Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Let me start out by saying that I LOVE my Surfshelf because I HATE walking on my treadmill, but health requires that I do. I used to listen to music, but I was just BORED. Now, I watch movies and shows with the help of my Surfshelf, and the 45 minutes just whizzes by like never before. I've had it for about two months now, and would hate to live without it. However, I only gave it 4 stars because I feel everyone should know about the cons involved. Here they are, in my opinion:
1) The cost. It's too pricey for what you get, but I still would buy it again. So, I guess that point is debatable. It's basically a plastic tray with a velcro strap and a couple of nylon belts, but it does the job of holding your laptop VERY securely, which was very important to me. (**It's April 2010 now, and I came back to edit this portion of my review because I found out that the price I originally paid for the SurfShelf has been lowered by $20. I consider that to be a fair price and good value, and I wanted my review to reflect the change. I've had my SS for a year now, and still love it!)
2) Set up. The original set up took about 10 minutes, and was fairly simple. However, I absolutely would NEVER recommend this to someone who wanted to take it to a gym everyday. You'd have to lug the pieces with you, and spend 10 minutes or more getting it ready to accept your laptop, and that would be way too much for me. I leave mine set up on my treadmill, and then setting my laptop up on it is a one minute process every morning. Very do-able.
3) Maybe this is just me, because I'm not as young as I used to be (I'm 55), but I cannot do ANYTHING on my treadmill but WATCH something when I'm walking on it. I can't type, I can't use the mouse, and I have to step on the side rails to do anything but turn the volume up or down. So, I start whatever show or movie I'm going to watch before I actually begin walking. Again, this could be an age thing, so maybe you younger folk can get your business done on your laptop while moving, but I sure couldn't.
4) One last con for me is that I can't see my digital read out through my laptop when it's on the Surfshelf. I have to peer way to the side to see around it, and even then it's tough to make out the read outs. This isn't a big deal to me, as I set a speed and incline shortly after beginning and don't really need to see it during my workout, but that may be a problem for some people, so it's worth mentioning.
5) The Surfshelf comes with an In-Gym subscription, which I found to NOT be very user-friendly while walking. Again, this could be just me. Others may love that feature. It's a website with short videos of news, entertainment, etc., that you are supposed to be able to use your arrow keys to navigate around. It didn't work well for me, but you can check it out for yourself at in-[...].
The pros of the Surfshelf are its simplicity in setting it up, the ability (for me) to just leave it up because it's in my home, and the best pro of all, my workouts are no longer boring. Again, the end of the boring workout makes it, for me, worth all the cons I mentioned above.
The Surfshelf is well worth the price if you have access to your own treadmill, and the ability to watch lots of movies or TV shows on your laptop (I use the $8.99 a month Netflix plan and a Roku box ($99), which gives me full access to all of Netflix "Watch Instantly" movies and shows, and Amazon instant purchases. I also occasionally use iTunes purchases and regular DVD's). I still spend far less than a gym membership would cost.
All in all, I highly recommend the Surfshelf.
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SurfShelf Treadmill Desk and Laptop Holder
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