The Best Folding Treadmill

For many years, the need to run indoors has given rise to the need for development of a better folding treadmill. Since most people value their time and health, and we all have limited square footage, the market for a compact, space-saving treadmill is always in demand.

But which folding treadmills are the best on the market?

Can you expect much value for under $1,000?

Who makes the best folding treadmill?

If you’re in the market for a folding treadmill for exercise & fitness, then our recommendations below should help you find one to fit your needs and budget. First, it helps to know a few an important fact about home treadmill design.

Is a Manual Folding Treadmill a Good Buy?

Although technically popular in the market, the fact is that unless the machine has a motorized running belt, you’re better off simply saving your money for a decent motorized tread.

Manual treadmills are pretty worthless unless you want to use it for your dog to use, and even then it’s not as good as a motorized model.

When shopping for a folding ‘mill, look for the following:

• Quality treadmills will offer an incline feature.
• Look at the motor rating – it should read “Continuous Duty” to really be considered remotely accurate.
• Make sure the warranty indicates that you can get a decent return on investment – or buy an upgraded warranty from a 3rd party if needed.
• Make sure you read objective reviews such as those found on .

Manual vs Motorized Treadmills

A folding tread can be either manual or motorized. The difference in quality is astounding between the two designs, and notice that most gyms and hospitals (physical therapy) will not use manual models in most cases.

Mostly you will find motorized treadmills in professional facilities. Here is a comparison chart between the manual vs. motorized treadmills, since folding treadmills come in either design.

Overall, when buying a folding treadmill, stay away from manual treadmills: they are a total waste of money and are not recommended on this site for quality reasons.

If you want to manual treadmill, you are better off simply buying a jump rope and saving hundreds of dollars. (I’ve used one personally and shed a lot of weight doing so.)

We also don’t recommend shopping at a place like Walmart.com or other budget stores. Most of their models (not all of course) are simply cheap for a reason: there is no actual quality built into the Made-in-China models they sell.

Granted I’m not picking on Wal-Mart here, but the idea is that you will get what you pay for, and I’ve owned plenty of low-end fitness equipment to lose all respect for budget fitness companies that I can no longer recommend most of what is found in the market at large.

Another question to think over when treadmill shopping:

Is a Running Treadmill Better Than a Folding Treadmill?

The answer to the question is frankly, “That depends.” Many folding treadmills used to be simply garage sale or eBay fodder in a matter of months or a year’s use.

Thankfully that is not the case today, even with many ‘budget’ models like those from ICON Fitness (though there are much better models than most of what ICON Fitness offers, speaking from personal and a frustrated experience).

A running treadmill, for the record, is a treadmill designed for more serious use and cannot fold, as opposed to a folding treadmill.

The engineering to create a stable folding treadmill, however, has always been a challenge. If you’ve used a folding model, maybe you’ve noticed the lateral (wobbly) movement as you run?

Normally this happens due to the design of a simple hinge, or due to the fact that several key bolts need tightening. On budget models, this is a notorious problem, owing to the way the support for the running deck is designed when in use.

Although folding treadmills have become (for the most part) increasingly better in quality and stability, we do have a few suggested brands and models of what we think are the best folding treadmills for the money.

Who Makes The Best Folding Treadmill?

This is not an easy question to answer since there are many models and manufacturers in the fitness industry. As a rule, however, we’ve found that there are a handful of manufacterers that operate with such consistency that it’s hard to deny who is famous for the best design in folding ‘mills.

Then there are the newcomers which are not so famous (yet), but which deserve their own fair shot at the crown of best folding treadmill design (i.e. LIVESTRONG and Yowza Fitness, both making solid debuts in their folding models for 2012).

After our own experience and careful research, we suggest the following manufacturers and models.

1. Smooth Fitness

No matter where you read, if there are actual unbiased lists to be found (like the market-driven ‘bestseller’ and ‘top rated’ lists on Amazon, for example), Smooth Fitness is famous for creating some of the best folding ‘mill models around.

