SB Fitness CT550 Self Generated Curved Treadmill

Background: I'm 67 and have been road running for 7 years, after about a forty-year layoff. I did walk almost ever day during that period and did a lot of anaerobic exercising, so I was still in pretty good shape when I started to run again. Now I try to run 3 to 5 miles every other day and do anaerobic exercises on my off days. I can still run a mile in under 9 minutes and a 5k in under 30 minutes.
Treadmills: This winter I used a professional motorized treadmill for the first time, every other day for about 3 weeks. It was ok, with only a short learning curve. One thing I noticed was that once I tried to run on the road again, my gait and foot strikes felt strange for the first 100 feet until I got things sorted out; I wasn't too happy with that. So I researched the pros an cons of manual curved treadmills and decided to buy the SB Fitness CT550 due to its price, weight and 20" wide running belt. The learning curve for the CT550 was longer than that of the motorized unit; it really does take a while to get the feel for it, so be patient. After 6 running sessions over the past two weeks I'm finally getting comfortable on it. One thing that helped was using a metronome to keep my foot strike rate consistent during the learning curve. On the road, I can easily run a mile in 10 minutes at about 160 foot strikes per minute. At this point on the CT550, I'll vary my foot strikes anywhere from 140 to 165 per minute depending on the pace and distance that I'm running.
Today, the weather was pretty nice so I went for my first road run in 12 days since getting the CT550. The first part of my warm-up 1/2-mile felt similar to running on the CT550, definitely better than coming off of the motorized treadmill.
Conclusion: I think the CT550 will work out well for me for warm-ups, and longer runs on days the weather is bad. Although, I will continue to do most of my running outside when I can because lets face it, running on any treadmill can get boring quite quickly and there's nothing like running outdoors on a nice day.
PS: Like many people have noticed, running any pace on a curved treadmill seems more strenuous than running the same pace outdoors, so you may have to cut your curved treadmill distances down at first to compensate for that.

I work from home and have had difficulty get to a gym. So I've had my eye out for a manual/curved treadmill for sometime.

For me I wanted an efficient workout that offered more options than a traditional treadmill. Therefore I was suprised that SB Fitness was offering a decent sale of their CX550 which was too good to pass up. A couple of clicks later plus a few days; and FedEx Freight quickly delivered a very large box to my house.

At this point figuring out to get into the house was a head scratch. Note my home is odd that you have to go up a few steps to get the main floor; and then there was getting into our basement. So with that in mind; we started off taking the box of the pallet and then thinking it would be easier to lighten the weight by removing some of the parts/frame. We did that, only to have the box fall apart.

Plan B. resulted in dragging the base using its wheels. However it was light enough that a friend and I easily picked it up and got it into the house.

Getting into the basement was tricky as we could not figure out a way to get down the stairs without damaging it. Plan C. Hunks to Hire and 2 burly guys literally picked it out and got down the stairs in less than 2 minutes.

After that, the setup of the handle bars was a snap and boom. We were using it right away. I've started to get back into running doing a Couch to 5K and am thrilled. The console is on the cheap side, but it's not a big deal. I use an iWatch and have Garmin/ANT devices for which I've found an after market garage at $99 to track speed and cadence if I really want to go Type A. So for about $2300 with a protection plan?

Honestly you can't go wrong for a home gym setup.

Up front, the treadmill is no where near as smooth or firm as something like the Assault Runner Pro. That said, it is still very capable and doesn't have any noticable problems, certainly not a cheap feeling piece. Considering the massive price difference when looking at comparable models, it's hard to choose anything else.

Worth noting, the console does NOT have Bluetooth or ANT+ compatibility for HR monitors. Apparently it is only Gymlink (5.3khz) compatible which isn't as common anymore. Garmin HR monitors specifically are not compatible.

Last thing to note, SB Fitness has incredible customer service. They provided me extensive information before I ordered, they tried to help me with questions about the console, and when they realized the console wasn't compatible with my HR monitor, they gave me a partial refund totally unprompted. I'm very impressed and will be doing more business with them in the future!

Do enjoy the tread .. my wife and I run once or twice a week each for 30-40 mins.. the installation was relatively easy but took my about 60mins with some assistance on and off. The less weight does result in a bit of wobble but thats expected.. my comparison point is technogym skillmill which is $13-15K list price. I believe the assault runner pro also wobbles. Do like the resistance that gives me a little bit more control over my running vs assault pro. The level of resistance is not high for sledge push but Brant had made me aware of that difference upfront so no issues there. Overall am happy with the Tread and will recommend it to others.

I recently received the CT550 treadmill. First off the support team is amazing, answered all my questions about the various versions and why this would be the best fit for me. That was my main reason for choosing this company, as other companies reviews seem to have very bad support. Also the price was comparable and in most cases cheaper then the big competitors.

Pros: Delivery was quick, installation was easy. I did it by myself and took about 40mins. Note- you need a large delivery area as it comes on a pallet. Not ideal if you live in an aparment on a upper level. The treadmill looks great, came with all the items mentioned, and easy installation guide. The sales team made sure it got delivered and sent me a follow up email as well. I have used this every day since receiving and I can truely say its much tougher then a normal treadmill. I like to jog about 1-3 miles per day and on this I can make it a mile before im exhausted. The track runs smooths and quiet so far with no issues and it took about 2 runs to get used to the pace. I play lacrosse and hockey so I enjoy being able to do HIIT and sprints, then slow to a jog when I want without having to mess with buttons. The unit has carrying handles and wheels making it easy to reposition. The run feels much more like running on the road, and has a softer bounce/landing which is easy on my knees and joints.

Cons: I dont think the monitor is that great, as I ran for 8 mins and it says I only went a half mile. Normally my mile runs are in the 7-8 min mark, so I think the monitor is pretty misleading. Its nice to have one to track your time, and some additional features of it but its cheaper and not accurate from what I have gathered. Still nice to have it for other features. The handles on the front are a little short for me (6'2) but for most people they would suffice.
The only other con is the tension rod to simulate uphill or incline is really not much of a uphill or incline. There is resistance that makes even walking harder but it does not simulate uphill, or sled pull/push. I still enjoy using the resistance to do longer walks with some tension but its definitely not the same as an incline. Still a nice feature...

Overall: So far I enjoy this treadmill and its my first manual treadmill, and I dont think I would go back to an eletric one. Its simple, fun to run on and challenging which should lead me to be in better shape for traditional road runs. I have done sprints, longer pace runs as well as walking and so far it works just as advertised. The warranty is better than others in the market and the support team is super responsive, within the same day or one day later. I would reccommend this. I will post an updated review after 6 months or so with thoughts, but so far so good!