A treadmill, although one of the best pieces of indoor fitness equipment that it is possible to buy, is not cheap. A good one will set you back thousands. And discount treadmills are not easy to find. "Discount treadmills" is very often searched on the net. What options are there for these people who are searching for discount treadmills, and what is it that they are actually looking for?

A "discount treadmill" can be any one of a number of things. And discount treadmills means different things to different people.

To some people it can just mean cheap treadmills. These are people who just want a treadmill, but don't want to pay a lot. As long as it does the job that's fine. Nothing flash, just a cheap treadmill.

What are the best ways to get a cheap treadmill? Well there's a few and we'll look at them in a minute.

To other people a discount treadmill is a new treadmill at a significantly reduced new price. It doesn't have to be cheap, in fact they may well be looking for expensive treadmills, as long as they find them at discount prices.

Discount prices for treadmills are not easy to find, either for new expensive treadmills, or new cheap ones. The best place to find the best prices for treadmills in on the net. No doubt.

Why are there more discount treadmills on the net? Think about this. A regular treadmill store needs to sell treadmills to someone who walks in the door. So it needs to be close to the customers. To be close to lots of customers it needs lots of stores close to lots of people. That means a lot of expensive buildings situated on lots of expensive real estate. That leads to high overheads.

An online store, on the other hand, can have one large building to service it's entire market. And where can it locate it? Cheap real estate. One building and cheap real estate add up to lower overheads. Hence that store can compete more on price than a local store.

Many discount treadmills are sold direct by the manufacturer to the end user. This also cuts out one or more layers of profit between the manufacturer and the customer so the manufacturer can compete even more on price, although if they also have other stores selling their products they need to be careful not to put their own distributors out of business.

So, if you're looking for discount treadmills, then do it on the net.

How do you find the best prices? Well of course that is the age old question, and one incapable of complete answer. Because of course online business is business none the less and all the stores need to compete. On price as well as other factors.

However like regular businesses there are opportunities to pick up a discount treadmill. Online stores have sales too. So if you're prepared to wait and bide your time then you can pick up a good deal if you catch a sale.

And you can pick up a good discount treadmill at an end of stock sale or run out. Where they are selling them out just to clear them for the new model. If you are prepared to keep your ear to the ground and wait until new models are about to appear, then contact the merchant and enquire about the model about to be superceded then you may get a great discount treadmill.

Of course, all this takes some work and time.

What about someone who just wants a cheap treadmill? There's a few options. Firstly work out exactly what features you need and which ones you don't. If you are prepared to accept a lower level of features and buy the most basic models you can get some great treadmills for well under $1000. There are well known brands such as Proform which offer very good models for these prices without all the features of the upmarket models, but which work well.

If you are looking for really cheap treadmills then why not consider a manual treadmill? Undoubtedly they are not the best treadmills, you have to power them yourself and there are disadvantages to this. On the upside, there is no motor to break down!

Other sources of discount treadmills, or just plain cheap treadmills, also exist. Why not consider a refurbished treadmill, or a remanufactured treadmill? These are second hand treadmills which have been stripped down to a certain degree and rebuilt. There are some things to know about before buying one of these, and we can't go into all that here, however remanufactured treadmills are well worth considering.

These can also be sourced on the internet.

Alternatively there are second hand treadmills. These are, of course, just used treadmills that someone is trying to sell. There can be traps for the unwary with second hand or used treadmills. So if you are intending to go this way then do your homework and know exactly what to look for before you start looking. Buyer beware!

Another source of very cheap treadmills can be your local gym. Gyms have large numbrs of treadmills and get rid of them from time to time to make way for new ones. Again though, all the warnings about second hand treadmills apply to these too.

So, if you are looking for discount treadmills, there are some things to think about. First decide on your basic needs. What features do you need (not want) and what don't you need. Research the lower end of the market for treadmills which offer the features you need, and no more.

Decide if you want new or second hand. New discount treadmills require some time following the market, researching the prices, and using your head. It takes time.

Used discount treadmills offer other choices. Are you sufficiently experience to buy second hand with the attendant risks? Would you prefer a machine that has been refurbished, with a warranty? There is still lots to think about.

So, if you are in the market for discount treadmills, get your pen and paper out, and start writing. Work out exactly what it is you are after!

Find out more about Remanufactured Treadmills as well as Cheap Treadmills used treadmills, and treadmill maintenance at Peters website, Terrific Treadmills ? 2005 Peter Clark.