The NordicTrack Vault is a freestanding, full-length mirror with a hidden touch screen on which you can stream workout classes. At $2,499 for the fully loaded unit we tested (plus $39 per month for an iFit streaming workout subscription), the Vault justifies its price by providing access to a large library of high-quality fitness workouts led by knowledgeable trainers. Best of all, it includes discreet storage for all of your weights, making it the most attractive workout mirror we’ve seen with one of the most sensible designs. It doesn’t count your reps, offer form feedback, or keep track of how much weight you lift like the the $2,495 Tempo Studio or the $2,995 Tonal, but the Vault is a good alternative if you’re looking for a smart strength training machine that doesn’t look like one.
Not Your Average Mirror
NordicTrack sells the Vault both with and without accessories. On its own, the Vault costs $1,999. The standalone version comes with hanging shelves you can install in the cabinet at various heights to accommodate your weights, and a microfiber cleaning towel for the display.
For this review, NordicTrack sent me the $2,499 Complete package, which includes everything mentioned above, plus all the accessories you need for iFit classes, including an exercise mat, six sets of dumbbells (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 pounds), three resistance loop bands (light, medium, and heavy), three resistance bands (20, 30, and 50 pounds), two kettlebells (20 and 30 pounds), and two yoga blocks.
The Complete package also comes with both premium and hanging shelves. The premium shelves are solid and the hanging shelves have cutouts that allow you to either hang your weights or set them on top. My unit came with four sets of shelf brackets, four premium shelves, and three hanging shelves. Since I can only install four shelves in the Vault at a time, I have three extra shelves, which I just hide behind the unit. With the way I have my shelves arranged, I have room for all the included accessories, plus two extra sets of dumbbells I already had at home.
NordicTrack charges an extra $199 for threshold delivery or $249 for White Glove professional delivery and assembly. If you opt for the White Glove option, NordicTrack’s delivery partner will carry the boxes into your home, assemble the Vault in your preferred location, then haul away the boxes. Otherwise, with the threshold option, the company drops off the boxes at your front door and leaves you to assemble it for yourself. (More on the assembly process in the next section.)
To make the cost more manageable, NordicTrack offers financing options through TD Bank starting at $46 or $57 per month for 48 months for the Standalone and Complete packages, respectively.
The Vault comes with a 10-year frame warranty, a 2-year parts warranty, and a 1-year labor warranty. If you’re unhappy with the Vault, you can request a refund within 30 days of your delivery. NordicTrack doesn’t refund shipping and delivery fees, and charges $250 for return shipping. You may also incur additional charges for “ordinary wear and tear or damage caused by improper use, incorrect assembly, or accidents,” according to the company’s website.
When budgeting for the Vault, don’t forget to factor in the iFit membership, which gives you access to a variety of trainer-led workouts. The machine comes with a free, 30-day iFit trial; after that, it costs $39 per month ($396 per year if you pay upfront) for a family plan or $180 per year for an individual plan. Because the Vault requires you to enter your credit card information for the iFit trial during setup, you need to cancel or change your subscription manually if you don’t want to renew it.
The iFit family plan lets you create up to five user profiles so that everyone in your household can keep their stats separate. You can log into iFit on as many pieces of compatible equipment as you like. That’s a strong perk if you or a family member already owns a different iFit-connected product. The workout streaming service works on machines from NordicTrack, Proform, Freemotion, Weider, and Matrix. I discuss the iFit experience later in this review.
As for specs, the Vault measures 73 by 24 by 14 inches (HWD) and sits atop a solid metal, 22.5-by-32-inch base. It’s very heavy, weighing upward of 600 pounds for the Complete package I tested.
The Vault features a carbon steel frame. The front of its door includes a 61.5-by-22.5-inch (HW) reflective mirror with a hidden 32-inch HD touch screen. A clever design with a unique bracket and hinge system that lets you pull the door 11 inches away from the cabinet and rotate it side to side to the viewing angle. When not in use, the Vault functions like a regular mirror. Below the mirror portion are dual 3-inch digitally amplified speakers.
