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When floor space is limited, these quality machines collapse and roll out of the way. Heavy Duty Walking Treadmill
Editor’s Note: Updated June 20, 2023: We updated this article to ensure all treadmills are in stock from sellers that offer you the best price.
The allure of a treadmill is strong: When the sky is dumping buckets of rain or mounds of snow, you can still get in your jog or workout. But a treadmill is a massive piece of furniture that takes up valuable real estate in an already crowded basement or garage. That’s where the value of a folding treadmill proves itself.
Make no mistake, a quality folding treadmill is still a large piece of equipment that isn’t going to go unnoticed—few collapse small enough to be jammed into a closet. The construction, however, makes them lighter than their non-folding counterparts and easier to roll into a corner, freeing up floor space.
A quality folding treadmill can deliver nearly the same performance as traditional treadmills with a variety of programming and interactive features, but they can set you back a few thousand dollars. That investment will pay over the years as you jog extra miles and do workouts you might otherwise have skipped.
There’s a trade-off to choosing a folding treadmill, however. Typically the frames are lighter and the hinge mechanism introduces some extra play and instability that you don’t experience on traditional machines. In short, most of them just aren’t built to withstand as much pounding. In our testing, though, we found these models to be sufficiently stable and sturdy—even the most budget-friendly models can be used by runners weighing up to 220 pounds.
If you’re looking for a machine that you can run on every single day and put in high mileage for years to come, based on my experience testing treadmills for 11 years, I recommend you check out a machine with a rock-solid frame and larger motor. But, if space is an issue or you’re looking for a treadmill that will see occasional running and walking, the machines below will keep you on the move.
Every treadmill on this list has been thoroughly evaluated and tested by our team of editors. We research the market, speak with product managers and engineers, and use our own experience running on treadmills for extended sessions in our offices in Easton, Pennsylvania, to determine the best options. We factor in key features such as running belt width and length, overall size, horsepower (HP), and weight capacity. We test available models by having them set up at RW HQ, as well as the homes of our testers and staff so we could live with and use them full-time, just as you will when you purchase one. Our team of experienced testers spent many hours indoors assessing all the features of these machines. We’ve done easy runs in a garage, long runs in a living room watching movies, and tried out all the interactive and studio class features offered. We evaluated them on price, performance, durability, value, reliability, and safety to come up with this list of folding treadmills that will suit your needs when you want to run inside.
The Commercial 2450 is a new running treadmill to NordicTrack’s line, essentially replacing the Commercial 2950 that we’ve loved for many years. Aside from its more modern angles and Z-shaped frame, the 22-inch touchscreen now tilts and pivots. And the deck makes adjustments to speed and incline quicker than earlier generations.
Our testers love the enormous 22-inch touchscreen display on the 2950, which is the same size as found on the new 2450. It offers a broad range of coaching options. “It actually kept me engaged in the running rather than droning music and TV,” said Pat Heine, Runner’s World video producer and ultrarunner. “The trail climb I did had a lot of speed and incline variation that felt natural.”
To accomplish that, the treadmill taps into the iFit programming platform, where you can get video lessons from coaches and elite runners. A guided run through Patagonia leads you along scenic trails, while the machine automatically adjusts the incline and speed to make the experience feel realistic. Is it? Well, no. But the large display helps you forget that you’re stuck in your basement. We just wish you could use it to stream Netflix, too.
A lot of treadmill makers now offer custom training content and, in a way, lock you into their ecosystem. But Horizon is trainer-agnostic, even though it wants you to take advantage of the studio-class experience. Its goal with the 7.8AT folding treadmill is to give you a machine that responds quickly to inputs and lets you choose whichever training program you want to stream—just bring your own iPad, there’s no way to display workouts on this mill’s console.
To let you keep up when the trainer says it’s time to sprint, the 7.8AT has quick-access controls mounted chest-high. “The thumb dials to adjust speed and incline were great,” said tester Kristen Parker. “They were very easy to use and much more fluid midrun than trying to stab at buttons.” But those same dials are extremely sensitive, and you have to be careful you don’t make huge jumps in speed or incline. Plus, they’re easy to bump inadvertently as you’re running. Tip: Don’t run so close to the console; there’s plenty of belt behind you.
And when you command the 7.8AT to go faster or raise up, it moves quickly. Horizon says its “Rapid Sync Motor” responds 33 percent faster than other treadmill motors. We found going from recovery jog to interval speed—6 mph to 10 mph—the 7.8AT reached the top speed faster than most of the other models here. Even so, it’s impressive for a machine that costs less than $2,000.
