Smooth 5.25e Treadmill Review

The Smooth 5.25 treadmill is one of their top selling models in the UK. You may not have heard of Smooth Fitness much but they’re one of the biggest names in the US home fitness market.

For more information about them please read our fact file here.

This is the first Smooth machine we’ve tried and we were quite excited to finally get one in the office as we’ve heard quite a bit about them.

Our first impression was it looks a but dull compared to other more established brands. However, one we cranked it up and hopped on the deck we felt much happier.

Smooth make a lot of noise about their Swing ArmTM deck suspension system for superior shock absorption and we can see why. It has a great feel and reduces dramatically the stress to your knees and joints. If you’re currently over weight or susceptible to running injuries this will certainly help.

In addition to the shock absorption, the deck is also quite wide (although shorter than some in this price bracket) which adds to the feeling of comfort and stability when at top speed.

The 2.5 BHP motor easily takes the belt up to 10 mph and is one of the quietest we’ve tried in this price range. If you’re a sprinter you’d probably be better off with a machine that goes up to 12 mph but for the majority of runners 10 is more than enough. The warranty covers the motor for 10 years which is good for your peace of mind.

If you think 10mph is not challenging enough the 5.25 can go up to an incline level of 15% (the majority of other models in this price range manage only 12%), if you can run at 15% at 10mph for 5 minutes you’ll soon get very fit!

The Smooth 5.25 has 6 pre-set programmes which offers enough variation to keep you motivated to continue to train on a regular basis, although not as many as some its competitors. It does have a heart rate controlled programme to take you into the fat-burning zone yet only has hand grips to measure your pulse as there is no built-in polar chip in the console for use with a chest strap.

However, where it scores over its close rivals is the motion control feature. It can sometimes be a little awkward to change the speed when you’re running fast, whereas with the 5.25 you can increase or decrease speed by waving your hands over the sensors in the handles. This is, to our minds, the cheapest machine on the market to have this useful feature.

Where the 5.25 lets itself down in our view is the console, see below. It’s very unimaginitive in its layout and the controls are a bit basic (thankfully it has motion control).

Smooth cover the 5.25 with an excellent warranty, the frame is covered for life, the motor for 10 years and everything else has two years on-site cover for parts and labour.