LifeSpan TR 1200i Folding Treadmill Review

This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. Read Our Disclosures

The LifeSpan TR 1200i Folding Treadmill is currently LifeSpan’s most popular treadmill for a variety of reasons, including the large running area, range of workout programs, and cushioned running deck.

This product article takes a look at the treadmill in a bit more detail, including the design features, workout programs, functions unique to the TR 1200i, and a summary of the most frequent feedback from the customer reviews.

Design features

If you are thinking about buying a new treadmill, it’s important to make sure you find the best balance between price and running area size.

While many commercial style designs will provide a running area of up to 60″ long, these treadmills are often two or three times the price of the Lifespan TR 1200i.

With a running area of 20″ x 56″, this still creates a large enough space for taller users (6ft +) to workout with their full running stride if required.

This treadmill’s stylish and modern design also includes a set of hand rails, which feature a convenient set of built in controls and heart rate hand sensors.

These controls let you control the belt speed and incline without having to adjust your pace or risk losing your balance or concentration.

Although not as powerful as the motor on the Lifespan TR 4000i, the 2.5 HP motor combines with 2.5 inch front rollers and a cushioned running deck help to provide a smooth, lower impact running experience.

Another clear benefit of the TR 1200i is its folding design. If space is limited but you still want to enjoy the improvements to your fitness that training on a treadmill can bring, the deck can be lifted up and the hydraulic shock locked securely in place until your next workout.

Step count and safety features

With the increasing popularity of personal activity trackers and pedometers, it’s good to know there is a treadmill that has integrated this into their design.

The LifeSpan TR 1200i includes a feature called ‘Intelli-Step’, which senses the resistance of your foot on the running belt each time you take a step. This is an excellent way of measuring how much further you are running, jogging, or walking during across future workouts.

While keeping track of your workout progress is certainly important, safety features such as ‘Intelli-Guard’ are essential if you plan on working out at home alone on a regular basis.

As well as being fitted with the popular safety key option, Intelli-Guard simply needs to sense that you are no longer walking or running to stop the belt from moving.

The safety key is still provided with the Lifespan TR 1200i, with one end attaching to the display console and the other end to your clothing. If the clip then pulls away from the display the belt will stop moving to prevent the risk of injury.

Workout programs

If you are struggling to choose between a few different treadmills around the same price, one comparison that can help with the decision is how many workout programs they have.

With such a range of different preset options as well as custom workouts, the LifeSpan TR 1200i has grouped these into 5 areas; Sports Training, Healthy Living, Weight Management, Heart Rate Controlled, and User Defined.

Sports Training – Choose from 7 programs designed for a variety of user fitness levels.

From low intensity runs to high intensity interval training, the sports training programs have been designed to improve your cardiovascular endurance and anaerobic fitness.

Healthy Living</strong – 5 programs designed to recreate the feeling of an uphill climb. This includes 2 interval variations and a program called ‘Plateau Climb’, which combines higher incline and speed settings for the majority of your workout, and is best suited to more advanced levels of user fitness. Weight Management – As the name suggests, these 5 programs will maintain a steady workload throughout your workout to keep you at the optimal intensity for fat burning and cardiovascular endurance.

Heart rate controlled (HRC) programs – Similar to the ‘Sports Training’ range of programs, heart rate controlled workouts are possible either at a constant intensity level, or as an interval program.

The ‘Constant’ option will let you select a specific percentage of your maximum heart rate that you want to maintain throughout your workout. At lower ranges around 65% this is excellent for weight loss, while cardio training is most effective around 80%.

The ‘Interval’ option lets you select an upper and lower limit for your target heart rate. This will then be the range for the interval periods of higher and lower intensity.

Custom user programs – Even with all of these workout options, it can sometimes be difficult to find one that fits with how you want to train.

This is why the LifeSpan TR 1200i provides you with 2 custom user workouts, allowing you to set the level for different stages throughout your workout.

Ease of assembly

One of the most frequent reasons behind lower rated customer reviews is a treadmill that’s difficult to assemble, or provided with a poorly written instruction manual.

Fortunately LifeSpan seem to go to great lengths to ensure their user manuals clearly explain each step of the assembly, with the LifeSpan TR 1200i being no exception.

A small hardware bag is packed inside the main box which stores all of the tools and screws you will need to get the treadmill setup.

With the running deck arriving already pre-assembled, there’s really not that much left to put together, meaning you can be enjoying your first workout within 30 minutes of unpacking all the parts.

Although the majority of the assembly steps are related to the display console, each instruction combines an exploded drawing, parts numbers, and a detailed textual explanation to make sure setting everything up is as quick and simple as possible.

Display console design

Featuring a much larger display console than the TR800, the TR1200i provides a range of useful buttons and clear display screen to make it easier to adjust workout settings while you’re training.

As well as having the standard up and down arrows for making more precise adjustments to the belt incline and speed, you also have the option to make larger changes using the quick select buttons.

Available for both the speed and incline, these quick change buttons allow you to quickly switch between preset levels, which is useful if you want to focus on your workout or even switch to interval training.

Although the display screen isn’t as large as designs such as the Sole Fitness F85, it still does a good job of displaying all the most important workout information. This includes your time, speed, calories burned, step count, and heart rate.

Customer reviews

Currently one of the most popular treadmills on popular shopping sites such as Amazon, the LifeSpan TR 1200i Folding Treadmill offers a large number of high quality user reviews.

While reading articles and user manuals can give you a better idea about the design features and workout programs, it’s always a good idea to read as many customer reviews as possible before buying any new piece of fitness equipment.

Despite the fact that the TR1200i is the lowest priced treadmill in the LifeSpan TR range, it still measures up closely to the higher priced TR4000i and TR5000i models.

Pros:

Cons: