Sole F65 – Best running treadmill and classy folding treadmill for home

Today we’re going to be taking a deeper look at the Sole F65. So this is actually one of our top three favorite treadmills for treadmills that are priced under $1500, and currently it is priced for $1300. That price does fluctuate depending on sales and promotions that they have throughout the year. But it’s pretty dependable one of the best treadmills about $1000.

Sole puts out a really great treadmill. They’re known for their treadmills higher weight capacity, their sturdy build and reliability. They’re just really solid, durable treadmills. This F65 has a full steel frame. It also has a weight capacity of 325 pounds, and then it has a 3.0 CHP motor. So it’s a strong motor. When you’re looking at 3.0 size, you’re going be using this treadmill for either regular limited use like walking and jogging, or occasional heavy use. So if you want to be using this every single day, a 3.0 motor probably isn’t one. We’ll recommend for a lot of heavy running in use all day everyday. Lots of family members we would recommend a higher motor for that but for a 3.0 that’s still a good size motor and it’s going to maintain a lot of life in it, if you’re just walking and light jogging on a regular basis.

There is a 20 inch this way by 60-inch running surface. It’s a good sized running surface for the price point. A lot of the treadmills about $1000 you’ll go down to a 20 by 55 inch running surface. If you go up, you can expect about a 22 by 60-inch running surface. So this 20 by 60 is really a great middle range for a treadmill that’s under a thousand dollars.

It has a two-ply belts. So that’s really sturdy as you get below $1,500 treadmills you have lesser quality items on the treadmill including the belt. But this is a two ply belt which is the same that you’ll find on a lot of higher priced treadmills. There is a zero percent to a 15 percent incline on this treadmill as well. So that’s excellent and a max speed of 12 miles per hour. And the Sole does have a cushioned surface. So they call it cushion flex whisper deck and it’s supposed to eliminate up to 40% of your impact. This lesser expensive treadmill by Sole also has that cushioning feature.

Less plastic components

One other thing that kind of sets this F65 apart from the more higher-end treadmills is the components that make up the whole thing. One of the reasons I really like Sole is because they have less plastic components. Most treadmills are a full steel frame. They’re pretty sturdy but then they’ll cover places all in plastic. The Sole higher-end treadmills are a lot more exposed metal which I think is just great. It’s a lot more durable than those plastic pieces especially the ones that get kicked on accident.

The F65 isn’t quite like the more expensive models. If you go to a higher-ending Sole, you’ll see like a metal foot rail right here, whereas the F65 is plastic. But, you know, it’s just a small minor difference. It’s really not a big deal. It probably won’t make or break your decision. There are just a couple of things, when you’re comparing the F65 to Soles higher-end models, where you’re going to see the difference in your price range. The price will really have an effect on your weight capacity, the running surface size, the motor size, and the display. But like the higher-end models, the Sole F65 has a lot of great tech features that are similar to the higher priced models as well, and even a lot of build features that are great. But again another thing with Sole is their higher weight capacity. So even though you can have an increased weight capacity with a more expensive Sole machine, you still have a higher weight capacity on this treadmill than you do of other companies hire and treadmill lights which was 325 pounds.

Folding treadmill

Another great aspect of the Sole F65 is that it’s a folding treadmill. So it’s a great space saver. Altogether the treadmill weighs 254 pounds but because it folds and it has four wheels for moving it around, it’s really easy to move by yourself. There’s a hydraulic under the deck that helps to raise and lower. So it does a lot of the work for you. There’s a bar right here at the bottom of the base of the deck. Just grab and hold of that and lift it up, and it just locked into place. And it stays up there. You don’t have to worry about that. There’s a release lever right here that you pull onto, and it unlocks the hydraulic. And you can let the deck lower by itself. But before we do that, I’ll point out the wheels on this treadmill.

There’s two wheels here at the base, and then there’s also two in the front of the treadmill. And it just makes it a lot easier to roll around like this instead of having to put your weight on the wheels and pull it back, and then pivot it on the two wheels which a lot of treadmills do. So Sole comes with this feature, with the four wheels, and it’s great. But to release the deck, you’ll pull this lever right here, and it can go down all by itself. It does it nice and slow, so nobody’s going to get crushed underneath. Your floors aren’t going to get banged up from the treadmill. Especially if you’ve got a mat under it, you’ll be totally fine. So it hits a certain point, and then it flows down and just lowers nice and steadily to the floor.

The F65 comes with a standard amount of features. I have to remember that this treadmill is priced under $1500, so it’s going to be very, very basic. It has these fans here on the console, you can pivot them to direct the airflow. But there’s only one setting on or off. They’re not adjustable. They also aren’t that impressive that tends to be the case with a lot of treadmill fans though. They’ve got the fans there. They also have lots of storage. So you’ve got these two cubby spaces up here, with an additional tray down at the bottom, with plenty more storage spaces.

Standard safety key

They have the standard safety key. You have all of your console controls. You have actually a couple of places where you can change the incline and decline. Your incline and your speed can be adjusted right here. They call them like quick numbers, but they don’t include all the options which is a little silly to me. You can also adjust them by smaller increments here on the handle bar with up-and-down arrows, and the incline can be adjusted here, and the speed can be adjusted here. You have a lot of options for that.

