Smooth Fitness 7.1 HR Pro Folding Treadmill Versus the Sole F80 Treadmill Review

I purchased the Smooth Fitness Treadmill 7.1 about a month ago. It took 2 weeks for delivery, then another week to get someone to my home to set it up. I paid extra for the premium delivery and setup and needed to take 8 hours off of work because it was not property coordinated by Smooth.

Once the machine was set up, I was so happy to get started. Then the other shoe dropped, so to speak. The machine only worked for about 5 minutes. The thing stopped in the middle of my very first workout!

I worked on the machine for a while, thinking that I had done something wrong. The LCD screen never went off, but the belt just stopped moving. I turned it all the way on and off. I disengaged the safety key and reinserted it. I cycled the LCD screeen -- and it blinked at me for a few times. I tried kick-starting the belt and that worked! Hurray! I worked out for a few more minutes -- then the LCD blinked all "8"s at me and the belt stopped again. OK. Now I was upset!

I called customer support -- no answer, only an answering machine to leave a call-back number. After an hour wait, they let me know that the only option was for them to call a repairman and that I'd have 2-3 days to wait for a repair guy to call me to schedule an appointment.

Two days later the repair guy called me and scheduled an appointment. He showed up exactly on time and he was very efficient and professional with a very unhappy customer.

I was shocked when I heard the results of his work: turns out this brand new machine requires a new motherboard and a new motor. And the housing around the motor and the incline knob is so poorly manufactured that it rubs together and makes a loud popping sound when the incline is engaged! Surely this will result in a cracked housing at some point in time.

Needless to say, I am a very unhappy camper. I did extensive research on this machine and read nothing but glowing reviews. I'd like to let others know about my experience. This machine is terrible and expensive, a truly bad combination.

I wanted to add a quick update to this review. One and a half months after this poorly constructed machine was delivered to my home, the company has failed to get this junk out of my house. Not once, not twice, but three times the delivery has been scheduled and the delivery company actually came to my house to pick it up, but failed to take the treadmill away because they have "no room on the truck" -- perhaps they would have assessed that situation before they actually arrived at my dorr?  At this point in time, I have wasted approximately 30 hours of my time on this machine and it worked for only 5 minutes or less.

The customer service manager was no help at all -- clearly this is my problem not theirs. Nice way to treat a customer.  Let the buyer beware!