Update 2:
My NordicTrack model no longer works with iFit! They require Bluetooth instead of WiFi. It took 3 hours of frustration to figure this out. Furthermore, iFit has a replacement part to fix this, and they never informed me, and the part is no longer available. So I have a treadmill with just boring workouts.
Update: (10 July 2017)
iFit seems to have finally gotten their act together. using my new iPad 10.5" tablet, pictures refresh at least every 4 seconds. It is more like a jerky movie. The iPad connects to the Live View much more quickly. And lately, the workout of the day has been more interesting.
However, there is still a fundamental problem with the iFit view of the walk: it only looks straight ahead, so most of the image is filled with the path, the road, or traffic. The views are on the sides! I eagerly did a walk around Volcanos National Park, but nary a volcano was in sight. iFit needs to have look left and look right options in its walk viewer. And today I walked to Iguazu Falls in Brazil, and exactly one iFit frame barely showed the Falls! The iFit trips need to be fixed so they look sideways, otherwise the walks are an example of bait and switch.
As part of my quest for fitness, I decided to purchase a treadmill. I bought a NordicTrac C1570PRO, which seemed to have what I needed:
- A long track (I am big)
- Good shock absorption (bad knees)
- A fan (to keep me cool)
- Decent audio
- And especially iFit (bought sight-unseen to reduce boredom)
First, let me say a few words about the treadmill itself. It comes in a HUGE, heavy box. Luckily I was able to pay the delivery man to help me get it into the house. It barely fit through the doors and the required turns, so you had best measure your house and ask NordicTrack for the box dimensions before ordering.
Second, you can see that it is broken in two places: the rear of the left standing strip, and the underneath piece of the right arm. Luckily it works without these pieces. NordicTrack is out of stock for the standing strip—NordicTrack said it will take a month to get the part, and weeks to ship. The underarm piece just arrived in a few days. The left standing platform arrived in 8 days. Not bed service. I hope I can install them.
While I am generally satisfied with the device, many things about both it and iFit are confusing. iFit and NordicTrack are part of the same company, so things are intertwined. The more expensive models (Mine cost $1300, which is not cheap) have an Android tablet built in to function as the display. There is also an iFit app in the Google Play Store. But it does not seem to work on any of my devices. The display on the treadmill truly sucks and is hard to read. However, today I found out that you can get into setup mode (hold Stop and then attach the key), and all the way at the bottom is a contrast adjustment that improves things dramatically. But why would they send it to me on such a dim setting?
Setting up the WiFi WPA2 password is truly painful. You must scroll back and forth through the alphabet (one press=one letter advance), and the display does not even scroll (so that 'a' is not next to 'z'). I have a 16-letter pass phrase, and this was really annoying—it took over 100 key presses. Also, NordicTrack's first support option is to tell you to redo the WiFi, which of course I refused to do. You can check whether the WiFi is working by logging into the Web page of the NordicTrack at its ip address from your computer.
On to iFit. The iFit Web site is truly the worst I have ever seen. Aside from a few instructional videos, there is no help whatsoever. It is also unclear what you get when you subscribe to iFit.
For example, they claim to have Android and iPad apps, and they do exist on the Play store (Android) but they do not work on any of my 3 Android devices including a Nexus 7 running KitKat. There is nothing very demanding in the iFit app, so there is no reason that it should not work with most devices. But I think that in fact it will only work on the higher-end treadmills (more than $1300!) that have an Android tablet built into them. However, this does not make sense because the app's main feature is that you can walk on a hike with it and turn your hike into an iFit workout. So I surmise.
iFit's response is to use the beta "LiveView" from their Web page. When it works, you get to view Google Street View pictures along your route. See below.
My 7" tablet is connected to the iFit Web Page and is in LiveView mode. You definitely want to use landscape mode on your viewing device. LiveView really does cut down on the boredom factor, so it is a winner when it works.
Getting into LiveFit mode is the first of many infelicities you are subjected to. They tell you to click the link next to your name. But, the link only appears after the workout has started! So you have to stand on the moving treadmill while you fiddle with your tablet—a safety issue in my opinion.
The second infelicity is that it is really, really difficult to schedule and select programs. You can ONLY run iFit programs that are scheduled for today.
When you select a program to run, there is a schedule tab. It schedules the workout at the end of all your other workouts. Of course this is totally dumb. Any reasonable program would ask you for the day on which to schedule this workout. But what if you have workouts scheduled into the far future and you want to run this new workout today? Then you have to use the iFit calendar. Often it takes up to a minute to load calendar view. Here is my November schedule:
Now, you can drag an event from one day to another, but what if the new event, which is scheduled at the end of all other events, is in December? If you are lucky, some November days appear in the December calendar and you can drag it to the end of November, return to the November calendar, and then drag it to today. Really cumbersome and annoying!
