Nordic Track Treadmills Most of you will remember Nordic Track for their “Nordic Track Skiers” (See image below). These skiers were popping up everywhere in living rooms across North America and were one of the biggest exercise equipment craze’s of the ‘80’s. I actually remember trying one of these gizmos when I was about 14 and I loved it!
Anyways, since then, the Nordic Track company has undergone some major changes. Some years back, the company actually went bankrupt and were on the verge of closing shop for good. However, the fitness giant, Icon Fitness bought the name and Nordic Track remained in business. Back in the early ‘80’s, Nordic Track was a high end name which drew a customer base which more or less, was high end. However, over time, the original Nordic Track skier started to lose it’s appeal and they started to branch out into other exercise models such as treadmills and exercise bikes. With the addition of Icon Fitness, the products, component parts, and assembly started to become mass produced. Icon Fitness is a fitness products giant with such names as Proform, Weider, Image, Healthrider, Reebok, and Weslo under their belt. Icon knows the market and it is reflective of the exercise equipment that it produces. With this in mind, Icon Fitness can mass produce low budget exercise equipment to a wide ranging audience. Nordic Track offers a warranty of 1 year for parts and labor and warrants the frame for a lifetime on most of their equipment. Now, this doesn’t say too much about the quality of their parts and construction. Here are the warranties for their treadmills. Treadmill Warranty - Life time motor; Return Policy - 30 day return The warranty is low end and reflects the quality of Nordic Tracks (Icon Fitness), exercise manufacturing process. As I look at more and more Icon products, I’m led to believe that they don’t have the consumer’s best interest in mind and are in it just to make a buck. Simply take a look at their extended warranty options and it will tell you their whole story. Let’s do a quick comparison between Nordic Tracks ViewPoint TV treadmill, Smooth’s 5.25 treadmill and Diamond Backs 500TM treadmill warranties. NordicTrack ViewPoint TV Treadmill ($1,579) - Life time motor; DiamondBack 500TM Treadmill ($1,569) - Lifetime frame including welds, material, and construction; Smooth 5.25 Treadmill ($1,499) There is no comparison between the three warranties. Both, Diamond Back’s and Smooth’s warranty says a lot about their treadmills. When I see warranties like this, it says to me that they stand behind their products and have confidence in their manufacturing process. On the other hand, a weak warranty such as Nordic Tracks leads me to believe that they have no confidence whatsoever in their own products. Let me ask you a question, if you had $1,500 to spend on a treadmill, what would you be more comfortable with? Nordic Track is reflective of their parent company, Icon Fitness. Icon Fitness is big on the features with all the high end bells and whistles but under it all, the construction process and component parts are very questionable. For example, some of their treadmills have built in televisions. I think that’s a great innovation for any treadmill that takes away some of the boring “down time” that comes with cardio sessions. Now, I don’t think Nordic Track is a bad company. I think their treadmills are pretty good for mid priced treadmills, such as the $700 to $1,000 range. Anything more than this price and I strongly believe you can get better treadmills from more reputable companies such as Smooth, Sole Fitness, Vision Fitness, and Diamond Back. I would say that Nordic Track treadmills are built for low to moderate in home use. Here are my reviews for Nordic Track treadmills: Nordic Track X5 Incline Trainer Treadmill Review |
