The Myth of the Long Warranty

The Myth of the Long Warranty
If I were to tell you that 20 year warranty on that motor is not as impressive as it sounds, you might ask me why. Twenty years is an awfully long time when you think about it. Twenty years is enough time for a newborn to become a full grown adult. To some, 20 years is a lifetime. Heck, 20 years ago there wasn't even the internet. So why am I telling you that 20 years is not as useful as it sounds when it comes to a warranty? For quite a few reasons actually but first, let's dispel that glowing sensation you get when salesperson Sam tells you this treadmill features a 20 year warranty.

LOOK CLOSELY

It is not uncommon for a treadmill's frame and motor to be warranted for an extraordinarily long time. Long is defined as more than 10 years. But if you read carefully, you might notice that not the entire treadmill is warranted for 20 years. In fact, out of the entire treadmill which consists of hundreds of bigger and smaller pieces, only two items - the motor and frame (and occasionally the deck) are warranted for this long of a time. What about those 100 other parts? Well, if we read carefully, we might notice something called "Parts" and "Labor". A typical warranty listing on the net looks something like:

Frame - Lifetime
Motor - 12 years
Parts - 1 year
Labor - 1 year

Yes, that glittering lifetime frame and 12 year motor warranty is coupled with a 1 year parts and labor warranty. So what does this mean? Well, on one hand, it means that the treadmill manufacturer is extremely confident that its motor and frame are going to last for a very long time. On the other hand, they have very little confidence in how the 100 other parts of their treadmill will fare in the long run.

A line of reasoning that you will often hear is how a product's quality directly correlates with the warranty it offers. In our case, this argument also applies but you need to use the "parts" warranty instead of the motor or the frame’s warranty. Labor is standard at 1 year and occasionally 2 years even if the machine is rated as full commercial. So when you read our reviews, you need to understand that we use “warranty” loosely and we’re usually referring to “parts warranty” since it’s the type of warranty that matters the most.

Although we think the “parts warranty” matters the most, this isn’t the complete story. The following cases depict situations where you should either exercise extreme caution before you buy or should serve as green lights to your purchase.

CASE 1

Normally, you should expect the motor and frame to last at the very least, 5 years or more. If you see the motor warranted for something like 2 or 3 years, this should throw up a red flag in your mind. Even at 5 years, we feel that the motor is really below average. Aim for 10 years.

CASE 2

When the parts warranty is 1 year or less, this should serve as another warning. To be fair, treadmills that are priced below $1000 more often than not, only warrants its parts for one year but when you see treadmills selling north of $1000 with a one year parts warranty, this just shows the lack of confidence on the manufacturer’s part.

CASE 3

A look at the majority of labor warranties out there on the market and you’ll see that most of them don’t offer anything more than a one year labor warranty. A one year labor warranty is pretty much standard even for machines that cost upwards of $2000. You should basically not expect anything more and not anything less than 1 year labor when it comes to treadmills. But occasionally, you’ll see a labor warranty that’s only 90 days. You should basically treat this as a bright flashing red signal that’s telling you to STOP and not buy. You will also occasionally see labor at 2 years. This is really more of an exception than the norm. Although a 2 year labor warranty is not a big flashing green light telling you to buy, buy, buy, we think you should know that it’s highly uncommon especially for machines that cost less than $2000.

CASE 4

Anytime you see a parts warranty at 4 years or more for a treadmill priced below $2000, this is also what’s consider uncommon (in a good way). Anytime you see a treadmill that has that long of a parts warranty, this is a good indication that there is a certain base line level of quality in this treadmill.

SHOULD YOU GET AN EXTENDED WARRANTY ?

This is one of those questions where it really depends on how much you use the treadmill and how much you’re willing to pay for a treadmill. In most cases, an extended warranty is not needed. However, I’m sure that you’re interested in the cases where we do think it’s a good idea to get an extended warranty so let’s discuss those.

The following suggestion only applies if you’re going to buy a treadmill manufactured by Icon Health and Fitness (brands include Epic, Gold's Gym, Healthrider, IMAGE, NordicTrack, ProForm, Reebok, Weider, Weslo, Freemotion). If you’re not considering a treadmill from one of the above brands, you can skip this section.

When deciding whether you should buy an extended warranty, you first have to determine how many miles you intend to use the machine per week. With that figure in hand, you multiply it by 52 (number of weeks) and you arrive at a number that shows approximately how many miles you’re going to run per year. Let’s say that my entire household uses it approximately 15 miles per week so that will be 15*52=780 miles per year.

Next, look at the price of the treadmill you’re buying. Based on the two case studies that we’ve conducted for the Epic 425MX and Health Trainer 802T, we’re going to guesstimate that for every dollar you spend, the treadmill is going to be good for one mile of RUNNING use. So if you intend on buying a $1000 treadmill, it’s good for 1000 miles of running (defined as 7.0 MPH or more.) Of course, these numbers are by no means scientific but we think it’s a sufficient way of estimating how long a treadmill is good for before needing a repair.

Finally, you have to determine the average speed that you run your miles in. So if you average 4 M.P.H for one mile and 8 M.P.H for a second mile, your average speed is 6 M.P.H. If you’d notice, our 1 mile per dollar spent is based on a running speed. If you’re jogging, we tend to think the treadmill is less than damaging than running by a factor of 1.5. If you’re walking we think the factor is 2.0. This means that an AVERAGE treadmill priced at $1000 is going to last:

1000 miles of running (7.0 MPH or faster)
1500 miles of jogging (4.0-7.0 MPH)
2000 miles of walking (Slower than 4.0MPH)


When you buy one of the above average treadmills we recommend instead of the average one, you can multiply the above figures by 1.25 to represent the extra quality but we’re not going to complicate things here.

So let’s say that I use the machine at a speed of 6.5 MPH on average clocking in 800 miles per year. Let’s also say I bought an AVERAGE machine for $1000. This means that about sometime in my second year where I would have done 800*2=1600 miles on the machine, it’s going to need my first repair.

If I got a parts warranty of 3 years and I’m a handyman, then I just need to call tech support to ask for the appropriate parts. If I’m not a handyman, I’m going to have to pay the labor fees. If I had gotten an extended warranty, the labor should be covered. Hopefully you can draw your own conclusions from here based on how much you’re going to use the treadmill and how you’re going to use the treadmill (walk/jog/run). Again, the above method is just a rough estimate.

FINAL WORDS

So there you have it - the myth of the long warranty (or any warranty for that matter) has now been dispelled. So next time, when starry-eyed when salesperson Sam tells you the treadmill comes with a 20 year motor warranty, don't go starry-eyed or it just might trigger the saleperson's "must take advantage of unfamiliar buyer" radar.

P.S You should also consider how long the brand and company you're buying from has been in business. A treadmill sold by a new company going out of business next year is not going to honor their warranty. Many companies have not even been in the business for 10 years so you should read the company profiles we’ve written located under the specifications tab to get a sense of how big they are.

P.P.S Ten year is a long time. Be sure you keep your warranty receipts!