Cadence R 5.2 Treadmill

This treadmill and I got off to a bad start. Amazon shipped it so poorly that it arrived at the carrier with a damaged box. It was supposed to be delivered in 2 days through Amazon Prime, and they ended up delivering it a week later after going through a package inspection at the carrier. The assembly instructions are simple enough. The hard part is getting a couple of the screws in place. The metal just doesn't want to line up well, and that is why they suggest a second person to assist. I did have to "cry uncle" and get help lining the screw holes up, but after that it was easy enough, and didn't take me long. After I went through all that, I noticed that there was a crack in the casing that covers the front end of the treadmill at the bottom, due I guess to the poor way it was packaged. At this point, after all the effort of putting it together (and not looking forward to figuring out how to ship it back in that poor excuse of a box they shipped it in), I decided to just Gorilla Glue the thing and forget about it. It doesn't appear to be a major structural thing, and is holding well so far. That being said, the machine itself runs very well. You can choose to set your own pace by picking how fast you want to walk (3 mph, for example), and can increase or decrease the speed in increments while you walk. Or, if you choose, you can pick one of the pre-set weight loss programs they offer. These have pre-set time and speed. For example, I believe the first one starts out at something like 2.5 mph for 1 minute, then 2.8 for 2 minutes, then 3.0 for 2 minutes, then back to 2.8, then back to 3.0, etc., doing this throughout the timed program, and ending up back at 2.5 miles per hour. The walking area is plenty roomy, and it is not overly noisy. Some people said they have trouble reading the numbers, but I do not. You have to peel the plastic cover off of it first. As long as you have sufficient lighting, you will be able to see it just fine. I wish the handles were a little longer, and had something other than a slick surface to them, but that is just personal preference. This is not a $1500 machine, and you can't expect it to perform like one. I have no complaints, other than Amazon's shipping of it. The machine itself seems to work very well, and I would recommend it for anyone that wants a good quality machine without a lot of bells & whistles.

With something as complicated as this, it would be helpful to have categories for titles and stars. Encapsulating an opinion on a purchase of this magnitude is much more complicated than doing so with a book or a shoe.That stated, here are my initial impressions:* The item was easy to purchase and it arrived on time. As others have noted, the box was not in great condition when it arrived, in that there was a lot of tearing. Perhaps in transit, a plastic piece broke off, but thus far, it isn't crucial to the operation of the treadmill. I'm not sure what the answer is, but the shipping of this unit falls short of what we expect or deserve, even though, as a Prime member, I didn't pay for it. If it wasn't so big, I and others would probably reject the delivery, based on how the box appears at arrival.* Ease of set-up. I've seen some reviews here where people claiming to be 70-years-old said they set it up on their own. Umm, maybe. If you're used to assembling things that require screws, hex keys, and manuals, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with this. It does require a little insight and intuition on your part, however, as there are no photographs of the completed unit and the drawings are poor. While the manufacturer does a good job of labeling the sizes of the screws, you will still need to use your own Phillips screwdriver. I also had to use a drill at one point, as I could not get two of the screws in manually. The set-up took me about 45 minutes. There was a lot of cardboard and plastic left over, but fortunately, Albuquerque gives us big recycling containers.* Ease of use. Once you get this put together, it is fairly straight-forward going from 'on' to 'walking.' Others have said that this unit can be noisy, but I haven't found that. There is a whir-sound, but nothing along the lines of heavy machinery, which is what I feared after reading some of the other reviews. It starts up and stops fairly easily. My belt does have a slight squeak, but I can live with that. I poked around to see if I can see why it's doing that, but I can't find the source/reason.* If you plan on reading a book or magazine while you use this, consider how you plan on doing so. There is no problem with propping up a book and reading it as you walk. If you're the kind of person who likes to flip through pages, however, it might be more difficult, as you have to be closer to the front, which means your feet will keep kicking the front of the machine.* As I walk, the back of my hands keep hitting the metal side bars. It takes some awareness on my part to keep this from happening, but this might be a concern with larger/wider people.* Overall, the machine has a comfortable feel, it is a steady piece of equipment, and the console has ample room for a book or magazine. There are many speeds, so you can go real slow on this or you can go real fast.