Review: Egofit Walker Pro M1

Medea Giordano

8/10

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If your TikTok FYP is anything like mine, you've been seeing a bunch of fit girlies walking on mini treadmills at their desk. I'm here to tell you they've got it right. The Egofit Walker Pro is my work-from-home savior. With it, I've gone from a few, ahem, hundred steps in a normal day--bedroom to kitchen to office is not exactly a half marathon--to 14,000 or more.

I've never been a gym person, or athletic by any means. That never seemed to matter, but life has caught up to me. So I'm on a mission to get more healthy, with the help of this treadmill and Grow With Jo's app and YouTube series. Walking is fantastic exercise. If you're not trying to go full Olympian, it's a good place to start.

The Walker Pro fits under my desk, so I can pull it out when I want to walk and push it back when I'm done. I use it in conjunction with the Fully Cora standing desk converter. (We have a few other options for laptop stands here.) The treadmill is light enough that I can push it from my office to the living room if I want to walk while watching TV, and there are front wheels to make that easier.

A few years ago, I used a foldable Walking Pad, which has brought one WIRED writer a lot of joy. Those are pricier, anywhere from $200 to nearly $700 more. The Egofit is smaller in length, though a bit thicker in height--it's just longer than the Walking Pad is when that one is folded up. Either product works when you don't have much space to spare, but I prefer the size of this one.

The 38-inch length will be helpful for some and a hindrance to others, especially those with particularly long strides. I didn't have that problem. If anything, I could have used an inch more width on either side, so that I can occasionally stop my thighs from chafing as I trek. Because of its compact size, the weight limit maxes out at 243 pounds.

For an extra $60, Egofit's Walker Plus includes a detachable handle. I didn't try that one, but it could be worth the extra money if you plan to walk mostly away from a desk. It's helpful to have something to hold on to. With the handle attached, the speed increases too, from 3.1 miles per hour to 3.7, so you might be able to jog.

The Pro and Plus have a slight fixed incline. It's not steep enough to build muscle like in a 12-3-30 workout, but it makes walking just a bit harder than on a totally flat surface. The brand does have a completely level treadmill if you prefer that.

The Egofit can be controlled by an included remote control or the FitShow app (iOS, Android). I prefer the simplicity of the remote, but the app has one big advantage, in that it preserves your hard-earned data.

As you walk, the treadmill's digital screen automatically cycles through time, calories burned, distance walked, steps, and walking speed. The problem is that there's no pause function. If you press stop on the remote before you've taken note of any of that info, it all zeroes out immediately, instead of giving you a summary of your workout. If you're not wearing a fitness tracker, you might have no idea of what you've just done.

The app saves your sessions, but you need to use it to control the treadmill for it to start tracking; it won't automatically sync if you've started it with the remote. And the app shows a big red pause button, but don't be fooled--that's a stop button. Sometimes you need to take a water break but don't want to start from zero again. This seems like an easy thing to fix in future iterations.

I do appreciate that the digital screen includes step count, instead of just distance as most treadmills do, as that's the metric I've been trying to use. The step count is accurate too; it matched what both my Apple Watch (strapped around my ankle) and cheap pedometer counted.

The cost of these mini treadmills can be alarming, especially when some full-size treadmills are just slightly more. But the $400 Egofit is cheaper than a year's membership at a gym, if you want to look at it that way.

For me, gyms are a nightmare. I don't want to carve out the time to drive there or have to look presentable when I'm exercising. With the Egofit, I can walk for as long or as little as I want, knowing I can do more later. I can walk for 20 minutes, make lunch, walk for 10, go snuggle the cats, and then do a night session while I binge Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. You can't do that with a gym membership.

I'm not trying to train for a marathon by walking a few miles at my desk. I just want to be able to move around without panting and fit back into a few of my old clothes. Being able to pull this out when I need it, and push it away when I don't, has made me feel fully in control of my fitness for maybe the first time. I actually get excited to reach my step goals now.