Best Treadmill 2026: Peloton Tread vs Sole F85 vs NordicTrack 1750

If you are shopping for the best treadmill, Peloton vs Sole F85 vs NordicTrack Commercial 1750 is the matchup that keeps coming up, and the used market prices them nothing like the showroom does. On our platform a used Peloton Tread sits right around $2,038 in the middle of the market, a used NordicTrack 1750 around $1,425, and a used Sole F85 in the $1,400 to $1,760 band. Same three machines, roughly $600 apart. The spread is almost entirely about software, not about running.

I help people buy and sell this equipment for a living. I have watched these three get inspected in living rooms, folded, hauled down basement stairs, and plugged back in at the other end. So this is the comparison I would give a friend rather than the one the brands would write. What the deck and motor actually do, what each one costs per month after you buy it, which ones fold, what the used versions sell for, which is the nightmare on stairs, and what changes if you mostly walk.

Best Treadmill for Actual Running: Deck and Motor Compared

For real running, the Sole F85 and the NordicTrack 1750 give you more deck than the Peloton Tread does.

Both the F85 and the 1750 run a 22 by 60 inch belt. The Peloton Tread runs 20 by 59. Two inches of width does not sound like much until you are at mile six, tired, and drifting. Tall runners and anyone with a long stride notice it immediately. If you are under 5'8" and run controlled, you will never touch the edges and the Peloton deck is fine.

Motors tell a similar story. Sole rates the F85 at 4.0 continuous horsepower and NordicTrack rates the 1750 at 3.5 CHP. Peloton does not publish a horsepower figure for the Tread at all, which is worth sitting with. Every treadmill company with a strong motor number publishes it. The Tread is not underpowered in practice, but you are buying it on faith rather than on a number.

One more spec nobody weighs properly: the 1750 declines to -3 percent. The other two only go up. Downhill simulation is the most underrated feature on a home treadmill, because downhill is what beats up your legs outdoors and it is the one thing you cannot fake with speed.

Peloton is built around the class. Sole is built around the deck. NordicTrack is built around the incline.

If you mostly walk, none of this matters and the answer flips. Walking at 3 to 4 miles an hour asks almost nothing of a treadmill, so the cushioning and the motor you are paying a premium for sit idle. Incline is the only spec that earns its money, and all three do 12 percent or better. Buy an older 1750 at the bottom of its price range, or step down the line entirely: our breakdown of the Sole F63 versus F80 versus F85 covers why the F63 walks just as well for hundreds less.

What Each One Really Costs Per Month

The sticker price is not the price. Peloton's All-Access Membership runs $44 a month, and it is not optional if you want the thing you bought a Peloton for.

Here is the honest version of the ongoing cost on all three.

Peloton Tread. $44 a month, every month, forever. There is a free "Just Run" mode that gives you a plain treadmill with speed and incline controls, and it works fine, but nobody pays Peloton prices to use Just Run. Budget the membership as part of the purchase.

NordicTrack 1750. iFIT is the paid layer, and the 1750 is genuinely better with it, because iFIT drives the incline and decline automatically while a trainer runs a route. Without it you still get full manual control of speed and incline, which is a real treadmill. iFIT pricing moves around, so check the current number the week you buy rather than trusting any article, including this one.

Sole F85. Nothing. Zero. Sole's app is free and the console works standalone. Over five years that difference is thousands of dollars.

Run the math over a realistic ownership window before you decide anything. A used Peloton Tread at $2,038 plus five years of membership is about $4,700 all in. A used Sole F85 at $1,582 is $1,582. That is not a small gap, and it is the actual decision hiding underneath the spec comparison.

Folding, Floor Space, and Getting It Down the Stairs

The Sole F85 and the NordicTrack 1750 fold. The Peloton Tread does not.

This is the shortest section in the article and possibly the most important one. The Peloton Tread is a permanent object. Wherever you put it is where it lives, and its footprint is roughly 68 by 33 inches of floor that is never coming back. Both the Sole and the NordicTrack use a hydraulic lift to raise the deck vertical, which cuts the footprint by more than half and lets the machine live against a wall between sessions.

If your treadmill has to share a room with anything else, the Peloton Tread is the wrong machine and the spec sheet will not tell you that.

What Used Peloton Treads, Sole F85s and NordicTrack 1750s Actually Sell For

Used, all three land between roughly $900 and $2,500, and the Peloton commands the premium.

Here is what these actually trade at on our platform.

Machine	Typical used range	Middle of the market	Median retail	Typical discount
Peloton Tread	$1,654 to $2,457	$2,038	$3,071	~29%
Peloton Tread+	$2,175 to $3,050	$2,562	$3,400+	~29%
Sole F85	$1,406 to $1,763	$1,582	$2,400	~34%
NordicTrack Commercial 1750	$909 to $1,781	$1,425	$2,400	~29%

Read the discount column carefully, because it inverts the usual advice. The Peloton holds its value best, which is great news if you are selling and bad news if you are buying. The Sole F85 gives up the most off retail, which makes it the value play. The NordicTrack 1750 has by far the widest spread, from a few hundred dollars for a 2015-era unit up past $4,000 for a nearly new one, because "Commercial 1750" has been the model name for over a decade across wildly different machines.

That last point costs people real money. Always get the model year on a 1750. A 2014 1750 and a 2022 1750 share a name and almost nothing else. The newer ones have the 14 inch rotating touchscreen; the older ones have a small backlit display and a tablet holder.

