Proform 590 HR Treadmill Review

The Proform 590 HR treadmill is bang in the middle of Proform’s range and offers something for everyone. We made an educated guess and think the HR must stand for Heart Rate as it has 4 heart rate controlled programmes – more in a moment.

One thing that struck us early was the folding mechanism. We were impressed by the design as you can fold it up and store this quite large treadmill away in a space less than a metre wide!

Back to what it can do because you don’t buy a treadmill to store it away – besides the novelty of folding it up soon wears off.

The 590HR is one of the growing number of machine with what’s known as ‘virtual trainer’ software. Proform have opted for iFit programmes which can be loaded onto your machine to help you achieve specific goals such as weightloss or training for distance running.

It comes with 8 pre-set programmes of its own including 4 heart rate controlled options. These are a great way to get fit fast and also to burn off excess body fat as it controls the speed of the belt according to your pulse. It’s also a safe guard against training too hard and putting the old ticker at risk

We were pleased to see it came with a chest strap so you can monitor your pulse without having to place your hands on the grips. Grips not only interrupt your stride they’re also not as accurate as a strap that sits over your heart.

Whilst 8 pre-set programmes seems a bit low for a model costing this much it currently comes with a FREE 1-year personal trainer pack from iFit when you buy from SweatBand Fitness. This allows you to download up to 20 professionally designed programmes onto the treadmill. This is a pretty useful facility and can only help to improve your chances of achieving your training targets – for more details visit their website at SweatBand Fitness.

The running deck was comfortable with its ProtechTM cushioning system to reduce the impact on your joints. The console has a fan which we found quite effective – some fans are just annoying and don’t do much to keep you cool.

The display itself is packed with information and one of the most informative we’ve seen in this price range.

That’s all the good news, now what about the bad? We’ve heard of a few people who have experienced problems with the motor which needed replacing on the warranty. The review here is based on two users who have had their models for 9 months and six weeks and neither have had any motor problems yet.

The motor is a powerful 2.75 HP which we found pretty quiet in operation even up to 10pmh (its top speed). It may be that an earlier model had a different motor which has now been modified. If we hear any more on this we’ll update our review.

The warranty is quite good, it covers all parts and labour for 2 years on site so you don’t have to send anything away for repair.

It looks like it’s at the end of it’s shelf life although some retailers may still offer it for around £599 (r.r.p – £1,199 )