If you are searching for the best portable treadmill then there are few key characteristics that you need to be looking for. With so many portable treadmills available on the market this can be difficult to figure out what are the most important characteristics to consider, but generally speaking most people care the most about 1) quality of the treadmill, 2) ease of portability, and 3) cost of the machine.
Quality of the treadmill
In determining the quality of the machine, it really does help to know which brands make good fitness gear. One brand, Icon fitness is the dominant name in this market, which is actually a good thing for the consumer because in general their machines are good quality and they come at a reasonable price. Icon is the manufacturer of the NordicTrak, Healthrider, and Proform portable treadmill brands.
In addition to brand quality, the price of the treadmill will greatly affect its quality. In this case you go (in most cases) get what you pay for. However, there is one case where you can possibly save money and still get top notch quality, and that is if you decide to purchase a portable manual treadmill. With a manual treadmill you can save money simply because you don’t have all the bells and whistles of a fully powered portable treadmill.
Ease of Portability
Simply put, if you are buying a portable treadmill then you are going to want it to be fairly portable. Of course, this does not mean that you can fold it up and put it into a honda civic, but you will want to be able to move it easily within your home to where ever you would like to put it. Make sure the build quality is there so the machine is not damaged while being moved.
Cost of the Machine
Obviously we have already discussed the cost of portable treadmills briefly. The general cost of a treadmill can run anywhere from $300 to well over $2000 for a commercial grade machine. The bottom line on cost is if you can afford it, pay a little more to get to the second tier models, which usually cost around $700-$800, as the increased functionality and build quality justify the added cost.
