Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

With COVID here for the winter and no access to our gym, we decided it was time for a treadmill. Our needs are pretty basic - the treadmill has to be able to handle two people running 5k about three times a week. I'm a 200lbs 6' guy, and while I don't run fast I do a bit more than jogging. Cheaper treadmills get too wobbly or bouncy at anything beyond a jog. Not this one! The T6.5S does just as well as the one at the gym as far as I'm concerned. The only difference is that the track is a bit more narrow, but it's plenty wide for our needs. Assembly was pretty easy, or so my wife tells me - she put it together almost all by herself (there were a couple parts that are easier with two people). Our only hitch was that after it was all assembled, we couldn't get the panel beyond the "register at iFit" screen. We thought we didn't connect the panel properly or something, but after taking some things apart and putting them back together we realized we just needed to attach the safety key. Duh! This was our fault as it does mention this in the instructions. Still, an error message like "attach safety key" would have been nice versus an ambiguous "BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP" error. Now - this is all pretty complimentary, so why one star? It's all about the digital ecosystem. This treadmill has bluetooth, which gives it the capability to sync detailed workout stats. However, this feature is 100% worthless due to intentional choices made by Nordictrack and iFit. Bluetooth stat syncing ONLY works with the iFit app. The iFit ecosystem does not integrate with any other ecosystem, like Apple HealthKit, FitBit, Google Fit, etc. The only ways to get your workout stats into those ecosystems are to either 1) input them manually, or 2) do a cumbersome export/import process, every time. This is ridiculous for a treadmill that essentially has this feature built in but intentionally disabled. So to our friends at Nordictrack, if you read this: please reevaluate your partnership with iFit. I understand that everyone wants a recurring revenue model. I understand that Peleton is super successful with theirs. It's totally fine to offer a subscription service for live and on demand workouts. I like the model of offering on an iPad app for that purpose versus requiring a more expensive piece of equipment with an extra touch screen. What is totally NOT FINE is requiring a $15 per month PER PERSON subscription just to sync your workout data. And to our friends at iFit - you are getting the business model wrong. The correct model is to offer a free basic service with a fee based premium service. The free service really needs to do little more that store workout data and offer an API to sync them with other ecosystems. I understand you do not even have this capability today on the paid service. This is almost certainly an intentional decision, but let me be clear: you will never a dominant health ecosystem using only proprietary devices. You just won't. I have no interest in switching all my health hardware to any single vendor. I have no desire to be forced to use your iFit fitness tracker instead of my FitBit or Apple Watch. And you will never keep up with all possible device categories - you don't even have a connected scale. What about sleep monitors? Posture trackers? Blood pressure monitors? Stop. Just let your ecosystem integrate with others like every other successful health company ends up doing. OF NOTE: Previous negative reviews were upset that the seemingly "required" iFit activation also required you to input a credit card number to bill you for the monthly service unless you remember to cancel. This is NO LONGER THE CASE - the iFit trial registration does not require a credit card, and you can still bypass the whole thing by holding down the iFit button for 15 seconds. So, this is not what I'm upset about. I'm upset that I would need to pay $15/month/person to use the bluetooth, and even if I did pay I would have to use the iFit app exclusively to track my health data. In conclusion - if you just want a solid treadmill with no digital features, this is a great choice. If you want something that integrates with the rest of your digital heath data, look elsewhere.