The next hurdle is selecting an event that is scheduled today. My NordicTrack manual says:
"To download an iFit workout in your schedule, press the iFit button to download the next workout in your schedule. Press Map, Train, or Lose Wt. button to download the next workout of that type in your schedule."
"To re-run a recent iFit workout from your schedule, press the Track button. Next press the increase and decrease buttons to select the desired workout. Then press Enter to start the workout"
Clear as mud. What is the difference between the Map, Train, or Lose Wt. buttons? When I press the Map button, I am often greeted with an error message:
I have not yet been able to access anything other than the first two workouts scheduled for the day.
Finally, when I run a LiveView workout, the achievements of the workout are not updated on my Control Panel:
Notice that I just have completed a 39-minute workout, but my dashboard total time is 11 minutes and I just burned 225 calories, not the 57 that are shown. And yes, I have a 60 Mbps Internet connection and a fast WiFi, and I have waited 15 minutes for the update. (The day after's update [after another workout] shows the same 11:24 time, but now I have burned 62 calories and gone 72 feet in elevation.) Manually entering logs is just too painful to contemplate.
I think that part of the problem is that unless you go to the iFit Web site and shuffle the order of today's workouts in the s l o w calendar, it is impossible to know which workout iFit is going to download when yopu press the iFit button. If you choose the first workout, the registration of your time seems to work. But if you want to run a different workout, and press stop, and then, say, the Map key (to run a Google LiveVierw workout), iFit does not know you have switched workouts and ignores your efforts. This is surely a bug! Any properly designed software would display the workouts and let you pick from among them.
More investigation reveals that iFit only records the first workout you select. For example, I started the Arcadia workout, and by accident removed the key. When this happens, you can restart, but not resume the workout (a real problem because it is easy to pull oput the key with your hand). Even though I hit Home many times to get back to the screen with my name on it, when I then hit the iFit button, and downloaded a new workout (in the Tyrolean Alps), this new workout was NOT recorded by iFit. Since it always takes me several starts before everything is working, none of the workouts that I actually run are recorded. All the initially-selected workouts (that I terminated) are recorded. This is a serious bug.
This software is just plain broken and badly designed, and iFit should refund membership fees until it is fixed. Their raison d'être is that they provide individualized advice to guide you towards getting fit. Clearly this is impossible if they do not have my workout data!
Saturday Dec. 14: Grrr...
It has been a month now that I have had the C1570Pro. Although I have been in touch with the iFit product manager, Matt Evans, he has been unable to get a console to test. Other owners of this model have reported the same problem: completed workouts are not registered on the iFit Web site.
But this morning, the console broke completely. Only the Speed=6 button will do anything. While IconFitness has agreed to replace the console under warranty, they refuse to pay for labor. According to NordicTrack, the labor coverage does not cover things that I installed— such as the console. Here is the warranty:
I defy anyone to read this and interpret the warranty as excluding labor on anything. They also called me on the phone to buy an extended warranty, and told me that there would be no labor charge on anything. THE LABOR RESTRICTIONS CONSTITUTES A BREACH OF CONTRACT.
Other infelicities
- You can't tell the units in which time is displayed, both on iFit and the console. Is the first field hours? days? minutes? On the console, it seems to change at 60 minutes.
- It is unclear how altitude gain or loss is calculated. Is it from the Google terrain or does it take into account the -3–15 range of the device?
- The console seems to display the net height of the workout. (I have no idea what the iFit site displays because it records nothiong for me.) If it were an accurate measure, it would always be 0 at the end of a round-trip workout, and thus useless. There is room on the console to display the up and down altitudes separately, whioch would be useful.
- The iFit Web site is still much too slow. It usually takes 3–5 minutes to get the iFit display on my tablet, which means I miss the view on the start of the workout.
Monday Dec. 16:
I really wanted to work out again today, so I pressed the Speed=6 button many times and lo and behold, the console sprung to life. So I started an iFit workout. It took me over 4 minutes to get the LiveView pictures displayed on my tablet. Most of this time was spent getting the link to LiveView to display, and then to do something when I pressed it. Most things on the iFit Web pages take much too long to appear. Instead of the advertised "New Look," iFit needs to fix the speed of their back-end servers.
But part-way through the workout, the speed '–' key stopped working (a safety hazard). I hopped on the side rails and pressed '6' multiple times, and things came back to life. But clearly the console still needs replacing. These keys are both hard to press and unreliable.
