Making space for home exercise equipment can be a pain, make a room look untidy or simply be impossible in smaller homes where space is at a premium. This is especially true in the case of bulky home gym equipment like a treadmill which can have a footprint of around 75" x 40". That's a lot of space to have to give up permanently for one piece of fitness equipment!

Fortunately, a folding treadmill is a space-saving solution which means you no longer have to give up permanent floor space to a home treadmill ever again. The following guide will attempt to answer questions about fold up treadmills, offering consumer advice, buying tips and checklists, as well as giving a few fold away treadmill recommendations.

The question many will be asking when looking at a foldable treadmill versus a traditional nonfolding model is "are folding treadmills good?", "do they work as well as a 'normal' treadmill?" and other questions along those lines.

The answer to that kind of question is the answer to any kind of query along those lines....you get what you pay for!

If you jump all over the idea of a cheap fold up treadmill, then you'll get a weak motor (or no motor), instability, weak frame and components, lack of preset programs and more into the bargain. When fold away treadmills first came onto the market, this was pretty much what you could expect as standard but fortunately these days, there are plenty of GREAT folding treadmill models which are just as good as comparable fixed frame machines.

The rest of this guide will endeavour to inform you about the various aspects of a folding treadmill which you will need to know in order to make an informed, educated purchasing decision and therefore find the right collapsible treadmill for your own personal needs.

It is easy to get sucked into the idea of having to spend thousands of dollars on a folding treadmill complete with all trappings of a commercial gym quality running machine when you really could get away with spending much less.

Equally, it is even easier to convince yourself the $100 foldaway treadmill you saw on your last trip to Wal-mart is an absolute bargain and you don't need any of that other stuff like a motor, or preset programs which just raises the price on those expensive models.

In reality, most home fitness enthusiasts do not need a commercial quality treadmill and will in no way be happy with a non-motorized cheap folding treadmill either. At the same time, a single person who only wants to use their treadmill for 30 minutes of light walking is going to have different requirements to a family of six all who have different exercising needs.

The key to finding a storable treadmill which is going to be both good value for money and leave you feeling happy is to find one which meets your personal needs or the needs of your family without missing out key components or being packed full of stuff you'll never use.

Read on for what you should be looking for when making your decisions.

The quality of the treadmill motor is one of the most important things you should look at when buying a treadmill, folding or otherwise.

Some cheap treadmills come without motors at all, asking the user instead to power the belt using their own legwork. This is generally a bad idea as it severly cuts back on many of the useful features which a treadmill can offer. It is not possible to set or maintain a fixed workout speed or to run training programs which simulate varying terrains, interval training or otherwise offer ways to keep your treadmill workout interesting. Motorless treadmills are generally found at the very low end of the market and are some of the cheapest treadmills you will find, with an all round cheap quality to match in other areas as well.

The treadmill's motor is the guts of the machine, determining ho hard you can work it, for how long and basically how much power it has. When looking at a good folding treadmill for home use, you want to look for a motor which is above the 2 horsepower level and which comes with a long warrantee, the longer the better. whilst you'll probably not need to use it, it is a good sign the manufacturer has confidence in their own equipment, because if they do not, then why should you? Some treadmills offer a 3 month limited warrantee on their motors, others up to 10 years and above...which one do you think is most likely to fail early?

The length and width of the treadmill belt becomes most important if you are taller or wider than the average user. If you are intending to use your treadmill for running on rather than walking predominantly, or will be running on the treadmill at a future date then a wider and especially longer treadmill belt will be much more comfortable and safer to use as it gives you a freer range of movement without feeling you might slip off the end or step over the sides.

If you are looking to buy a folding treadmill then its a fair bet to say you are thinking of moving that treadmill often or at least some of the time.

A freestanding, nonportable treadmill is a heavy beast which your are NOT going to want to move too often once it is in place.

Folding treadmills on the other hand usually have several features which make them more portable whilst still remaining durable and sturdy. A good portable treadmill will fold up easily, some use hydraulics, others just fold in half. In addition, the frame usually has wheels attached to at least one end so you can fold down your treadmill and then wheel it to where you want it to stow away rather than have to bodily lift and carry it to when you want to stow it.

Regardless of how easy the manufacturers have made the folding away and storage of a collapsible treadmill, you still should consider your own personal circumstances. If you have back problems or otherwise have problems bending or lifting, then you should check the weight and consider how often you intend moving your treadmill around.

Something which is easy to overlook is the manufacturer's recommended weight limits for YOU the user. Some treadmills have very low maximum user weight restrictions and many are below 250lbs...and you should take off another 25 pounds at least to compensate in case of over-optimism. Folding treadmills often have lower max weight limits than fixed frame treadmills simply because of how they are designed. Check before you buy. Most online treadmill retailers, like Amazon, list things like these weight recommendations.

When foldable treadmills first appeared on the scene, the stability of the machine was an issue, now you'll only find stability and frame issues if you go cheap in your selection.

If you are still unsure about whether a treadmill is something you will use regularly enough to justify spending a four figure amount on one then there are some reasonable quality budget treadmills out there. You do need to shop a lot more carefully in the lower price ranges however as there is also some real junk out there too when you drop down in value.

You get what you pay for...it's unfortunately true everywhere.

A budget treadmill manufacturer who receives reasonable reviews is Merit. The two foldable treadmills from Merit shown below both get relatively good customer reviews from Amazon.com users.

Another way to save money however, is to check out things like Craigslist and Ebay for users who got tired with their machine. Or to go refurbished which can save you dollars too.

Below are some folding treadmill auctions on Ebay right now.