LifeSpan LifeSpan TR4000i Folding Treadmill

What customers say about LifeSpan LifeSpan TR4000i Folding Treadmill?

1. 109 of 109 people found the following review helpful

   
   Solid, comfortable treadmill, November 17, 2011

   By 

   tobor “8th Man” –

   This review is from: LifeSpan LifeSpan TR4000i Folding Treadmill (Sports)

   Pertinent info up front…I’m an ultra-runner, so I run a lot. I weigh about 150lbs and will run anywhere from 5 to 20 miles at a time for my daily runs. I prefer to run outside, but when the weather doesn’t cooperate I hit the treadmill. This Lifespan is the first treadmill I’ve owned, but I’ve used industrial treadmills at the gym for decades.

   When I initially began shopping for a treadmill, I was inclined to purchase a StarTrac or LifeFitness industrial machine. I was willing to spend a lot more than I did on the LifeSpan TR4000i. I was lucky enough to find a local store that specialized in higher-end cardio equipment so I was able to go in and try numerous different machines.

   I immediately liked running on the TR4000i. The deck felt very solid and smooth–no bounce. The noise level was low. It gave me the sensation of running on the road (which I find desirable). The control panel and electronics seem to be solid; much more so than lower-end treadmills with cheap, flimsy plastic housings. Basically, everything seems well made on the device.

   I didn’t want a folding treadmill and after placing the machine I haven’t used it. I’m actually surprised that the folding feature hasn’t compromised the feel of the deck (but it hasn’t). The speakers work fine, but I don’t use those either…just easier to wear earbuds or have the TV on. There is no built in fan, which I believe is a plus–my experience is those break quickly. I prefer just using a floor fan. The cup holders on the treadmill are wide and deep and actually hold stuff in–I normally keep a TV and DVD remote in one, while keeping a sports bottle in the other. Many other treadmills have poorly designed cup holders, often just leaning bottles next to the panel. LifeSpan got it right. Also, the treadmill has a place to put a magazine or book (with anchor points for pages), but this will cover up the display–no different than what you’ll find on most treadmills.

   I do not use the built in training programs on the device so I can’t comment on them. I have played around with uploading the run data on the USB to the Interactive Health Partnet (IHP) website and found it of marginal value. It would be awesome if they’d develop that feature, but it is barebones giving you minimal data (e.g. run time, distance, steps, heart rate). To IHP’s credit, they do let you sync data from Garmin Forerunner devices, but again, once imported the data is stripped down. For example, you cannot see splits, cadence, etc….just very basic info. One positive comment about IHP–I had a problem uploading my data so I emailed them and they were very responsive and helped me.

   A couple of other minor notes–the Heart Rate Monitor for the treadmill isn’t Ant+ or Polar compatible–so your Garmin & Polar HRMs won’t register on the device (and therefore won’t be recorded on the USB). I’m using a Garmin paired with a footpod & HRM to capture my relevant data so I can get cadence and splits…works fine (when uploaded to SportTracks or Garmin Connect). The treadmill also takes about 20 seconds to attain speed upon commencement of exercise; this is a safety feature…some folks often prefer a quicker start (I consider this a non-issue). Once you’re running at pace, however, speed changes are very reasonable. Some features of the device aren’t explained well in the manual, e.g. using the USB stick to record data. If you run a manual run, press stop on the machine (which merely pauses the workout) you can then remove the USB and upload it. However, if you keep the USB device plugged in and officially “end” the run by resetting the workout, all data on the USB is lost. Again, a minor annoyance regarding a feature of marginal value to begin with…the point is that some of the ancillary features of the USB implementation aren’t well thought out.

   All that said, the mechanical components and construction of the TR4000i seem to be very high quality. I’d recommend this machine to folks who run anywhere from 30-80 miles weekly. If you run less, then get a lower end machine. As an avid RUNNER, I don’t personally want a lot of bells & whistles on a treadmill. I just want a device that feels very comfortable, isn’t loud, is safe, and is solid. The TR4000i has met all my requirements and I’m personally very happy with it.

