HealthRider H95t Treadmill Review

• 20″ x 60″ running deck size – no complaints about this running deck size for a treadmill priced under $1,000.  For most people, this size is sufficient for walking and running.
• Running deck size is also important in our scoring system because we like space to workout.  A 20″ x 60″ is our baseline specification for an okay score in this category – top points go to treadmills that are longer and/or wider (with a preference on longer).

• 0 – 12 percent.  The incline adjustment on the HealthRider H95t, like the speed adjustments, uses One-Touch Incline – which enables you to quickly adjust incline without navigating a series of buttons.
• 12 percent is a decent incline range for not being touted as an incline trainer.  If you’re looking for a serious hill climber – with incline range in the 20, 30, or 40 percent, then you’ll want to search for an incline trainer (select incline trainer next to equipment in the search box to the right).

• No folding feature.  Whether a treadmill folds or not is not something we consider in our scoring formula.  The reason we don’t consider (i.e. award points for folding / non-folding) is the benefit is purely customer-specific.  It doesn’t make the treadmill better or worse universally.  In other words, the folding feature may be desirable by one person, yet completely irrelevant to somebody else.   How do you score that?  You can’t and so we don’t.
• That said, if you do your own ratings (we’ll give you are formatted spreadsheet so you can customize your own ratings – fill out the form to the right and we’ll send it by email to you immediately), then you can include the folding feature in your customized scoring.  We hope our scores help you somewhat, but we know the best scoring is a system customized to your treadmill needs.

• Yes – which is a nice feature.  Here’s how iFit works.  First, it’s technology developed by ICON Health & Fitness – the largest fitness equipment maker in the world.  iFit is being placed on many of the numerous treadmill brands sold by ICON.  Read my full article on iFit Live.
• Okay, iFit Live on a treadmill is two components – a port on the treadmill and a wireless card (you must buy the wireless card separately).  The wireless card brings the Internet (i.e. iFit programming) to your treadmill screen (a nice screen on the HealthRider H95t by the way).  With a subscription (as of this writing) to iFit, you’ll have all the software loaded into your treadmill computer.  You can also have it loaded into your own computer.
• When your treadmill has iFit live, you can create practically any workout you want – by mapping any course/track/trail that Google Maps has mapped.  So, if you have an upcoming race and know the course, you can input that course in your iFit and your treadmill will incline/decline as you proceed through the course.
• It gets better (you can tell I like iFit) – you can mount your laptop on the console and then as you progress through the course, you can watch scenery from Google’s street view.  You can run practically many major cities, trails, etc.  This is one of several features of iFit – you get many custom workouts and it’s a fairly robust workout tracking package so you can track your workouts, meals … your entire fitness / health life in one program.

• Yes, there is a heart rate monitoring system – using grip sensor technology – which means the heart rate sensors take your heart rate by placing your hands  on the sensors located on the handle bars.
• There is no wireless / chest strap heart rate system on this treadmill.

However, HealthRider offers for sale SEPARATELY the AccuRate Wireless Heart Rate monitor. This is a wireless chest strap heart rate monitor that integrates with most of HealthRider’s treadmills.

• Six workouts based on distance – one mile, five K, five mile, ten K, ten mile, and half marathon.
• Ten workouts based on performance.
• Six workout programs designed for weight loss.

Having this type of workout variety is a nice feature because your workout regimen and goals will likely change over time.  For example, you may get a treadmill to lose weight, but as you improve your performance and lose weight, you may start preferring performance and distance-based workouts.  Instead of having to configure your own workouts, the HealthRider H95t Treadmill does it for you.

Competition Training Center – you can compete with virtual competitors.  If you’re a racer or like competition for motivation, then you’ll like this feature where you can enter a race any time you like.

• 2 large water bottle holders.
• Relatively wide and flat reading rack.
• iPod dock.
• Speakers using Intermix Acoustics 3.0.
• Touch-Screen Display.

• With Touch-Screen technology – you can navigate the large screen by touch rather than a series of external buttons on the console.  This keeps the console clear of many buttons (except the One-Touch buttons for speed and incline adjustment.
• The display screen is located at the top of the console and is relatively large for a home treadmill.  Note that this graphical Touch-Screen is not a TV.