Cheap and cheerful, a bit basic perhaps, but it works! (Reebok I Run Plus Treadmill)

Member Name: Jonny_L

Product:	Reebok I Run Plus Treadmill
Date:	02/03/09 (596 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price, folds pretty small, looks good, sturdy enough for most.

Disadvantages: slightly tacky, display doesn't tilt enough, manual incline only.

Like pretty much anyone else who's thinking about getting one of these, I bought it with the intention of getting fit, without spending big bucks on a treadmill. Course the cheapest way of doing this is to just get out there and run, but I'm not a fan of the cold, wet, dark etc. etc., basically I'm pretty lazy and if I can come up with any excuse not to do something, I won't do it!

So I bought an I-Run, thinking I'd take it with a pinch of salt, it's not going to be as good as a professional machine at that price, but it's expensive enough to force me into using it once in a while.

So it comes pretty much ready made, in fact I don't think I had to do anything, it was just folded flat in the box. It comes with a few tools for adjusting the belt and doing a bit of maintainance, along with some oil to go under the conveyor to help keep things smooth.

To use the thing, well it's better than I'd expected. You just lay it flat, flip up a lever and lift the handles, clip on the safety key and you're away. Course you can't adjust incline while you're running, which does make workouts a little boring but if you fancy a change you can lower the back, giving you more of an uphill workout.

Once you get going, the first thing you notice is that nice big display, which shows everything at a glance, Kcals, miles/km's covered, time, speed, even pulse, though the pulse feature is a little intermittant and you'd be much better with something to clip on your finger or chest instead of having to hold on to the bars. Personally I'd rather just stop for 15 seconds and take my pulse the old fashioned way anyway.

The platform is a little narrow, and a little short, but it's workable, I'm just under 6ft and I find I have to concentrate a little bit on where my feet are going. It's got a bit of a sprung surface so running on the I-Run is quite kind on your joints. Speed goes up in 1/10th's of a mph, starting at 0.5mph going up to 8.8mph. Amazingly it still feels pretty stable at this speed, which says a lot from a machine of this price.

Another slightly annoying feature is that the nice fancy display unit doesn't really tilt high enough, and I find I sometimes have to crouch to read it clearly. Tied in with the small platform I get the feeling that this was designed for the fairer sex.

It looks quite good as well, perhaps a little tacky given that it's mostly plastic, the plastic handles move slightly and if you accidentally kick the motor housing, it doesn't sound all that strong. It does occasionally creak a bit too, but otherwise it's fairly quiet. It would appear that it's built to last too, mine's a year old now, and I've used it somewhere between 1-4 times a week, put it through it's paces and it's still going strong.

The biggest issue I have is that if you step wrong, the conveyor can slip forward, or slow down perhaps, just for a split second. You get used to running around this, but the first time it happens is extremely unnerving.

Don't think that I'm putting the machine down though, I really enjoy it, and yes it has helped me get fit. I'm a firm believer that with exercising, you have to choose to make a commitment, so buying a treadmill is a great idea, you'll feel obliged to use it, even if just for a month or two, purely because you've just spent all that money on the thing!

One suggestion though, while the I-Run is fine, I would say if you can afford a better machine, get it, if you're willing to spend over £500 go to a proper sports shop and have a play, you'll only regret it otherwise. If however you don't think you'll ever need anything more than just a manual incline, 8.8mph machine, then you can't go far wrong with the I-Run.

Summary: If you just want to get fit as opposed to becoming a pro runner, this will do just fine.