How to pick the best treadmill?

You’ve determined that having a treadmill in your home will improve your running by making it more convenient. What do you need to know before you buy one? First off, you better have a nice bit of disposable income if you want to buy one that’s worth the trouble. Although treadmills are available for as little as $400, they’re not suitable for regular running. Their belts often stop running smoothly once you put in some miles on them, they’re much more likely to break down with regular use, and some of them barely go fast enough to allow you to run with normal form. Most treadmill devotees say that a good benchmark price is $1,500. Spend that much, and you can be pretty sure that the combination of features and construction will allow you to run smoothly on the treadmill for several years. Of course, there are manufacturers who will be happy to sell you a treadmill for more than twice that much. These high-end models are a little better, but as with buying a car, once you get to a certain level of quality, you start getting diminishing returns for your extra money.

Because of the expense involved, you should be sure that you’re going to use your treadmill regularly before investing in one. If you do decide to go shopping for one, keep these buying tips in mind:

• Shop at a store that offers several models, that will deliver and assemble your treadmill, and that provides a maintenance contract.
• Take your running gear to the store and run on the model you’re interested in for at least 10 minutes. (If the store won’t let you, take your business elsewhere.)
  
• Be sure that the treadmill doesn’t shake at the top speed that you plan to run on it.
• The machine’s top speed should be faster than the fastest that you plan to run on it. Same thing for elevation. It’s not good to frequently run a treadmill at full power.
• You should be able to change the controls easily while you’re running without having to alter your form drastically.
• The control panel shouldn’t shake while you’re running.
• To keep you from tripping, the belt should start and stop gradually, and the handlebars should be reachable, but not intrusive.

You also should consider how loud the treadmill is when you’re running on it. How much noise is acceptable for you depends on where you’ll be using your treadmill and whether others will be near while you’re using it.