The power switch is behind the door. All the cords are hidden, except the standard, three-prong power plug in the back that connects to your wall.
My main complaint about the Vault hardware is that the touch screen is occasionally unresponsive. Sometimes when I tap something, nothing happens. Flipping the power switch on and off always fixes the problem and the Vault reboots quickly, but it’s still an irritating issue. If workout classes buffer, try connecting it to a 5GHz Wi-Fi network.
The Vault’s primary competitors include the $2,495 Tempo Studio, the $2,995 Tonal, the $1,495 Mirror, and the $1,739.98 Echelon Reflect Touch. The Tempo Studio uses 3D sensors and artificial intelligence to suggest the appropriate weight you should be lifting for each move, counts your reps, and offers real-time feedback about your form to keep you honest and safe; you won’t find any of those features with the Vault. Design-wise, I prefer NordicTrack’s machine, which is more incognito and serves as a regular full-length mirror when not in use. Both offer a large selection of on-demand classes. The Tempo Studio also has live classes and leaderboards, but no scenic workouts like you get on iFit.
Like the Tempo Studio, the Vault is meant to be a freestanding interactive home gym and you shouldn’t mount it on your wall. If you prefer a wall-mounted system, the Tonal is best for strength training, while the Mirror and Echelon Reflect Touch are better for bodyweight workouts.
The Vault’s hidden storage cabinet for your weights and other accessories sets it apart from the Mirror and Echelon Reflect Touch. I love this feature; the cabinet keeps everything tidy and makes it easy to access your equipment. Friends who visit always comment on the Vault and say it looks cool. When I open the door to reveal the hidden weight cabinet, they are always impressed.
Setup Process
NordicTrack is once again offering professional assembly in most US cities for an additional fee after temporarily halting the service in 2020 due to COVID-19. You can check if it’s available in your area on the company’s website.
Self-assembly requires two people. At the risk of stating the obvious, the Vault and its accessories are heavy and the full-length mirror is fragile. The Complete package (which includes the Vault plus accessories) arrived in two boxes weighing 297 and 288 pounds, respectively.
NordicTrack offered professional delivery and assembly with my test unit, and I happily accepted. Though I can’t speak to the assembly process, it seems pretty straightforward. According to the user manual, you just need to screw the cabinet to the base, attach the door to the cabinet, and plug in a few wires. You need two people so one can hold the large parts in place while the other person screws them on.
Unfortunately, the White Glove service failed to meet my expectations. After unboxing the unit, the delivery team informed me that the screen was cracked, a huge disappointment after eagerly awaiting the machine. I had the delivery team take it back and contacted NordicTrack for a replacement, which they promptly ordered. Then, my second unit somehow went missing on its way to me. After much back and forth with NordicTrack and its third-party delivery partner, I finally received a replacement unit, nearly three months after the first one had arrived. On delivery day, the team assembled the unit but attempted to take off before installing the shelves in the Vault or even unboxing the accessories. I asked them to complete the job, which they did, before hauling away all the boxes.
Because the assembly process seems fairly simple, I recommend passing on the White Glove service and doing it yourself, if you feel comfortable and have someone to help.
The rest of the setup process is simple. The first time you turn on the Vault, it pulls up a list of nearby Wi-Fi networks; just select yours, enter your password, and wait for it to install system updates, which only around five minutes in testing. Next, it will bring you to the iFit login screen, where you can enter your existing account credentials or sign up. I’ve tested several iFit-connected NordicTrack machines before, including the Commercial 2950 treadmill, RW900 rowing machine, and Commercial S22i stationary bike, so I used my existing credentials to sign in.
