Peloton Treadmill vs. Pro 9000 Review

Which Treadmill is the Better Choice?

OUR TAKE

This in-depth review article gives the reader a good understanding of the Proform Pro 9000, its capabilities, and why we recommend it as the better treadmill choice.

In short, the Peloton Tread is a solid, sleek-looking treadmill with an excellent touchscreen that offers great sound, genre and Artist themed runs, well-produced live-streaming, and on-demand studio classes with Instagram-savvy Peloton trainers and a 30-day risk-free trial in your home. That said, you will pay a premium price with a shorter warranty, a relatively much firmer feel to the running deck compared with many of the better treadmills, and fewer features overall.

But the impressive Proform Pro 9000 outdoes the Peloton Tread on features, durability, price, and most important of all training content. It wins the workout content battle because it offers a ton more variety of workouts with highly motivating iFit trainer-led studio and destination workouts — your iFit trainer can also control the incline plus the decline of your treadmill to sync your workout with the terrain you are running, walking, or hiking through for a more intense engaging and immersive run, walk or hike.

We begin with a quick summarized overview of why — then proceed to break out more features and finish with a detailed comparison feature chart below. Short on time? Click to view the full chart and review the comparison breakdown.

Trust Our Reviews of Fitness Equipment

When testing and evaluating we compared the Proform Pro 9000, NordicTrack 1750, NordicTrack X22i, Peloton Tread, and other treadmills.

maybeyesno has tested and published exercise equipment reviews for over ten years. Our review team understands what makes good fitness equipment, — including indoor bikes, rowers, strength equipment, and treadmills. If it’s good, it’s good — if it’s bad — then it’s bad, we will tell you.

We get hands-on with gear and discuss overall design, tech, and function, including the feel, price, drilling down on components such as the motor, the screen display, subscription content (if applicable), running deck, adjustment features, ease of use, noise levels, warranty and durability.

Based on extensive use and testing, we discuss, summarize, and compare the differences to help you determine which treadmill is the better one for you. Let’s get to it.

COMPARISON BREAKDOWN

The Tread may have a superior visually appealing design look but there are key features that make the Pro 9000 treadmill stand out over the Peloton Tread. What impressed us most with the Pro 9000 is the overall package — this is a durable treadmill with a full HD 22-inch touchscreen priced at $2,299 with excellent workouts and advanced connected-fitness tech such as AutoAdjust (auto-trainer control) and SmartAdjust features is why we preferred the Pro 9000 over the Peloton Tread.

The Tread does have a better and easier return policy but has a weaker warranty —certainly was an improvement over the Peloton Tread+ model.

But when it comes to connected-fitness treadmill workouts for your home gym, the Proform 9000 powered by iFit has more engaging options. Peloton workouts are exclusively almost all shot in a studio setting.

Peloton does try to inject variety with fun hip-hop runs 80’s & 90’s pop-themed workouts, even the Beatles and Pink Floyd to Brittany, plus various Fun-Runs. Peloton places a stronger emphasis on music and does it better than Proform. Peloton also has a tad smoother user interface, but iFit offers features like the ability to pause a workout and includes trainers over a greater variety of terrain and locales.

Besides the live event and on-demand studio classes with your Pro 9000 you can train with world-class champion trainers who coach, encourage, curate and guide you through city streets to mountain paths, trails, and exciting road races, even actual marathons all at interesting locations across the globe – your pick.

In both studio sessions or during a destination workout your iFit coach can dynamically control your Pro 9000 treadmill’s incline, decline, and speed to match the studio challenge or destination terrain encountered. It’s pretty awesome our user survey feedback indicates they hands down love this Live-Control option. This feature was not available with the Peloton Tread until they recently licensed it from iFit, however we found it only supported the incline part, not the decline and there is no downhill running support making the Proform Pro 9000 a better connected-fitness treadmill option.

SMARTADJUST

SmartAdjust, a recently released, hi-tech iFit option, is designed to further personalize the incline, decline, and speed of your treadmill to your fitness level, and to the classes, you are taking by keeping you in sync with your trainer. 

For instance, if your iFit trainer increases the intensity and you’re finding the incline difficult or too easy, you can make speed or incline adjustments better suited to you. iFit will then apply these changes across the entire workout while remembering the percentage change for future running, walking, or hiking sessions. As you get stronger and fitter, iFit SmartAdjust will start to take this into account and increase inclines or step up the speed — you always have the option to disable SmartAdjust anytime.

Since the motor is such a critical and the hardest working component of any treadmill's durability and performance we spend a little more time highlighting the differences below. In short, we give Proform the edge in this category for two reasons.

1. Proform has more experience in Treadmill motor specs and development and is known for building quality, reliable motors that last.

2. Proform uses CHP vs. HP rating. CHP is Continuous Horse Power: This is the power that the motor can comfortably sustain up to the rated load, incline, and speed of the treadmill and represents the power that can be delivered year after year of continual use. HP or Horsepower represents the peak power at a moment in time.