Heart rate monitor

This treadmill also comes with a heart rate monitor. They send you this free chest strap. It just connects and wraps around your rib cage and the whole front part of it is plastic. So it’s not like super form-fitting. It’s not the most comfortable chest strap I’ve worn but it’s great. It comes for free, and it does its job. You can also replace the battery, if the battery dies, whereas some treadmill companies you can’t replace the battery. You have to buy a whole new chest strap. The back part, that’s all elastic and adjustable. This completely detaches, and you can throw it in the washing machine, if you like, and then to clean the plastic, you just wipe it down. So they have the chest strap. It’s a really accurate read of your heart rate, which also in turn gives you a much more accurate read of your calories burned.

They also have the handgrips right here which we don’t know how long all companies are going to be using these, because they’re not nearly as accurate as these chest straps. And more and more companies are providing chest straps with their treadmills.

So with the console one more downside to the Sole console is the hand rail. It’s really short. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing but it gives you about six inches of space for you to grab onto the handrails for any reason without accidentally adjusting your speed or incline. So that’s a little bit strange, and you know, there’s other treadmills with longer handrails but that might not be a deciding factor for you.

One last thing about the console is they do have speakers right here in the console. You will plug them in with this cord that it comes with into their audio jack, and then just attach whatever music device you have. There’s no volume control on the console itself but you control the sound from your device. So the sound is a little bit tinny. There’s really like no bass and speakers. They call it a sound system, kind of silly, it’s definite not the system. But it is there, it’s an option which is great, especially for the price point on the treadmill being under $1,500.

All right, now this is a closer look at the F65’s display. This is a six and a half inch screen. It’s a backlit display, so you do take a little bit of a step down in there display with the cut in price. But it still shows you all the data you want to know. Like the higher-end treadmills, it comes with the same six programs with an additional two customized programs, and then two programs that are based off of your heart rate. It does a lot of the same stuff as a higher-end treadmills from Sole. It just has a slightly different and smaller display for that but you can see right here it shows you the time elapsed, your distance, and your speed. And then it shows you your pace, your inclines, calories burned, your current pulse, shows you your heart rate percentage right here, so what zone you’re going to be in, and it shows you a standard track right here so how many laps you’ve made, and this will show you the workout that you’re on. It shows you the progress through your workout.

The buttons down here are slightly different than their higher priced models. Instead of having all the different buttons for the workouts you can do, you shuffle through the programs right here. So we’ve got Hill, and you can see how this screen changes. It shows you the workout, fat-burn, cardio, strength, interval, and then user 1 which is your first custom workout, user 2 is your second custom workout, and then your target heart rate workouts are right there. So here’s your manual. You just pick which one you want to do, hit enter. You can adjust your inclining, and it’s just super-super simple.

Fitness app

This Sole treadmill does pair with bluetooth to their sole fitness app. Lower-priced treadmills we’ve seen, there are some companies where their lowest-end model won’t pair to their fitness technology. But that’s another great thing about Sole is that this treadmill will pair to the fitness app, which means you will have data storage, which is great for reaching any of your goals. You can download the app on your device, a phone or tablet. They have it for Android and iPhone. It looks like this, and you connect to your machine. So it already finds our F65 right here. That beep means that my phone just took over, so I can’t control the treadmill from the console anymore. I can control it from my phone. There’s a little bit of a problem with our app for a few reasons. They still have some bug’s to work out but it is, you know, free dorch a data storage system which is great. You can also take your phone with you outside on a run and it has GPS in the app. So it will track your mileage that way too, and that’s just a great option to have.

We’re going to turn the F65 on. Just so you can get a feel for the noise output, and then the raising and lowering of the deck. So I’m going to just turn it on to a manual setting, and then at 2 miles per hour we’re going to go up to 15% incline. Then we’ll go down to a zero and increase the speed to get a better feel for the noise output with you running on it. It’s a really great quiet treadmill. It’s not quite as jiggle proof as maybe the higher-end treadmills, but overall Sole does a great job in just making a very well-built, sturdy, dependable treadmill across the board. Even their lowest price model is still a really good sturdy machine.

Here I get our manual. It counts us down before it starts, and it starts you off real slow. He’ll just bump it up to 2 miles per hour, and then we’ll increase the incline to 15%. That’s our maximum in Incline out 15%. We will go back to zero. You actually have to hit one and then toggle, you’re inclined down to zero because they don’t have zero in the quick select options. Now we’re at zero again and again there is no decline option. I don’t think you’ll find one in anything under $1,500, so that’s fine. We’ll go ahead and go to five miles per hour, and just run for a second. So you can hear the treadmill. You’ll also see the deck bounce a little because it has that cushion.

Hopefully, you notice just the noise output. If you’ve watched other comparison videos or other video reviews of Sole equipment, you’ll maybe notice there is a little bit more movement in the console on the treadmill altogether when it’s in use at this lower price point compared to their higher end treadmills. But it’s a quiet machine. It’s really sturdy, and it’s a comfortable around with their cushioned deck.

So our bottom-line review of this Sole F65 is that this is an excellent treadmill, especially if you’re limited with your budget. We rate this as one of our top three for treadmills under $1500. There are a lot of treadmills that you can find under $1500 but a lot of them are just not a good enough quality to depend on for a long term. If you’re spending under $1500 for your treadmill, you can expect to replace at least components of it, if not the whole thing much sooner. So if you’re looking under $1500, the Sole F65 is great. It’s got that higher weight capacity. It has really basic tech options and pre-programmed options but it really offers all you need to get a great workout in. And it’s a well-built treadmill that’s going to last you for a long time, and you can also read the full written review for this treadmill on our website.