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

The Sole F80 Treadmill is in the $1500 range. The Smooth 7.1 Treadmill can be found in the $2,000 range. Note that Sole offers free shipping; Smooth does not although their delivery time is said to be excellent.

Warranty:

Smooth gives you a Lifetime Warranty on Frame and Motor and 20-year motor and lifetime deck and frame. You'll get a 5- year warranty on all parts and 1-year of in-home service at no additional charge.
On the Sole 80 you'll also get a lifetime warranty on the frame and motor however rather than a 20-year warranty on the motor like Smooth gives you you'll get a lifetime warranty on the motor. You'll get 5 years on electronics/Belt/rollers and 2 years on labor rather than 1 year. The Sole's warranty is a bit better but Smooth gives a good warranty as well.

The basics:

The Sole 80 weighs 250 pounds; The Smooth 7.1 weighs 260 pounds obviously not a significant difference. Smooth's user weight is up to 350 pounds; Sole's is 335 pounds. Again this is not a huge difference but if anyone using this is close to 350 then you will want the Smooth 7.1.

The Sole 80 measures 75 inches by 33 inches wide. The Smooth 7.1 measures 73 inches by 39 inches. So the Smooth gives you a slightly shorter frame (remember the belt is an inch shorter) and a wider footprint though the belts are the same width. If you are really tight for space the Sole won't take up as much room width wise and is just two inches longer.

Both treadmills fold but the Smooth gives us a power mechanism to fold the deck at the touch of a button making it easier to fold. Still unless you are planning on folding it regularly I wouldn't look at this as a deal breaker.

The sizes of the belt and deck have been a deal breaker for me on some machines. The rule of thumb is that the belt should be at least 17 inch by 50 inches. You'll get a belt on the F80 that is 20 inches by 55 inches. A very impressive size in my opinion. Smooth's is 20 inches by 54 inches. This is just one inches shorter but if you (and you mentioned your husband will be using this) have a long stride that one inch might make a difference.

The Sole 80 measures 75 inches by 33 inches wide. The Smooth 7.1 measures 73 inches by 39 inches. So the Smooth gives you a slightly shorter frame (remember the belt is an inch shorter) and a wider footprint though the belts are the same width. If you are really tight for space the Sole won't take up as much room width wise and is just two inches longer.

Many machines now have names for their decks. Sole calls their system a Custom Flex Whisper Deck This deck claims to reduce impact on joints by up to 40%. That number is amazing. I've reviewed machines that gave me numbers like 15% and even 30% but never 40%. My experience is that for walking and power walking (I don't run.) the deck on the Sole F80 was in fact amazingly comfortable, and flexible. My feet hurt me a lot of the time. In fact on some machines my toes go numb. Not so on the Sole. My experience with this machine was excellent. My feet didn't hurt; my toes didn't go numb.

It also is very quiet. I say that based on my power walking with no incline and walking uphill.
Smooth has an exclusive Impression Shock AbsorptionT Technology. There is no question that I felt no impact on this machine just as I felt no impact on the Sole 80. I can tell you since I don't run that I have been told that the Smooth's deck is a better one for runners. Some may disagree with this assessment but I am just passing on information that I have.

They both have short handles on the sides. I happen to like the placement of the handles with the sensors on the Smooth. There is a handle right in front of me. I find that I can hold on to it at high speeds and check my heart rate rather than grabbing on to the handles that are at an angle on the sides of the Sole. This is a minor preference. They both have chest straps to monitor your heart rate if you do run and don't want to use the sensors.
The Sole has most used button on the side handles so if you hold on to the handles you don't have to take your hands of to raise of lower the speed for example. Smooth's 7.1 doesn't give you that. It's a neat feature but less necessary in my opinion on a treadmill than on other machines such as the TreadClimber.

Both machines incline up to 15%. The Sole's speed goes from .5 to 11 miles per hour rather than to 10 mph on the Smooth. Truly you don't need more than 10mph.

Programs and Features:

A real plus on both machines is that I could enter my weight and age making the readouts more accurate than machines that don't have that feature. I have never seen a height and sex option which the Smooth gave me!

Both consoles are easy to read and similar. The readouts include heart rate, time, distance, speed and calories burned.

Sole has 10 programs including six standard programs (manual, hills, cardio, strength, interval, fat burning); two that you can program yourself and two heart rate programs. This means the machine will change speed and intervals based on your target heart rate.
Smooth gives you eight preset programs including working according to how much time you want to spend on the machine; distance which works entering how long you want to run or walk and then the treadmill counts down from the distance you put in. The speed starts at 2mph and the resistance level starts at 0. Your time and calories count up from 0 and the distance down from the target distance you told the machine to do.

You'll also get calories, speed, heart rate (This option shows the persons heart rate on the console and the treadmill will adjust incline to keep the heart rate at a determined level.) and interval programs.

Now for the important program the original reader asked about: that is weight loss. The Smooth 7.1 has a specific weight loss program. There is a pre-set workout time of 24 minutes and speed and incline changes during the workout. The Sole has a pre-set program called fat burn which is pretty much what Smooth offers. The machine will change at various times so you'll get a "weight loss program" with either machine.
The Sole has a 1/4 mile track so you can watch how many times you go around and another graph that displays what other programs looked like and two fans.

Summary and Jo's Viewpoint:

Please check with your doctor before starting an exercise program. Also please keep your children and pets away from any treadmill.

SMOOTH $2,000 Slightly higher user weight, easier folding mechanism, better placement of heart rate sensors, can enter sex and height as well as weight and age, 8 programs

SOLE: $1500 slightly smaller, slightly better warranty, folds, 1" longer belt, most used buttons on the side handles, can enter weight and age, 10 programs

They are both super comfortable to walk on. They have impact technology decks. The Smooth gets high marks for runners. I can't make your decision but if I were buying them I'd save the $500!