I wonder how iFit picks the workout of the day? Many of them are just a road and trees—kind of boring. I did the British Columbia workout today and was disappointed. The Taiwan workout was also just road and trees, and not even pretty trees.
Saturday I sent an e-mail to cs@iconfitness.com labeled "Attn: Office of the President" with a link to this blog and the copy of the warranty. This afternoon I received a response:
Customer is under his manufactures warranty. Please contact customer to assist them.
and shortly thereafter, a repair order went out. Of course, a replacement console is still out of stock. So, do not let the phone representatives try to tell you that some labor is excluded. However, if it was a simple part, I would certainly replace it myself.
Tuesday Dec. 17:
Things were much better today. I had left my browser in yesterday's LiveView mode, and it automatically switched to today's tour of Venice—the most interesting iFit tour yet. And the LiveView beta served up images every 5 seconds, or even faster. I definitely recommend walking the canals of Venice.
But this time I decided to register my workout (1 hour, 3.2 miles, about 300 calories as per the console) manually. Something is very wrong however. There is no place to register the vertical ascent/descent. Surely the calories burned depend upon whether the workout is uphill or downhill! It claimed I burned 791 calories in an hour, which I think is quite impossible. It also points out the problem with keeping a running total of the vertical feet. The total is unrelated to the calories burned. You need the separate up feet and down feet, perhaps as a function of time.
Maybe when my console starts reporting the workout to the iFit Web site this will be fixed?
Saturday Jan. 4:
Letter to iFit product manager/IconFitness President:
My treadmill is totally dead yet again.
Today, nothing worked properly, either online or on the console.
- I could only get yesterday's workout.
- Track button presented me with some old ones that were not able to load.
- I turned off the power
- Got into setup mode and pressed home a zillion times (why is the login which you have to do every time after the wifi setups??) to get to login
- It logged me into someone else's account without doing a token. Security Issue--you have none basically.
- I turned it off again and repeated above. I got a token
- Token would not be accepted on my tablet browser. Not clear what to hit after entering token. Is Connect a button? It should be AFTER the token entry.
- Went upstairs and did token on my Mac, which was accepted.
- Console loaded proper workout.
- Started workout. Got to speed 3.
- Found that all keys were dead except for speed=6 (as happened before).
- Incidentally, pressing 6 twice quickly sets it to 6.6 mph
- Very dangerous. Only way to stop is with the key. This has to get a higher priority. I still have not gotten a new console, and guess you have not either! It has been on order since Dec 14 for me, and for you longer.
- Now have DEAD treadmill for the second time unless it decides to fix itself.
Thursday Jan. 16:
Still no word on when I get a new console!
Wednesday Jan. 29:
Still no word on when I get a new console!
Monday Feb 24:
NordicTrack claims that their supplier was supposed to deliver by the end of January. Still no console. What ever happened to the idea of second sourcing all supply chain items?? I had a torn meniscus repaired in my knee and bought this behemoth for rehabilitation. And there it sits, taking up most of my floor space. I can't fold it up because the elevation is not at 0.
Monday March 3 17:
Still no sign of a console.
Tuesday March 18: Resolved!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally NordicTrack has agreed to take my C1570 back, and they are replacing it with a newer C1630 Pro. The e-mail address I gave above seemed to do the trick. And they are providing white glove service for the swap. Provided the new machine works properly, I shall be a happy camper.
Friday March 28:
I finally received the new C1630Pro treadmill. It is essentially identical to the old one. NordicTrack could have just sent me the console from this model. As it was, it was a royal pain to box it up because the boxes they sent were a tad too small, and no one locally sells packing tape wider than 1.5". I assembled the unit myself and had it up and going Saturday. A hint to those assembling this model: You can attach the bars holding the console before plugging in the wires. This takes just one person to do. Then prop the console up with one of the yet-to-be assembled arm pieces, and you can easily plug in the wires.
This time, the packaging seemed to be improved and nothing was broken upon arrival.
However, iFit still does not return workout information to iFit. I did finally get a definitive answer from iFit (5 months after the fact):
Kyle Anderson, Mar 31 08:13 AM:
James,
Thank you for contacting ifit support. Your console is what is called the nuvaton console. This type of console right now is temporarily having issues with contacting the ifit server. I do apologize for this error that is on our side but your console is working correctly it is on our side that the error is occurring. I tell you this to ensure you that we are aware of the issue and that it is getting worked on currently to get it resolved. I want you to know that when you console does start working correctly I will credit your account so that you do not miss out on any downtime that you have experienced. This is a temporary error and we will have it resolved in a timely manner, thank you for understanding.
