Golds Gym Treadmill - Surprising Value

Surprising in an economy class of treadmills, Golds Gym treadmill models are rated quite well by online review sites.

Gold's Gym is best known for bodybuilding sports equipment, but Icon Health and Fitness, Gold's parent company and the largest producer of fitness equipment, uses the brand for exclusive Golds Gym treadmills like the VX 5000 and the Gold's Gym Advantage.

Gold's treadmills are offered exclusively at Sam's Club, the Wal Mart members-only retailer.

They have their drawbacks, of course - some cheap parts, troubling electronics, and weak warranties, as with most Icon products

But the Advantage sells for less than $800 and the VX 5000 goes for about $850, both with shipping included.

Tradeoffs, Tradeoffs, How Much Is A Tradeoff ?

How good is the value in a Gold's Gym treadmill? A fair comparison can be made with the higher quality Gold Elite by Pacemaster, a manufacturer of quality exercise machines for 40 years earning Best Buy awards in the upper price ranges.

Both machines, the Golds Gym VX 5000 and the Pacemaster Gold Elite, are suitable for sports training, running, and intense workouts, and both are favorably reviewed.

Each has a strong motor, 2.5CHP on the VX 5000 and 3.0 on the Gold Elite, and both achieve speeds up to 12MPH. Both have 60"L running surfaces, the Gold's VX 5000 an inch narrower at 19", as well as cushioned decks with powered incline, the VX 5000 to 10%, the Gold Elite to 15%.

The Elite has a maintenance free deck (no lubrication necessary). Weight capacities are 325 lbs for the VX 5000 and 400 lbs on the Gold Elite.

Plenty of features are available on both machines, one-touch controls, programmed workouts for health conditioning, fans, heart rate controls, and on and on.

Pay attention to the warranties: Golds Gym offers the same weak Icon warranty as Icon's other brands, a few years on the motor and 90 days on parts and labor, while Pacemaster offers coverage of  lifetime on the frame, 12 years on the motor, 5 years on parts, and 1 year labor.

Golds Gym models are assembled in the USA, Pacemaster is manufactured in the USA.

But we'll leave the tradeoffs up to you.

The VX5000 sells for around $850, shipping included, while the Gold Elite goes for around $2100.