Best Treadmills Overall

The best treadmills offer smooth, powerful, stable performance

With its solid construction and effective features, the Landice L7 Pro Sports Trainer (*Est. $3,500) gets top scores from expert reviewers and is our Best Reviewed treadmill. The Precor 9.23 (*Est. $1,600) is also a particularly good value for serious runners. The Landice's running belt is 1 inch longer than the Precor's, and it sports a motor with 4 continuous horsepower (chp) versus the Precor's 3 chp. These stable, durable machines can power a fast run up a steep incline and have a maximum speed of 12 mph. The Landice L7 is praised for its great programmability, but the Precor's lower price and responsive controls make it a favorite, as well.

The Sole F80 ( *Est. $1,500) also draws kudos from experts and users. However, like the Sole F85 (*Est. $2,000), it's somewhat slow to change speed and incline. The Sole F63 (*Est. $1,000) has won several awards, but the current model falls short of the Landice L7's superior durability.

The Vision Fitness T10 (*Est. $1,500), formerly the T9200 Simple, better matches our Best Reviewed model's toughness but has almost no features, not even preprogrammed workouts. The Landice L7 packs preset workouts and many other extras onto a console that's almost too complex, reviewers say. One purchase option even includes a computer-animated video display.

The ProForm Power 995 ( *Est. $1,000) is dependable and has lots of features, but is more suitable for walking and jogging, experts say. In addition, while the L7 stands out for its bumper-to-bumper warranty, owners say warranty service for the Power 995 is terrible. Landice also allows users to transfer the warranty of the L7.

The LifeSpan TR4000i (*Est. $1,700) delivers a gym-quality workout at speeds up to 12 mph, but doesn't yet receive much user feedback. The Life Fitness F1 Smart (*Est. $2,250) offers slow but smooth transitions between speed and incline settings, excellent cushioning and an energy-saving feature. However, its meager 2.5 chp motor keeps it out of the running for a top spot here. Finally, the True PS300 (*Est. $3,100) has a long, stable running belt, but its 3 hp motor isn't identified as "continuous duty" and owners suggest that customer service may be lacking.