Next, it asks you to create or review your profile. Here, you input or edit your birth date, gender, height, current weight, workout goals, goal weight, muscle groups you’re interested in building, preferred workout duration, and which equipment you have. For workout goals, you can select all that apply from the following options: lose weight, improve muscle tone, improve performance, improve health and wellness, maintain current fitness.
iFit Class Selection and Interface
On the Vault, iFit gives you access to a large and varied workout class library, with categories such as barre, HIIT, pilates, strength training, and yoga. It also offers guided meditations and classes that teach you to use a percussion gun for recovery. The workouts vary in length, from less than 20 to more than 50 minutes, and accommodate all fitness levels.
Many of the Vault’s workouts are meant to be taken as a series, which progress in intensity, though you can jump around if you prefer. Some classes have picturesque locations in the background such as Bermuda and Maui, while Olympic athletes such as Michael Phelps and Alex Morgan lead others.
The available series include Advanced HIIT Training, Barre+; Beginner Yoga and Pilates; Bermuda Beginner Vinyasa Yoga; Power Yoga; Strength Training 101; Functional HIIT; Functional Strength; Michael Phelps Champion Series: Maui Strength; Next-Level Strength Training; Train Like a Pro: Alex Morgan Strength; and Yoga Pose Foundations.
The Vault’s iFit interface is colorful, well organized, and easy to navigate, with lots of filtering options and large preview photos to help you discover workouts.
At the top left corner of the iFit interface is a menu icon from which you can access and manage your account, add or delete additional users, change your Wi-Fi settings, or report an issue. On the bottom of the interface are three tabs: Home, Calendar, and Browse.
The Home tab offers recommended classes based on your workout history, as well as new and featured content. If you’re working your way through a series, the section will helpfully surface your next workout at the top.
The Calendar tab offers a timeline of your workout history. For each entry, it shows the date and time you completed the class, along with your estimated calories burned. If you had a heart rate monitor connected to the Vault during the workout, it will also show a graph of your heart’s beats per minute throughout the session, along with your average and max heart rate.
In Browse, you can use a search bar or filtering options to narrow the Vault’s iFit workout class library. It lets you filter the library by continent filmed (Europe, North America, and South America); duration; environment filmed (beach, city, forest, landmarks, mountains, studio, waterfront); equipment needed (barbell, barre, blocks, dumbbells, kettlebell, mat, mini bands, and resistance bands); intensity (beginner, intermediate, and advanced); target area (abs, arms, back, chest, core, glutes, legs, shoulders, total body, and upper body); trainer; and workout type (active recovery, dumbbells, mind, setup, strength, studio, and yoga). You also have the option to filter by language, but all the classes appear to be in English as of this writing. Additional filtering options let you exclude classes you have completed or surface just the ones you have already taken. Finally, a series filter brings up all the sequential programs available. I hope iFit adds filters for barre, meditation, and pilates to make these classes a bit easier to find.
When you click on a workout, a preview screen pops up and shows a bio of the iFit trainer leading the workout, comments people have left about it, a description of the class, a list of equipment you need, and a user rating out of five stars. It also shows your estimated calorie burn and estimated effort score. The estimated effort score gives you an idea of how hard it will be compared with your usual workouts; the higher the number, the harder the workout. All of this information lets you know what you’re in for to help you decide if you want to do that workout.
When you start a workout on the Vault, you always start with a three-minute warm-up. During the warm-up, there’s a countdown timer on the screen, and you can view your stats up top, including your estimated calories burned, time elapsed, and your estimated calories burned per hour. A button on the bottom of the screen lets you connect Bluetooth headphones.
When the workout begins, you see the same stats atop the screen as you did during the optional warm-up. You can tap the time elapsed metric to change it to show the time remaining if you prefer. If you’re wearing a heart rate monitor, your current BPM appears automatically on the display. I had no problem with this feature when I tested with several HRM devices, including a Whoop 4.0 strap (which offers a new Heart Rate Broadcast feature), a Polar OH1, and a Myzone MZ-Switch.
