By Jacob Chambers, Founder & Lead Reviewer · Updated 31 July 2026
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Most folding treadmills are a compromise dressed up as a feature: a short deck, an optimistic motor rating and a frame that flexes when you run rather than walk. The Sole F80 is the exception that people keep coming back to. It's a proper running machine with a 152.5cm deck, a 3.5HP motor and a 150kg user limit, and it happens to fold. At around £1,999 it costs several times what a budget folding treadmill does, and everything about the way it's put together explains where that money goes.
Sole's reputation in the UK is built on hotel and gym contracts rather than marketing, and it shows in the priorities. There's no glossy subscription ecosystem here, no compulsory monthly fee, no screen you're expected to stare into. Just a heavy, well-damped deck and a warranty that runs to a lifetime on the frame.
How we review
This review draws on Sole's published UK specifications, independent expert testing and the recurring themes in verified owner reviews rather than our own long-term test of this exact unit. Where owners complain consistently about something, it's in the cons list. Prices and specs are correct at the time of writing.
Runners. Specifically, runners who want to train indoors through a British winter without the treadmill becoming the reason they stop. If you're logging 30 to 60km a week and your current machine feels short, bouncy or underpowered above 12kph, the F80 solves all three problems at once.
It's also the right call for households with a heavier user, or two users of very different sizes, because a 150kg limit and a wide deck give you headroom that budget machines don't. If you only ever walk, this is a lot of treadmill to buy: a walking pad or one of the machines in our best home treadmill for walking guide will do the job for a fraction of the price.
This is what you're paying for. A 152.5cm running surface is roughly 20cm longer than the deck on a typical £600 folding treadmill, and if you're over about 5ft 10in you feel that difference within a minute. Short decks force you to shorten your stride and drift towards the front of the belt, which is uncomfortable and, on a fast interval, mildly alarming.
The Cushion Flex Whisper Deck is Sole's elastomer cushioning system, and it's tuned firm rather than soft. That's the right choice: overly soft decks feel pleasant for a mile and then wreck your calves, because your legs are absorbing the rebound as well as the impact. The F80 feels closer to a well-maintained gym treadmill than to a domestic one.
Deck cushioning is worth having, but it isn't a substitute for running less than your body can handle. Treadmill running still loads your legs, and the sensible approach is building volume gradually alongside the strength work the NHS recommends on two days a week.
The 3.5HP continuous-duty motor is the second reason this machine works. Continuous-duty ratings are the honest measure, as opposed to the peak horsepower numbers budget brands quote, and 3.5HP is genuinely gym-spec for a domestic machine. It holds pace at 16kph under a 90kg runner without the belt hesitating, which is exactly the failure mode cheaper treadmills show after a year.
Speed runs from 1 to 20kph, and there are 15 levels of power incline with quick-select buttons. Fifteen levels covers hill sessions and incline walking comfortably. There's no decline, which the pricier NordicTrack machines offer, though decline running is a niche use case and hard on the knees anyway.
| Motor | 3.5 HP continuous duty |
|---|---|
| Speed range | 1 to 20 kph (0.5 to 12 mph) |
| Incline | 15 levels of power incline |
| Running deck | 152.5 x 56 cm (60in x 22in) |
| Cushioning | Cushion Flex Whisper Deck |
| Max user weight | 150 kg (331 lb) |
| Console | 10.1in Android touchscreen |
| App support | SOLE+, Zwift, Kinomap via Bluetooth |
| Folding | Hydraulic assisted fold |
| Warranty | Lifetime frame, 10 years motor, 5 years parts, 3 years labour |
The 10.1in Android touchscreen is the weakest part of the machine and the easiest thing to forgive. It works, it's responsive enough, and it runs the SOLE+ app with a library of guided sessions. Next to NordicTrack's 22in and 24in iFIT screens it looks like last-generation hardware, because it is.
What Sole gives you instead is freedom. There's no subscription you must keep paying to unlock resistance or incline, and the machine talks to Zwift and Kinomap over Bluetooth, so you can bring whatever training app you already use. On an iFIT machine, letting the membership lapse costs you a meaningful chunk of the functionality you paid for. That's a real long-term cost worth pricing in, and it's the argument for Sole over its flashier rivals.
Two things surprise new owners. The first is the weight, which makes assembly a two-person job and repositioning something you'll do once. The second is the size when folded: the deck lifts to vertical and the footprint shrinks, but this is not a machine that disappears. Measure your space before ordering, and check the delivery route through your house while you're at it, because getting it upstairs is a genuine project.
Noise is better than expected for a machine this size. The Whisper Deck name is marketing, though a well-built treadmill on a proper mat over a solid floor is far quieter than a flexing budget one, mostly because there's less to rattle.
Against a NordicTrack Commercial 1750, the F80 trades the big screen and the iFIT auto-adjust experience for a longer warranty and no subscription. Against the JLL S400 or similar mid-market folding machines, it's simply a different class of hardware at three times the price. And against the Sole E25 cross trainer from the same brand, you're getting the same design philosophy applied to running rather than low-impact cardio.
Buy it if running is the point and you're keeping the machine for a decade. The warranty, the deck and the motor are all sized for that. Skip it if you mostly walk, if you're short on space, or if a big interactive screen is the thing that gets you training, in which case a NordicTrack will serve you better.
Full specifications are published on Sole's official UK F80 page.
Check price on AmazonYes, it's one of the few folding treadmills genuinely built for it. The 152.5cm running deck is long enough for a tall runner's stride, the 3.5HP motor tops out at 20kph, and the Cushion Flex Whisper Deck takes real impact out of long runs. Most sub-£1,000 folding treadmills can't say any of that.
Around £1,999 at the time of writing, reduced from a £2,999 list price. It sits above the mainstream folding treadmills and below the connected premium machines from NordicTrack and Technogym, which is roughly where its build quality lands too.
150kg, or 331lb. That's noticeably higher than the 110kg to 130kg you'll find on most home folding treadmills, and it's a decent proxy for how solid the frame is even if you weigh far less than the limit.
Yes. It runs Sole's own SOLE+ app on a 10.1in Android touchscreen and connects to third-party apps including Zwift and Kinomap over Bluetooth. There's no compulsory subscription, which is the main practical difference between Sole and iFIT-locked machines.
It folds using a hydraulic assist, but it's a heavy machine and it will not be moved casually. Plan on two people for delivery and assembly, a permanent-ish home for it, and a floor that can take the weight. Folding here is about reclaiming floor space, not tucking it under a bed.
Lifetime on the frame, 10 years on the motor, 5 years on parts and 3 years on labour. That's the strongest warranty package in this price bracket by a distance and the clearest signal of how Sole expects the machine to hold up.
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