Price and The Electronics
Price
It is highly unlikely that you will find a new high-quality treadmill for under $1000. Thankfully, most people can find a treadmill sufficient for their needs for under $1500.
If this is out of your range, you may want to consider buying a used treadmill. It is best to find one being sold by someone who just doesn't use it, as opposed to buying from a gym (where it probably has been used into oblivion). It is not recommended to buy a used treadmill that is more than one year old or does not hold up to the standards in the rest of this article.
The Electronics:
The Motor
Don't buy a treadmill that doesn't have at least 1.5 continuous duty peak performance. (Don't believe any numbers listed as "treadmill duty" or "peak horsepower", and lookout for numbers listed as intermediate duty, as well. These aren't useful to you and are listed to confuse people.)
If you want to save money on service calls and new motors in the future, get a PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) motor instead of a SCR(Solid State Control Rectifier) motor.
Also, look for high torque at low revs (revolutions).
Control Console
At a minimum, make sure that it displays speed, distance, time, and pace. Consider if you want to spend extra for preprogrammed workouts. Remember, more options equals more $$.
