the usb/online plug-in program some other reviewers have raved about, so can’t speak to that. All I can say is that I’m really glad I went with LifeSpan and will do so again if I look to get a Elliptical to accompany my Treadmill in my new exercise room.

I did not purchase my treadmill from Amazon but started my search here as with this type of expenditure I needed to “try before I buy”. I made my rounds thru Chicagoland trying out what I concluded were the best options for me and my $1k budget. I tested the sole f63 at Sears and the Livestrong at Dick’s (actually I attempted to test this at Dick’s but I could not get anyone to get me the safety key to try) and the Lifespan 1200 at Second Wind which I ended up purchasing. I don’t think that I would have regretted buying the the sole or livestrong unit as they felt solid or in the case of the livestrong looked solid when I tested them but the Lifespan unit had a few features that the others did not. The USB functionality which stores your information and allows you to upload onto your personal online account was the biggest upgrade. I also bought the scale which also is USB compatible. So when I plug in my USB it recognizes me and my stats on the treadmill and on the scale. The sales guy was a personal trainer and very helpful in explaining the program options, the online fitness club and how to take care of my investment. I am not sure if this is personal preferences but the sole treadmill when I jogged on it was very stiff and the livestrong when I stood on it seemed to have too much flex where the lifespan really felt good when walking, jogging and running. The other feature highlighted on the Lifespan was that the running surface has no contact with the handlebars and the display which explains why the console on the Proform I also tested at ABT was shaking all over the place when I jogged.

The warranties were nearly identical but I like the fact that I have a local company to support me if needed. I did pay to have the unit delivered and assembled. I would recommend this treadmill.