Kyle Anderson
iFit Customer Care
1-866-608-1798
What is an iFit workout like?
Now that the treadmill is mostly working, I thought I would show you how to do an iFit Live View workout.
[video:http://youtu.be/pF9DG6Gg-b8]
Freddy Jones, May 19 07:26 AM:
James,
I fully understand that this is your issue, and what i'm trying to do is ensure that there is nothing further that we can do. As of right now, we are approaching a fix with the Nuvoton Console issue, and appreciate your patience with us. I ensure contact between the Software Development Department and I remains eminent as we approach the fix. If you wish to cease troubleshooting, we may do so until I get further word on a fix. I apologize once again for this issue, and would be more than happy to reimburse you via a free workout from the Fitness Shop, or by adding the downtime to your iFit Account.
Freddy Jones
iFit Customer Care
1-866-608-1798
They must have the worst software developers on the planet. It has been 6 months now. I could have rewritten the code from scratch in a week. Furthermore, NordicTrack should not be selling products that are known to not work!
Still not fixed as of July 23, 2014.... September 18, 2014
Still not fixed on Christmas Eve.
Jamesrome, Dec 23 02:30 PM:
It is over a YEAR now, and my iFit workouts are still not recorded to
your site.
There is no excuse for this!
The fix was "in testing" 6 months ago.
Freddy Jones, Dec 24 07:11 AM:
I understand this, but I am doing all I can do for you at this point. I am in direct communication with our Software Development Department, and I assure you that if I had anymore information than this, it would be given to you. I sincerely apologize for the longevity of the issue, and I am certainly just as frustrated as you are. I can offer as much downtime as you need at this point, to try to compensate for the waiting you've had to do.
Freddy Jones
iFit Customer Care
1-866-608-1798
It seems fixed!!!!
Freddy contacted me to say that there were updates for my treadmill. I applied them and tried it today, and finally, the iFit site registers my workout. At first I thought it was wrong, since it said I had climbed 21,000 feet today (and I would be dead for sure...) but it added all my previous workouts to today. When I listed them individually, they were correct.
Update September 24, 2015
I spent the summer swimming 1250 yards a day. But the pool closed, so I went back to use my treadmill and iFit again. I checked for firmware updates—there were none. I started my workout, and the doorbell rang. I hit the Stop button to go answer the door. When I returned, the iFit workout continued from the spot I had left it! This is a great advance in their software, and the subject of most of their support requests (I believe).
But there is still a big issue about altitude and how it is defined.
As you can see, I have died after climbing 1695 feet in 50 minutes at a speed of about 2.5 mph.
iFit must come clean about how they calculate the altitude. Several issues exist:
- The route slope may (and usually does) exceed the range of your machine. You can tell this is happening when the machine is at maximum or minimum slope, and there is a beep, and nothing happens. So what slope does iFit use—the machine slope or the program slope?
- The treadmill altitude reading is of course useless because it gives the net altitude gain (subject to the above uncerttainty issue). It would be easy for NordicTrak to change the firmware to only count uphill gains.
- Is iFit correctly recording the altitude from the treadmill?
Comments
Same issue on our NordicTrack X9i
Same issue on our NordicTrack X9i, but I was told console will not fix issue. Aslo found that if WiFi is turned off and iFit can't start then at lease we can use the 44 "canned" workouts that are in the treadmill.
wifi worked for me
When the buttons worked, wifi connected. Then iFit works, but you have to view it on a tablet. The treadmill goes up and down, and the pictures display on the tablet. But it never reports the results of the workout.
should i buy one!!!!
Having read the comments above I am wondering whether I should spend my pennies!!! Lots of penny outlay but will it be a waste of time!!! I wanted one for walking on and thought the Ifit using Street View would be great - is it all a waste of time ??? Advice please.....
I wish I had not bought mine
It is still sitting there unusable.
Worst. Purchase. Ever.
Thank You!
You have put in an incredible amount of time documenting this situation! Thank you for your time and effort. It's so important to get this information out to the public. I wished I'd had this information before I made my purchase.
any update?
I have a new C1630 Pro, no data is being transfered to the web/app from the machine.Any updates ?
They keep starting over from square zero.
They keep assigning new people to the ticket. They want me to power it off and on. Sigh.
Thank you for contacting ifit support. Your console is what is called the nuvaton console. This type of console right now is temporarily having issues with contacting the ifit server. I do apologize for this error that is on our side but your console is working correctly it is on our side that the error is occurring. I tell you this to ensure you that we are aware of the issue and that it is getting worked on currently to get it resolved. I want you to know that when you console does start working correctly I will credit your account so that you do not miss out on any downtime that you have experienced. This is a temporary error and we will have it resolved in a timely manner, thank you for understanding.