Moving them follows the same logic. The Sole F85 is the easiest of the three to move and the Peloton Tread is the hardest.

Weights run roughly 280 pounds for the F85, around 290 for the Peloton Tread, and about 340 for the NordicTrack 1750. Raw weight is the wrong metric though. What matters on a staircase is whether the machine folds and where the mass sits. The F85 and the 1750 both fold, so two people can get them onto a stair dolly with the deck vertical and the weight centered. The Peloton Tread is a single welded unit with a big screen cantilevered off the front, so it goes up as one awkward, top-heavy, 290 pound object. Basements with a turn at the bottom of the stairs are where these get scratched, dropped, or abandoned halfway.

This is the part people underestimate on a classifieds site, right up until the seller says the machine is theirs to load. One of our customers had a machine carried up five flights of a walk-up and it arrived without a mark. Our drivers pick up, inspect, deliver, and set it up, and you get 60 minutes to run on it before you pay. Here is how that works.

What Breaks on Each One

Belts and decks are consumables. Screens and motor controllers are the expensive failures.

On the used Peloton Tread, the thing to know is the 2021 recall history on the Tread and Tread+. Peloton issued a rear guard and a safety key fix, and any unit sold now should have that work done. Ask. Get the serial number and confirm the remediation before money moves. Also confirm the previous owner has unlinked their account, because a Tread still bound to a stranger's Peloton login is a support ticket you did not sign up for.

On the NordicTrack 1750, the incline motor is the wear item. Run it to full incline and back to full decline and listen for grinding or hesitation. Console failures on older 1750s are common enough that a dead screen should knock several hundred dollars off the price, not a hundred.

On the Sole F85 there is genuinely less to go wrong, which is the whole argument for the machine. Check the belt for fraying at the edges and for a shiny worn strip down the middle. Sole decks are reversible, so a worn belt is a cheap fix rather than a dead machine.

For all three: plug it in and run on it. Ten minutes at a real pace tells you more than any listing photo.

How I Would Pick Between the Three

Here is the decision, in order, based on what actually drives it.

1. You want the classes and the leaderboard, and $44 a month is fine. Buy a used Peloton Tread. Nothing else replicates that library.
2. You want to run seriously and never pay a subscription. Buy the Sole F85. Biggest motor, full-size deck, folds, zero recurring cost, least to break.
3. You want incline and decline training, and you like guided routes. Buy a NordicTrack Commercial 1750, model year 2019 or newer. The decline is a real differentiator.
4. You mostly walk. Buy an older 1750 or step down to a Sole F63. Do not pay for a motor you will never load.
5. Your treadmill shares a room. Sole F85 or NordicTrack 1750. The Peloton does not fold and that is not negotiable.
6. You are moving within two years. Buy the Peloton. It holds value best, so the resale absorbs the depreciation better than the other two.
7. You want the lowest cost per year of ownership. Sole F85, and it is not close once you multiply $44 by 60 months.

My pick for most households is the Sole F85. It runs better than the Peloton, costs less used, folds, and never sends you a bill. The Peloton wins if you specifically want the classes, which is a real reason, just be honest that you are buying software.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Sole F85 better than the Peloton Tread?

For running, yes. The F85 has a wider and longer belt, a bigger published motor, it folds, and it costs nothing to own. The Peloton Tread beats it on screen quality and class library, which is what most Peloton buyers actually want.

Does a used Peloton Tread work without a subscription?

Yes, in a limited way. "Just Run" gives you manual speed and incline with basic metrics and no classes, which is a perfectly functional treadmill. It is also an expensive way to own a plain treadmill, so factor $44 a month into what you will pay for the machine itself.

What is a fair price for a used NordicTrack Commercial 1750?

Around $1,425 is the middle of the market, with most landing between $909 and $1,781. Anchor hard on model year. A 2020 or newer unit with a working touchscreen is worth the top of that band. A 2015 unit with a dead console is a $400 machine whatever the listing says. Our guide to the used NordicTrack Commercial 1750 goes deeper on the model years.

Which of these three holds its value best?

Peloton. By a wide margin. Used Treads sell at roughly 29 percent off their retail price, and the brand's demand on the secondary market is strong enough that a clean unit moves in days. The Sole F85 gives up the most at around 34 percent off, which is exactly why it is the best buy and the worst sell.

Can two people move one of these without professional help?

On one level, with a folding machine and a flat path, yes. Up or down a staircase, no. All three run 280 to 340 pounds with a high center of gravity and no good handholds. This is the top reason used treadmill deals fall apart after both sides agreed on a price.

Buying or Selling One of These

If you have a treadmill in a spare room collecting laundry, you are closer to real money than you think. A clean Peloton Tread is a $2,000 machine and a Sole F85 is not far behind. You list it, we send drivers to pick it up, and you get paid. Nobody comes to your house to haggle. Start with our treadmill listings to see what comparable machines are going for right now.

On the buying side, this is the category where used makes the most sense of anything we sell. Treadmills are expensive new and they depreciate hard the moment they leave the store, but the mechanical parts last for years. Every machine gets inspected before it goes on the truck, our drivers deliver and set it up, and you get an hour to run on it before you pay anything. Browse the used Peloton Tread and NordicTrack inventory and compare them against the numbers above.