By Kathryn O’Neill

Considering a portable treadmill? Portable, lightweight treadmills are popular with people who live in condos or apartments.

Other people may live in more than one place throughout the year. They want an easily movable treadmill that they can fold up, pack away and transport to a new destination.

While this is a niche part of the treadmill market, there are a couple of treadmills that are specifically designed to be compact and portable.

These treadmills are very different from your typical home treadmill. They have lighter construction and usually weight much less than standard treadmills.

They will fold up to a very compact size and will usually have wheels on the bottom for easy movement and storage. You can easily fit them under a bed, upright in a closet or even in a hatchback car.

The belts are quite small on these treadmills with belt lengths around 50″ long at the most. Consoles are also usually small and simplistic.

Finally, portable home treadmills may not give you all of the bells and whistles that come with standard home treadmills like one-touch incline, built in workout programs and fitness tracking tools.

So is a portable compact treadmill right for you? Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of portable treadmills to help you decide:

Advantages:

1) Portable – The first advantage is obviously that these treadmills are lightweight and portable. You can easily pack them up and away whenever you want. This makes them a great option for condos or apartments or even small workout spaces like your office or living room. You can also take these treadmills with you if you live in more than one place during the year.

2) Compact – These treadmills also tend to be very compact as well as portable. Again, this makes them a great option for condos, apartments, offices or smaller workout spaces.

3) Affordable – Because of their smaller size, portable treadmills tend to run under $1000. This makes them affordable for the home gym on a budget.

4) Already Assembled – Another great thing about these treadmills is that most of them come pre-assembled. So if you’re not handy and don’t relish spending hours setting up your treadmill, you’ll appreciate this feature.

Disadvantages:

1) Small Belts – The longest belt I’ve ever seen on a portable model is only 50″ – which is quite short. Most standard home treadmills run from 52″ – 60″ long. So if you’re taller or want to run on these treadmills you may feel like you’re falling off the machine.

2) Limited or No Incline – Because of the design constraints of building such a compact treadmill, these units will either come with no incline or a limited number of incline options.

3) Few Workout Programs – You tend to get very few workout programs and fitness tracking tools with these treadmills. The consoles are very simple with limited workout feedback.

Conclusion:

Portable treadmills are a growing niche in the home treadmill market. They are lighter and easier to move than standard treadmills. Plus they are affordable and so compact that they’re perfectly suited to condos, offices or small workout spaces.

On the downside however, they are usually very simple and bare bones with short belts and limited incline options.

About the Author: Kathryn O’Neill writes for TreadmillReview.net – offering treadmill reviews by brand, quality of construction, ‘Best Buys’ and more. To learn which portable treadmills offer the best value for your money visit the Portable Treadmill Review.

Source: isnare.com

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