Smooth Fitness 5.45 Folding Treadmill

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Smooth Fitness 5.45 Folding Treadmill



Product Features
►Due to the heavy weight of the Smooth 5.45, you'll enjoy the same smooth, shake-free performance normally found on health club treadmills
►20" x 55" Whisper Weave Tread belt - Whisper Weave technology helps make Smooth treadmills as quiet as any on the market today
►Patented Swing Arm Shock Absorption System - The entire running deck and frame is suspended on two pivots, increasing cushioning and reducing harmful impact on your ankles, knees, hips and back
►Intuitive LCD Console - lets you monitor your speed, incline, distance, calories, time and pulse simultaneously
►Warranty: Lifetime warranty on the frame and motor; 3-year warranty on all parts and one year of in-home service



Product Description
When designing the 5.45 folding treadmill we took one of our all-time best selling units, the Smooth 5.25, and made it better but kept the same low price. The 5.45 folding treadmill continues our tradition of manufacturing quality treadmills at an affordable price. At 210 pounds this "budget" treadmill is as solid a machine, as sturdy as any you've used at the health club. Smooth's legendary Swing Arm Shock Absorption provides unrivaled comfort. The 5.25 offers a variety of training programs and a generous 20" x 55" deck this treadmill will be an outstanding exercise partner for years to come.

Customer Reviews

►Consider buying it from the manufacturer web site (smoothfitness.com). Why? This thing is massive! Read on...

GOOD POINTS: My wife and I use it every day. It is solid as a rock and quiet. We absolutely got our money's worth and I'd buy it again, hands-down.

BAD POINTS: It is MASSIVE! Because we bought this from Amazon, it came shipped to us just like you'd think. But at 200+ lbs, it remained in our garage until five guys from church came and carried it to our basement. Once there, I had to assemble it.

Mind you, assembly is mostly-done for you. But there's work for you to do, and don't make any mistake about it. Setting this thing up takes time and effort, but it's worth it.

ADVICE: buy this from the manufacturer's web site and pay for their White Glove service. If you do, once it arrives someone will lug it to any room in your home and *then* assemble it for you. Trust me on this, just spend the money and let someone else deal with it! Learn from my mistake. If you opt to save money like I did, you will be sorry you did when this thing arrives at the end of your driveway. At least I was.

One last thing: make sure where you put it has an AC outlet nearby. You will need it (this thing needs power). If you do like me and put it in your basement, go out and buy a power-strip (with a 10-foot or more cord) and have it handy, so the installation people can plug it in once it's all assembled. In our case, I even taped-down the power-strip cable to the floor, so you don't trip over it.

Again, once assembled and where it's suppose to be in your home, this is money well spent. I can't tell you enough how solid and reliable it is. Just pay someone else to deal with the set-up hassle and you'll be all set.

By Joe

►Like the other reviewers have mentioned, this treadmill is HUGE. I've owned 3 others in the past and this one has the biggest "head unit" (where the display is located) of any I've owned. The belt seems a bit narrower because I am always nicking the sides when I run.

The display is pretty good, but if I have one complaint other than the non-colored characters (blue or orange would have been better to see in low lighitng): The Speed and Distance swap. I honestly thought from the manual I had downloaded and reading the description that these would both display all the time. To me, these are two things that should ALWAYS be shown. Other things that are less important ARE shown: Heart Rate, Incline percentage (who the heck needs to see that ALL the time?), and Calories burned. Time is also shown separately, but I do consider this one to be important. To me, the items that should ALWAYS show on their own are Speed, Distance, and Time. The rest can swap. Heart Rate especially seems like a strange item to always display since you have to grip the bars to get anything other than "P" displayed.

The reason this layout bothers me is if you happen to end your workout while the Speed/Distance part of the display is on the Speed, you will never know what the Distance was unless you restart the treadmill and let it run until it's time for the Distance to display again. This is what really causes me to give this treadmill a 4 and not a 5.

But this brings me to something that I didn't see explained in the manual that IS a big bonus: when you press Stop it is actually only Pausing so that you CAN continue to work out with the last known stats as long as the treadmill hasn't been powered down (which happens after a few minutes of non-use) or as long as you haven't pressed Stop twice. The button is not labeled Pause, though, so it's not necessarily intuitive.

As for its performance, the only treadmill I had that was as comfortable was my Vision Fitness. This thing runs smoothly, feels comfortable, and costs about four-hundred dollars less than the Vision Fitness. I've only had it for about 3 weeks, but I run on it at least 2 times per week and walk all the other days. It seems durable and doesn't shake much at all. The drink holders could be a bit wider (or maybe just one of them), but it holds a bottle of Propel just fine. I didn't get my free water bottle for some reason.

I bought this direct from Smooth and had the White Glove/complete install service. I agree with the reviewer who said PAY the EXTRA. Seriously, it's humongous and I can only imagine how much a pain it would be getting it inside my house. The people who put it together are the delivery folks, though, and they told me they get to see a short video on how to assemble ONE model of Smooth's treadmills. It showed. They got it done, but treadmill pros would've taken a lot less time and gotten less confused. All in all, I am quite pleased with this treadmill, however. I'd go for a smaller one in an apartment unless you don't bother with furniture.

By airfirehorse

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