$650 a year, $350 a year, $500 a year – geez how expensive gyms can be; don’t forget their initiation fee which, in a sense, is just a way to squeeze more money out of you. Also keep in mind the supplements, such as protein shakes, that are usually taken with athletes. Yes, a gym does provide more options than what you may have in your home – after all, how many people have a sauna, Jacuzzi, pool, weights varying from .50 to 135 pounds, and more in their household? But, when going to the gym not all of that is used. It’s a lot more cost-effective to buy that treadmill, and maybe a few resistance bands. You’d even have enough money lying around to get yourself more appliances! Small savings go a long way. 

Getting one of the best treadmills under 1000 are a great way to save money. Though it’s a hefty one time payment, you don’t have that ‘initiation fee’, and you don’t need to worry about paying for it the next month, or year. You pay for it once and it’s out of the way – yours to use regularly or once in a blue moon. Nonetheless, you want one that’s worth your money and that’s why we’ve researched the following treadmills to give you the best bang for your buck. Below you will find great treadmills for home use and most of them are also compact to save you space!

The Top 5 Best Treadmills Under $1000

XTerra Fitness – Exercise has never been so accurate. As it can incline up to 11 degrees/15%, has 2 heart rate control programs, and a heart rate chest strap, you’ll know how close you are to getting, or maintaining, your goal. The XTerra has accessory holders for your phone, remote control, water bottle, and whatever else you’d like to place there. Enjoy, or tolerate, running with minimal stress on your joints because of the maximum impact absorption based into this treadmill.

Weslo Cadence – The most inexpensive treadmill on this list. Has comfortable cushioning to minimize any stress that could be impacted by running, includes 6 personal trainer workouts so you can see which works best for you, and has a heart rate monitor. Manually set it to incline to two different positions and, when you’re done with your exercise, fold it up to save space.

Horizon Fitness – Fairly cost-effective for what it brings to the table. As long as you’re under 300 pounds then you don’t need to worry about the horizon fitness treadmill caving in and can begin losing, or maintaining, weight. With built-in sonic speakers, a grip heart rate monitor, and a variety of 30 different program options, this may be the best treadmill to experiment running with.

Nordic Track – Just barely able to make the list of best treadmills under 1000 (you’ll see why when you see the price), the Nordic Track has a 3.0 continuous horsepower motor. That’s not the only reason it barely meets the threshold of pricing though. With a 7 inch touchscreen monitor that shows your speed, distance ran, heart rate, calories burned, and more, it also includes 32 premade workouts for you to try (designed by personal trainers).

ProForm 505 – Perform well on the ProForm. Inclines up to 10%, holds up to 300 pounds, and vertically folds so it can be easily stored. Input your iPod with the compatible music port and enjoy what usually is the dreadful hour. Try a variety of the 18 different integrated workout programs and don’t feel as if you’re in a rush because the 505 CST was built to last long.

How to Buy a Treadmill

Now, as we know, exercise is essential to our health and well-being. Sadly, it’s not so simple as a buy-and-use product may be. Not in all cases at least. With treadmills, you need to have a location set for it, calculate the measurements, know what features you may need on a treadmill, and more. In the end, it comes down to what you want, what you have, and what you can reach or settle for.

If you’re concerned about space, your best solution is a compact treadmill. Above I listed the Weslo Cadence and ProForm 505 are both fold-able which allows you to save space. However, a compact treadmill may not always be needed, the simplest way to figure out if you need one is to measure how much space you can set aside for your new running machine.

After the question of space is resolved, we need to look into the features. A few features that most deem to be necessary are: an incline/decline option, a calorie tracker to see how much you theoretically burned, the ability to input your data (such as your weight, age, height, etc.), and a heart-rate monitor. These options are usually built into many treadmills already so it’s the ‘special’ or ‘exclusive’ features you need to usually look for. What this may entail is special workout programs which was mentioned in the list above, impact absorption so running isn’t rough on your knees or joints, and so on. With this in mind, check to see if any treadmill has a feature you think you’ll benefit from and dig deeper into it.

In conclusion, I hope you now have an idea on how to buy a treadmill. To keep it simple, think of the space and features you need. I can’t get into every other small detail as it would vary from individual to individual but those are the most general concerns.