Sportcraft treadmill

You have come to the right place to find out more about Sportcraft treadmills including the different models available, their features, benefits and drawbacks.

The General Sportcraft Company was founded in 1926 and is well known for producing many family oriented indoor and outdoor games that include Bocce, Volleyball and Horseshoes. As the demand for home gym fitness products increased Sportscraft seen the potential of getting a foothold in to a potentially big market. To take advantage of this increase in demand the first Sportcraft treadmill exercise machines where introduced onto the sports and health market in the year 2001.

Sportcraft where definitely targeting their treadmills at the low end of the market as they built them in massive quantities with huge distribution networks through bargain superstores that included Wal-Mart and K-Mart. Their unique selling point or USP compared to their competitors was definitely based on price and a low price.

In terms of their design they looked pretty good for example, the Sportcraft tx400 treadmill was pleasing to the eye. However, treadmills are not pieces of furniture to adorn your house they are exercise machines to keep you fit. The problems started to arise when you started to use the treadmill. Due to producing them in large numbers with overseas production in China the build quality of Sportcraft treadmill parts were not up to scratch.

Treadmill Recall

This all came to a head in the  2005 sportcraft treadmill recall. Certain models that included the TX 440 and TX550 had to be recalled off the market due to these machines and others accelerating on their own accord with out any warning and resulting in a number of users sustaining injuries. The companies reputation received further damage when a second recall occurred the following year. Each person who bought one was given a free repair kit rather than a Sportcraft replacement treadmill. As a safety precaution and to ensure you remain safe while using the machine always use the sportcraft treadmill safety key.

Although the 2005 and 2006 recall did noting to help their reputation their products did have a few saving graces and decent features. Most of their models featured incline motors with decent power delivered from the drive belts. The sportcraft tx420 treadmill is an upgrade of the sportcraft tx300 treadmill and included a motorized incline up to 10 % the  LED console enables you to  monitor time, speed, distance, calories burned and target heart rate. The Tx420 has a 2.25 horsepower motor delivering around 4000 r.p.m’s.

Major Drawbacks

Another major drawback of their machines was the quality of the electronics they used. Many people who bought their machines complained that the electronic console went blank after a few months of use. The renowned and trusted Treadmill Doctor review website stated that Sportcraft electronics was the one of the worst they have ever witnessed.

The confidence that manufacturers have in the confidence of their products is often reflected in the longer term warranty covering motors, replacement parts and labor. Sportcraft  provides only 1 year on the motor, moving parts and labor which hardly sends out the message that they are confident in their machines.

To conclude, the treadmill Sportcraft company have produced a low budget range of exercise equipment. If you are serious about keeping fit and you will be on the treadmill belt everyday then a Sportcraft electric treadmill would not be best choice. On the other hand, if you have little money to spare, will use it only occasionally and are prepared for plenty of repairs then, its worth a consideration.