Treadmill Ratings – What Most People Don’t Know About TreadmillRatings

If you’re buying a treadmill, chances are you’ll want toresearch before you buy. Everyone wants to get the best deal fora discount price. They also want to find the best treadmill tosuit their workout needs.So you’ll probably be interested in looking at various treadmillratings or reviews. But why are there so many different ratingsand which one is the most accurate? Here’s a few things mostbuyers don’t know about treadmill ratings.There are 2 types of treadmill ratings:1) Consumer Ratings2) Expert RatingsUser Treadmill Ratings:Consumer treadmill ratings are done by the layperson who hasbought and used the specific treadmill. Many websites allowanyone to go online and post a review of their treadmill. Customer reviews and ratings can be very valuable when searchingfor a treadmill – however keep in mind several things:#1) No treadmill has a 100% perfect track record. Even the BESTtreadmill manufacturers sometimes make a dud. And it’s usually the people that have BAD experiences that leavenegative reviews of their treadmills, not the many that have hadgood experiences with the same treadmill. They have every right to do this and hopefully the treadmillmanufacturers read these reviews and do something about them.Just remember that one bad review doesn’t prove it’s a lowquality brand.#2) The treadmill industry is growing more competitive eachyear. And marketing is a huge portion of the treadmill industrysince treadmill manufacturers KNOW you’re going to researchtreadmill ratings before you buy. So while I’m not making any accusations, I have read ‘customerreviews’ that are clearly NOT written by the average buyer. Theysound like they’re written by somebody working for thecompetition – someone well versed in the art of sales psychologyand who knows more about treadmills than the average person.Again, not making any accusations here – just keep this in mindwhen reading user ratings online.Rule of Thumb: Use common sense. If it sounds like it’s writtenby a treadmill salesperson, take the treadmill review with agrain of salt.Expert Treadmill Ratings:There are also expert treadmill ratings. These are the ratingswritten by the experts in the fitness industry. People likeConsumer Reports, Runner’s World, Consumer Guide, Men’s Health,Prevention Magzine are just a few out there. These people rateand review various treadmills at different times of the year. While these ratings are much less likely to be tainted by biasedreviewers, here are a few cautions to keep in mind while readingthem:#1) Each rater has a different rating system and may ratetreadmills on such factors as price, cushioning, stability,quietness, belt area, warranty, console, electronics, programs,incline and quality of parts. So while one reviewer may put more emphasis on cushioning theother may put more emphasis on warranty. It’s nothing to getconfused over – just understand that different experts valuedifferent features. If you look around you can usually find anarea where they list exactly how they rated the treadmills andwhich features they valued highly in their review.#2) Expert ratings also usually don’t have time to look at EVERYtreadmill brand on the market. Nobody does. We’ve been reviewingtreadmills for over 3 years and we still haven’t covered all thebrands. So just because a certain brand isn’t in the ratings, doesn’tmake it a poor quality brand. Try to find other reviews on abrand if you can’t find it in your favorite expert ratings list.One last thing: Many treadmill ratings are also based oncomparison to other similarly priced treadmills on the market. So if you have a $1000 treadmill that gets 5 stars – thatdoesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better than a $2000 treadmillthat gets 4 stars. It means that compared to other $1000treadmills it is one of the best values.By knowing these things when sifting through treadmill ratings,you’re less likely to be confused. And it will be easier tochoose the best quality treadmill suitable for your needs.