New Balance Treadmills – An Evolving Brand

New Balance Treadmill Reviews

The debuting models of New Balance treadmills are brought to you by the people who make the excellent footwear and the fitness apparel line. Well, at least the name anyway. The treadmills are made in Taiwan and licensed by a partner company named Fitness Quest which isn’t known for putting out high quality exercise equipment. So while you may love New Balance running shoes, know that these treadmills are only licensing the brand name and they are made by the same company that builds those funny Gazelle contraptions. Uh-oh.

Most User Friendly Treadmill?

There are a number of good things treadmill reviewers point out about these front and mid-drive units that are priced from $799 to $1,699. The pluses of New Balance machines are: the suspension system, selection of programs, big 2.4" rollers, 2.5 horsepower motors, and large decks. In addition, these treadmills are backed by a 15-year warranty on the motor (alas, only one year on the parts).

The problem is that they come with Fitness Quest’s poor customer service, yet here again you may not have need of contacting them. New Balance machines have an innovative EZ Maintenance System so that home users can do their own upkeep. Hopefully, you’ll have no need to call on a service tech to come to the house because you can easily do lube jobs, belt maintenance, and more. The out-of-the-box assembly is also easier with these machines than with other models.

UPDATE: New Balance treadmills are no longer being produced or sold. Take a look at ProForm or NordicTrack for more features and value.

What the Pros Say

These treadmills aren’t bad machines but pros feel more comfortable buying a unit from a more established company such as NordicTrack rather than be a guinea pig for a treadmill that doesn’t have all the bugs worked out of it. Some of the lighter weight and lower priced New Balance machines offer good value, but the upper priced models are over-priced.

We Like Them, But...

No question that the New Balance Treadmills are making headways in the business, and if you can find one of these machines on sale, then it’s a decent buy. Otherwise, it’s still an evolving brand and we would not recommend one of these treadmills over at least a half dozen competitor brands.

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