Best Treadmills Under $500 With Complete Buying Guide

Before moving on to the best treadmills under $500, we look at some other aspects!

Why Purchase Your Own Treadmill?

A treadmill will help you to easily include a walking or running routine in your day to day life and that too from the comfort of your own house. You might be surprised to know how a treadmill works!

The weather is bad? You do not feel like going out? You are very busy at home? You have someone you need to look after and hence cannot leave the house? Cannot commit to one time in the day to go out or go to a gym?

These are all the problems that having your own treadmill will solve for you.

Work out from the luxury of your cozy house at any time of the day you want, for however long you prefer and whatever way you prefer working out, nobody to blame you for your loud song choice. A treadmill also helps you keep track of your workout routines!

Treadmills are also proven by research to burn a lot more calories than various other exercise machines and can help engage many parts of your body.

You can bring many small and big changes to your workout regime by using the various variations of settings that a treadmill features. Investing one time in a good treadmill will also save you from hefty amounts of gym fees that you might otherwise be paying.

What Do You Need to Look for When Buying Treadmills?

There are many, many factors that you need to keep in view whenever you’re on the hunt for the perfect treadmill for you, but here are some of them:

Cushioning of the running surface:

If the surface of your treadmill has any issues with cushioning or is too thin or too short, then it will most likely disturb your workout and even result in pain in the knees and ankles. To ensure that this does not happen, make sure to check for a firm and stable cushioning on the surface of the treadmill.

Available space:

A treadmill is going to take up some area, so you need to decide on a designated area in your living space that you are going to reserve specifically for this purpose. If you can get your hands on a good compact and foldable treadmill, that will save you space for most of the time, but it will still need to occupy space when it is being used so keep this in mind before making a purchase.

Portability:

In addition to being foldable, being lightweight is also a plus feature that you should try to look for since it will make it easier for you to move your treadmill whenever you want without needing any help. 

Purpose and Usage:

A couple of things should be laid out before you make a purchase: how many people are going to be using the treadmill and how much, and what purpose is it going to be used for, just light, casual walking, or heavy, intense training? Being clear about these things beforehand will help you make the best purchase that is the most suitable according to your needs.

Warranty/Reliability:

Treadmill parts are often very expensive, so it is going to be in your favor to take some time to ensure two important things: the company that you’re purchasing from is well-known, reliable and has been around for a while, and that the warranty your treadmill comes along with covers, if not all, then at least all major parts of the treadmill and is a long term warranty too.

Weight Capacity:

Each treadmill has a limit to the weight that it can support, it is essential to look into that to ensure that it accounts for everyone who is going to be using that treadmill. 

Digital Needs:

There’s a lot that a treadmill can fulfill when it comes to your digital needs, so you just need to make sure that the features align with what your requirements are. Check to see if it has a good console system that gives you easy access to all your statistics, which are of many different kinds

Some treadmills come with pre-installed exercise programs and they let you design your own custom ones too, this can help you a lot if you like to keep a steady track record of everything.

A heart monitor is another feature that is a part of many treadmills, keeping an eye on which can help you understand where you stand in your workout and what things you might need to improve on.

So, it is always important to evaluate what your expectations are from your workout routines and what information you would like to have handy.

So without further ado, here is the list that we compiled, based on reviews, of the 10 best treadmills under $500.

Is it better to walk on a treadmill or outside?

As listed prior in this article, walking outside comes with a lot of concerns such as safety issues, harder and uneven surfaces, and weather issues as well. Walking outside also requires you to do it at a fixed time (considering some times of the day have too much traffic or noise outside while some people might not feel walking outside at night.

 But there are benefits to walking outside too such as you can use these harder, uneven, and even steep surfaces to make yourself stronger, train harder and strengthen different muscles. Other factors outside like wind resistance will engage you to work harder which will burn more calories.

 If we talk about treadmills, they have their own benefits.

 Walking or running on a treadmill eliminates the chances of you skipping your workout because of any outside conditions. It also provides you better control over your workout, a lot of treadmills have different settings that you can adjust during your workout, some have preset programs while others have the option to customize your own program too.

 You can easily go much faster on a treadmill by increasing the speed setting since no outside obstacles are hindering you, having a faster speed will help you cover more distance in the same time which will burn more calories.

 It is also easier for you to multitask and keep yourself entertained while running on a treadmill since it’s dangerous to listen to music, audiobooks, or podcasts, or watch something while running or walking outside, but all of this can easily be done through choosing to workout on a treadmill. Treadmills will also be easier on the joints.

 With that being said, treadmills do not come without their own disadvantages. By holding on to handrails and due to a lack of outside hurdles you will probably burn lesser calories unless you up the speed or the treadmill incline.

Treadmills more often than not also do not come with any function that will help simulate downhill motion, running, or walking which helps strengthen particular muscles. Treadmills will also cost more whether you buy your own or get a gym membership.

 In the end, it is up to you to evaluate what your goals are from your workout, what things you prioritize, and what you are willing to compromise on, that will help you decide what setting is better for you. It is important to also choose the setting which will motivate you to move and workout consistently.

Buyer’s Guide – Best Treadmills Under $500

Even after going through the product by product features, pros, and cons listed above, it can still be hard to choose out of so many products. Hence, to make your decision even easier for you, we tried to sort these products according to specific features so it helps you in narrowing down your choice even further.

Best ‘Tech-y’ treadmill

Pick #1 on this list, the Weslo treadmill has interesting tech features since it comes with its own BlueTooth that you can use to connect to your devices. It also has the option for an iFit subscription.

Best treadmill with the most number of preset programs

The MaxKare easy assembly treadmill (pick#2) comes with the highest number of preset programs on this list: 15. This gives you plenty of different options to decide from when choosing a workout routine.

Best lightweight treadmill

The 3rd pick, the GoPlus folding treadmill, is the most lightweight on this list weighing almost 59 pounds. This is a good option for those who don’t want to carry a lot of weight by themselves.

Best low noise treadmills

The MaxKare and Merax treadmills (pick#2 and #4 respectively) are the ones with relatively low noise, for those who prefer enjoying their workout in the quiet.

Best ergonomic treadmill

The MaxKare treadmill (pick#2) takes the lead here too, it has a good ergonomic design as compared to the other ones here. Pick #8, Sunny Health treadmill with an adjustable incline also seems to have good ergonomic features.

Best shock absorption system on a treadmill

Pick #5, Ancheer treadmill has the best shock absorption system that combines many different features to ensure that your joints stay safe from the heavy impact that would cause them pain.

Best cushioned treadmill

The treadmill by XTERRA Fitness (pick#6) has the best cushioning since it comes with an XTRASoft technology that seeks to provide comfort.

Best basic treadmill

The first treadmill by Sunny Health on this list, SF-T7610 Treadmill (pick#7) is the simple option to go for if you want a basic minimal treadmill.

Best treadmill to challenge yourself

The Sunny Health compact motorized treadmill (pick#9) on this list is the most challenging one since it comes with an almost 11% incline that is bound to get you to push new limits during your running routine.