Kyle Anderson
iFit Customer Care
1-866-608-1798
Nordic Track 9500 Elite Pro
My 9500 is only three years old. It has NEVER worked properly. No one at ICON has a clue as to what is wrong with the software in this piece of junk. I just want it to come on and let me run, no bells and whistles, no internet, no I-fit just RUN. They send me a Sim card looking thing ( charged $75.00 ), I follow all instructions, does not work and now I have a BLACK screen, probably finished it off. Now the answer is buy a new console ...WHAT ! $2300.00 are you people crazy ! OR...Buy a 1630 we have on sale for $999.00... IT'S ON SALE EVERYWHERE no deal here !With all the complaints I have seen I have to wonder why a "inherent defect" law suit has not been filed. This is a scam, they have to know how to really fix it they just won't. This is THE last product I will ever buy from Nordic Track and I WILL tell all the people I know( a lot)
to not buy as well.Even if the company had to replace all the tablets it would be better than all this negative P.R.
iFit - IMHO Not iFit For Purpose
I have worked in the computer industry for over 30 years and I have to agree with the blog author - the iFit software is unfit for purpose:
The data contradicts itself, depending on what what option you use to display it;
The way it handles workout schedules is cumbersome and illogical;
I have experienced several server outages - which means not my workouts are not logged;
The software itself is full of bugs - manually logging a workout just does not work properly;
When using LiveView it is a pain having to start your workout before setting the software so you are forced to fiddle around with the onscreen menus to get LiveView operating while you are exercising (perhaps even running at speed) - an elementary example of shoddy design and/or programming;
etc. etc. etc.
I got iFit as part of the NordicTrack treadmill purchase package. I certainly will NOT be renewing my iFit subscription when the current one expires. In fact, I will be pleased to get rid of it - recording my workout in a simple spreadsheet instead is so much more reliable, less hassle and works everytime [BLISS!].
As far as the treadmill is concerned, I have not had any problems with it yet and am totally satisfied with it so far. It is a much better treadmill than my previous one - but then it did cost twice as much so, I guess, you get what you pay for.
I really appreciate that you
I really appreciate that you wrote this article and shared some really good information on this specific topic. I was in vital need to get some information on this topic and thanks to you, I've got that! Thanks, once again!
<a href="http://yebgerhto.com">yebgerhto</a>
Very useful info
I am shopping for a treadmill with iFit compatibility and researching how effective this is. This review really helped me to make an informed decision and many many thanks to Jarome's detailed documentation and experience. Although i wonder, some of the problems mentioned here are specific to the type of machines that do not have touch screen consoles and had to connect an external device like a tablet to get the workout data transferred between ifit and machine and resulting in these issues. Anyone here knows if the built in ifit machines with tocuh screen consoles also having the same issues?
Yes, the x9i with the fancy
Yes, the x9i with the fancy built-in touchscreen console had the same problems for me.
Nordictrack x9i does not work with wifi
I had the x9i for about one year. The console and other components were replaced with no help. Every time I activate wifi, within 10 minutes of any routine, the console keys will all lock and the treadmill will lock in whatever particular speed and incline it had that second. The only solution is to push the stop or pull the safety key. It works fine when not using wifi. No wifi means no Ifit.
I demanded a refund, they refused and I sued in small claims. Then they settled.
I really love this treadmill except this major deficiency.
You right
NordicTrack and iFit—Good idea, awful execution is 100% correct.
When I use the treadmill only some of the data are logged if I do more than one exercise per day and it takes forever before the data are logged on my PC.
The app. log all the data 2-3 times - so if I do a walk/run on 15 km. and send the data to my PC it tells me Ive did 45 km.
So after few mounts all data I have logged are useless.
ifit supp. are OK but ICON Europa are total idi... - I have now for 2 weeks tried to get my module repaired or replaced - first now they will have a look at it.
But even if I get a working module back all my logged data are completly useless - So when my supscriptions runs out I wont renew it
iFit is horrible
I bought a new elliptical ($1,000) from NordicTrack thinking they had a good name. I did not realize iFit was part of the price, and after the first year I needed to pony up $100/year to keep it. Clearly HALF of the program functionality won't work unless you have iFit, so if you don't use it, your elliptical is basically worth much less than $1000. I actually had to buy a Wi-Fi Signal Booster to get it to work, and place the signal booster 5 feet from the machine. Now that I FINALLY have iFit, I cannot figure out HOW or WHY to use it. Your post has given me a lot of insight into the fact that it is just a poorly designed product and I am not so stupid after all. I will never buy Nordic Track again. By the way, I have been using ellipticals at home and at the gym for over 20 years, so I know my way around that machine and the one I got is just worthless.
