Before you select your treadmill you must first decide what it is that you are going to use your treadmill for. Most people use their treadmill for one of the following three things:
1. Running
2. Walking
3. Hanging Laundry on
You must first decide which of these will be your primary use because the requirements for your treadmill depend greatly on type of usage.
If your primary use is the third option you will quite simply want to purchase the most inexpensive treadmill that you can find. Even the cheapest treadmills will put up with a small amount of use for a short period of time without breaking. And even if the motor or belt does give way, the primary function of the treadmill is in tact without them.
If you intend to use your treadmill for a significant amount of running or walking you will need to consider the following: Horse Power, Belt length and with, Incline, functions and special features, Warrantees (manufacturer or additional purchase), Delivery and Assembly.
Horse Power: There are two schools of thought on the horsepower requirements of a treadmill. The first says that if you are walking you don't need a lot of horse power because you will not be operation at high speeds. This school of thought basically says, if you are walking you can just get whatever, but if you are running you need at least 1.75HP.
The second school of thought prefers higher horse power for walking because a walking stride involves the planting of the foot with each step which puts more strain on the belt and motor. To maintain constant motion on the belt, you need to have a higher horse power than when you are running.
Both schools of thought have their points, so with this in mind I rarely recommend a treadmill less that 1,75HP for either running or walking.
Simply put, horsepower is probably the most important thing to look at when shopping for a treadmill. Higher horsepower will allow for higher maximum speeds, and a smother belt motion at all speeds. In my opinion anything over 2.2 horsepower is plenty powerful enough for anything that you might want to do.
Belt Length and Width: Here again, wider and longer is better. If you are buying a nice machine the belt will typically be plenty wide and long, but if you are pinching your pennies, I would recommend running and walking on a floor model for a while to make sure you are comfortable with the length of the belt. You should be able to walk and run without worry of coming off the back and without kicking the belt guard.
Incline: Most treadmills will incline ( or tilt up) between 8 an 12 degrees. In reality you won't notice a huge difference between 10 and 12, so I usually don't recommend that incline value be a determining factor in treadmill purchasing.
Functions and special features:
- Fans. Most people don't like the built in fans and don't use them. Floor fans are actually preferable.
MP3 player: This is a nice feature, double check to make sure that treadmill has speakers and is not just expecting you to plug into the treadmill with headphones.
Preset programs: The more the merrier, but most people come to find they have a few favorites, or ignore the programs completely and just do their own thing
Storage: Almost all treadmills fold up to some extent, but there are a few that have been designed to slide under beds or into very small spaces. Typically the ones the stow away nicely are also weak machines. If at all possible I would avoid them because you are paying a lot for what is typically a low power machine. On the other hand if you need the space they are an option.
Warrantees: Most treadmills come with some sort of manufacture warrantee, for most people this warrantee is sufficient to cover what they need. Most decent treadmills last reasonably will under normal use, so you will probably be outside of normal warrantee if and when your treadmill breaks.
You can also purchase after market insurance which is sold through your retailer. This is really only a good deal if you plan on giving your treadmill heavy usage. For instance if you know that you have two family members who will be running on the machine every day, it may be worth your while to purchase additional insurance due to the heavy wear. Otherwise just remember that insurance is designed to be profitable for the company so by definition insurance is a bad deal for more people than it is a good deal for.
Delivery and assembly: Treadmill are not terrible difficult to assemble out of the box. If you are going to do it yourself, you may want to set aside an hour or so. Other than plugging in the display, you will not be doing any electrical wiring, and most of it is simply attaching part A to part B. If you are at all mechanically inclined you should do this yourself. Delivery is another story. Treadmills are heavy and bulky, so unless you have a big vehicle and some strong backs, the delivery option is something that you should at least consider. At around $130 to have the whole thing delivered and assembled it may be worth your money to use someone else's time and effort to get you all set up
As with most things, you get what you pay for, and the more expensive treadmill you get, the happier you will probably be, but as far as I am concerned as long as you are buying a machine with reasonable horsepower, all of the other features will be appropriate for the machine and leave you with a good overall experience.