iFIT is testing whether affluent consumers will pay luxury-goods prices for a treadmill. The company’s flagship NordicTrack Ultra 1 sells for $15,000 — more than five times the price of NordicTrack’s bestselling Commercial 1750 — and has now been recognized by three separate design juries within a single year: Esquire, TIME’s 2025 Best Inventions list, and now a Red Dot Award for Product Design.
The connected fitness industry has spent the past two years mostly optimizing for survival. Peloton’s restructuring program has targeted more than $200 million in annual run-rate savings as the company focuses on profitability and cash flow. Technogym has taken a different route, passing €1 billion in annual revenue in 2025 by leaning into commercial and hospitality wellness contracts rather than direct-to-consumer hardware sales.
iFIT’s bet with the Ultra 1 is neither of those. Rather than compete on affordability or lean on commercial channels, the company is trying to manufacture a luxury tier within connected fitness: one where a treadmill competes with high-end furniture and architectural interiors as much as with other exercise equipment. Red Dot’s jury, which has evaluated entries on functionality, usability, responsibility and aesthetics since 1955, credited the Ultra 1’s living-room-oriented design rather than its performance specifications. TIME made a similar point in its own selection, noting that most treadmills prioritize function over form while the Ultra 1 was chosen partly for combining both.
The price gap inside NordicTrack’s own lineup makes the strategy explicit
The clearest evidence of the strategy is internal: NordicTrack’s Commercial 1750 sells for roughly $2,799, and even the brand’s next-tier Ultra 3 lists at around $6,999. The Ultra 1 sits well above both. For comparison, Peloton’s Tread+, which is itself a premium connected treadmill, retails at roughly $6,695, meaning the Ultra 1 is priced above the closest thing a rival offers by more than double.
The Ultra 1’s steel frame is wrapped in walnut or maple, with knurled brass controls, wood side louvers and under-deck ambient lighting, available in Dark Walnut with Black or Light Maple with Bronze finishes. A 24-inch touchscreen accesses more than 10,000 iFIT-produced classes through an eight-speaker system, and the deck is built to absorb up to 52 percent of impact per stride, with an incline/decline range of 15 percent to -3 percent, according to the company. Speed and incline adjust automatically to match either the on-screen trainer or the runner’s heart rate.
| Ultra 1 by the numbers | |
| Price | $15,000 |
| Design awards in under a year | 3 (Red Dot, TIME, Esquire) |
| Touchscreen | 24 inches |
| iFIT workout library | 10,000+ classes |
| Audio system | 8 speakers |
| Impact absorption | Up to 52% reduction* |
| Incline/decline range | 15% to -3% |
*Per company figures. Source: NordicTrack/iFIT, Red Dot Design Award, TIME Best Inventions 2025.
It is hard to verify whether the Ultra 1 is the most expensive treadmill ever sold through a mainstream retail channel, because pricing for ultra premium fitness hardware is not tracked systematically. The intent, however, is clear. iFIT is not simply charging more for a treadmill; it is asking buyers to judge it the way they would a Poltrona Frau armchair, a Minotti sofa or a Molteni cabinet, as a considered interior object rather than gym equipment to hide away.
Whether NordicTrack can build the kind of brand equity that Italian furniture houses such as B&B Italia and Roche Bobois have accumulated over decades is a separate question, and one product cannot answer it. What the Red Dot recognition does confirm is narrower but still meaningful: the Ultra 1’s materials and design language are now credible enough to be assessed by the same juries, and on the same terms, as furniture and interior design, not just fitness hardware.
