Currently looking for a treadmill around the $2,000 range or less with incline AND decline functions. I’d like to use it for Zwift and also importing real world routes into Kinomap to control the incline and decline and mimic real life courses/races. This makes the decline feature almost necessary for me.
I’ve just about pulled the trigger on the Sole F85 with 15% incline and -6% decline. The only problem is that I’ve heard the incline changes are really slow and also the speed changes are slow (I’d like to do intervals as well). I tested one and it did seem like the incline took forever. This is almost a dealbreaker for me.
Anyone have a Sole F85? Is the slow incline/decline so slow that it makes Zwift almost unusable? Does the incline still function reasonably well? Any other treadmills with incline/decline that you would recommend for Zwift and/or Kinomap? I’ve also looked at the Bowflex T10 with -5% to 15% but it seems these have lots of issues with their consoles and they also have such a gigantic footprint, I don’t really like them. But, I’ve heard they incline and speed up pretty quickly and do have the incline/decline I want as well as Zwift compatibility. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I was in the same boat a few weeks back, i was looking at the Sole f85/f89 and matrix. I went to the local fitness superstore and tried them out (only 1 mile or so). Both too hard on the knees’ for me and in the end I got the Spirit T685ent (made by Sole too I believe, ironically lol). I used to like the idea of decline but again, hurts the knees, I never used it when I could lol seems pointless on a treadmill to me?
The speed of incline or decline is fine imo, I am not a pro athlete and 53, reality says save the money and adjust your training lol. The speed increase can be a bit slow but again in reality how fast do you need it and are you willing to pay thousands for it? A good example is a mate spent 9k on a aero road bike because it was like 2kg lighter I stayed off the beer for a few months and lost 3kg np and saved money in the process lol.
If you want any further info on the spirit let me know, I love it so far (only a hundred miles in so far), it works fine with Zwift but you still need the app (QZ) to work the incline etc I think. Zwift partnered with wahoo on a kickr run treadmill that auto inclines/declines etc i believe that is the only one at this time? I don’t get the option on my spirit so maybe worth checking that out etc.
Lastly the ENT adds a big screen, is it needed for hard core running… no of course not! but it is so much better imo just for multiple profiles and functionality
Thanks for the message Mick! You make some good points. I ended up not getting the Sole F85. I tried it, and seriously, the incline adjustment was just sooooo painfully slow. Well over twice as long to adjust as the other two treadmills I tried. I also like the possibility of quicker speed adjustments for doing intervals and stuff like that. I also think having a quicker responding incline/decline function would make the incline changes when using Zwift with the QZ app more fun and realistic.
I ended up getting a Lifesmart TM6500 PowerTouch treadmill from Costco which ended up being almost $800 cheaper than the Sole F85 anyway. It’s got all the features I’m looking for and it’s gotten some good recent reviews and Costco offers an amazing return policy as well as being a really good company. It will be delivered this Thursday and I’m looking forward to setting it up!
Awesome!, I have really enjoyed the treadmill so far, especially with the cold weather and earlier nights . Hopefully Zwift will sort out the auto incline function soon, as far as i am aware it’s just their choice holding it back.
I think they need to sort it soon as they charge a lot for what they give these days, they don’t have the monopoly anymore so any extras they can offer can only help imo.
I stayed off the beer for a few months and lost 3kg np and saved money in the process lol.