The best walking pads and under-desk treadmills

This compact and lightweight treadmill (64 pounds) is affixed with flexible rollers to easily move from place to place. Designed to absorb shock, the Goyouth 2 in 1 Treadmill is safe to use for both walking and running purposes, with speeds ranging from 0.5 to six miles per hour.

Featuring an LED screen displaying time, speeds, calories burned, distance, and steps, the machine also features a remote control to adjust your speed and Bluetooth capability so you can play music through your phone. 

Lightweight and easy to maneuver on wheels, the treadmill offers a space-saving solution at just over two inches thick and weighing 64 pounds. The seven-level elastic running platform features anti-skid and shockproof protection and increases up to 3.7 miles per hour for a good walking pace.

The treadmill also comes with a smart remote for speed control to turn on and off, as well as a workout app for tracking your speed, time, mileage, and calories on your phone.

Featuring two sports modes, the treadmill's under-desk option maintains a walking pace of up to four miles per hour and reaches speeds of up to 12 miles per hour with the rails up. The rails also include a phone holder and LED screen.

While the quiet motor keeps noise at a minimum, the non-slip, shock-absorbing running belt features both sound insulation and a high-strength support layer to protect the joints when running at higher speeds. Along with a separate remote control and emergency safety key, the treadmill has Bluetooth capabilities for a hands-free experience.

With a 39-inch lateral walking belt, the InMovement UnSit treadmill takes up less lateral space in the home office. The treadmill has a powerful 2.75 horsepower motor for keeping noise to a minimum and comes with an integrated app to track your metrics, measure how long you've been standing, and merge data with Bluetooth tracking devices.

It also has a one-touch dial to control speed (up to two miles per hour). Built to provide maximum safety, the machine automatically shuts off immediately after stepping off. 

Testing under-desk treadmills is an interesting experience due mainly to the fact that there are so many different versions of them. Some are full-on treadmill belts capable of sliding under a desk, while other options might be more compact or designed to function like an elliptical. There are even under-desk treadmills built into an actual desk.

Since that kind of variety makes it difficult to truly compare 1-to-1, the testing method used for the models featured in this guide comprised both actual testing and some research. Here are the categories we considered when deciding which to include as top picks:

Ease of use: This may seem like a no-brainer but not every under-desk treadmill is intuitive and easy to use — which are perhaps any model's most important features. It's far easier to motivate yourself to work out when the thing you need to use to do it is simple and straightforward. When judging this category, we also considered the initial setup, as many don't come preassembled and require at least a little bit of at-home assembly. 

Stability: Since most under-desk treadmills aren't anywhere near the same size as traditional models, stability can be a real issue, especially since the person using them exerts the same amount of force as they would on a larger treadmill. This category was easy to judge, too: Did the treadmill rock back and forth during use, or did it remain stable throughout? 

Performance: The way we judged the performance of an under-desk treadmill was to see how well it actually functioned while being used during the workday. We wanted to see if it made too much noise to be on Zoom calls or if it made it awkward to tread and type at the same time. The idea behind these is to get some exercise, of course, but to also not entirely disrupt your day (because, at that point, it'd be more beneficial just to stop what you're doing and do a legit workout). 

Value: We assessed the value of each of the featured under-desk treadmills by looking into whether they were built well enough to last longer than a few weeks, if they had decent return/replacement policies, and if they didn't cost as much as an actual treadmill. There is a high-end model listed here but it's unique enough (it's a literal treadmill desk) that it still fits the bill of what we were looking for.