Speediance V3 Software: What Went Wrong (And What Actually Worked)

The V3 Rollout Was A Mess

Speediance shipped V3 software and it was rough. They removed partner mode from Freelift, shipped a broken UI, and added a Safety Start button to my screen that literally did nothing because the firmware wasn't ready for my unit.

I sat with a non-functional feature button for weeks.

This is the problem with being an early adopter of firmware-driven fitness equipment. You get features when they ship, not when they work.

Partner Mode: Gone (For Now)

The biggest complaint: they removed partner mode from Freelift. This was the feature that made Speediance unique — the dual motors meant you could do individual movements on individual rails at different velocities. That's something Tonal can't do.

In V3, it's gone from Freelift. Partner mode still exists in the regular workout flow — you can select it when starting any workout. But the Freelift implementation, where you'd set up custom partner workouts, is broken.

Speediance has announced they're bringing it back. I'm waiting.

The UX Changes: Better Looking, Worse Using

They re-designed the interface to match the UX of other screens. What that means: all the buttons moved from the top of the screen to the bottom. The idea was consistency across every mode.

The problem: there's now a button on my screen that switches between barbell and dumbbell modes — but it doesn't work in Freelift. It's just... there. Clickable, but doing nothing.

They also made it much easier to max out eccentric mode. That was time-consuming in V2.x — you had to scroll through the wheel repeatedly. In V3, you just drag it to max. That's a genuine improvement.

The Safety Start Problem

Safety Start locks the cable at a specific length so it won't retract further. The intent: prevent the cable from pulling you into the machine on movements like cable flies.

The problem: it also slows down the retraction speed across the entire machine. Not just when Safety Start is active. Always.

I noticed it the day I got the new firmware. When I bring a cable back toward the machine, it moves noticeably more slowly. The cord literally folds into itself during transitions. That's cable wear waiting to happen.

My theory: Safety Start was designed for the Pilates feature they're building. It has nothing to do with safety. They should have called it something else — because real safety features should come to all hardware, not just new models.

What They Got Right

Pop-up ads are gone. Before V3, every time you started the device, you'd get hit with ads for Workout Plus and other stuff you didn't want. Those don't appear anymore.

They listen. It's not like they don't care — they absolutely do. The problem is they ship features before they're ready, and early users like me get stuck with broken buttons.

The Family Workout Plus Lie

You pay $25 a year for Family Workout Plus. The marketing shows a kid, mom, and dad all working out together.

You can't do that.

You can't do custom workouts together. You can't do partner workouts. It's literally just a rebranded individual account with extra profiles. You're paying $25 to create additional user accounts — not to workout as a family.

If they took my goals and my wife's goals, merged them, and created a hybridized workout we could do together — that would be worth $25. But that's not what it does.

Who This Device Is Not For

I need to be honest about this: if your wife wants a female coach, this device might not work for her.

The only female coach with most videos available speaks Spanish. Unless your wife speaks Spanish, she's stuck with the male English coaches. This comes up constantly in the Speediance community.

If your wife specifically wants a female-led guided experience, Tonal is still the answer. The video production quality on Tonal is significantly higher because they invested millions in studios. Speediance is catching up, but they're not there yet.

The Bottom Line

I've lifted over 1,143,000 pounds on these machines. The hardware is great. The software is still maturing.

V3 is an upgrade in UX but a step back in features. They removed something unique to their platform (partner mode in Freelift) and replaced it with UI changes nobody asked for.

The good news: they're bringing partner mode back. The bad news: it should never have been removed in the first place.

If you're considering Speediance, understand what you're getting: excellent hardware with active firmware development. That means features ship before they're perfect, and you'll occasionally get a button on your screen that does nothing.

After a million pounds, I'm still on it every day. That's the real verdict.