Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill

Please don't even think about ordering this treadmill if you'll need to get it up even a few steps of stairs or into the house by yourself! Even one extra person helping won't be enough! This box is HUGE and HEAVY! Very Important: This treadmill will be delivered only to your CURB! If you grease the delivery truck driver's palm, he might be real nice and put it in your driveway or garage ONLY, but drivers are instructed to leave it curbside! That's how BIG this thing is! The treadmill comes in a huge, heavy box - it's almost 7 feet in length and weighs over 325 lbs. You'll definitely need 3 or 4 big, burly people to help you get it inside the house and/or up the stairs.

My machine arrived to my house, the delivery person was great, helped me push it into the house. Initially, while assembling the treadmill, I noticed the machining of all the hardware was pathetic: bolt threads were poorly matched to slots, some were finished poorly and had smooth hex edges, thus becoming stripped. I didn't make a big fuss about this, as I was able to tighten them with my own tools without fully stripping them (I'm a mechanic). USE YOUR OWN TOOLS if you put this together, because the tools provided are machined poorly as well, and will surely strip the bolts provided. So I put it all together, I turn the machine on, and it keeps erroring out after 5 seconds. I call Bowflex's parent company Nautilus. Here is where it gets interesting. I speak to a customer representative, and explain the error message I'm getting. Instead of offering to send someone out, the rep instructs me to remove the motor cover panel to diagnose the problem. I did this with some trepida... Read more

Heartrate monitor doesn't work. Speed, distance, and other readouts work only occasionally. Called customer service and the representative said she'd get back to me after consulting the Bowflex tech. dept. She didn't return my call. Over the next 18 days I tried other customer service representatives, only to be told they couldn't take over an open case. Finally asked for the cust. service manager. and got a new circuit board sent, but didn't correct the problem. Very difficult to box up a 300 lb. machine and send it back. Very frustrating to be asked by Bowflex to fix a new $1400 treadmill myself. Service reps. ranged from indifferent to rude.

This treadmill is very solid and well built. Have had this model for 2-3 years and still works great. Only shortcoming is that there is no clock and the fan does not work very well. Hope that helps.

I put a lot of time into researching treadmills and their relative cost because my room mates and my girlfriend all felt I was crazy in the first place for considering one on my budget. I knew the treadmills at hotels & gyms had spoiled me, because I had no interest in a flimsy model that offered little support and lackluster features. I also knew there was no way I could afford a $3,000 gym caliber treadmill. I felt this was the best compromise and I have not been disappointed with my decision. The delivery was prompt, but it went no further than the bottom of the outside stairs to my 2nd floor apartment. Thanks to previous reviewers, I expected this. I can tell you that I weigh 160 lbs. and my room mate is about 210 lbs. We're both 26 and carrying this behemoth up a very steep and angled flight of stairs between us was nothing short of miraculous. It cost him a severely bruised big toe. I would recommend no fewer than 3 healthy and reasonably strong individuals to at... Read more