Treadmill Reviews:

The Lowdown on Treadmill Reviews

You'll find treadmill reviews valuable if you're thinking of adding a treadmill to your home gym and want to be sure of getting the best product for your needs. The treadmill is a very popular piece of equipment that gives a good cardio-vascular workout.

You can use them for either walking or running, although many treadmills are better for one than the other, so it is best to decide what you will use it for before beginning to check out the reviews.

There are many brands and models of treadmill. All of the best known manufacturers make several different models with different features and a range of prices. When you are checking out what is available, if you have a price bracket in mind then you can look for a good treadmill by comparing all of the different models in that price range from the various manufacturers.

You will find three kinds of reviews online. One kind is consumer reviews such as you might find on Amazon. The problem with these is that they are very subjective. In other words, it is just one person's view of whether the treadmill that he bought lived up to his expectations.

As you do not know the person, you cannot tell if his ideas of what a treadmill should do are anything like your own. The fact that he liked or did not like his treadmill does not necessarily help you very much in making your own choice. However, sometimes these reviews and ratings can point up some features that you may not have thought about, or a disadvantage of the treadmill that might be important for you. So they are worth taking a look at.

Second you will find reviews by sellers of treadmills. These might not be the manufacturer but a retailer. In this case you may be suspicious as the reviews will have been written by people who are trying to sell, so they can be expected to point up the advantages of all of the models that they offer and not tell you the downside.

However, because a retailer normally offers many different models or brands, their reviews will often compare the different models and describe all of the features. You can get a good idea of what you will get for your money in each price range.

Also, a retailer will want to match the customer with the right product for that customer. This way they increase customer satisfaction and minimize the number of returns that they have to deal with.

Often times you can call the company from a number on the website and get advice over the phone for your particular requirements. They will be pleased to help you out this way, because a happy customer is good business.

Third you may find some reviews written by experts in the fitness industry. These are often associated with consumer magazines or health and fitness magazines, such as Consumer Reports, Men's Health or Runner's World.

Here you can expect to find unbiased comparisons of similar machines from different manufacturers. The features will be listed together with a comparison of price and a rating, normally in terms of the number of stars given.

It is a great idea to look for expert reviews of treadmills in your price range. Be sure to consider carefully the individual reports and why they have made one particular model their top rated treadmill. Different experts will put different weight on the various features of a treadmill and just as with consumer reviews, if they have an idea of the best treadmill that is different from your own needs, you may prefer to go with their second or third rated model instead.

For example ratings in Runner's World would be considering treadmills from the point of view of running, and you might be more interested in a treadmill that you would use for walking exercise.

Of course it is important to compare like with like when looking for exercise equipment. Sometimes people make a decision to buy a $500 treadmill from a particular manufacturer just because the expert ratings say that the $2000 treadmill from the same manufacturer is the best.

This is not such a great idea. But it can be very helpful to consult as many treadmill reviews online as you can find before you decide on your best treadmill.