JTX Sprint 3 Treadmill Review

The JTX Sprint 3 is the entry level offering from leading home fitness company JTX Fitness and promises a good quality running/walking based cardio workout from the comfort of your own home.

With 4 models in the Sprint range and this being the cheapest, there is plenty of reason to be pessimistic about the chances of this model cutting the mustard, so we decided to take it on a thorough testing for a few weeks and are now able to bring you our JTX Sprint 3 review.

JTX Sprint 3 Unboxing

Although the Sprint 3 is the entry level model from JTX it still doesn’t fully qualify as what you might call a budget treadmill. In fact, it is double the price of some of the lowest priced options available but that’s a good thing in our book.

The Sprint 3 is designed to last and is also designed to provide a good level of challenge and manages to mix this with impressive functionality – not usually two qualities that you find in lower priced models.

The Sprint 3 comes in a couple of large boxes when delivered and the delivery company will deliver these to your room of choice (they did so in full PPE for us so this was managed in a safe way).

Treadmill assembly can seem daunting and this is when you start to realise that the Sprint 3 is not a cheap imitation of its bigger and more expensive siblings – as assembling and setting up this model is really straightforward and can be done within 30 minutes or so quite comfortably. Due to the weight it is best performed as a two person operation but it is very easy to do.

This treadmill looks fantastic. It has an exceptional build quality with the main frame being constructed from heavy duty steel and coming with an impressive 10 year warranty. This is a foldable model which makes storage easy and although when unfolded it is smaller than the rest of the models in the Sprint series, it still holds its own against competitor treadmills at a similar price point and its running track is more than ample for most runners.

Quite simply, once assembled, you will be looking at a beautifully designed treadmill that has a look and feel of quality about it. It’s not quite commercial quality but for daily home use it is more than up to the task.

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JTX Sprint 3 Specs

The JTX Sprint 3 measures up at 160cm in length and has a width of 72cm. It’s height is 149cm with the deck standing at 16cm above floor level – this is ideal as it means you just need to add 16cm to your own height (plus a few more for comfort) to work out your minimum ceiling height – although incline settings will require a few more cm so be sure to account for that.

For most people, using this treadmill in a garage with lower ceilings should be fine. The treadmill folds down to a length of 105cm with the other dimensions remaining the same – which shaves around a third off the length for space saving storage.

With a 2HP motor, the Sprint 3 from JTX Fitness is well powered and is well above the minimum 1.5HP motors that we usually look for in a treadmill – providing it with a top speed of 16KPH. It has a mechanically controlled incline with 12 levels from 0-12% and has an 8 point suspension system which the company have aptly named Cushionstep.

The running deck dimensions are 129cm (l) x 46cm (w) and although this is smaller than the other Sprint models, it is perfectly adequate for all but the very tallest of runners – and even those with the greatest cadence will find this treadmill usable thanks to these generous dimensions.

According to JTX, the Cushionstep suspension offers 30% less impact on the joints and we will discuss this in the next section of the Sprint 3 review.

There are 40 pre-set workout programs to choose from with the Sprint 3 and these combine a mixture of workout types as well as having manually programmable settings. The 5 inch LCD display provides user data such as time, distance, calories burned, heart rate (using the built in pulse rate sensors) and is also backlit which makes it ideal for using in dimly lit spaces.

The incline is controlled at the touch of a button (with two being located on the main console and two found on the side bars for quick and easy selections) and the mechanical changes are carried out smoothly and quietly.

This can be controlled manually or as part of a pre-set program and really adds a lot of challenge to your workout and will have that heart rate pumping in no time.

There is a built in cooling fan with the Sprint 3 and although this does provide some comforting relief it isn’t the most powerful. There is also a safety key to shut down the treadmill in case of emergency. The machine itself weighs around 63KG and has a maximum user weight of 120kg which is pretty decent for a folding treadmill.

The JTX Sprint 3 treadmill has some of the best user reviews of all the treadmills we have seen at this price point so let’s reveal our in use testing results.

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JTX Sprint 3 In Testing

We tested the Sprint 3 for almost one month and in that time we had three different runners using the machine. We had both male and female users ranging in height from 5’5″ to 6’2″ and all had no trouble at all with the dimensions of the treadmill.

The only gripe was that the side bars were not as long as other models so when running at high speed it felt a little less secure than the Sprint 7 for example.

The Sprint 3 is not a particularly interactive treadmill and won’t give you access or connectivity with any interactive running apps – but it isn’t trying to compete on this level and instead, JTX Fitness have focused on delivering a quality treadmill experience made from high-quality components.

This is something they have achieved and then some with the overall quality of this machine being its key selling point.

The frame feels robust and incredibly secure and the running track is comfortable to use whether running at high speed with higher impact steps or brisk walking.

he so called Cushionstep technology is essentially an 8 point suspension system but it works to soften the impact of each step – and although we can’t attest to the 30% claim of lower impact on the joints, we can certainly say that all three of our testers found it a lot more comfortable on the joints than road running.

Top speeds of 16KPH are going to be plenty for most users – and for those who need more strain, combining 16HPH speed with a 12% incline is a real challenge. Trust us… we tried it and it resulted in a lot of sweat and little bit of bad language!

With 40 pre-set programs there is plenty to work through and this pretty much negates the fact that there is no app connectivity. Manually controlled walks and runs are also very intuitive to control and make this a perfectly viable option for your daily run if you prefer to remain in full control.

The heart rate data that is displayed from the pulse rate sensors is useful but if you want more accuracy you might want to opt for a heart rate strap or fitness tracker with built in heart rate sensors.

The 5 inch display is pretty basic but is easy to read and is ideally positioned no matter your height. The buttons on the main console are perfectly reachable and make mid-run changes possible – but it is the quick easy to reach side handle bar keys that allow you to control the speed and incline that will be used most often and these are really easy to use.

Setting up the treadmill for use from a folded position is pretty simple and the soft-drop hydraulic mechanism means that lowering the running deck is easy and safe. There are transport wheels built in to the treadmill so you can easily move it from one place to another within a room so you can workout with space around you rather than being stuck up against a wall.

There is a tablet holder included as standard with the Sprint 3 and this allows you to add a device to either access motivational content or perhaps watch a TV show while you workout. The built in speakers can be connected via an aux port and although they are not hugely powerful they are more than adequate to overcome the small amount of noise that this treadmill makes.

This treadmill comes with a 2 year warranty that includes an at home service (including parts and labour) and the frame has a 10 year warranty. The overall opinion of ours and the user reviews on Trust Pilot is that this is an incredibly well made treadmill and is likely to last for years to come with minimal maintenance.

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