WORKOUT CONTENT

PELOTON TREAD

The Peloton Tread works with the Peloton produced All Access Content which costs $44/month. Peloton content has predominantly music-themed workouts with guest artists series — recently with Beyonce. They apply music to tempo the workouts and it is engaging for those that prefer music to work out to. Peloton trainers are some of the best and the running trainers are elite runners themselves.

The content for the Peloton Tread is still a work in progress as they find ways to reduce monotony and the repetitiousness of being in a studio. Peloton has a cool feature called “save songs from class” where you can link your Apple Music or Spotify account to easily add songs to your personal playlist using the Track Love feature during your workout. The Peloton ships with immersive front-facing speakers, 2 Channel front-facing stereo speakers and 2 rear-facing woofers for a fuller sound— but now with a wider range of Bluetooth wireless airPods available speaker sound has become less of a scoring item for us.

PRO 9000 iFit Destination Workouts

While a majority of Peloton’s classes are exclusively shot in the studio —iFit has thousands of treadmill-specific studio and destination trainer-led workouts with a one-on-one coaching feel shot outdoors. They use a one-take filming process that follows a trainer running, hiking, or walking just in front of you through a mountain pass, along a tropical beach, or even an actual marathon segment.

You have the option of taking live or on-demand studio classes that range from beginner and up in addition to the thousands of “global workouts” where the trainer can live auto-control the incline and decline of your Pro 9000 treadmill whether your hiking, walking, or running.

Proform iFit “trainer-led destination workouts” takes you, through spectacular scenery while iFit technology enables the treadmill to auto-adjust its incline and speed to mimic what’s happening on the screen. Filter and select by destination type, length, difficulty, trainer, and more.

iFit also offers multi-week progressive workout series and will add them for you to your calendar. You can use the iFit app as well with any smart device including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and Roku is now available.

PRICE OPTIONS

Peloton Tread $3,495 plus $44/month = $2,963 Cost Year 1

Proform Pro 9000 $2,299 (1-month of iFit included) - then $33/mth or $39/month ¹

The Pro 9000 is about $1,000 less at the initial purchase.

Features – where the treadmills differ

ABOUT THE PELOTON TREAD

The Peloton Tread is 30% smaller than the Peloton Tread+ with a shorter up-step to the deck of on 8” vs. 11 inches for the Tread+. There is not a lot of give in the running deck it had a little bit of a stiff feel to it

The side upright supports for the handrail are nicely angled outward allowing for more room for your arms to move freely and gives the Tread a nice spacious feel.

There is a smaller tray than on the Tread+ for 2 water bottles and unlike the tread+ it cannot be removed to clean.

The 23.8” HD touchscreen is the same screen used for the Peloton Bike+ and has an 8mg pixel camera for taking profile pics or workout chats with training buddies. The camera is off by default and needs user approval for use. It also now has a privacy slider - a huge Peloton user-requested option.

A novel and unique approach to adjust Incline and speed on the Tread are control knobs respectively on the inside of each handrail.

The screen has a power-off button and can tilt vertically 0 - 50 degrees.

A concern for some purchasers may be that the Peloton Tread requires a dedicated circuit for power. This will add money to your total treadmill purchase if you do not have one.

Overall the Peloton Tread has an attractive pretty matte metallic finish.

PROFORM PRO 9000 FOLDS

The Proform Pro 9000 powered by iFit features automatic trainer control, where trainers can dynamically adjust the incline, decline, and speed of the treadmill to match the studio class or terrain on a destination workout. This is the game-changer and a major distinction between these two treadmills as to the level of integration of their connected fitness apps.

When you work out with iFit trainers, you’ll be taken up hills, through valleys and along trails at all sorts of speeds and intensity. Exercising up-hill using an incline builds hip, hamstring, and calf strength — the Pro 9000 also allows you to simulate downhill terrains focusing on the quads. The ability of the Pro 9000 to decline -3% is not an available feature on the Peloton Tread. As you move downhill your body falls forward. This works the glutes and hamstrings with the quads doing most of the work controlling momentum on the downhill portion.

When it comes to the running deck the Proform Pro 9000 has a more forgiving deck that reduces the impact on knees, hips, and back. The Peloton Tread’s deck is firm and definitely felt stiffer and less forgiving.

Instead of a knob control to make quick adjustments to incline and speed the Pro 9000 has well-positioned large one-touch buttons to make changes and override auto-trainer control mode. While maybe not as unique as the knob concept we found pressing a simple one-touch button approach was still just as quick and a little more precise when it comes to making an accurate selection.

Finally, the folding-design feature of the Pro 9000 where the deck simply folds-up and with the tap of the foot quietly glides back down to the floor. This feature makes the Proform Pro 9000 treadmill easier to move and provides space savings when not being used, plus makes it does make it easier to clean the floor under the running deck.

WARRANTY

PELOTON TREAD

12 months limited warranty which fully covers the touchscreen and most original components. The Tread frame is covered for 5 years, drive motor and walking belt are covered for 3 years. The screen and parts are covered for 1 year as well as 1-year labor.

PRO 9000

10-year Frame, 2-year Parts, 1 year Labor.

Regardless, we recommend purchasing extended warranties for both Treadmills.

