Buying A Nordictrack Treadmill with iFit? 3 Things You Need to Know First!
Find the Best Nordictrack Treadmill with iFit for Your Home!
Looking for a Nordictrack treadmill with iFit? Want to find the best iFit treadmill for your money?
You came to the right place!
iFit has been around and working with Nordictrack treadmills for over 7 years now.
But it has come in various forms and variations over those years.
Sometimes it was included in Nordictrack treadmills – other times it was not. And at time the messaging from Nordictrack wasn’t great. People became really confused about what iFit was and what it did.
Given this past history, it’s not unusual to find a lot of outdated information about iFit on the Internet.
But not to worry. This post will bring you up-to-date on what you can expect from a Nordictrack treadmill with iFit today and even how to get more out of the iFit technology.
We’ll also look at some of the best Nordictrack treadmills with iFit, why they give you more for your money – and where you can buy them.
So let’s get started:
Nordictrack Treadmill with iFit – 3 Things You Need to Know
#1 What Exactly is IFit?
iFit started out years ago as a way to add new built-in workouts to your treadmill. You may (or may not) remember the iFit SD cards that you could buy separately and plug into your treadmill console to add in new goal-focused workouts to your machine.
Those SD cards have gone the way of the dinosaur and have pretty much disappeared from the market.
However, Nordictrack then came out with iFit LIVE.
This was a bit of a misnomer since iFit Live was a way to watch streaming, (pre-recorded) workouts from the console of your treadmill (or from your tablet). So it wasn’t necessarily live – but it was a way to add a lot more workouts to your treadmill.
This wasn’t available on all treadmills – just a few higher end models like the Commercial 1750 for example. The cool thing was that you could connect your treadmill to the internet, using the wi-fi in your home. And on many of these treadmills you could connect automatically through a full-color, touch-screen.
However iFit was not available on many of the older, starter or less popular treadmill models.
Then a few years after that iFit LIVE morphed into iFit Coach as they brought in personalized goal setting, tracking, more world trail runs and more in-studio workouts. It was basically a more virtual-reality style, personalized training option. You could even get healthy recipes, track your calories etc.
This again brought iFit up to another level and sales really took off as people wanted a treadmill that could help them do more with their workout time.
iFit Coach also had a souped-up version called iFit Coach Plus which had a few more cool options. But it was really confusing for many people – and the Plus option quickly disappeared. (So there was only iFit, which now offered everything that Plus offered as well.)
Finally, iFit removed the “Coach” name and now as of this writing, it’s mainly just called “iFit”. Around the time they removed the “Coach” part they also added live classes – as well as streaming classes. So you could take the class of your choice in real time with the trainer of your choice.
They also started beefing up the motors on their Commercial series and Incline trainer series of treadmills to respond even faster to the world trail terrain changes.
This adds an even more realistic feel to your training since the treadmill responds faster in real time to any changes you see on the screen.
And more good news?
As of today, iFit is basically available on all Nordictrack treadmill models manufactured from about 2020 and up – even the starter treadmills.
You might still find a few older models with dual-color screens kicking around in stores that don’t have the full-color touch-screen (to connect with iFit).
And Nordictrack does occasionally bring an older model back that has a dual-color console. However even these treadmills do have an iFit option if you want it (you just have to connect using your tablet or phone since you can’t do it through the console).
So that’s where we stand right now in terms of Nordictrack iFit treadmills:
Pretty much all of the newer models in the last two years – especially ones sold direct from the Manufacturer here – are compatible with iFit.
You don’t need to buy any special gear or buy a higher-end treadmill to get access to iFit training. Check out the link below to see all current Nordictrack treadmills for this season that are iFit-compatible.
Click Here to Shop All iFit Treadmills at Nordictrack
#2 Do You Need the Paid iFit Subscription to Use Your Treadmill?
Quick answer? No.
However there are a few more things you should know when it comes to this question. Because, again, there’s a lot of outdated information out there.