One little feature that was appreciated: music control buttons built into the console. When your phone is connected via Bluetooth, songs play through the treadmill’s speakers, and you can easily change tracks without having to unlock your phone or swipe the screen with sweaty fingers.
When it comes to bang for your buck, the 1750 has always been hard to beat. The newest iteration of this folding treadmill is even better, with a faster touchscreen console and a quieter, faster incline motor. It still features all of the convenience options you find on NordicTrack machines—like quick keys to jump to a particular speed or incline with a single tap. “They let me adjust speed instead of pounding the arrows while at times holding on for dear life,” said Amanda Furrer, a test editor for Runner’s World.
But now you’re less likely to need those speed adjustment buttons thanks to a larger touchscreen and the ever-growing library of trainer-led workouts. The 10-inch screen offers double the real estate of the earlier model, though testers still felt it was a tad too small. But it’s large enough to see the countryside in Germany, for example, where one tester virtually followed pro Lucy Bartholomew on a gentle trail run.
Underfoot, we found the 22-by-60-inch running surface spacious enough for high-speed intervals, and the machine’s folding deck remained stable as we cranked up the speed, with just the slightest bounce. The cushioning underfoot is adjustable so you can make it a bit firmer, and the machine responds quickly to changes in speed and incline. The iFit training workouts are great but don’t let you adjust duration or intensity on the fly.
We have always appreciated the value a Pro-Form delivers. The sibling brand to NordicTrack, Pro-Form shares much of the same technology, like the iFit interactive coaching and training program—you get a free year subscription when you buy a tread. But, this folding treadmill is dialed back just a little to keep the price in check. You get only a 7-inch touchscreen console, and it tops out at just 10 mph, so you won’t be using it for elite-caliber speed intervals. But, a 2.6-horsepower motor and cushioned deck make it plenty capable of handling a few easy runs a week.
Instead of focusing on entertainment, Horizon keyed in on features to give you greater control of your workout. The 7.0 AT folding treadmill has limited training options but connects easily to an iPad or Android tablet so you can take Peloton classes or run using Zwift. We liked the thumb dials mounted chest-high on the hand grips that let you quickly make big jumps in speed and incline—it feels way more fluid than trying to stab at buttons on a console. While we don’t often recommend ’mills that cost less than $1,000 because they generally have small motors and inadequate frames for the pounding that runners inflict, the 7.0 AT is surprisingly steady. We set it up in the home of a sub-3 hour marathoner who weighs 145 pounds, and he found that the deck didn’t shake during intervals. The belt is narrower and shorter than we’d prefer, but you’ll appreciate the small profile if you’re setting it up in a tight space.
The TR5500i folding treadmill has been updated with a touchscreen console, but still has the plain-Jane look that we’ve long loved and the small stance that won’t take up much space in your basement. The refreshed console is a nice upgrade, even if it doesn’t bring you live coaching or Google Streets views. But, when you’re preprogramming a workout, you can simply slide bars on a chart up or down to adjust the speed and incline for each segment. That console also sits quite low—taller testers had to look down more than when running on other machines, but we like that it would be out of the way if you were watching a TV while running.
Though the TR5500i is a bit slow to respond to speed changes, it’s on par with folding treadmills in this price range and can go as fast as 13.5 mph, which isn’t typical for a budget model. And when you’re really cranking along at your top speed, there’s a slight bounce in the deck to help cushion your stride.
We don’t typically recommend treadmills that cost less than $1,000 simply because they don’t hold up. The frames and motors usually can’t handle the abuse that running inflicts. This low-budget folding treadmill on Amazon is an exception, however, because so many people buy and love it—over 1,000 five-star reviews. Of course, to hit such a price, there are a lot of compromises—the belt is the skinniest we’ve seen, the motor tops out at 9 mph, and to adjust the incline you have to get off the machine and flip a lever under the deck. But, if you need something for an occasional jog when you otherwise can’t get outside, or want a machine for walking on your rest days, it’s hard to argue with what this delivers at this price.
Folding treadmills don’t really disappear—you’re not sliding one into a closet when you’re done with your jog. But, the City L6 collapses nearly flat and could slip under a bed. With its small motor and low top speed, buy this one if you want a machine only for walking. But it still packs a lot of training tools you find on the company’s running treadmills: If you have an iPad or tablet, you can connect to the iFit interactive training platform to get coaching, workouts, and virtual walks through scenic locations.
Jeff is Runner-in-Chief for Runner's World, guiding the brand's shoes and gear coverage. A true shoe dog, he's spent more than a decade testing and reviewing shoes. In 2017, he ran in 285 different pairs of shoes, including a streak of 257 days wearing a different model.
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