Hi everyone , I’m going nuts here. I’ve spent sooooo much time looking for

Decent priced ( from $299-499) I know cheaper will mean just that cheaper!

Treadmills with a lube port ! I recently burned up the motor on my treadmill , because apparently I over lubed it .

( very bummed ) and my warranty company will not fix it , now I have a piece of junk sitting in my living room !

Doe anyone know of treadmills that have a lube port ? TIA … 🤗

We have this treadmill and it's 6 years old. In Dec 2025 it stopped working and the MCB blinked 4 times.

A new MCB from Horizon was $450, about half of the treadmill itself. So I opted for one on eBay.

This worked for about 35 days and now the MCB blinks again 4 times.

Should I try replacing this board again? Or could a bad motor "burn" out these boards?

Or should we just junk it and get a different brand treadmill?

I set out to find a way to get walks in VR on a treadmill consistently, and this is what I ended up building.

I work in tech, have two toddlers, and live in Dallas. There are good trails here. It is just hard to line up the time and energy to go as often as I would like.

I am pretty picky about video quality. I buy 4K movies and have a UB820. Compression bugs me more than it should.

So I started experimenting with VR walking videos. After a bunch of trial and error, I landed on something simple that I actually use a few times a week.

The setup

• Headset: Quest 3 (512 GB)
• Playback: Meta Media Player (native)
• Content: Downloaded 4K / 6K / 8K walking, jogging, hiking videos.
• Movement: WalkingPad X21 treadmill
• Downloads: yt-dlp (via Homebrew)
• Storage: MacBook Pro (1 TB) + Quest 3

Transfer: I download everything to my MacBook and transfer to the Quest over USB using OpenMTP.

I tried apps like Skybox but could not get them to match the native player visually. I did not exhaustively test every setting, but enough to move on.

What actually mattered for me

1. Local files > streaming

Streaming breaks immersion:

• bitrate dips
• compression shows up in motion
• occasional buffering

Local files remove all of that.

2. File sizes get big fast (but it makes sense)

When you download max quality:

• ~5 to 50 GB per file
• higher-end 6K and 8K can go beyond that

That surprised me at first, but it makes sense. You are not really browsing YouTube anymore. You are building a local media library.

The difference shows up most in motion-heavy scenes like trees, water, and crowds.

3. Bitrate and motion matter more than resolution

A clean 4K video with good motion feels great.

A “4K” video with heavy compression looks flat almost immediately.

30 fps still feels like the biggest limitation across most content.

4. Small display tweaks help a lot

In the Meta media player:

• max the screen size
• enable curved screen
• dim the environment

This gets surprisingly close to VR180 for a lot of content, which makes the amount of usable content larger.

5. Treadmill quality and safety matter as expected

The treadmill matters a lot here, both for how this feels and for safety.

I am using a WalkingPad X21. It is quiet enough that my family cannot hear it on the same floor, which is what makes this viable for me. Stability and smooth speed control have been solid.

The main issue right now is the handlebar is too low. I am 6’2”, and it is probably 4 to 8 inches lower than I would want. I end up hunching a bit or not using it properly, which affects both comfort and immersion.

Still figuring out a clean solution there, possibly risers or some kind of grip extension.

From a safety standpoint, I also wish passthrough was easier to use while walking. Even after scanning the space, it is not as intuitive as it should be when you are in motion.

How my first couple of walks went

I tried it during a sunset walk on the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, walking about 2 mph.

At first it just felt like a screen. After about five minutes, I came across a meadow and a few sheep wandered into view. It was a small moment, but it changed the feel of it.

https://preview.redd.it/slhr6x37j6wg1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f4db7be3caf41cb82df7e049ca6c7942207ebb3

After that:

• my pace lined up better
• the visuals held together
• I stopped thinking about whether it was working

It was not perfect immersion. More like, this is good enough, just keep going.

I also tried a rainy walk later on, and that was surprisingly one of the more memorable ones. Something about the sound and slower pace made it feel more meditative than I expected.

https://preview.redd.it/ykhbgmktj6wg1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a785fafa13e217e0c809850f1684905c1d92e6a2

Some videos even have trail markers or distance signs, which I did not expect to care about, but it actually helps. It gives you small checkpoints and makes it easier to keep going.

