Australia's No.1 Online Fitness Equipment Retailer
Treadmills, Cross Trainers, Elliptical Trainers & more

There are many reasons why there are more treadmills in peoples homes around the world then there are any other type of Cardio Fitness product.With a Treadmill, you can set the pace from a gentle walk to a fast walk on a steep incline, a jog or a sprint. Using a treadmill not only improves your cardio fitness and helps in weight loss but it also improves bone density and coordination.Using a treadmill to walk or jog also significantly reduces the impact of the exercise on your joints such as you knees and ankles when compared with exercising out doors. Most treadmills have a form of cushioning that absorbs up to 35% of the impact. To see how effective this is, you only need to stand back and watch someone running on a treadmill.

There are three things to consider

1. Do you want to run, walk or both?
2. What is the height and weight of the largest user?
3. How good is the warranty??

For a treadmill suitable for walking, the treadmill mat width is not as critical as if you were going to run. For a walking treadmill, a mat width of 45cm and treadmill mat length 125cm is generally adequate for most people up to 1.80m tall (6 foot). If you are taller, then the a treadmill mat width of 50cm and treadmill mat length 135cm or larger need to be considered

If you intend to only walk on you treadmill, I recommend getting a treadmill with electronic incline. Increasing the incline is the only way to increase the intensity of the workout. Whilst you are walking you can easily increase the intensity of the workout by simply increasing the incline. Electronic incline also allows build-in programs to automatically manipulate the incline while you walk, thus improving the variety of your exercise routine.

Choosing a manual incline treadmill means you can not set the incline whilst you are on the treadmill. You need to set the incline before you start your workout.

If you intend to walk and run on your Treadmill you really must have a minimum treadmill mat width of 50cm and treadmill mat length of 135cm or larger. This is particularly important as whilst running you tend to move around on the treadmill mat. The last thing you want to do is fall off, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

A treadmill suitable for a runner will have electronic incline and can be used in the same way as a walking treadmill. 95% of treadmills with a treadmill mat width greater than 45cm will only be supplied with electronic incline as the additional cost of the incline mechanism is negligible in comparison to its over all cost.

When identifying your treadmill needs, the height and weight of the heaviest user needs to be consider in relation to walking or running.

If the intended user is heavy (i.e.110kg or more) and wants to only walk, then motor size become more important. This is due to the fact that the motor will be used at relatively low speeds and therefore will be under maximum strain.The application that puts most load on a treadmill motor is High user weight combined with very low speed. I.e. a 130kg person walking at2.5km per hour.

If the intended user is heavy (i.e. 110kg or more) and wants run, then the thickness of the running deck and the solidness of overall construction becomes most important. The dynamic load of a fit, heavy person running on a treadmill is enormous. It is vital that you select a treadmill with a thick running deck (ideally 25mm) and/or cross bracing under the impact zone of the treadmill deck. The over all weight of a treadmill is a good guide as to its solidness. Whilst the motor still needs to be 2.5hp continuous duty or greater, it will not be working as hard as it will be running at higher speed (8km plus).

Treadmill motor sizes are always a deciding factor in selecting a treadmill. Whilst this is relevant and important, it can also be confusing and misleading.

A DC (Direct Current) Treadmill motor normally has two ratings,Continuous duty & Peak Duty. I.e. '1.5hp continuous Duty & 3.2 Peak'

Continuous duty refers to the out put power that the motor is designed to sustain indefinitely.

The Peak rating refers to the output power that the motor is capable of, however will not be able to sustain it for long. I.e. under this peak load the motor will burn out quickly.
The important measure is therefore, the continuous duty rating.

As a guide
For a user weight up to 65kg 1.25hp to 1.75hp continuous duty DC
For a user weight up to 85kg 1.5hp to 2hp continuous duty DC
For a user weight up to 130kg 2hp to 3hp continuous duty DC
For a user weight up to 160kg 3hp to 4hp continuous duty DC

For Corporate application 3hp plus continuous duty DC or AC

AC Stand for Alternating Current.
DC Stand for Direct Current.

This type of motor is used extensively in Domestic, Corporate and Some Commercial Treadmills.
The DC treadmill motor is used extensively due to its ability to run at variable speeds, thus providing the treadmill with speeds from .5 km p/h to 22 km p/h and its relatively low cost.

This type of treadmill motor is used predominantly used in Corporate through to commercial treadmills.
Although it is widely acknowledged that the AC motor is significantly stronger and durable, until recently it could not be made to be variable speed without significantly cost. This is no longer the case and AC motors are being used more and more.

For Domestic to Light Corporate application the DC motor is more than Suitable (due to cost).
For Corporate to Commercial AC motor is the motor of choice.

Offering a great warranty and backing up that warranty are two very different things
On average you can expect any product that has ever been manufactured and sold to have a failure rate between 4% and 12%.

In principal, supporting the warranty of a product is relatively easy, unfortunately it is all too often the cause of much heart ache.
The availability of spare parts is the most important factor in warranty support. I have watched the biggest players in this industry continuously fail to keep adequate amounts of spare parts. There are many reasons for this, the main reasons being lack of foresight and the constant pursuit of cheaper treadmills.
In reality the parts are incredibly cheap and there is just no excuse for not having a plan for the ongoing support of your treadmill.
My three pearls of wisdom would be

1. Check the availably of parts by asking for a price and availability on a 'lower control board'. The longer it takes to confirm this, the more you need to rethink your purchasing decision
2. If the company has a 'Warranty Call Centre' or similar, give them a call and pretend you have problem with your treadmill. The attitude of the staff and the process you need to go through to get assistance will give you a fair idea of who you are dealing with.
3. Do a Google search of the product model, the brand and the company you intend to buy from. Unhappy customers always make talk the loudest.

At Fitquip, we hold parts, and entire spare machines for every unit we sell and we will do for the life of our warranty liability.
Check out the comments from the many happy customers that have had a warranty issues and have been pleasantly surprised at how efficient we were at getting them back on their Fitness Treadmills.