Sunny Health ASUNA Premium Slim Folding Treadmill

I received this treadmill on 6/4/2020. My male body is 6' tall and weighs 194 lbs, which is much lower than the 220 lb limit. I had problems from the beginning. I finally contacted Sunny Health and Fitness on 7/13/2020. I received the following automated response. "Thank you for contacting Sunny Health & Fitness. We will respond to you as quickly as we can. Your ticket is 17730081." About 20 minutes later I received the following: "To process your request, we still need the below information. Please provide: - Your Phone - Serial Number - Address - Proof of Purchase (for warranty issues only) - What is this? Once we have all the above, we can provide the best solution. Have a Sunny Day! Annie" I replied with all the information and have never received another email from them, and today is 8/8/2020, but I have sent 4 emails to them with the ticket number in the subject heading, with sound recordings, a photo, and a video, with the last 2 attached to this review! The poor quality photo shows that the motor is turned about 2 degrees, so the pulleys aren't parallel. This puts stress on the belt and might cause a failure. The video shows the treadmill belt while the motor is running, and every complete rotation shows a jump in the belt. This is probably a poorly manufactured belt. Search for "Asuna 8730G user manual" to find the user manual. Pages 2 and 3 have exploded diagrams, which might help while reading this. You will need to turn them 90 degrees clockwise to see them clearly. On page 3 you can see the uprights assembly. At the bottom of both the right and left uprights you will see parts 68, 6, and 47. On page 2, in the middle of the main frame, you will see parts 78 and 76 for both sides. These last parts are washers and nuts that screw onto the end of the bolts, part 68. At the head of those bolts is where one inserts the included tool to loosen and tighten the arm assembly so it can be moved up and down. This whole area didn't seem to have very much if any lubrication, so I could hear metal on metal squeaking when turning the bolts, which were very hard to turn. I removed these parts, cleaned everything in the area, and reinstalled the parts after putting on a good amount of silicone grease. The bolts turn much more easily, but there still is a feeling of metal on metal which doesn't feel good. Part 47, listed above, is a large VERY STRONG compression spring, and it might be the cause of the metal on metal feeling, as it puts a tremendous pressure on the threads. I don't know if this is just bad design or a manufacturing problem. On page 3, you will see the main structural supports label 2R and 2L. At the bottom of those is a mechanism that is not shown separately. When the uprights are upright, and the 2 bolts (part 68) have been loosened, one still needs to push firmly, for a few inches, on the whole upright assembly to lower it. The mechanism I mentioned is what creates the resistance and then releases. It took quite a bit of force to get it to work, so I sprayed some silicone into those areas, which is between the base and the bottom of the uprights, and it is so much easier to move now! So this is another area that didn't seem to get the lubrication. Trying to remove a noise I sometimes hear, I have tightened all the screws and bolts that I can find, and even took off the motor cover from the top to see if there was anything in there that might be causing the sound. The belt is tightened so that the middle of it can be lifted about 2" to 2 1/2", and is centered on the rollers. The sound isn't loud at all, and it only happens maybe 20 % of the time, but it makes me feel that something is wrong, but this is my first treadmill so I don't know what is to be considered OK. I run a little at 4 mph, but mostly walk at 2.2 mph. I seem to hear the noise more after running, and it seems to be in sync with my left foot to some degree. If I move both feet to the right it seems to go away, but when I move back to the left it returns. There is also a fairly loud squeak that comes from the right front side, but it is also intermittent I contacted support at Amazon, and the woman I dealt with was very nice and spent 5 days trying to reach support. She got to them once and they didn't want to talk but just asked that I send a video to them. I contacted another Amazon support person and explained everything all over, and that person ended up transferring me to someone at a higher level. She was able to contact support at Sunny. I then had a conversation with a man who was very nice. He didn't really understand the product but stated they had one. I had him look at my emails and the attachments. Then had him look at the user manual as I explained the problems. He didn't seem to have any personal knowledge, but told me he would talk to the manager and call me back before 5 PST. I have never heard from anyone at Sunny Support. One