MOTOR AND DURABILITY

When it comes to the reliability, durability, and performance of a treadmill the motor plays a major role. Proform has successfully designed and built treadmill technology for over 30 years and understands how to spec out the best-sized motor – read our article Treadmill key features guide. Whereas Peloton as a relatively new company has experienced stellar growth — due in most-part to its Peloton bike is yet to prove itself as a solid, reliable treadmill maker with its design team still evolving. Read about recent Peloton Acquisition.

The Pro 9000 has a significant edge in this category. We believe that the years Proform has been designing and manufacturing treadmills gives them the in-house expertise to produce more durable treadmill motors.

PELOTON TREAD

The Peloton Tread has a 3.0 HP DC (Direct Current) motor. A DC motor uses brushes and a commutator which requires more maintenance, limits the speed, and decreases the lifespan due to additional moving and wear parts. The motor is positioned at the back extending the running room in the front of the Tread’s deck. This is definitely a step-up in power and a better choice than for the Tread+ which uses a 2.0 HP AC motor — DC motors also tend to be a lot quieter than AC motors.

PRO 9000 Motor

The latest Proform Pro 9000 is an impressive upgrade. It has been enhanced into a powerful, tech-rich packed treadmill backed by a strong motor for long, tough workouts supporting multiple users. It has a smooth, sturdy feel and is super quiet. Designed for heavy use, its 3.6 CHP motor is built with commercial-grade high-quality components.

CHP Stands for continuous horsepower (CHP) and in our opinion, you should always look for a treadmill with a CHP rated motor. CHP is a more useful indicator of durability because it measures how much power a motor can put out continuously versus just at its peak.

 "HP" is the peak horsepower rating. Peak horsepower is the highest generated horsepower that can be produced by the motor, but the difference is that peak horsepower can only be maintained for a short period of time. Peak motors tend to wear out much more quickly for the simple fact that they are designed to be used for a shorter time and can overheat if used too long or too frequently.

The more CHP, the faster the belt will speed up and slow down and the smoother your workout will be.

A treadmill can only maintain a running speed for so long before it starts to slow down and lag and eventually it will need to power off to cool down. On higher-end expensive machines, it is 6+ hours. With a 3.0 HP motor, it would most likely be around 90 minutes. The Pro 9000 3.6 Mach z CHP would be around 2-3 hours. The Peloton Tread has a 3.0 HP motor that should probably be a CHP motor.

REFUND POLICY

PELOTON TREAD

If you are eligible for Home Trial, you will be able to try your new Peloton Product (and accessories, if purchased together) within 30 days of delivery. If you’re not satisfied with your Peloton experience, simply reach out within 30 days of delivery and Peloton picks up your tread for free for a full refund. Your refund will include:

• all gently used accessories purchased together with the Peloton Tread within 30 days after delivery.

• Your All-Access Membership fee for one month.

• Delivery and pick-up fees, if you live within an eligible delivery area.

PRO 9000

You can return your ProForm treadmill within 30 days upon receipt. Returns will be charged a return shipping fee of $250 plus a 10% restocking fee. Because of the size and weight of exercise equipment, there is not a refund for any shipping or delivery charges you may have paid to receive your treadmill.

The edge definitely goes to the Peloton. The Tread has a more generous return policy. If you order the Pro 9000 treadmill, be confident in your decision otherwise you may be out the shipping and restocking costs.

IN THE END ─ Final thoughts

─ Both these treadmills are well made with the Proform Pro 9000 treadmill offering a better buy value with superior durability and workout content options over the Peloton Tread. You will save about $1000 over the Tread.

iFit provides access to a way more varied library of guided workout options where trainers work just as hard alongside you as they motivate, coach, and gently encourage you along runs, walks, and hikes through exotic locations across Thailand, Antarctica, Iceland, New Zealand, Africa — in fact, across all seven continents including many spectacular U.S. locations and cities. Learn more about why you need iFit.

We particularly liked the series approach to train for 5K races, half marathons, and marathons while offering some of the best beginning runner and walker workouts. The range of destinations and variety of workout training based on skill level is outstanding. There are many to choose from for everyone’s level of fitness. The Pro 9000 is durable and powerful to withstand lengthy daily workouts by multiple users.

The Peloton Tread is a sleek-looking treadmill connected to the Peloton studio classes. The music was superior to the Proform music options with the Peloton workouts themed and curated by guest artists to keep it interesting. 

The Peloton Tread is a great option, but you save $1,000 and get a more durable treadmill and a much wider range of workout options, plus a better warranty with the Proform Pro 9000.

PELOTON TREAD RECALL UPDATE:

[MYN PRO NOTE:] In early May 2021 the Peloton Tread and Peloton Tread+, had been recalled and deemed not available for sale amid safety concerns. The Tread display screens began loosening from their mounts or in some cases detaching altogether.

The Peloton Tread is now available for sale but the higher-end Tread+ treadmill remained under a recall for two years until December 2023, for child safety concerns, but recently was cleared available for sale again. These recalls prompted a software update for all peloton treadmills.

An authorized user must enter a 4-digit passcode to start the running deck, and a removable safety key is now included to enable a rapid stop if detached.