Choosing a treadmill: Horizon Evolve SG?

[JZ]

I am a petite woman and prefer a treadmill that I can move by myself. I liked the Horizon Evolve SG because it's so compact and shipping is included in the $600 price, but I have two questions if anyone has experience with it:
1. How does it hold up over lots of walking time? Is it comfortable to walk so long on it?
2. The upright piece is solid and looks fairly high. I was thinking of getting a 20" deep 40" tall table that fits over it to use as the desk, and walking on the remaining 25" of belt since I notice that I don't use much of the length of the belt when walking slowly, but does that make sense?

Thanks for your help.

JZ

[G. S. Bergsma]

I've not used the Horizon Evolve SG, so I can't answer your first question, but after building my own walking desk I can comment on the second. While a light and compact treadmill is certainly attractive, it is good to remember that when you are working, you really stop paying attention to where you are stepping, so it is good to be sure that you have plenty of room on the tread to walk. Stepping in the wrong place or falling off the back of the tread can lead to injuries, so it is worth taking the time to figure out your requirements.

Twenty five inches of belt length is not much, but whether that is a comfortable amount of space for you depends on both your height (and hence your stride length), and how fast you think you might be walking while you are on it (the slower you walk, the smaller the steps you take and the less belt you will use). My best advise is to go to a gym or borrow someone's treadmill, and use a tape measure to see the length of tread you are using at different speeds. People vary a lot at what speeds are comfortable for them to walk and work (many people use somewhere in the range of 0.6 to 1.5 mph), so it is important for you to gauge what your requirements are. Keep in mind that you will likely use some of the tread the extends under your desk, but try to leave yourself a bit of a safety margin if you can.

Tread width is also something worth considering, as a lot of compact treadmills have narrower treads. Again, you won't be watching your step while you are working, so you want to be sure that it is wide enough for you not to be accidentally stepping off the tread. It looks like the Evolve has a 17" tread width, which is decent, but I wouldn't go any narrower if you choose to go with a different treadmill.

As far as your desk is concerned, if you plan on working a lot at your treadmill, I would say to be very cautious about ergonomics. Presumably you will be using a computer. If so, pay special attention to your elbow and head height while you are on the treadmill, and be sure that your keyboard and monitor give you comfortable wrist and neck angles to work. A 40" standing desk would be about right for many people, but when you subtract the height of the treadmill, it becomes pretty low for some. A good resource for figuring out what you need is the site below that was posted earlier in this forum, just remember that for a treadmill desk, the heights are from the surface of the tread, not the floor.

http://www.ergospec.com/flash/computer_standing/index.html

For me (a 5' 10" man), for example, I use ~35" of tread length walking at 1 mph (though I would definitely feel uncomfortable without a few more inches safety margin), and I use a 49" desk height with a tread that is 7" off the ground. For a petite woman those numbers would be smaller, but I wouldn't push my comfort or safety too far.

I hope that helps.