good thing about all of this, is that I am much more aware of the machine and how to maintain it. I do like the treadmill because it can be stored vertically leaning against a wall and takes up little space. My concern is that because of all the problems that it will fail; and because Sunny Support basically doesn't exist, that I won't ever be helped. Update 1: Being bothered by the metal on metal scraping feeling when turning the#68 bolt, I decided to take it apart, once again, and measure the spring with a digital caliper. The diameter of the wire of the extremely strong compression spring (part #47) was 2.5mm, with the outside diameter of the spring being 23mm, the inside diameter being 18mm, and the length 18mm. I purchased some springs on Amazon that were 1.2mm wire to replace the included ones, as their whole purpose is just to push out on part #6, thus allowing the upright to be raised and lowered. These were approximately 1/4 of the strength of the included springs, and were strong enough to easily push out part #6. I also purchased some "Permatex 81343 Anti-Seize Lubricant, 1 oz. Tube" on Amazon. I cleaned off all the parts and put the springs on the end of part #6, and then put the Anti-Seize Lubricant on the #68 bolts. This greatly reduced the friction when turning the bolts, and made it feel better, but even then I can feel a slight metal on metal grinding. I think this whole assembly is a bad design. Wouldn't it be easier to have a mechanical button to lock and unlock the uprights? Update 2: Please watch the manufacturer video on Amazon. At :59 seconds there is a supposed demonstration showing the "Simple Setup", which they show only takes 12 seconds! This is a total lie! I have been using this treadmill 2 times a day for 67 days, and can set it up and take it down fairly quickly. I timed myself for the whole process and it took me 3:36, which includes about 1:48 for setup, and the same for tear down. That amount of time isn't that great, but the outright lie in the video bothers me greatly. I have it against the wall and only need to move it 10 feet and lower it, which doesn't take much time. Then I need to plug it in and unscrew the #68 bolts (one on each side), with each needing to be turned about 3 full turns (or 6 half turns). Then I raise the upright assembly, and then need to tighten the #68 bolts with each needing to be turned about 3 full turns (or 6 half turns). Then I can rotate the handles and tray into place and turn it on. In the video she only turns the bolt on the front right 1 full turn (or 2 half turns), which isn't enough to even be able to raise (or lower) the upright assembly. Update 3: I am spending all this time and energy to of course be helped by support, but mainly it is to help the company realize their support is very poor, and that their dishonesty exposes problems within the company. I think this treadmill has great potential, so I wish they would fix all their problems and be honest, as it could sell very well. I posted much of the first part of this review on their website (sunnyhealthfitness.com), but they didn't post it for people to read. Then I asked why they are only posting 4 and 5 star reviews. Finally they posted it, and added the reply below. It seems they do this as a marketing strategy, as you can see on some of the 1 star review comments here on Amazon. The question is, do they ever actually work with the customer and fix the problems. In my case, the answer is no. Here is what they added to my review on their website, but I have never been contacted, and they don't allow people to reply to their comment. "Sunny Health and Fitness Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We sincerely apologize for your experience and for the delay in communication. Our support team has been dealing with an overwhelming number of tickets and they are working as quickly as they can to service all of our customers. We want to get you up and running as soon as possible and will have a team member reach out to you shortly. Thank you for your patience and understanding!" Update 4: I was using my treadmill at 2.2 mph, but with my 194 pound body every step would slow the motor a bit and then it would speed up again. I increased the speed in .1 mph increments and it got better. When I reached 2.7 mph the motor was steady. Being that the treadmill is rated for a 220 lb person, it will probably be worse for a body of that weight. It seems that the manufacturer is more interested in the marketing of the highest speed of 8 mph, than they were in optimizing it for people using it at the most common speeds. If I press down on the arms, which in effect transfers the body weight to the frame, I can stop the varying motor sound. So if one has a body that is maybe 150 lbs they might not experience this problem. My concern is that using it at 2.2 mph will hurt the motor more. It works fine at 2.7 mph, so that is the slowest speed I use.