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2. 63 of 66 people found the following review helpful

   
   Solid Treadmill, December 13, 2009

   By 

   S. Patel (Washington DC) –

   This review is from: LifeSpan LifeSpan TR4000i Folding Treadmill (Sports)

   I purchased the treadmill from a local retailer. Initially, I didn’t see any independent user reviews on it so, I thought i would post something. My Projected running usage – Probably 2-3 X a week – average maybe 2 hours / week of running total.

   The treadmill has a 20×60″ belt with a 3.25 hp motor. Haven’t seen any other in this price range with a motor like this one. Although they call the belt orthopedic, I don’t think it is particularly thick – but seems fine. Overall, it feels pretty stable and solid (no shaking or motion). The cushioning isn’t quite as good as the gym treadmills, but for the $ it’s perfectly fine.

   I very much like the user-friendliness of the treadmill. It has large well lit buttons, that are very straightforward and easy to use. I like the buttons a lot more than the standard flat buttons you find on most treadmills. My only concern is the durability of the panel. The display is well lit and clear with a lot of nice information – of course it has the standard stuff like incline level, time, heart rate, calories. But it also displays not so standard stuff, like number of steps, age, height, weight (more on this later).

   The treadmill programs work a little differently than most of the gym treadmills I have used. They several programs grouped in several areas (e.g. weight loss, sports training, healthy living, etc.). You can select “incline” program or “speed” program for any of the programs. In terms of speed/incline variability – the treadmill pretty much works like any standard gym treadmill – e.g. If you select incline program, the incline will adjust (up and down), while your speed remains constant. Selecting “speed program” adjusts the speed up and down while the incline remains constant. Also, adjusting the incline during the incline program will increase or decrease ALL of the incline levels for the entire workout. The equivalent is true for the speed programs as well. Some treadmills only adjust the bar or “time period” that you are currently in.. I actually like this feature on the 4000i.

   I am not sure how these programs were chosen to be in a particular group (e.g. I would like what makes “pyramid climb” healthy living vs. cardio run for weight loss. All of the programs are clearly explained in the manual – i.e. you can see the duration and the level of incline (for incline programs) for each minute of the program (a nice touch!) and the equivalent for the speed programs.

   The user defined programs are pretty standard and easy to setup. You can go thru each minute/bar, and change it to the level/speed that you want. The heart rate monitor works really well! The accuracy seems good and it doesn’t take a lot of fiddling.

   One item that I miss from the gym treadmills is the random feature. It would be nice if it could generate some random incline and/or speed programs.

   Another item that I noticed was missing (or at least I can’t figure it out) is a way to change the duration/time in the middle of a program?! You can set the duration at the start, but once the program start, you can’t change the time/duration of your workout. It seems a little bizarre to me that you can’t do this, but it’s not a deal breaker.

   Ok, one of the big selling points for me was the ability to record and track my work outs and upload them to their system via the USB drive. You can record, the date and time of your workout, with frequent sampling (every 20 seconds, I think), of your heart rate, minutes, calories, distance, steps. I think the concept is terrific – and I like that they were able to include this feature in a cost effective treadmill. However, the implementation is lacking. So, uploading the data, and it does work. However, the website is user-unfriendly, and poorly implemented. Firefox support? nope! you have to use IE. It was developed using 1990’s web technology and navigation. So much so, that I am wondering if any of their customers actually use it?? I am a web guy so I guess my standards are higher… The site very much needs an overhaul and update. I won’t go into a lot of detail, but here are a couple of quick things about it.

   1. Clicking on any of the links (e.g. Weekly View, Today’s Workout,USB Update,Manually Log Exercise,Update Vital Stats) gives you a pop up. You wait several seconds for each popup to occur, then you can do whatever function you are looking to do – Totally unncessary and annoying.

   2. The “analyze my exercise” is just not formatted well and therefore not easy to follow – the info is all there, just not user friendly and clean. It would be pretty easy to make this graphical and easy to use.

   3. Dates – For the life of me, I can not figure out how to set the current date on the tread?! The default date on the treadmill display is always some date in May?? Is the factory set date? When I plug in the usb drive into the treadmill, my weight and height…

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