See our reviews of the Smooth 5.65 and Smooth 6.75. The #1 selling folding treadmill for the company being their Smooth 7.35 folding treadmill, which regularly gets rave reviews.

2. Sole Fitness

For years, Sole has had the bright idea to allow their line of fold-ups to be used by guests of the Hilton Hotel chain. Many who have opted for this in-room fitness option have already proven by their buying habits and numerous customer reviews, that the Sole Fitness brand of folding tread’s are a winner.

They offer a handful of models and a great warranty. Our pick of their bunch is a toss-up between the bestselling (and favorably reviewed by Consumer Reports and other publications) Sole F83 or their top of the line Sole F85.

3. Yowza Fitness

Although appearing third in our list, Yowza Fitness is a solid fitness manufacturer (most notable for their elliptical machines). Their treadmill design is unique and uses some of the best quality parts found in treadmills today.

They currenty offer three models of folding treadmill: the Yowza Sebring, Yowza Osprey and Yowza Siesta (listed from flagship model to entry-level). Our recommendation is the Sebring for all its features, but all 3 are great buys for 2012.

4. LIVESTRONG Fitness

From the LIVESTRONG Foundation and Lance Armstrong’s group of cancer-fighting fitness equipment (supporting $4 million in anti-cancer research at least per year), comes a rather impressive lineup of both folding and non-folding treadmills.

In their folding models, we recommend the fully-featured LS13.0T Treadmill, with a great warranty, design and impact-resistant deck.

5. Schwinn Fitness

Schwinn models have enjoyed a long history in the market and have proven themselves to be strong players in the folding treadmill niche. Though not as feature-rich as others on the list, they aren’t to be overlooked and offer quality at great prices.

Their two folding treadmill models differ a little in terms of features and price, but both are very affordable and offer plenty of workouts for the discriminating runner.

The Schwinn 840 inlines up to 10 degrees and has a top speed of 10 MPH, so it’s more designed for light running or those who are not regular runners. The more robust Schwinn 860 offers a top speed of 12 MPH and top incline of 12 degrees, and both offer strong warranties.

At the price that the 860 is offered, we recommend the Smooth 6.75 or 7.35, or the Yowza Osprey or Sebring to compare feature-for-feature (the Sebring and 7.35 being our two top choices in that same price range).

6. LifeSpan Fitness

Another company that gets high marks from a wide variety of sources (most notably from consumers and other treadmill experts) is LifeSpan Fitness, not to be confused with LifeFitness.

LifeSpan Fitness has consistently wowed the market with their under $1,000 folding treadmill, the LifeSpam TR1200i (the 2011 model). In fact, it is regularly featured in the top 10 spots for Amazon’s bestseller list in their treadmill department, and for good reason.

At this price point, LifeSpan has really offered a lot of value: 15 degrees of incline under $1k is not typical for folding treadmills. It also boasts a strong warranty, impact-absorbing deck design to take the stress off your joints, and a roomy running deck.

Those are Our Picks for the Best Folding Treadmills in 2011

We don’t have many recommendations for treadmills around the $500-$900 range or cheaper. Our stand is simply to offer reviews or recommendations on those treadmills that offer the reader the most value.

If it happens that we come across a treadmill that breaks this rule (like the Schwinn 840 above, which is currently under $900), we’ll be happy to add it to this list.

Normally you would expect to pay at least $1,000 or more for a decent running or folding treadmill, so those are our suggestions from research and personal experience.

Note that you can find discount treadmills at CostCo, Wal-Mart or other big-name stores, like Dick’s etc. Most of their brands are from ICON Fitness and largely they are not top quality, so we don’t recommend many brands that you may come across in discount stores.

Our final word on it is that you will get what you pay for, and paying a little extra for quality fitness equipment pays off in the end with fewer injuries, hassles and frustrations.

Please see our other reviews for a quality folding treadmill and other models at Treadmills for Sale Site.