V-Fit PT141 Folding Treadmill Review

With something of a reputation for producing relatively low-cost, but reliable, treadmills the V-Fit range has always offered an affordable alternative to some of the bigger and better-known brands. The V-Fit PT141 is a model that’s priced towards the upper end of the budget-level range of running machines on the market, so we got one in to see what it’s like and how it compares to some of the most popular, similarly priced, treads out there.

Assembly is very much standard for a treadmill these days and, depending on how good you are with flat packed stuff, takes around 30 minutes. There’s nothing complex here and all the parts fit together without the need to force anything indicating that, as expected from this brand, things have been manufactured properly. At a mere 52kg (114.6lbs) the resulting treadmill is light-weight making it easy to position and move around. The downside of such as modest mass is that this model doesn’t feel quite as sturdy as we’d hope for this kind of budget. Still, it does have a max user weight of 100kg (220.5lbs) which is enough for the average user and is sturdy enough to avoid any major concerns over longevity.

With a footprint of 157 x 73cm (62″ x 28.7″), this model is squarely in the compact category making it suitable if you’re working with a fairly tight space while the folding mechanism allows you to further reduce the footprint down to a very respectable  73cm x 73cm  (28.7″ x 28.7″). The running deck, as you’d expect, isn’t that large but at 42cm (16.5″) wide and 120cm (47″) long it’s large enough for jogging on with some higher paced bursts. The belt is driven by a 1.5 horsepower motor which does a reasonable job in terms of responsiveness and noise, though the top speed it’s capable of is a little disappointing at just 12kmh (7.5mph). There are 3 levels of incline to choose from up to a maximum level of 8% and the reason for this rather low spec is simple because the PT141  does not have a motorised incline system and that puts it at a disadvantage when compared with most other models in this price bracket.  The decision to opt for a manual system means not only that the incline levels aren’t very steep and there are only 3 to choose from, but more problematically the onboard workouts cannot control the incline level. This, in turn, means that they’re limited in the type of workouts they can deliver and while there are 18 of them they’re all quite simple. Despite this drawback, the PT141 feels quite good to run on with the cushioning system doing a job good enough to take the sting out of the landing.

The console display is easy enough to read, albeit a little bit small and allows you to select your workouts and track your training data such as speed, pulse and so on. Other accessories include dual water bottle holders/accessories trays and an audio input jack and speakers so that you can listen to music while you run. It has to be said that the speakers aren’t great (they rarely are on treadmills) and you’ll probably be better off with a set of decent sports headphones instead.

The conclusion here is that this isn’t a terrible treadmill, but it’s not a great one either and while it will certainly do a job, for this sort of budget not having a motorised incline really is a deal-breaker.