Our Image treadmill review takes a look at one of the lesser known brands from Icon Health and Fitness – do you get more for your money as a result?
Yep, yet another range of treadmills from Icon, one of the largest manufacturers and retailers of treadmills around.
As with their other brands, like ProForm , NordicTrack and HealthRider for the most part you get budget to mid-price treadmills that are well designed with plenty of features, but weak motors and cheap components – particularly on the lower priced models.
We’ve found that the Image brand offers a little more than its better known stablemates – maybe because it has to try a little harder to grab your attention.
So what are they like?
Image Treadmill Review – Introduction to the Range…
As with the other Icon brands, models tend to come and go and there are quite a lot of them in the range.
There are essentially two ranges in one – an affordable ‘standard’ line and a more expensive ‘advanced’ line.
We’ve selected a few of the more popular models from each line for our Image treadmill review to give you a good idea of what to expect:
Image 15.0R Treadmill
Image 16.0Q Treadmill
Image 19.0R Treadmill
Image Advanced 1400 Treadmill
Image Advanced 3000 Treadmill
Image Treadmill Review – Features…
As with all the Icon brands, you can’t fault the gadgets and gimmicks that are thrown in for the budget prices.If you’re familiar with the other Icon brands, you’ll notice some familiar features that variously appear on the different models – ‘QuickSpeed controls, ‘ClearView’ consoles, MyTracks step counters, iFit.com compatibility on some models…
Strip these away though and with the standard range in particular, you’re left with a very basic treadmill.
Given that they retail for less than $800 – if you pay the full price – what more can you expect?
The motors are relatively weak, the build quality no better than average for this price range, the decks and belts small, the warranties short – I could go on.
However, you get what you pay for with treadmills and to keep the retail price low corners have inevitably been cut.
The advanced models retail for $800 to around $2,000 and as you’d expect offer a better overall package. Although at that price you’re still getting little more than a 2.0 HP continuous duty motor and one year parts and labour warranty.
Image Treadmill Review – The Bottom Line…
Our Image treadmill review would conclude that overall, the cheaper models in the range offer quite good value for money – just don’t expect a club quality treadmill!
For the buyer on a budget looking for a treadmill to walk on with maybe the occasional jog, you get an attractive package – the whole is better than the individual parts.
I’d ignore the advanced models over $1,000 (which is why we’ve not reviewed any) as there are much better options if you’ve around $1,000 or more to spend – a Bowflex for instance or a Sole if you’ve a little bit more to invest.
The exception in the advanced range is the Image 3000, which is an incline trainer.
Icon incline trainers like the 3000 and the Nordic Track X5, which is very similar are not at all bad and worth checking out.