Bowflex Series 3 Treadmill - good machine for us

by Dave Beene
(Omaha, NE)

I bought this treadmill for me and my wife about six months ago. Amazon was running a deal for free shipping, and after I read all the reviews, I figured I couldn't pass it up.

The reviews you mentioned are right, though--this is one heavy piece of exercise equipment! I had to get my brother over to help me move it into the spare room upstairs.

It took maybe two hours to assemble--not too hard (I'm a little handy). Soon as I was done my wife hopped on and put in about 30 minutes of walking at around 4mph. She worked up a good sweat.

Anyway, between the two of us, we've been using it about four times a week, I'd guess. I like to do fast walking (can't run, bothers my knees). The wife does a little jogging and powerwalking. We haven't had any problems at all from it, but I agree that the running area is on the short side. If I were a couple inches taller, it might be a problem, but it's not.

The controls are simple and easy to use. I don't really use the hand grip heart rate monitors, I prefer to use my own chest strap heart rate monitor for that because it's more accurate than grips.

As far as the motor, I haven't seen any issues there. It works for us. If I were a hardcore runner I guess I would've bought a treadmill with a more powerful motor, but 1.75 HP does the trick for us.

All in all, a good buy. We're happy with it.