One thing I noticed is that playback control is a bit limited in the native media player. You cannot really adjust speed there, which you can do in apps like Skybox. Being able to slow things down or match your pace more precisely would be nice, but I’d rather have higher quality.

I am also a bit torn on whether to lean into that and do some light color correction, or just keep everything as-is and preserve the original feel.

Didn’t Work

• after 30 to 35 minutes I feel some dizziness and fatigue, especially late at night
• most content is still 30 fps
• mixed reality is annoyingly not smooth from a UX perspective even after scanning my environment . I want immersion plus awareness of my surroundings

Where I am going next

Cycling content might actually be even better.

There’s some wild footage out there, speed, scenery, longer routes. CRAZY downhill night-time rides. 

I’m planning on testing at a buddy’s house to see how it goes. I’m sure it’s going to be much more sweaty and disorienting.

Bottom line

This is not a replacement for real hiking.

But it is:

• a reliable way to get movement in
• a solid mental reset
• something I actually use consistently
• a way to experience places or routes I would not do in real life

If anyone has:

• great 60 fps walking or cycling content
• ideas for fixing a too-low treadmill handlebar

Would love to hear it 👍

Hey all, having some trouble with a 20 year old Life Fitness T3. After moving it down the stairs (gently lifted by two people and set down in another room, no banging or jostling) it's giving a FET error when trying to start up.

A service tech came out and took the control board back with him. This was shipped off to someone else who claims the board works fine in another T3 he keeps on hand to test.

I was told it was likely the motor. BUT, the motor starts right up when attached to a battery.

What could the issue be? The control board (and the console that plugs into it) both get power when turning the unit on. It's not until I try to start a program that I get the FET error after a few seconds of the belt not moving.

Hey there, i am searching for a good walking pad that is big enough for a tall person (193cm) with long steps.

Any one of you have some good ones?

Thanks y'all

so ive been thinking about getting a walking treadmill for a while now… but idk if it’s something people actually keep using or just gets ignored after a few weeks

i don’t need anything fancy, just something simple that works and feels stable enough

also curious how these hold up over time since some look kinda flimsy

budget around $300-600. any recs that you’ve used for a while and still like??

I've had the reebok zr10 for years and I love it but unfortunately the house I'm moving into isn't exactly spacious and the zr10 is incredibly heavy to move around, I would just run outside but I'm type 1 diabetic and I hate the thought of being caught out miles away from home with not enough food to get me back up.

TL:DR What's a good compact treadmill that's able to do around 7mph?

hi all. I had a Reebok FR20z that had an engineer out 4 times in the 2 year warranty. eventually it got replaced but the replacement has another engineer appointment this week after 4 months due to a horrific electrical burning smell and smoke coming off the treadmill. they’ve told me that the replacement treadmill is linked to the original purchase so doesn’t come with a new warranty but despite it now being ‘out of warranty‘ they are going to send an engineer.

its a cheapish Argos purchase (£600?) but gets used 7 days a week between the people in the household, probably doing 60-70 miles a week. I run at between 8-9 mph so I accept the machine probably isn’t built for the usage it is getting.

Can someone recommend a treadmill that will be sturdy enough to take the usage described above? we don’t need subscriptions or millio of fancy features. I literally press go, change the speed and run!

im open on price up to a few thousand £££

I am looking to buy a basic treadmill with a good motor that will last for years. I don’t do HITT and just want it to jog 2-3 miles a day. I do NOT want any sort of subscription and don’t need a fancy screen. I was looking into the Sole F63 but the reviews seem terrible. It looks like the motor dies and it breaks easily. Any good recommendations for me? Thanks!!

hello. i have a treadmill that i bought in an asian based app (orange app is what they call), but anyways, i had it for like a year. but recently its starting to smell like something is burning when using it even just 20 mins. it also feels vibrating beneath me when using and i can feel the heat on my soles. i would want to go walk for like an hour but i cant bc of this. its also making slightly scraping sounds. i lubricate the treadmill every other month.

i still want it to be fixed bc the cost of it when i bought it isnt cheap at all 🥲