Our old treadmill just bit the dust after 7 years of running on it (both my DH and I at one point or another and neither of us are lightweights). I was honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did because it wasn't a high end model.

After much research, we ended up with a Precor 9.31 this time around. We chose an *almost* base model that has a good size/length running bed but hardly any extra features. We wanted the best quality with the least amount of stupid crap that would just break eventually.

We LOVE it. Running on it is SOOO much more like running outside than on our previous one. It's also smoother, quieter and clearly, much, much higher quality. I'm glad we spent the money - it's worth it. I no longer dread my treadmill workouts!