Carl P.

This is an initial review of Pro-Form Treadmills. My specific experience includes 4 different models.

Including both the 400 Series & 600 Series.

The website touts "Professional-grade construction", along with other claims of quality materials and workmanship.

None of this is true. Pro-Form Treadmills use inferior materials and inept Chinese workmanship. They are pieces of junk. Some are dangerous pieces of junk.

One 400 model in particular will change speeds - haphazardly without warning. This malfunction is inherent at the point of manufacture. This problem has been reported to Icon Health & Fitness (Customer Service for Pro-Form Equipment), but they do nothing except continually offer empty apologies.

In summary: Pro-Form markets nothing but cheap junk. If you own one, get rid of it while you can. If you have the option to get your money back, get it while you can. Eventually these pieces of junk will begin to malfunction, becoming useless garbage long before they reach anything close to a useful life potential. I repeat - Pro-Form = Junk.

NOTE: I will edit this review soon to include video of these machines in use so potential buyers can see for themselves what horrible products they really are.

Now that's a novel idea... Hire on some cuties to post stellar reviews that support a daily fantasy website. If you fall for this one, you'll take the bait - hook, line and sinker!

Am I the only person who finds this to seriously border on the edge of fraud, if not unethical?

Just for the record, be aware that to earn this advertised $600 matching deposit bonus, you are going to have to enter roughly $15,000 in "PAID" contests. Seriously, visit the site and do the math.

Daily Fantasy Sports websites are full of "industry experts" as the call them - these are nothing more than sharks who use algorithms, scripts, and other tricks to "corner the market".

The DFS scams make insider trading on Wall Street look like some little kid swiping a piece of candy off the counter at a convenience store.

Just hope that most people will have enough intelligence to realize that this bevy of cutie-pies probably do not even play daily fantasy sports - IF they are even real - and the common everyday sports fan who thinks they are prime to be a legend in the world of fantasy sports, will soon be greeted with the harsh reality of the industry.

Response to the Reply from Jonathan at FantasyDraft.com ~ See below

I find it so refreshing to see that a representative from FantasyDraft.com has offered their support for just about everything I said in my review. The fact still stands undisputed that unless you are supported by algorithms, tips, tricks, or insider information, the everyday DFS player is going to get eaten alive in the shark infested waters of FantasyDraft.com.

They just make the process of throwing your money away seem a little more appealing.

Lets breakdown Jonathans illuminating reply piece by piece.

First, let me touch on the eloquent rebuttal posed against the fact that the matching deposit program at FantasyDraft.com is somehow good and ethical just because Jonathan insists it is the industry-standard. A joke is a joke, no matter how many times it is repeated.

The normal everyday DFS player is NEVER going to realize anything close to their deposit bonus without making MANY more substantial deposits. Feed the beast.

Saying that the matching deposit program at FantasyDraft.com is good just because they follow industry standards does not remove the fact that it is a JOKE.

I said I was reluctant to ask readers to Do the math, Jonathan insists...

Deposit $100 into a FantasyDraft.com Account and at the 4% per contest dollar purchased, a DFS player will either need to win roughly $2,000 in prizes, (good luck with that option), OR invest more than a thousand dollars to chase their original matching deposit bonus. Can you see where this is headed?

This deceiving practice may not reach the bench of a worthy federal judge as criminal, but it is damn sure unethical B. S.

So, no matter how FD.com (and most of the other DFS sites) try to sugarcoat it, the matching deposit bonus is nothing more than shiny bait to lure everyday players into their shark infested waters.

As for FD.coms 6-Degrees of Pay SM Referral Program? Take out your trusty Texas Instruments, handheld solar calculator again, and plug in some numbers. This is nothing more than another blatant use of deception, but this time youre going to involve your friends and family in the scheme.

Jonathon also insists that FantasyDraft.com has something special in relation to customer service. While not getting into particular details, I could post every single reply to a complaint, or problem. Same old use of smoke and mirrors. Problems are said to have been researched by a third party IT team, a convenient way to deflect responsibility and avoid the questions.

And now for the rest of the story...

1. Larger Payout Zones; 2. Lower Contest Fees; 3. Flexible Lineup Structure; 4. Multi-Entry Capping

This organized dissertation by Jonathan is nothing more than a good parlor trick. Smoke and mirrors.

It makes NO difference if a contest pays out to a wider percentage of the places, charges less in contest fees, or caps the number of entries IF those places and the prize money, are constantly absorbed by the same highly skilled (queue the theme music from Jaws... Shhhhharks!).

FantasyDraft.com does offer smaller contest fields, but that consequently equals a smaller total number of players will win. The statement addressing lower contest fees is straight up B. S. The contests at FantasyDraft.com cost exactly the same as parallel contests across the DFS industry.

FD.com boasts that their cap on contest entries per user is an indication they deter the number of shark-type DFS players. This is simply NOT the truth. The only thing that FantasyDraft.com does do is to make it nearly impossible to load contest data to track which DFS sharks win all these larger payout zones. FD.com, (along with the other DFS sites) do a nice job of disguising the obvious. They intend to lure unsuspecting suckers to feed their pool full of industry experts sharks.

The number of lineups per user may be restricted, sort of trimming the fins on these industry experts, but it does NOT change the fact that the everyday player will be fortunate to win a couple bucks on any consistent basis IF they invest on average around $10 per night. It just is NOT going to happen.

