Horizon Fitness 7.8 AT Treadmill Review
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Horizon Fitness 7.8 AT Treadmill
Made in China
This comparison is going to share a similar theme to the review we did on the Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill. Good price point, heavy duty frame but lacking on the important stuff. We had another issue with the incline not being able to hold my weight and causing the belt to run wild. You can read about that below: But first, lets talk about the good stuff.
First, the good.
For $1999, this is a very heavy-duty treadmill which weighs an impressive 330lbs. The Horizon 7.8 AT Folding Treadmill has an oversized walking platform at 22” x 60” and a respectable warranty of 5 years parts / one year in home labor. As I walked and jogged on this treadmill, my 6” 4”, 298LB frame didn’t feel like it was too much for this machine (as long as I did not incline it).
I really thought this treadmill felt solid and better than most other sub $2000 machines. As I have written in other treadmill reviews, the fact that Horizon is using FTMS Bluetooth (which allows you to pair your own tablet or mobile device) and not forcing you to lock into a monthly subscription (looking at your Nordic Track) is a big deal to me. You should not have to pay hundreds of dollars per year to use the electronics! I felt like the motor cover was not too high, the handlebars were in the right spot for a bigger person and the electronics were very easy to use and understand. Again, as I tested this machine, everything was going really well until it was time to use the incline and that is where it all fell apart.
Now the bad… and this is a WARNING!
If you weigh over 250lbs (estimate on the weight) and want to use this treadmill at a steeper incline, this is not the treadmill for you. The Horizon 7.8 AT T Treadmill will potentially be dangerous to heavier users who walk with a higher incline. As you will see in the review video, when I took the incline up, the treadmill could not handle my weight, and the speed of the belt ran wild (combination of my body weight and gravity). What is even worse, the treadmill should have kicked on a “SPEED ERROR” warning and shut the treadmill down, but that did not happen. WTF Horizon??? How is this possible? We did not take the time to figure out what exact parameters are needed for the belt to speed up but based on the fact that this happened on both the Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill and the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill, we know it was most likely not a coincidence.
The treadmill simply cannot handle higher weight at a higher incline. Keep in mind that we did not exceed the weight capacity. So, what does this mean? This means that if you are a heavier person, you probably cannot use this treadmill at a higher incline. Kind of seems like a problem to me. I would almost say that if you don’t care about incline then go for it, but this is still a bad idea. What if someone else gets on the treadmill in your house and falls off? Can you say, “umbrella policy”?
The thing that gets me is this would not be hard to fix. This is a problem with the braking mechanism in the motor. Did they not actually test their machines? Why set a higher weight rating if the treadmill cannot handle it? I don’t know the answer to this question.
The other issue is that the walking belt was slipping out of the box. The fix could be as easy as tightening the rear rollers, but we really dislike any type of preventative maintenance out of the box. Not a super big deal but something that should be caught in quality control.
PROS on the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill:
Large, oversized walking platform. Very heavy-duty 300 LB frame. Well priced at under $2000. FTMS Bluetooth is always a plus! Good solid feel and performance as long as we do not incline the machine.
Cons on the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill:
If you want to use this treadmill at a higher incline, there is an injury risk. The 7.0AT and the 7.8AT Horizon Treadmills both experienced a catastrophic failure where the belt sped up unexpectedly during use. The user weight combined with a steeper elevation caused the belt to run out of control with no warning and no “SPEED ERROR” control.
Horizon Fitness 7.8 AT Treadmill
Made in China
This comparison is going to share a similar theme to the review we did on the Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill. Good price point, heavy duty frame but lacking on the important stuff. We had another issue with the incline not being able to hold my weight and causing the belt to run wild. You can read about that below: But first, lets talk about the good stuff.
First, the good.
For $1999, this is a very heavy-duty treadmill which weighs an impressive 330lbs. The Horizon 7.8 AT Folding Treadmill has an oversized walking platform at 22” x 60” and a respectable warranty of 5 years parts / one year in home labor. As I walked and jogged on this treadmill, my 6” 4”, 298LB frame didn’t feel like it was too much for this machine (as long as I did not incline it).
I really thought this treadmill felt solid and better than most other sub $2000 machines. As I have written in other treadmill reviews, the fact that Horizon is using FTMS Bluetooth (which allows you to pair your own tablet or mobile device) and not forcing you to lock into a monthly subscription (looking at your Nordic Track) is a big deal to me. You should not have to pay hundreds of dollars per year to use the electronics! I felt like the motor cover was not too high, the handlebars were in the right spot for a bigger person and the electronics were very easy to use and understand. Again, as I tested this machine, everything was going really well until it was time to use the incline and that is where it all fell apart.
Now the bad… and this is a WARNING!
If you weigh over 250lbs (estimate on the weight) and want to use this treadmill at a steeper incline, this is not the treadmill for you. The Horizon 7.8 AT T Treadmill will potentially be dangerous to heavier users who walk with a higher incline. As you will see in the review video, when I took the incline up, the treadmill could not handle my weight, and the speed of the belt ran wild (combination of my body weight and gravity). What is even worse, the treadmill should have kicked on a “SPEED ERROR” warning and shut the treadmill down, but that did not happen. WTF Horizon??? How is this possible? We did not take the time to figure out what exact parameters are needed for the belt to speed up but based on the fact that this happened on both the Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill and the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill, we know it was most likely not a coincidence.
The treadmill simply cannot handle higher weight at a higher incline. Keep in mind that we did not exceed the weight capacity. So, what does this mean? This means that if you are a heavier person, you probably cannot use this treadmill at a higher incline. Kind of seems like a problem to me. I would almost say that if you don’t care about incline then go for it, but this is still a bad idea. What if someone else gets on the treadmill in your house and falls off? Can you say, “umbrella policy”?
The thing that gets me is this would not be hard to fix. This is a problem with the braking mechanism in the motor. Did they not actually test their machines? Why set a higher weight rating if the treadmill cannot handle it? I don’t know the answer to this question.
The other issue is that the walking belt was slipping out of the box. The fix could be as easy as tightening the rear rollers, but we really dislike any type of preventative maintenance out of the box. Not a super big deal but something that should be caught in quality control.
PROS on the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill:
Large, oversized walking platform. Very heavy-duty 300 LB frame. Well priced at under $2000. FTMS Bluetooth is always a plus! Good solid feel and performance as long as we do not incline the machine.
Cons on the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill:
If you want to use this treadmill at a higher incline, there is an injury risk. The 7.0AT and the 7.8AT Horizon Treadmills both experienced a catastrophic failure where the belt sped up unexpectedly during use. The user weight combined with a steeper elevation caused the belt to run out of control with no warning and no “SPEED ERROR” control.
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