There was a time, several years ago where you did need to get the iFit subscription with certain treadmills. However, for obvious reasons that was not a popular option. And Nordictrack changed that pretty fast.
As of this writing, here’s the deal: There are 2 versions of iFit: the free and paid version.
This is kind of like what you see in apps these days. You can use the free version – but it’s limited. To get the really fun stuff you have to get the paid version.
So if you don’t want the paid subscription, you simply use the free version – which lets you track your stats over time to see how far you’ve come. It also includes a few built-in iFit workouts as well.
But you don’t get all of the cool iFit features with the free version.
If you want the live classes, streaming classes, world trail runs, live events, googlemaps feature, goal-setting and more – you will need to upgrade to the paid monthly (or yearly) subscription.
Still, if you’re more of a DIY person and don’t want the full paid version, you don’t need to get it. Your treadmill works fine without it. You can use it in manual mode – or with the free version of iFit.
One thing people don’t know is that there are 2 paid versions of iFit – individual or family. The individual version (as of this writing) is under $20 a month, which isn’t bad – and much better than many gym memberships.
The family version is around $40 a month – and that includes up to 5 people. That’s an even better value.
And whether you’re using the individual subscription or the family subscription – you’re not limited to just one Nordictrack product. You can use one membership across multiple machines!
You can even take iFit with you on the road. Download it on your phone or tablet and sign in to watch workouts from your hotel room, for example. That again is a really great value.
So as you can see, there’s a lot you can do with this technology – but it’s not necessary to have in order to use your treadmill.
#3 What Are the Best Nordictrack Treadmills with iFit for the Money?
It may surprise you to know that some iFit treadmills are better than others. This is “better” in the sense that you get more for your money with iFit.
Before we list my top 2 treadmill choices, there are a few iFit-friendly Nordictrack treadmills that I would NOT recommend (if you really want to get the best iFit training experience that you can).
I would not recommend any iFit-compatible treadmill that has a dual-colored console (vs the touch-screen friendly, full-colored console you see in many of the models today).
Because you can’t connect through the console, you’ll have to add in your own tablet or phone and jiggle around with it a bit. That’s an extra cost and, depending on the size of your tablet or phone screen you just won’t get the best user experience.
So steer clear of those models if you want the best iFit treadmills.
You may also want to steer clear of the older or starter models. These tend to have the smaller screens (5 inches and 7 inches). These aren’t bad – but the smaller screens do detract from your overall experience.
So what are the best Nordictrack iFit treadmills?
Well, first place goes to any of the Nordictrack incline trainers.
These are treadmills with something more – super high inclines. You can use them like a regular treadmill – but you can also walk at inclines of up to 40% and burn up to 5 times more calories than a regular treadmills.
These are insane calorie burners and you see results very fast.
Plus the incline trainers also give you deeper declines than many standard Nordictrack treadmills.
So when the treadmill inclines and declines to match the iFit terrain, you’ll get a more realistic training experience and better crosstraining with an incline trainer.
Click Here to Shop the Current Incline Trainer Series
The second place goes to any Nordictrack treadmill with a larger screen – like the Commercial 2450 which has a massive 22-inch screen. This really makes the world trail scenery come alive and pulls you into the action.
The good thing about this screen is that it also turns and swivels.
So you can turn it to the side if you want to do a workout off the treadmill (like a stretching or yoga workout). So you’ll get a lot of good use out of the iFit options on this treadmill.
Note that the older version of the 2450 treadmill does not have the larger screen that turns and swivels. You have to get the latest model to get this screen.
You can learn more about the Commercial 2450 Treadmill and get a special iFit Full membership deal by clicking here.
So those 3 things you need to know about finding the best Nordictrack treadmill with iFit. Congratulations for making it this far! You’re now more educated and prepared than 95% of other treadmill buyers. You’re way ahead of the game.
Want to learn more? I’ve included some links below where you can learn more about iFit on the Nordictrack treadmill.
Hopefully you found this article useful. Thank you for visiting and good luck in your treadmill search!
Related:
Do Nordictrack Treadmills Require iFit?
