Nordictrack iFit Treadmills – What Exactly is iFit Anyway?
Looking for a Nordictrack iFit Treadmill? Well, the good news is that technically, all of the newer (2014 and up) Nordictrack models are “ifit treadmills”. Because they all have iFit LIVE compatibility.
There are a few differences between them you should know. But let’s start at the very beginning:
iFit is Born
iFit first made it’s way onto Nordictrack treadmills about 10 – 12 years ago in the form of iFit workout cards.
These were small chip cards you could plug into your treadmill to add more workouts in addition to the ones that came with the treadmill.
There were different iFit chips you could by – from weight loss workout to strength workouts.
That did ok for a while (and you can still sometimes find old ICON treadmills like Golds Gym or Reebok that have iFit chip slots).
However the iFit workout cards are no longer sold – iFit is so much more than that now baby.
iFit LIVE Comes on the Scene
About 5 years ago, Nordictrack started putting this upgraded iFit option on their treadmills called “iFit LIVE”. It was super cool. Using iFit LIVE you could connect your treadmill to the internet and go online.
From there you could do all sorts of wonderful things like track your workout stats over time and set new fitness goals. You could race against your Facebook friends.
You could also download new workouts from Jillian Michaels where she coaches you through your workout through the treadmill speakers.
Perhaps the best part of iFit is that you could use it to run pre-drawn world trails (famous trails like Hawaii and Paris). You would actually see landmarks pass you by in the console screen of your treadmill – very virtual reality.
This was a whole new world of treadmill entertainment, and people LOVED it – right?
Well, not so much at first. There was a lot of bugs in the beginning and I had a Nordictrack employee actually admit to me that they rolled iFit LIVE out too fast.
However the good news is that they’ve worked out a lot, if not most of the bugs since then.
And although iFit LIVE used to be only for their high-end treadmills, now it’s on every treadmill they make. (Note however that you may have to use your tablet with the starter models as seen below).
One thing you should know is that iFit LIVE does require a yearly subscription (around $99 a year).
Do you need iFit to use your treadmill?
No, you don’t. In fact it’s completely up to you when you want to spring for the subscription.
Nordictrack treadmills all come with pre-built workouts already. So it’s really more of a premium feature you can use at your discretion.
So those are a few key things you should know about Nordictrack iFit Treadmills. I hope you found it useful.
My favorite treadmill with iFit has to be the Commercial 2450. It has strong construction and it carries the largest web browser that NT makes – which means you see iFit LIVE trails in living color and a lot more clearly.
