What's in a Treadmill/Elliptical Name

What's in a Treadmill/Elliptical Name
If you've done any research outside of this site for a home treadmill, you will consistently see one line of treadmills that are pushed hard - Sole. As a few sites have pointed out, Sole does not manufacture its own treadmills. Instead, Sole's parent company Dyaco owns another treadmill and elliptical company called Spirit Fitness which does the manufacturing not only for itself, but also for Sole. Sole then relabels these Spirit treadmills as one of their own. So in many cases, when you're buying a Sole treadmill, you can find a near identical Spirit version.

The chart below shows the Sole and Spirit counterparts with their differences pointed out:

SPIRIT OR SOLE?

So should you get the Sole version or the Spirit version? Even though the treadmills themselves are practically identical, Sole seems to have the edge in terms of warranty. At the time this article was written (August, 2007), all but the Sole F63 carries a 2 year labor warranty while the Spirit treadmills carry a one year labor warranty for most models. If you've read my other article on what to look for in a warranty, you might have noticed that I said labor is mostly 1 year only. Thus, a 2 year warranty shows somewhat more confidence on Sole's part.

If both companies' treadmills are practically, why is there a warranty difference? It's been said by other reviewers that Sole generally has better quality control (QC) than Spirit. Another possibility is that this allows Sole to charge their version for a bit more than the Spirit version in exchange for a longer warranty.

In the end, it all comes down to whether you want a slightly less reliable but cheaper version or a slightly more expensive but better warranted piece of equipment.