During workouts, you can tap the screen at any time to adjust the volume; change the Feed.FM music station; enable closed captions; pause or end the class; switch to full-screen mode (which removes the metrics from the display); and view the artist and title of the song currently playing. The available Feed.FM stations include ’80s Pop, Classic Rock, Country, Dance/EDM, Downtempo Yoga, Hip-Hop Throwbacks, Pop, Pop Throwbacks, Rock, Top 40, and Uptempo Pop Remixes. The Vault lets you adjust the trainer and music volume separately, or at once. So, if you want to turn the music down and just listen to the trainer, you can. The speakers get sufficiently loud, too.
After you finish an iFit class, you can cool down on your own for as long as you like, then end the workout to save and view your stats.
Getting Jacked With the Vault
I’ve been testing the Vault for about three months, and it has, without a doubt, helped me gain strength and increase my overall fitness level. Despite the delivery woes and screen-freezing issues, I really enjoy using the Vault, especially for the strength workouts.
I first worked my way through the Train Like a Pro strength series led by Alex Morgan. It’s a series of six workouts, each around 20 to 30 minutes, based on Morgan’s off-field training program. She incorporates bodyweight cardio and strength training moves, along with some active recovery. I really liked the program; it was effective, yet accessible and fun. The Vault congratulated me when I completed the program, which was a confidence booster.
I’ve also tried many of the yoga workouts with iFit trainer Jeni DelPozo, who offers creative sequences, excellent instruction, and words of encouragement. iFit trainers can’t actually see you, but it’s still nice to hear praise, especially during challenging moments during a workout; DelPozo is good about that. My only complaint is that I want more yoga classes! A plethora of beginner-friendly yoga content is already available, but I would love to see some longer and more challenging classes for intermediate and advanced practitioners such as myself. At the moment, the Vault doesn’t offer any yoga classes longer than 30 minutes.
iFit already offers intermediate and advanced HIIT and strength programs, but I’d like them to see strong vinyasa, power flow, and yoga sculpt series. If you’re primarily interested in yoga content, check out the Mirror; athleisure brand Lululemon now owns that product and offers 60-minute vinyasa flow classes.
My favorite Vault content so far has been the Next Level Strength Training series with iFit trainer John Peel. It’s a 12-week program that consists of three workouts per week, each around 40 to 45 minutes. Each week, he leads you through an upper body-focused workout, a lower body workout, and a total body workout. The classes are well planned, and Peel incorporates the resistance bands, dumbbells, and kettlebells, along with bodyweight moves, to give you a killer workout each time. I didn’t realize that resistance bands could give you such a good burn until I started doing his workouts. I’ve learned a lot from this program and feel it has legitimately helped me improve my fitness. Peel always explains which muscles you work and stresses proper form to keep you safe. Although these series do not display a leaderboard, you don’t feel alone because iFit trainers do the workout with you.
The Vault’s Barre+ series with iFit trainer Melissa Burch also delivers serious muscle burn. It consists of seven workouts, around 15 to 25 minutes apiece, that incorporate mostly bodyweight exercises along with moves that require the mini resistance bands and your light dumbbells.
Even for someone who regularly works out, the Vault offers room to grow: I’m working my way up to the Advanced HIIT Training program. I tried one of the workouts with iFit trainer Hannah Eden, filmed at the stunning Seljalandsfoss waterfall in Iceland, and was humbled. Eden is hard-core and super inspirational. With her encouragement, I made it through the 27-minute workout, but it was a major challenge.
Overall, the Vault offers a tremendous variety of content. It was a godsend after I suffered a knee strain from running. Thanks to its abundance of easy-to-find upper body and core-focused classes, I could keep up my workout routine while resting my knee until it healed.
An Attractive and Functional Smart Home Gym
The NordicTrack Vault is a good option if you’re looking for a space-saving home gym, especially because you can hide your weights behind its mirror. I also like the Vault’s elegant design and that it integrates the excellent iFit streaming workout service, which stands out for its scenic workouts filmed in picturesque locations. Ultimately, the Tempo Studio remains our Editors’ Choice winner for its advanced AI-powered rep counting and form feedback features, which take much of the guesswork out of training alone. But the NordicTrack Vault is as attractive as it is sensibly designed and functional, making it an excellent alternative.