It is not that bad....
Even if the reports of your exercise do not get recorded properly, iFit itself does make the workout a lot less boring. But you need to use a tablet for it to show you the pretty pictures as you walk.
I have been debating on which
I have been debating on which treadmill with ifit to purchase. Your blog has been very helpful and detailed. Needless to say I will not be choosing Nordic Track! Thank you!
Ifit
Thank you you just saved me some money.
USE The Safety key - I PAID the price
My Norditrack T15.0 treadmill suddenly stopped when i was running at 14mph!!
This company has the best idea as far as the treadmill and the ifit module goes but their software is riddled with bugs that im seriously considering returning my equipment which is less than 30 days old.
The ifit module is pretty much useless...i use Bitgym on my ipad which is very reliable unlike the ifit module.
Spent DAYS trying to link up the ifit module and everytime i used it, as soon as i increased the speed, it freezes up...Dont know if its allergic to fast runners or something.
PLEASE clean up your softwares Norditrack!
Nordic Track
I was about to pull the trigger on a Nordic Track Commercial 2950 yesterday but am glad I spent some time investigating reviews of the machine and the company. Thanks to this site and others, I will be staying clear from Nordic Track as the reviews have been overwhelmingly horrible. I even considered making the purchasing and keeping my fingers crossed that I would be the "lucky" one without any problems. But it sure appears those chances are remote. As such, I'm staying clear from Nordic Track!
Map speed
Hi all, great comments and highly informative. The issue I'm having is that my ifit maps seem to be loading up ok - but every time a new map page appears (I've every 100 ft or so) the speed drops down to walking pace (even after increasing it over and over again). It means trying anything more than a minute of this becomes too annoying and I turn the machine off in a huff. Anyone have any ideas on what I'm doing wrong here ? Is it me or the software ?
Map speed
I do not see this. Which NordicTrack screen do you have it set to? I use the altitude one. I assume that you checked for a software update. iFit does NOT change the speed, only the incline.
Saving alot of money
Hi,Yesterday I almost buy a Nordictrack 1750 just because I was very interested in the Ifit technology. Every reviews that I read about nordictrack were so good that make me believe that it was the treadmill for me. This is my first one, and here in Montreal (Canada) they seems to push alot Nordictrack. Because theh language issue and all the problems that people seems to have with IFit, I will stay away from that brand. My other choise would be Sole F-80 or F-85. Many thanks to everybody for this precious review ( Sorry for the mistakes I did in writing)
I will Stay away from this Company and product
I was just going to buy NordicTrack commercial 17.5, but (since for me this is a major investment) for exactly the same reasons you mentioned:
"A long track (I am big)
Good shock absorption (bad knees)
A fan (to keep me cool)
And especially iFit" (my reason for this is for history tracking)
I was not comfortable to press the "Buy" button before doing some research & Thank God that I did!
This detailed review (and comments) opened my eyes that I was just going to pay a lot of money for a lot of problems.
I understand that NordicTrack treadmills and software look good only "pre-buying" - looks like I was in for a nightmare
Many thanks for saving me!
Older NordicTrack T8.0 and iFit
I've just bought a second hand iFit module and tried to set it up for my treadmill. One reason I bought it was this iFit technology, but the module was an extra cost. It's $200 to buy, with one year included. When I bought the treadmill, they didn't seem to have anything set up for Australians to renew after the first year, and I didn't go ahead and buy one. Now I've gotten myself one, it's taken hours and hours to set it up as it refused to connect to my network. It finally connected to the wrong one, as where it will be located is closer to a different access point, but I couldn't set it up near there. Anyway, I've finally got it started. It looks like it will be pretty good, but I decided to only buy the single month to try for now.
If I choose not to continue, will any of my uploaded workouts continue to work without the iFit membership, or is it only going to work if it can connect and verify? I'm just not really certain that it's worth the cost to me, which is why I didn't want to pay $200 (AUD) straight off and find out I didn't really like it.
Saved me a lot of money
Thanks for the comprehensive report on IFIT and Nordictrack. I was just about to spend £1200 on that equipment but, thanks to your detailed report I am not going to now!
RIP OFF!
