treadmill speeds help!!

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sarahertzberger
sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok, so I bought a treadmill from someone a couple of weeks ago and it works great except for the screen doesn't work it won't tell me how fast I'm going, how far I've gone nothing so I checked to see why and I found out that apparently someone has cut the wires for whatever reason and I can't just pop a battery in there to make it work, so my question to you is do any of you know if there's a device of some sort that I can use with my treadmill to show me how fast I'm going??

It's driving me crazy not knowing I always log a little under how fast I think I'm probably going but in all honesty I have no clue and I'm not just going to go out and buy another treadmill yet but I'm just wondering is there anything that I can buy that will do that.

Also, have any of you ever had that problem where the wires get cut and have you tried to rewire them? My husband is thinking of doing that for me but he's not sure how to do that for a treadmill. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated I just want to know that I'm logging my exercise correctly and it would be nice to know. Thanks :-)

EDIT: I forgot to say I don't have a smartphone so I can't get any of the apps :-(

Replies

  • redheadedgal
    redheadedgal Posts: 149 Member
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    have you tried walking apps on your smartphone? Runtastic and endomundo are the two I have. It tells your speed when you are really walking, but I've never tried it on a treadmill.
  • Lauramh31
    Lauramh31 Posts: 95 Member
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    I would suggest going to a running store and/or looking online at watches and heart rate monitors that calculate running pace/distance.

    My heartrate monitor (Polar, not sure what model) has a shoe accessory that you can use and that will tell you how far you've gone and your current pace (wifi links to your wristband so you can see it while you are running). The way it works is that you go test it out at a track somewhere and hit start and stop at the beginning and end of a one mile run. Then it adjusts to your stride and will be able to tell how far you've gone and your speed. I'm sure there are many kinds that do this. I think garmin running watches do this as well, some based on gps technology.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    As stated above, a footpod that links to a watch is the only option. The ones I am familiar with link to my garmin. The least expensive option is the FR70 (without GPS) https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142&pID=104012 .

    Cost is $129 for the watch with HRM and an additional $70 for the footpod https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=15516 .

    If all you are ever going to do is run on that treadmill it might be cheaper just to fix it. On the other hand if you are going to also run outside the FR70 or a somewhat more expensive one with GPS will serve you well.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
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    If the wires are just cut, you can reconnect them.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efV2NjPKSY

    You need to get a SmartPhone, or a smart husband. ;)
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
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    If the wires are just cut, you can reconnect them.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efV2NjPKSY

    You need to get a SmartPhone, or a smart husband. ;)

    well, he know how to do all that so maybe it's exactly the same for my treadmill
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
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    If the wires are just cut, you can reconnect them.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efV2NjPKSY

    You need to get a SmartPhone, or a smart husband. ;)

    well, he knows how to do all that so maybe it's exactly the same for my treadmill
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
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    well, I tried to talk to the maker of the treadmill to see if the small tick marks mean anything as far as how fast you go, and according to her it doesn't which makes no sense to me but when the hubby gets home I'll just get him to try and reconnect the wires
  • mlb929
    mlb929 Posts: 1,974 Member
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    Not a treadmill but when the screen on my elliptical went out, the company let me buy just a new screen for relatively inexpensive an amount - like $40 when it was out of warranty, did you ask about simply replacing a part?
  • vixen0babs
    vixen0babs Posts: 25 Member
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    As for distance, measure the length of your stride (you could do this with wet feet) and buy a very inexpensive step counter. That will measure the number of steps you take, multiply that by your stride length and you will get the total distance. You can time yourself throughout.... so if your stride is 36 inches (3 feet), and you make 10000 strides (30,000 feet = 5.7 mi) in 50 minutes (.83 hour), that's a pace of 6.9 mph. Or you could just fix the screen. :-)
  • jsickman12
    jsickman12 Posts: 139 Member
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    I would fix it, but then again I am handy. For the treadmill, there usually is a speed button that one pres makes it go up .1 mph, so you can then determine the speed, aka, 10 pushes equals 1.0 MPH, then derive from this chart:
    6:00 min mile equals 10 mph
    6:30 Min mile equals 9.23 mph
    7 min mile = 8.57 mph
    7:30 min mile = 7.5 mph
    8 min mile = 7.5 mph
    8:30 min mile = 7.06 mph
    9 min mile = 6.7 mph
    9:30 min mile = 6.31 mph
    10 min mile = 6 mph
    You can derive your distance based off of your time so using 6 mph, if you ran 60 minutes you ran 6 miles, if you ran 30 min you ran 3 miles, etc.
    **I'd try to fix it, but that might help.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Smartphone won't help as it will use GPS.

    You could mark a line in chalk or similar across the belt.

    Start by measuring the length of the belt - it might help to make another little mark or two so you can measure it in three bits.

    Then video it and you can work out the speed at a specific setting in meters per second by counting the times the line goes past a point in 10 seconds, say.

    You can then stick it in to google like this (lets say it is 15 times going past in ten seconds and the belt is 1.52 meters):
    15 x 1.52m / 10 seconds in miles per hour
    Google will give you the answer in mph

    Obviously this is presuming you say pressed the button ten times and can recreate that.
    There are other ways you could actually 'make' a speedo, but I doubt it's worth it.
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
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    If you have an iPod nano manufactured in the last 2 or so years, there is a NikePlus option on it (I seriously had my iPod for 2 years and never knew this until someone showed it to me last week!) that you can use to do walks or runs--I'm not sure how accurate it is on a treadmill, but it has worked well for me for outdoor walks/runs so far. The other bonus is that NikePlus is totally free--you no longer need the Nike shoes, or the shoe pod, or the adapter, etc ;)

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