REVIEW – It’s time to get your cardio on! The Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill is designed for walking, jogging and running. The semi-compact design is plenty big and stable for more aggressive work, but the deck folds up so that you can store it if you’re using it in smaller spaces. Let’s put it to work. To the review!
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $329.99
Where to buy: Amazon
What is it?
It’s a treadmill with a deck that folds up (and wheels away) for stowing away when not in use.
Tech specs
49.2″ tall by 52.4″ long by 27.6″ wide
Fold up belt shortens length to 25.6″
3 incline levels (0, 3, 6 degrees)
41.3″ by 16.5″ belt
Speed range 0.5 – 7.5 MPH
300 pound capacity
92.6 pounds
Alloy steel build
2.5 max horsepower
Integrated heart rate monitor
Design and features
The Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill is built around a durable design that favors functional purpose over fancy bells and whistles. The extra-wide 5-layer belt measures in at 41.3″ by 16.5″. 6 shock absorbers in the base help to cushion impact, and the unit will support weight up to 300 pounds.
While it does not have an automatic incline adjustment, a pair of shoes on the rear of the unit can be adjusted to create a 0, 3 or 6 degree incline by moving the pins and readjusting the angle of the shoe.
The treadmill includes a safety cord to reduce injury risk. You attach the big clip to your shirt or shorts, and the system shuts off immediately if the sensor is pulled loose from that yellow port shown below.
Your power chord is mounted on the front along with the on/off switch. You can turn it on and leave it on, as the unit will go to sleep when not in use and wake up when you activate any of the controls or step on the belt.
The Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill features a full-sized upper deck two generous cupholders, big panel buttons, and a bright LED screen that feeds you activity data. That screen space doubles as a tablet holder as you see shortly. This display cycles through speed, time, distance and calories burned in 5 second increments during the session.
Here’s a close-up of your control pad functions. You have preset speed options (1/3/5/7) to jump to a specific belt speed. The START and STOP functions wind up the action with a 3-second delay, or bring the unit to a gradual halt. Tapping STOP once pauses the session but keeps your data active, while tapping twice ends the session. The +/- SPEED buttons increase or decrease the speed in 1/10 increments. All of these buttons are generously sized for fat-finger contact while you’re sweating and wobbling about.
If you want to go beyond the manual operation, the “PROG” and “MODE” options offer some customization. You can do things like set workouts based on time, calorie and distance countdowns. You can set timers to mark intervals with a beep so that you can adjust your speeds for interval work. There’s also a body fat test mode if you want to play with that. Given the fact that the screen is a basic LED and there is no integrated app, you need to rely on a set of prompts and instructions in the manual to set up most of these modes.
The side handles include a heart monitor function. Grip the ends of the handles at the metal contact points shown in the picture below with your palms in full contact with those points.
Keep your hands there and you’ll see the LED change as your heart rate is being monitored. It takes about 60 seconds of steady contact to get an accurate reading. The display will cycle back to regular reporting mode when you disengage from the contact points.
In addition to the heart rate monitors, you will find some additional controls on those handles. The left handle has a START and STOP button that mimics the function on the main panel.
The right handle has a button to increase and decrease the current speed at 1/10 increments like you find on the main panel. These handle controls are actual buttons, and very sensitive to taps.
Your Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill measures in at a footprint of 49.2″ tall by 52.4″ long by 27.6″ wide. If you want to stash it away, simply lift it up the belt deck from the back side of the unit. A gas piston helps to make this easy to fold up and lock into place for a 49.2″ tall by 25.6″ long by 27.6″ wide storage footprint.
A pair of casters on the base (shown below) allow you to tip and wheel the treadmill into a corner or a closet at this point. If you pop that yellow contact point on the piston it releases that deck, which slowly descends to the flat position. this all makes it fairly easy to move around despite the 90+ pound weight as long as you’re on flat surfaces.
Merach includes a recommended maintenance schedules and instructions for lubricating/adjusting the belt in the manual, which is also available online.
Merach Fitness also includes access to their exercise app, but this particular treadmill is not Bluetooth-enabled for any sort of integration.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The bad news about the assembly is that the Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill weighs in at just under 100 pounds. The good news is that assembly is very easy. Once you lug the beastie to its destination in your home, you’ll find that the treadmill comes very well packed and wrapped to minimize potential damage in transit.
The unit comes 95% pre-assembled after all the wrapping & packing is removed.
You’ll have 4 molded caps to install using the tools, screws, and washers included in the kit along with a small bottle of belt lubricant.
You’ll follow the instructions included to install these caps, and to lock the top deck and handles into place.
Total installation start to finish was just around 22 minutes at a leisurely pace.
Performance
My wife, my son and I spent 5 weeks testing this treadmill for walking, jogging and running in a combination of short and long sessions. Everyone agreed that simplicity and durability were the key themes we found in the setup and design. The cushion and base design are excellent for reducing impact stress, and the unit stays remarkably stable even when you’re pounding away in a more aggressive run.
While the device lacks fancy digital displays and app integration, the manual controls are easy to use and manipulate even in the middle of a session. There’s no learning curve to operate the basic functions. We found the programming modes to be a little too complicated for regular use. Taking advantage of the simple manual modes was just fine.
We particularly love the big top deck and the double cup holders that don’t get in the way of the controls. You’ve even got room for a full-size tablet and your phone on that deck without interfering with the control panel. The tablet holder will also accommodate bigger tablets. The net benefit of this is that you’re not crowded for space as you do your thing.
The only bummer here is that your tablet will obscure the LED display. You can place a phone or a smaller e-reader up there and still see the data, but anything bigger will block the readings.
The hand placement for the heart monitor is fine, but we did notice that the secondary controls are very sensitive. An accidental swipe can stop your session in its tracks or inadvertently adjust the speed. We found that you have to be careful with your hand placement to avoid this.
While the top deck height is fixed, the LED screen/tablet holder swivels 90 degrees from a vertical position to a flat position, allowing for adjustment based on your height for comfortable viewing angles.
The 2.5 horsepower motor operation is smooth and quiet, with virtually no squeaking or creaking even under faster speeds. We also appreciated the fact that you have the option to switch between big jumps in speed and small increments to build up/cool down based on personal preference. The 3 second start and gentle wind down also make for smooth entry & exit from your sessions.
As I mentioned earlier we found that the fold function is surprisingly good. It’s a heavy unit, but the piston design and solid casters make it easy to roll around and tuck out of the way when not in use. Those casters aren’t big, however, so you’ll struggle on uneven surfaces.
Final thoughts
The Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill is an excellent example of the benefits of simple, purposeful design. The unit is durable, stable, easy to operate, and has excellent usability for a variety of uses and body types. While you don’t get Bluetooth integration or an upgraded digital bits, you get all the benefits of that durable design in a unit that retails for under $300 by focusing on substance over flash. There’s really not much to quibble about when it comes to the value proposition here. We’ll see how it holds up to sustained abuse!
What I like about the Merach Fitness Folding Treadmill
- Very stable design
- Generous cupholders
- Generous adjustable LED screen/tablet holder
- Easy to fold and store
- Intuitive controls
What needs to be improved?
- Side handle controls can be sensitive to accidental brushes
- Using a tablet covers the LED display
- While manual functions are great, custom settings & programs are difficult to operate
Price: $329.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Merach Fitness. Merach Fitness did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
Check out these other treadmill reviews!
- OHWILL Auto Incline Treadmill review – walking miles in my house
- DeerRun A5 Pro Smart 2 in 1 Folding Treadmill review – Smooth, stable, and great for compact spaces!
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