Best Fitness Brands in Australia

As in all industries, customers often ask us “which brand of fitness equipment is best?”.
 

Part 1 : Choosing Between our Brands

 
Just as it’s totally subjective to say “Ford is better than Holden”, so too with “York is better than BodyWorx”.
 
In reality, they each have their strengths, and people choose based on their own set of preferences.
 
And as with brands in electronics, cars, and even sports shoes, the big credible brands will quickly copy each other to ensure that the uniqueness of any technological break-through is soon short-lived.
 
Frankly, it's going to be a comparison of which model suits your needs that will drive your decision.
 

Part 2 : Is it really a Brand at all?

 
Curiously, we’re all happy to try plain-brand cordial, or generic paper, but would you buy a no-name car?
 
Unlikely.
 
And that’s because it’s a big, complex machine with lots of moving parts which you don’t understand. You need backup, service, parts, and a warranty that's worth more than just the paper it's written on.
 
Unfortunately, it’s like that with fitness equipment.
 
We frequently sell fitness equipment to customers who have first bought a treadmill or bike from an auction site, or generic online discounter, but when it broke down and they couldn’t get it fixed, they came to us to upgrade to a brand-name machine.
 
Without trying to tell you whether Ford is better than Holden(!), here are some tips on choosing the right brand of fitness equipment;
  1. Australian-Based: Make sure the supplier (not just the retailer) has a solid physical presence in Australia. If anything goes wrong, your warranty is with a local supplier (and better yet, most have in-home warranty services).

  2. Length in Business: Make sure the brand has been around a while. Brands like York Fitness have been around for over 75 years, which gives you a pretty good idea that your warranty claim, or spare-parts request in 2 years, will not go unanswered.

  3. Own Imports: A hand-full of internet fitness merchants (esp. those who advertise through online auction sites or Mega Maul-type sites) source treadmills from cheap factories in China and import container-loads themselves into Australia. Odds are that these pieces of equipment will have questionable warranties, limited spare parts, and the specs they claim may not have been subjected to the rigorous US and European testing that the big brands have.

  4. Exclusive Models: Even within the big brands, sometimes retailers commit to big volumes of a treadmill and secure their own model name. While these models certainly have the credibility and backing of the big-brand supplier, watch what you’re getting for your money. If the model you’re interested in is only being sold by the one group/store, what are the chances that it’s being subjected to the sort of price competition that would lead to you getting the lowest possible price?
    Research the model you’re interested in, and check that it’s an “in-line” model being sold by a few stores.

  5. Beware Auction Sites: Most of the big brands of fitness equipment do not permit marketing of their items on auction sites. If you’re interested in a big-brand machine advertised on these sites, check with the supplier that it is going to have a valid warranty. Watch out, the item may also not be what you think you're getting! 

 

On our live-chat service today, I had 2 customers ask me "what do you think of XYZ Fitness" and "Blah Fitness" (names changed for this article) and my response was "that's not a brand!". Some guy with a garage, or DiscountCrazySuperBargain.Com (name also changed) has just made up this brand name to flog off a few rowing machines, which they have no idea about, so they can move onto power drills or BBQ sets. Buy this rowing machine at your own risk, both metaphorically and literally.

So in conclusion, I'd encourage buyers to choose a long-standing, trustworthy brand for your fitness equipment, not just for all the usual consumer-goods reasons, but because of the complexity of this equipment and the difficulty with which it needs to be serviced or repaired.