Home fitness icon Peloton has announced its new treadmill is now available for pre-order. (Caution: the price tag may induce fainting, eye bleeding and temporary disorientation)
The sequel to the original is called, as expected, the Peloton Tread+.
Sporting a familiar overall design, the new model comes with the usual assortment of features we’ve come to expect from the brand: large tilting touchscreen (32″), rugged build quality, built-in speakers/soundbar, and auto-incline.
As for the price?
Well, first the good news: Peloton is offering $1,000 USD off pre-orders.
PELOTON TREAD+
Key Features
- Slat belt composed of 59 individual slats providing 67″ of cushioned running space
- ‘Free mode” for manual moving of belt
- Speed and incline knobs, with auto-incline option
- 32″ HD touchscreen with front-facing speakers
- Optional heart rate monitoring pairing, Strava integration
- 10′ x 6′ footprint
- Speed from 0 to 12.5 mph adjustable in .01 mph increments
- Incline from 0 to 15% grade adjustable in .05% increments
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2; 3.5mm headphone jack; USB-A charging port
- Dimensions: 75″ L x 36.5″ W x 72″ H
- Belt: 67″ L x 20″ W
- Total Tread+ weight: 455 lb
But — and you knew this was coming — the bad news is that even after that discount the Tread+ still costs a whopping $4,995 USD.
Don’t forget you’ll also need to sub to Peloton’s service which provides streaming classes; including walking/running classes for the treadmill, but also a host of others as well including yoga, strength training, spinning, meditation and more.
If you’re interested in a Peloton treadmill and would prefer not to spend as much as a used car on it, thankfully you can opt for the Tread (not plus). That one is on sale for $2,795 USD. Key differences include a smaller touchscreen (23.8″ HD), standard belt (instead of a cushioned slat belt), and a smaller footprint (5 1/2′ x 2 3/4′).
Peloton says the new belt on the Tread+ is “cloudlike” and adds a little bounce into each step, “giving more cushion and lower impact in every walk, run, or hike.”
Will the Tread+ Sell?
Obviously Peloton is targeting people who are serious about their treadmill workouts. At $5K (plus subscription) this isn’t for casual users or first time buyers. Further, Peloton appears to still be positioning itself as a premium brand, like Apple, or, perhaps even something like Ferrari. It’s aspirational — and you’ll need to pay for the price of admission no doubt.
My suspicion is that this is a low volume, high margin play for the company.
Moving a lot of units is likely not the endgame. Rather, the company is looking for ways to improve the bottom line and scaling those profits carefully, avoiding the wildly out-of-control scenario that happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns in 2020. (see also: Zoom).
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As for the machine itself, it does look impressive. At least on the web site and browsing through the marketing copy. Based on past reviews and my experience as a Peloton Bike owner for three years I would expect the overall experience to be consistent with the Peloton brand, which is to say excellent. However, we know from experience there’s typically initial bugs in assembly and overall delivery logistics and early buyers should be ready for possible bumps along the way. Though, to be fair, Peloton now has been through these sorts of logistical roll outs for new products several times now so hopefully the team is getting better with time in dealing with all the issues that arise, planned or otherwise.
You can learn more about the Peloton Tread+ on their consumer web site. Pre-orders are now open, with the $1,000 discount good until 1/9. Deliveries are expected in early 2024.
