Treadmills- whats important?

[rosehannah]

Hi all,

I have been thinking about buying a treadmill but I'm not sure what are the important features that make a good treadmill. there are so many to chose from and I have checked out sports stores and Ebay but I feel lost as to what I need. Who uses one and what features do you love / hate?

[Trillian]

I brought one recently and I must say its one of the best things I ever did, I use it everyday. When we brought it and were talking about the different ones with the salesperson, he said basically they are all much of a muchness in what they do (walking and running) but some of the cheaper ones wont have a power incline - you have to get off and manually raise the incline yourself (if thats what you want it to have, otherwise a manual one is fine) and naturally the dearer they get the more techno features they have - like TV's and more specialised programming features Also the length and width of them increases too and some of them are dearer because they are designed along the lines of gym treadmills and are longer and wider for people to run on them. The one we settled on has the power incline but only basic programming and I'm quite happy with that because its easy to use so you're not pushing a heap of different buttons all the time to increase speed, incline etc. The brand we brought was a Horizon one if that helps.

[Tracey Habron]

My view having used them in the gym - walk, run and if you can afford it, power incline. I doubt you will get off and raise it yourself manually......we think we will and we won't.

As for techo features - forget them. You don't need them and it just means there are more things that can go wrong and require repair. Listen to your MP3 player, the radio or walkman.

The power incline is my fave feature 'cos when I am out of puff when running, I can slow it down, put it on incline and still get a good heart rate going.

Good on you for thinking about getting one. Just don't use it as a laundry clothes horse - use it!!

[rosehannah]

Thanks for the replies Sherie and Tracey,

I have wanted one for a while now. I love going for walks and playing sport of any kind but with three kids I am finding it harder to find some time to exercise and it is showing. I have never been so heavy without being PG. I am finding I am getting poor self esteem from the weight gain which is effecting other areas of my life. Thanks again

[Trillian]

I know how you feel - I'm exactly the same and I just can't get out of the house to go for a walk and I can't play sport because of DH working shiftwork. It truly is the best thing I ever did because I can just pop on whenever I have a spare 1/2hr or so - some days I have even done two sessions. And I'm already seeing results and it's really keeping me motivated.

[Phteven]

I think the most important thing is the motor. If that's no good then the rest of the features are meaningless.
Ours has springs/shock absorbers under the track. If you're planing on running not just walking they'll make a big difference to your comfort.
I wouldn't buy one from ebay - the reason is that if it needs repairs under the warranty you might have to pay a fortune in shipping.
Most of the companies bring out a new model each year so if you can get last year's model on special you'll get a good saving without having to compromise on features.