Feet on with the Peloton Tread

Cult fitness brand Peloton is launching its second major product in Australia next week: the Peloton Tread. 

As you might have guessed, the Tread is, well, a treadmill. It takes the Peloton formula of high-end hardware paired with an all-but-endless library of interactive classes and applies it to the running world.

The result is a sleek and surprisingly slimline treadmill with a big ass 23.8-inch touchscreen, integrated speakers, and software designed to hook you in and keep exercising. 

Ahead of its February 16 release, we had a chance to get hands - well, feet - on with the Peloton Tread. Here are my first impressions. 

• Big number go up. Peloton's classes are heavily gamified, and hit all the right dopamine centres in my brain. This is largely thanks to the interactive scoreboards that let you compare your output (a score built from your speed and incline) to anyone else currently doing the class. As soon as my output started ticking up, I knew I needed to win. 
• Really polished hardware. The Peloton Tread is easily the nicest treadmill I've ever used. The build feels very high end, the screen is gorgeous, and the knobs for adjusting incline and speed are a much nicer solution than tapping buttons or messing around with a touch screen. 
• Lessons set to metal. As someone with troubled taste in music, I often find my preferences neglected in mainstream workout apps. You'll occasionally get a Metallica song in an Apple Fitness+ workout, but that's as heavy as you get. From a quick search, I found multiple Peloton classes explicitly set to metal, featuring music from bands such as Pantera, Mastodon, and Slipknot. 

• Expensive. There's no way around it, the Peloton Tread is an expensive investment. It starts at $4,450, and you need to take out a $59 per month subscription to get the most out of it. I pay $70 per month for my gym membership, so it would take almost 34 years for the Peloton to be better value. This equation can change if you've got multiple people using the Tread. If my partner didn't abhor cardio, the Tread would work out to be more cost-effective than two gym memberships over the course of five years.  Up to 20 users are supported by a single Peloton All-Access subscription, so you can really maximise the value of the Tread if you're part of a commune.  
• Doesn't specifically cater to my niche taste in metal. While  I appreciate that Peloton has classes set to metal, is it too much to ask for a fitness service to cater to my extremely specific taste in heavy music? My kingdom for running classes set to Cattle Decapitation and Pig Destroyer.  
• Not much else to be honest. While I was only able to spend about an hour with the Peloton Tread, there weren't any immediate red flags or issues on first impression. I'm hoping to spend some more time with the Tread in the future to properly put it through the paces.

The Peloton Tread is a really nice treadmill. Like, REALLY nice. And you'd hope so, given the asking price.

While it's far from what most would call a rational purchase, the tight hardware-software integration combined with heavily gamified classes could be an addictive combination for the right person. As someone obsessed with closing my Apple Watch rings, I could see myself getting hooked on the Peloton experience. 

And honestly, with a treadmill that costs as a second-hand car, the experience is what you're actually buying. 

The Peloton Tread will start at $4,445. On top of that, you'll need to take up a Peloton All-Access Membership for $59 per month. While you can still use the Tread without the subscription, you won't be able to access any Peloton content such as classes without it. 

The Peloton Tread will be available for purchase from February 16.