We happened upon a Nordic Track C700 at Sears. It is $840 this weekend with free delivery. We went home and looked at reviews. It gets generally positive reviews. Especially on cushioning.
It also has iFit. Which I thought would just be a gimmick but it looks REALLY cool. You can put in basically anywhere on the globe and iFit will mimic that elevation change. It will automatically track your runs and increase intensity automatically.
It isn't a $3000 treadmill but seems an excellent sub $1000 choice. We decided and going to buy it today. My back problems on pavement and the Texas summer heat were our deciding factors.