With so many options to choose from, what’s a good price for a treadmill? There are some which are hellishly expensive and there are some that hardly cost you a couple of hundred…
Then in which price range you will get a good treadmill. What is the minimum that you spend on a treadmill?
In this post, we have tackled this in dept and also provided reasons why you refrain from buying anything below this price range…
What’s a Good Price For A Treadmill?
A good price for a treadmill is at least $1000. This will ensure that you have a treadmill that is sturdy, quiet, and will last a long time.
If you go for the range of $1500 to $3000, you will get a more stable machine, which has a stronger motor and better warranty and customer support. Also, they will have a lot of workout options as well.
There is one exception to this rule…
If you are getting a second-hand treadmill whose original price was in the above range, then you can go for it…but do the necessary checkings to see if that machine is actually in a good condition.
Reasons for selecting this price range
Here are the reasons why you should go for treadmills with a price tag of more than $1000:
Better motor
A treadmill that has a lower price tag generally has a motor power from 1.0 CHP to 1.4 (CHP), CHP being Continuous Horse Power.
However, if you go with a more expensive treadmill, then the CHP increases to 1.5 CHP. The treadmills that are in the range of $1500 to $3000, generally have a CHP of 2.4 to 3.0 CHP.
If you are a regular runner on a treadmill, then you need to have a CHP of at least 1.5. Otherwise, the treadmill motor will break down easily and you will have to spend a lot of money on a regular basis to fix your treadmill.
Maximum Weight Capacity
Treadmills that are of lower price often have a low weight capacity. We as users often fluctuate in weight and this may cause the machine to not able to support it.
For higher-priced machines, generally, the weight tolerance is much higher. Your weight fluctuations will not have much of an effect on these machines.
Also, if you weigh on the higher side of the spectrum, like 250lbs or so, it is hard to find a good treadmill that is easy on the pocket.
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Shock absorption
When a lower-priced machine is being produced, a lot of cost-cutting measures are taken to keep the production cost low. One such measure is the use of lower-quality shock absorbers or avoiding the shock absorbers totally.
If you go higher price treadmills, the quality of the shock absorbers is great and you will see that they retain their shock absorption for a long time.
Wiring issues
This is one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb on a cheap treadmill. The quality of wiring is not good in such machines and with a bad motor, this has a higher chance of getting burned down or melting.
You will not find such issues in a high-priced treadmill where the quality of wiring is good and will not create such issues.
Availability of parts
When you go for a higher-priced treadmill it is generally from a reputed brand. The replacement parts of such brands are easily available.
If not you will be able to contact the company to get it replaced.
However, most of the cheap machines are sold by unknown brands and once things go haywire, you will not be able to procure the replacement of parts easily.
Customer service
This may not sound much when you are purchasing the treadmill, but when things are not working this will matter the most.
For unknown companies, most of the time, customer service is non-responsive if not non-existent.
During your time of need, you will be holding the sack and there will be none to help you out.
For more reputed companies, such a thing will occur less frequently as they have a reputation to uphold. You will receive help more easily and get the problems fixed.
Stability
A higher-priced treadmill, in general, is heavier. This provides them with inherent stability. When you run at a higher speed or use the incline, it will not wobble under you.
You can completely focus on running and you don’t have to bother about falling due to instability.
A lower-priced treadmill uses lighter materials that cannot provide this kind of stability to you. Being lighter, they tend to wobble when you start running on them.
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Length of the deck
Some of the companies I’ve seen that manufacture low-priced treadmills use shoddy tactics to keep their costs low.
This includes removing a couple of inches from the deck…it is harder to find out as the setting of different machines are different and it may not be so obvious to the eye.
For higher-priced machines, you can trust blindly and need to worry about the length of the deck.
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Console features
Again as a cost-cutting measure, the consoles of the low-priced machines are kept basic. Also, many times they will not record and save data for multiple users.
This is why it becomes really difficult for you to track your progress. However, you will not have to deal with such a problem when using higher-end treadmills.
Longevity
If you observe many of the low-priced items that we purchase break down just after warranty. With cheaper treadmills also, you may have to deal with a similar situation.
If this happens you may not be able to get the company to fix it (provided you can get a hold of them).
Plus, if the parts are not available easily then your entire investment may go down the drain.
You may not have to deal with such a situation in the case of high-priced treadmills. First of all, the warranty on such treadmills is usually much longer. Also, in some cases, you will get a life-long warranty on the frame and some other parts.
Comparing it to the low-cost treadmills, they usually provide a warranty of around 90 days on the parts…
Such a huge contrast…
Additional health problems
If you use a cheap treadmill that unfortunately doesn’t have proper shock absorption, the first thing that will affect your knees.
It may damage it pretty badly if you don’t heed the early signs…The same thing goes for your hip, and back…
However, with a more expensive treadmill, the chances of this happening are way less…
Cost of transporting the treadmill
If you are looking at a low-cost treadmill, many times there is a delivery cost associated with it. Then if the machine is faulty or some other problem is there and you want to just return it, you will have to bear that cost as well.
For treadmills that are above $1000, generally have free delivery. So, that additional cost will also be not there.
Faulty non-essential functionality
This is especially true with Bluetooth. For lower-priced treadmills, this is a huge problem. Most of the time the Bluetooth will not connect with your other devices.
Also, if it gets connected, the connection will keep on dropping and after some time, it will completely stop connecting. Upgrading the software versions of the respective systems will not fix the issue.
If they have any associated app with the treadmill, there is a high probability that it will either crash or make your phone hang. Basically, those will be unusable.
For a higher-priced treadmill, this is not the case and all these basic functionalities will work properly.
Conclusion
A good price for a treadmill is not cheap. However, if you decide to go and buy a cheap treadmill, then you need to do a lot of research.
Most of the treadmills that are available for cheap prices will not be good and will create problems in the near future.
Some of them can potentially create health issues for you…
In short, if you want to save money on a treadmill and buy a cheap one, that will be compensated by the maintenance price of the treadmill and further medical bills.
If you go for a good-priced treadmill as mentioned above, you will be saving up on all these. Due to the longevity of the machine, the overall money that you will spend on the treadmill will be much lesser.
Madhusree Basu
Author, Admin
Blogger and a fitness enthusiast. She loves running and Yoga and everything in between. She started running to manage her weight and to eat to her heart’s content. A true foodie at heart she shares whatever knowledge she has gained throughout the years about weight management and fitness.
