runner preparing a sole f80 treadmill reviewIf you’re in the market for a treadmill, you’ve probably already read some treadmill reviews. (I hope you’ve read my Sole f80 treadmill review LOL). There are some interesting tidbits that you probably won’t read in any reviews, including mine, and I’m going to impart them to you here and now. These are all “unknown” facts that most people never find out, even when they buy their treadmill, and no matter who they buy it from.

TIDBIT #1: There is a common misconception that if a treadmill folds it will be less stable that one that doesn’t. You would have to experience the folding process of a high-quality treadmill to understand why that isn’t true. For example, check out the folding feature on the Sole f80 treadmill. You just stand back and watch it do its thing. When it is in the unfolded position it’s a stable as any non-folding treadmill on the market.

Now if we’re talking about a folding treadmill that doesn’t have a motorized deck and a motorized incline and can fold up and fit under your bed, okay. That’s going to be significantly less stable than a non-folding treadmill. But keep in mind, even a non-folding treadmill that isn’t motorized is going to be less stable than any motorized treadmill, folding or not. So you have to compare apples to apples to make a useful comparison.
You need to know that there are folding designs that are much more stable than many non-folding designs and the other way around too. You get what you pay for in either case. The point here is that the folding mechanism in and of itself has nothing to do with the stability of the machine.

TIDBIT #2: The second misconception is that non-folding treadmills will last longer than the folding models. I’ve read this several times online and it started to irritate me because there is no evidence to support it. I get irritated at that because it’s pretty transparent what is going on. Someone is affiliate marketing a non-folding treadmill and so they’re trying to make the folding ones look bad. Or the manufacturer is doing under the guise of a “treadmill review.” I had to laugh though because the last article I read about folding treadmills wearing out sooner had this disclaimer at the bottom: “The exception to this is the line-up of Sole folding treadmills which have a special horseshoe frame and are extremely stable.” Didn’t want to get in trouble, I guess.

TIDBIT #3: Another misconception about treadmills has to do with the horsepower of the motors. The problem here arises when people aren’t aware that there are two ways to rate horsepower: “continuous duty” and “peak duty.”

This is an important distinction to make because peak duty is the greatest output potential of the motor in any given instant. In other words, it’s not a power output that is sustainable by the motor for any length of time.

The rating you have to be interested in when you are comparing treadmills is the continuous duty rating. The continuous duty is the amount of power the motor can put out for hours at a time. You’ll want to find yourself a treadmill with a continuous duty rating of at least two horsepower and preferably three.

If you’re interested in my other articles.
I have one containing some must-know information about treadmills called  Treadmill Facts
 I have another article with some fun facts in it called Treadmill Trivia.
Or you might be interested in Treadmills — A Bit of History, which is all about where treadmills came from to start with.

You can also find interesting articles on scientific research on treadmills at Science Daily.