I stupidly signed up for this, thinking I could walk tracks on my Nordic Track. That's all I wanted - just tracks to walk, virtually. I don't want the support and all the other junk that this thing provides. For $9.99 a month. Then discovered, when checking it out, that I had to buy a $100 unit to make it work on my treadmill. I immediately put in a request to cancel iFit monthly membership, since I'm not going to buy the unit. NO help on cancellation. They owe me two months worth of charges, yet still keep charging me. After repeated emails to their support address, doing what they said - call the billing and customer service numbers, only to sit on hold for well over an hour every time, (nobody ever answers!), I am forced to come onto this forum to try to get SOMEBODY, some human, to pay attention to my request. If this doesn't work, next step is Facebook! I don't want to do that, but if iFit support doesn't pay any attention to my repeated requests for help, or answer the danged phone!, I WILL go to FB and do what I have to, to make them stop charging me, and give me a refund !!!
Is there an Application to create own Video workout
Is there an Application available where a person can Video (film) tape their own course, then create a Video workout to use with iFit system?
Purpose being to add videos or pictures to Google Maps course where there is no Street View.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, iFit has one
I forget what it is called.
Proform iFit works fine
I have had a proform treadmill for about 4 years now that came with iFit, have never re-subscribed, and it has always worked. I am not even sure what the paid membership gets you. I can log into the iFit page, see my history and create new routes. Recently, I have been curious what the paid membership gets versus what I am currently getting for free and can't figure it out. Just to add though, the Proform is much cheaper than Nordic and comes with iFit so there are cheaper ways to get it, if that is what folks want.
Thanks for all the Information!
I decided not to buy a treadmill based on whether it had iFit technology. Street view is neat and all but I don't like the click through images it uses. Thank you to the person who suggested the app BitGym. This is a much better looking view but it does not interact with the treadmill so no automatic elevation changes and the speeds can be a little off.
Conclusion:
If elevation changes are what you want go with iFit. I suggest the Boston Marathon model that has HD video of the race path or bypass watching the scenery altogether and use NetFlix or TV while treadmill adjust elevation to your desired route.
Otherwise, just get what ever treadmill best suits your needs and use a tablet with BitGym installed. I think this may be the best option as you are not investing into static software and can get a new better tablet in the future and chances are the app will keep getting better or new apps may emerge.
Just Appalled
March 2016 now, and tentatively treadmill shopping. Ifit says it's the answer to everything wrong with the world, but reviews still belie that claim. I'm not sure of the timeframe of your diatribe here, but it certainly doesn't build iFit confidence. Seems it's still not ready for prime time.
Works for me!
We bought the Nordictrack Elite 5700 with built-in iFit & display. We signed up for a year and so far are really liking it. We had Sears install it, no problems there. We had to create Google+ accounts, and it was a bit trying to get the secondary user set up. But we can now create new routes using iPads and MACs and they come up on the treadmill console pretty quickly. I've enjoyed working through the Programs that come without charge - national parks, major cities, hikes in switzerland - it's mostly Google street views so you don't always get a good view of what's on the side, so some are better than others... but it's all better than looking at the wall, worth the $100/year but not more. Definitely enough free content to keep entertained and exercised for a long time. I don't get the whole "scheduled workouts' thing - it seems that every program you sign up for adds itself to your schedule without checking to see what other programs are on that day. So I don't use the calendar. There are some oddities in the app behavior. You can submit a support ticket, they thank you and close it, so who knows if anyone's really planning upgrades with your problems fixed. I like that it tracks my workouts, a great motivator to keep the list growing. I never thought I'd be a treadmill person, but I'm sold on getting glimpses of the world while getting my heart rate up, without leaving home.
Similar Experience
I am having the same experience as you are. It's pretty good. Unfortunately, because I'm only 5'3", the angle is pretty bad. Also, I wish there was better documentation. I would like to know what the little LOCK symbol next to the Map/Street/Satellite view option buttons mean. I'd also like to know if there is a way to set up a dual speed workout within a Google Maps workout where I can easily switch between my faster and slower speeds so I don't have to train my body to have both these speeds at even mph or repeatedly hit the +/- buttons. Also, Google Street View inside Google Maps on a computer lets you look from side to side. It would be really great if the workout included that option by swiping left or right on the screen.
I'm thinking about getting a tablet to see if a larger screen and the lower position that it would sit at on the console would solve my 5'3" angle problem or at least make it a lot better.
lock icon
The lock lets you lock your screen on map, street view, or satellite if you choose. Unlocked it cycles through all 3.
apple app for iFit
I just purchased a freestride trainer from Nordic Track and I NOW find out that the app to use iFit won't be out in the app store for probably a month. So I can't use iFit at all with my new machine. I was never told anything about this. So angry. They are so deceitful .