To really be transparent, sites like FantasyDraft.com need to provide ALL users will full disclosure of ALL data, including every DFS entrants track record. How many contests they play. How often they win. How much money they win.

Dont look for this feature to be offered anytime soon, because it will expose the daily fantasy sports industry for what it really is; a sham to suck money from the everyday Joe who thinks he can outsmart the house.

Summary:

Everyday sports fans who want to have some fun playing daily fantasy sports including FantasyDraft.com despite Jonathans assertions otherwise - have about as much a chance of building their DFS bankroll as they do winning the Powerball lottery.

But, novice DFS players the category that 98% of the DFS community falls in - also have to deal with a purposefully stacked deck!

If you think the playing field is fair and level, you are only kidding yourself.

Anyone who thinks they are going to dive into these shark-infested waters and come out without getting eaten alive is seriously delusional. The evidence is overwhelming.

Instead of dumping your money down the drain playing daily fantasy sports, take your kid to a ball game, your mom out to dinner, or for crying out loud, buy a lottery ticket. Your odds of winning really are better.

And just to finish, Jonathan tries to indicate that FantasyDraft.com offers something special and unique in relation to contest payouts, this proves that is an untruth.

A $1.10 Entry Fee per lineup contest at a competing DFS site (Total Entries = 250):
PAYOUTS
1st: $37.50
2nd: $20.00
3rd: $15.00
4th & 5th = $10.00
6th to 10th = $7.50
11th to 24th = $5.00
25th to 34th = $2.50
35th to 42nd= $1.88

43rd to 50th = $1.25

FantasyDraft.com $400 & ONE NBA Contest Payout Structure
$1 Entry Fee (Total Contest Entries = 448)
1st $45.00
2nd $35.00
3rd $25.00
4th $18.00
5th $13.00
6th $10.00
7th & 8th $8.00
9th & 10th $6.00
11th to 15th $5.00
16th to 25th $4.00
26th to 37th $3.00
38th to 62nd $2.00
63rd to 112th $1.50

This pretty much supports my position that FantasyDraft.com tries to act like they offer something different, but in fact they do not.

In fact, FD.com contests are even more front-end loaded to help feed their pool full of sharks.___________________________________________________________________

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
FantasyDraft.com comes across initially as providing something fresh and new to the world of daily fantasy sports. In the end they do not. FD.com is just another daily fantasy website with shark infested waters, picking apart the everyday DFS player a few dollars at a time.

Main Problems:

1. The matching deposit payout process is a total joke.

4¢ for every dollar spent in contest fees. Not going to insult anyone with mathematical calculations, as it is pretty easy to figure out that to match a meager $100 initial deposit, you will have to buy into over $2,000 worth of contests. FD.com says they are not geared towards sharks and DFS scammers, but this matching deposit policy clearly means that unless you win A LOT, you will NEVER see your matching deposit without a number of additional deposits.

2. Viewing and transferring accurate contest data to keep track of the sharks.

Transferring records of your data from FantasyDraft.com seems to be purposefully made difficult. There is no way to download opposition lineups, or contest data while the contests are LIVE. This would not be an issue if not for the odd and frequent occurrence of mysterious perfect lineups appearing for the SAME players after every nights contests are concluded. We smell a rat.

Even more perplexing is that FantasyDraft.com boasts on one hand that they are geared to the everyday DFS player, but then reply in communications addressing the number of lineups that appear algorithm generated with this: thousands of people playing on our site every night, most of whom play every single day and are veteran DFS players and industry experts, and they would attest that our contests are fair and more importantly accurate.

Well of course the sharks and scammers are going to support a website, theyre the ones raking in all the cash on a daily basis.

Again, difficult to prove corruption, but clearly a point that should be considered by those advocating the DFS industry needs regulations put in place - immediately.

If the lineups are never altered and ALL contests play out without deception, it still goes without saying that FantasyDrafts assertion they offer something different to the everyday DFS player is essentially false advertisement.

3.6-Degrees of Pay SM Referral Program.

The 6-degrees of Pay SM (insert SHAM) referral program that FantasyDraft.com boasts sets them apart from the other daily fantasy sites, is nothing more than a pyramid scheme extension of their poor matching deposit bonus policy. Similar to the matching deposit "slow bleed", you - AND all the friends and family you refer to FD.com - will have to spend thousands of dollars in contest fees to even see a 10-Spot in referral bonus money. Just another FD. Com sham to try and lure new players, plus tip-toes around a violation of federal law as a pyramid scheme.

Summary:

Experience says, the proof is in the pudding. FantasyDraft.com is no more transparent than the so-called big boys in the DFS market. They tell customers just what they want to hear.

The matching bonus policy may be the worst industry wide. Their new and unique angle of 6-Degrees of PaySM referral process is little more than a sham. Plus, add some of the same old same old where the SAME players seem to ALWAYS be in the money day in and day out, and FantasyDraft.com may be new in name, but they are the same old story.

FD. Com is nothing more than another daily fantasy sports website full of sharks and scammers with a design on sucking the everyday fantasy players account balances dry. Gambling? Playing against sharks and scammers every night - you damn right it is. Need regulating? Goes without saying.