KITOPA Treadmill Review: 18% Auto Incline and 20km/h for £470

An 18% powered incline used to mean spending the best part of £1,000. KITOPA's folding treadmill offers it for £469.99, together with a 20km/h top speed, a 180kg user rating and a five-year parts and motor cover. For anyone who mainly walks uphill, that's a strong spec sheet.

Our take is that the incline and the build are worth the money, while the speed claims mostly aren't, because a 120cm belt and 20km/h don't go together well.

Check price on Amazonaround £470

Who it's for

Incline walkers first. If your plan is brisk walking at 10% to 15% for 30 minutes, which is exactly what the 12-3-30 workout asks for, this deck goes steeper than almost anything folding under £500. Heavier users get a lot from it too, with a 180kg rating and a 48cm-wide belt.

It's not the one for regular fast running or for runners over about 185cm. Our best incline treadmill guide includes longer decks if that's you.

The 18% incline

This is why you'd buy it. The incline is powered, so you change it from the console without stepping off, and 18% is genuinely steep: most people can't hold a walk at that gradient for long, which means there's headroom as you get fitter.

Walking uphill costs more energy than walking on the flat at the same speed, and the lower-leg and thigh muscles take on more of the work. A treadmill study that tested 0%, 5% and 10% gradients found incline plus activity in the soleus (calf) and vastus lateralis (outer quad) explained 96% of the variation in metabolic cost (Journal of Biomechanics, 2012). Put simply: gradient is the dial that makes walking harder, far more than a small speed bump.

That makes a steep treadmill a good tool for anyone who can't or doesn't want to run. See our guide to whether treadmills help with weight loss for how to use it.

The belt is the weak point

A 48cm width is generous, and it's the right call for heavier users and anyone who drifts sideways. The 120cm length is the problem. Stride length grows with speed, and at running pace most adults cover well over a metre per step. On a 120cm deck at 16km/h or faster, a tall runner can find themselves close to the motor hood at one end of the stride and near the back edge at the other.

So we'd treat 20km/h as a number on a box. Walking and jogging up to about 12km/h will feel fine; our piece on how fast treadmills go explains why the top-speed figure matters less than most shoppers think.

Marketing numbers to ignore

Three claims on the listing need a pinch of salt. "7HP" is almost certainly a peak figure; continuous-duty ratings on folding treadmills this size are usually 2HP to 3.5HP, and KITOPA doesn't publish one. The "up to 6-layer (5.9-inch) thick running belt" can't be right, since a 15cm belt would be thicker than the deck. And "weight loss increases by up to 100%" isn't backed by anything.

None of that makes it a bad treadmill. It does mean the published speed and power figures are poor guides, and the incline, width and user rating are the numbers we'd trust.

Apps and extras

Bluetooth pairing with Zwift, Kinomap and FitShow gives you structured workouts and routes. The listing doesn't say the apps can drive the incline, so assume you'll adjust it by hand. There's a flashing "racetrack" display showing laps of 400m, handrail heart-rate sensors (fine for a rough read, poor for heart rate zone training), two bottle holders and a towel rail.

At about 67kg it isn't light. The hydraulic fold helps, and the wheels make rolling it across a floor easy, but it's not going up a flight of stairs with one person.

Check the KITOPA price on Amazonaround £470

Recommended reads

• The best incline treadmills in the UK
• The best treadmills under £500
• The 12-3-30 workout explained
• Treadmill HIIT workouts
• All our treadmill reviews and guides