You do not need an app to use iFit
Just go to their Web page, log in and go to your dashboard, and start your workout. Then a link will appear to let you see it in iFit.
iFIT scams
Just purchased a Nordic Track Exercycle and decided, like you, to add the 144.00 one year iFIT subscription. Be aware, when you try to activate the product you already paid for it REQUIRES you to give the a credit card. This is so they can make it "easy for you" to auto renew. I don't WANT to give them my card. Sorry...you have to. But I wasn't told this when I purchased the subscription. Sorry...too bad. I'm getting ready to contact my bank and reverse the charge. Bottom line...they are a SLEAZY company!
Great treadmill
<p>I like the <a href="http://treadmillus.com/">treadmill</a>.thanks for sharing.</p>
BitGym
Hi Jim - This review is great and very helpful to people searching for unbiased information. I was wondering if you would be open to trying BitGym on your treadmill. As other comments point out, it can be a much more engaging (and cheaper!) way to get interactive cardio tours.
I'm one of the creators of BitGym, so this is definitely a plug - but to be honest I get so many emails from people saying they wish they had heard of BitGym before spending money on iFit I feel like some transparent self promotion can also be a service. Anyway, I'd be happy to send you a tablet and subscription so that you could try it yourself. If you have a TV in front of your treadmill I can also help you hook it up to that. Can you contact me at alex@bitgym to discuss?
And check out my review of BitGym
BitGym — a better alternative to iFit?
iFit has the worst customer service I've ever seen
<p>iFit is the worst piece of garbage I've ever used. They're totally incompatible with anything but their own products, their customer service is the worst of any company I've ever used, you can't get ANY customer service with registering their products (I didn't want to register because I thought I'd probably return the damn thing, and they wouldn't offer ANY customer service until I did). They even force you to call from the number you registered with. If you don't, then their automated system says "we can't find an account registered with the number you're calling from, please call back after you've registered your account." NordicTrack gives you a customer service line that does the same thing. I will never buy another NordicTrack product until they break from iFit.</p>
Days away from buying a NordicTrack 2950... Not now.
Great info.
Would be interested in BitGym as well.
Thanks everyone. :)
Crappy iFit software and treadmills too
Oh my god this company is the WORST I have ever encountered. I finally got the treadmill working and connected the iFit app using my iPad. After my run (virtually through Paris which gave me a headache and vertigo) I turned off the treadmill and rolled out my yoga mat. I scrolled through the workout library and selected one of the yoga workouts and tried to play it. The app said it couldn't connect to my treadmill and to try again once the equipment was on. Huh? I want to do yoga! So after fiddling, I sighed and went ahead and turned on the treadmill. Ok, so the belt starts rolling at 1mph and the girl on the screen comes on and she's standing on a yoga mat. Ok, no treadmill in sight. She says "Let's start in Tadasana" and a regular yoga workout commences while the stupid treadmill is rolling along at 1 mph on the other side of the room. I went to LiveChat to learn what I'm doing wrong and that was a huge waste of my time. "Keri" at LiveChat hung up on me twice and even now, I have been waiting for a Live Chat Agent for almost 45 minutes. Their employees must be the most demoralized desperate people in any call center anywhere. They don't have any information or answers so when you ask a question they just hang up on you. This treadmill is going back to CostCo (thank GOD for their 100% money back guarantee) and I'm so glad I used my Amex card to pay for iFit because I can tell them to decline all charges. FYI: NordicTrack and Pro-Form treadmills are both owned by ICONservices -> AVOID BOTH.
IFIT software never works correctly!
Ifit sucks. It is constantly broken down. There live chat has issues and does not work, so you have to email support and wait a week to here back. What do they have to say... "we are aware that the last software update has caused a discrepancy between the pace you are running and ll subsequent calculations. We are working on a fix."
They are always working on a fix, because there stupid F!@#$%g software never works! Now, their latest update has not only failed to resolve the issue but has caused a new problem. When you are finished with your run on the nordictrack incliner, it no longer tells you how many feet you have climbed...why in gods name would they remove that feature?! I have had two nordictrack inlciners over the last 5 years, both with ifit. This horrible software has never worked. I cannot understand why nordictrack, who makes a pretty good treadmill, is still doing business with these clowns. Ifit is garbage.
At least it has cute pictures in the page downloads...
software update/secure conncetion
commercial 1750 usable w/o iFit?
I see no reason it would not…
I see no reason it would not. You can change the speed and elevation manually. I do it that way all the time since iFit is usually not working on the server end.
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