My New Tiny Treadmill (And The Pros, Cons, and Tradeoffs Of Choosing A Small Treadmill)

I bought myself a new little treadmill. After looking at several brands, I finally settled on this folding Deer Run treadmill with incline. I wanted a new treadmill because the one I had is so big and bulky. Here’s a look at it before our home gym got torn up.

That treadmill was so bulky that I had to take it apart every time I wanted to move it to a new room. It wouldn’t fit through any of our doors without being taken apart. In fact, one time I didn’t take enough pieces off of it before trying to move it out of a room, and it got wedged in the doorway so tightly that my brother had to come over and help me get it unwedged. Even when I was moving that treadmill out of this room so that the floor could be repaired just about four weeks ago, I took it apart as much as I could, and I still had a heck of a time getting it through the doorway of the room.

So I’ve been wanting a new, much smaller treadmill for a while now. And when I originally planned on combining a workout area and a closet (in the current guest bedroom), I thought that was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the big treadmill and get a much smaller one.

Here’s what the new one looks like…

It’s so tiny compared to the big one! I like that it has these adjustable handles that can be moved out of the way.

It also folds down to get it out of the way. That would easily slide under some (but obviously not all) beds to get it out of the way.

And if you unplug the power cord from the back of the treadmill, it can even stand up on its end on its own.

I really like how compact this little treadmill is. My other one could fold up, but there was still nothing compact about it. And I was always terrified that the pin holding it up would snap, and the whole thing would come crashing down on Matt or my cat. So the only time I ever put it up like that was when I was vacuuming the room. Then I put it right back down.

I got the one that has the incline capabilities, but the incline is manual, and there are only two settings. You can use it flat, or you can use it at a 6-degree incline. There’s really no other options as far as I can see. And to set it, you have to stand it up on end, remove two pins, move the bar to another setting, and replace the pins.

So it’s not a huge incline, but it’s just enough for me. And I would probably just keep it on that setting, so the pain of having to set it manually really doesn’t bother me.

Another thing that might be inconvenient for some is that in order to fold it up, you have to loosen two screws.

So I don’t really think it’s an option for a person who’s thinking they’re going to store it away most of the time, but get it out and use it daily. The hassle would prevent all but the most determined people from using it daily if you’re not in a place where you can keep it set up all the time.

Fortunately, our long-term plan is to have a permanent workout area or home gym, so I’ll be able to leave it set up all the time. And for now, it’s small enough that I can find an out-of-the-way place to put it, even if it has to stay in my studio for a while. And since it’s so small and has wheels, it’s very easy to move from room to room.

There are some obvious pros and cons to swapping a big, nice treadmill for a small one. On my big treadmill, I could change the incline with the touch of a button. It also had pre-programmed workouts where the incline would change several times during one workout. Obviously, with a manual incline adjustment, I’ll be missing out on those options. But to be quite honest, I never used that feature anyway. I’d always just set it on one incline setting and walk for 20 minutes.

So while I’ll be missing out on the fancy features like incline adjustments at the touch of a button, and preprogrammed workouts, the smaller treadmill is great because it doesn’t take up much space, so it can fit in pretty much any empty corner without getting in the way. It’s also easy to store since it can stand upright and take up very little floor space.

I think for me, it was a good tradeoff. With the small treadmill, I’ll be able to move it around as needed while our house is under construction, and I’ll still be able to walk every day. With the old treadmill, that wouldn’t have been an option. I would have had to just store it away for now, and keep it in storage until I had a permanent place for it. And even then, I’d have to hope and pray that I could get it through the door(s) to get it where it needed to go.

I think I’ll be perfectly happy with the little treadmill, but I’ll keep y’all posted.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.