(upbeat music)
- Hey guys, I'm Victoria.
I'm The Verge's reviewer for wearables and
connected fitness.
And this is my review of the Peloton Tread.
Listen, we can ignore that Peloton's first treadmill
made headlines after injuring several people and
even killing a child.
But this isn't that treadmill.
Let's rewind a bit.
Peloton's got two treadmills.
There's The Tread Plus, which launched back in 2018
and costs over $4,000.
I don't know about you, but forking over more
than $4,000 for a treadmill, that I can barely
squeeze into my apartment is absolutely bonkers.
That's why at the height of the pandemic
Peloton announced it was making The Tread.
A sleeker, smaller, and more affordable treadmill
that would hopefully expand its reach to new customers.
At least that was the plan.
The reality is, The Tread has had an
incredibly rocky launch.
It was supposed to arrive in February 2021,
that got pushed to May.
And then just before at official launch,
The Tread got recalled alongside The Tread Plus
because of a wobbly display.
Fast forward a few months, Peloton's made some
design adjustments, and it got the okay to launch
The Tread in August.
That's about when Peloton started pedaling itself
straight off a cliff.
In case you missed the news, Peloton's business is
a hot mess right now.
In the past month, co-founder and CEO John Foley
stepped down and 2,800 employees were laid off
after investing hundreds of millions into its
North American manufacturing.
Peloton also said that whole project was caput.
And then some of the fired Peloton employees
gate-crashed new CEO Barry McCarthy's first all-hands.
You also have a hoard of angry investors
who want Peloton to be sold to a bigger company
like Apple, Amazon, or Nike.
It makes perfect sense that they're angry.
Peloton's valuation plummeted from a pandemic high
of $50 billion to $8 billion.
So that's where Peloton's currently at.
Which is absolutely wild when you think about
how successful the company was during the
early days of the pandemic.
Usually when a company screws up this badly
it's because they have a bad product.
That's not quite the case with Peloton.
The Tread is actually an excellent treadmill.
It's well built, the rotating display is gorgeous,
and these nifty knobs make it so much easier to
control speed and incline, which if you've ever been
in a treadmill class last thing you wanna do is
tap the screen because you can't get the
speed down fast enough.
It's a lot smaller and quieter than The Tread Plus,
to the point where most people would definitely be
able to fit it within their homes,
without pissing off their neighbors.
Most treadmills are ugly as sin, but I wouldn't be ashamed
to have one of these in my home.
Peloton's also taken some effective measures to
make this treadmill safer than its predecessor.
You've got the tread lock screen that requires you
to input a passcode, to unlock the display.
The treadmill also won't turn on, if the safety key
isn't in place.
Without these two components,
you simply can't turn on the treadmill.
It's sort of like having two factor authentication.
And while the hardware is top notch,
the classes are where Peloton really shines.
There's so many to choose from, with all kinds
of instructors, set to curated playlists.
I don't love treadmill running, but you know
I felt myself inspired to push it in a few of the classes
because you have Jess King there and she's going,
"Girl, can you give it an extra 1%?"
Which you know me running outside, I'm not gonna do that.
I'm gonna go really easy on myself.
So once you've taken a class, it's easy to see why
so many people are enamored with Peloton's platform.
It's always easier to do hard things when someone's
cheering you on, even if that person is inside of a screen.
hello, Jess King. (laughs)
Basically you have a winning combination
of excellent hardware and software.
Great, right?
So what does Peloton's fall from grace have
anything to do with you?
The most tangible way Peloton's floundering business
impacts consumers right now, is you've guessed it price.
I'm gonna use The Tread as an example again,
but reminder, this is the affordable Peloton treadmill.
So let's do some math.
It retails for $2,500.
And that's not including the $40 monthly membership fee.
but starting January 31st, Peloton tacked on
another $350 charge for assembly and delivery.
Something that had previously been included
in the original price.
At their Q2 earnings, Peloton admitted that it did that
to boost the bottom line.
So it was supposed to be Peloton's more affordable
treadmill, is now pushing up on $3,000.
And the more expensive Tread Plus
was a little over $4,000.
So we're getting to the point where you're not saving more.
It's not really that much more affordable.
We don't know for sure whether this price hike is permanent.
That depends a lot on McCarthy's vision for where
Peloton's headed next.
In his first few interviews, McCarthy hinted that
he's open to futzing around with Peloton's
entire pricing structure.
That includes lowering the prices of the machines
and possibly bumping up the cost of membership.
McCarthy's also floated the idea of creating
different subscription tiers.
So you could totally buy into Peloton now,
expecting one thing, but get blindsided down the road
if and when things change and, let's be real,
there's a pretty good chance that things
are going to change.
Peloton's misfortunes, also point to a broader issue
within the whole connective fitness industry,
closed ecosystems.
Let's say you decide to shell out for The Tread.
Technically speaking, you only own the hardware.
That shiny tablet can't do anything other
than play Peloton content.
The Treads tray also isn't big enough to prop up a tablet,
in case you want to watch your own content.
Believe me, I tried.
At least the fancy treadmills at my gym
can stream Netflix and sync automatically
with my Apple watch.
This is a machine that's been meticulously crafted
to hook you into Peloton's ecosystem.
If you decide to cancel your membership,
you're left paying a premium for something that's
the same as any other treadmill.
Perhaps Peloton's biggest problem so far is that
it's been confused as to what it's real product is.
It's not the bikes, it's not the treadmill,
it's the classes.
But if Peloton can't sort itself out, then that
excellent product disappears.
And once again, you're left with a bricked device
that you paid too much for.
A lot about Peloton's future is up in the air.
We'll have to see whether Peloton's new CEO can
steer the company through pretty severe
cost restructuring plan.
But on the bright side, connected fitness is on
the rise and it's not like Peloton's completely
given up on its plans.
There are a ton of products rumored to be in the pipeline
including a new connected rower, which has been rumored
for forever, and the forthcoming Peloton Guide.
And as we've seen in the past, Peloton knows how
to make a good product.
So I'm not saying Peloton's destined for failure,
it's just something you have to think about.
(swish)
All right everybody, great job watching this review.
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