The Treadmill Running Machine

With all the revelries and the excesses of this time of year, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas season, it is easy to start piling on the pounds. Even without overindulging, if you are in the northern hemisphere like me, the winter can really put a downer on the idea of going outside for a run. Or to do any other kind of exercise where there’s a reasonable expectation of getting rained on or freezing your ‘assets’ off. Luckily, that’s where treadmills come to the rescue. You can jump on the running machine in the warmth of your own home, even in front of a TV if you like, to keep up with the soaps, or watch the news while you burn off those turkeys and other seasonal delicacies. And of course, if you were already a few pounds over the limit for inclusion in the “I’m so hot”-category, then there’s always the well-tested ‘lose ten pounds in January’ New Year’s resolution to save you.

One of the main problems when you buy a treadmill though, is that there are so many of them on the market that it becomes a minefield trying to find a good one. Depending on what type you want, it can be a fairly expensive purchase, and although it will ultimately be worth the money to get you back to a healthy weight, you obviously want to get one which is right the first time, rather than being disappointed and stressed out organizing returns and replacements if things go wrong.

I have spent some time sifting through Amazon to find really great treadmill running machines, and in this article I will highlight the real best buy treadmills, but not as assessed by me. Not as advertized by the companies themselves. What I have done is to look for other trust signals, such as independent consumer awards, and perhaps more importantly, I’ve looked for products which get an overwhelming ‘thumbs up’ from other customers. After all, it doesn’t matter so much if I like a treadmill; or if the manufacturer likes their treadmill; or even if a consumer magazine likes it. What does carry some hefty clout is if 50 or more customers bought a particular model without any of them having an unkind word to say about it!

I’ll start you off with an electric foldable treadmill. So here goes.

LifeSpan TR 1200i Folding Treadmill

The first thing to say about the LifeSpan TR1200i treadmill, and cutting straight to the chase, is that at the time of writing, there are 52 customer reviews on Amazon for this model. Of those 52 reviews, 49 are either Five Star (41) or Four Star (8). Compared to many similar products, this is a pretty good sample size and also an amazing 94% approval rating. The single person who awarded a One Star had problems with a couple of the functions (heart rate monitor and profile settings) but did not go into any detail about this, so it is tough to gauge whether it was a case of not reading the manual properly, or simply a fault that could have been corrected by calling a Customer Service rep. Nevertheless, the majority of people love this running machine!

The first thing I read, when I investigated customer responses to this machine, spoke volumes:

It always is a great feeling when you buy something site unseen and your expectations are exceeded.

A great start to a review (let’s ignore the use of ‘site’ instead of ‘sight’) and the buyer went on in detail about the pros and cons of the TR1200i. Basically, it is sturdy, quiet and easy to use as well as being aesthetically pleasing and a cinch to fold away when not in use. There was only one con listed, which is fairly trivial. The machine comes almost fully assembled (which is a good thing if you don’t want to mess about with wrenches and stuff) so the only assembly required is to attach the console. This is easy, but you just need to be a little careful where you stow the wires when you attach the back cover.

I could go on and on about the positive responses, with many loving how quiet this treadmill is, whereas others like the fact you can control the speed and incline directly from the handlebars, rather than having to interrupt your flow to get near the console. If you want to read more of the positive, click here.

I don’t intend to list out all the features of the LifeSpan TR 1200i foldable treadmill, except for a few obvious ones. Namely, it is foldable and therefore easy to move out of the way if you are short of space, and don’t want the clutter when not actually using it. And while we’re on the subject of space, here are the dimensions: Width (33 inches), Height (54 inches); Length (70 inches). It has a 2.5 horsepower continuous duty DC motor and it can cater to loads of up to 300 pounds. So there’s a few of the important features. If you want the full run down, or to buy directly from Amazon, you can find what you want by clicking here.

In conclusion, the LifeSpan TR1200i is a well-loved electric foldable treadmill running machine. It has a 94% approval rating (meaning total customer votes at 4 and 5 star) across a sample of 52 customer reviews (at time of writing – Nov. 2011). It has also received several awards including the “Best Buy” Award for best new treadmill (Treadmill Doctor) and “Head of the Class” best treadmill for under $1000 (Fitness Professor, 2011). Amazon’s prices can vary from time to time, and the list price for this model is $1500, but while I’m reviewing this, it is still on offer at under $1000.

Look out for more Best Buy Treadmills in the future, as I add to this page. Next up, the customer favorite in cheaper manual treadmills.