Manual Non-Electric Walking Pads - An In-Depth Overview

If you’re already using an electric walking pad, you might know these problems:

• They are noisy, especially after using them for several months or years. Your colleagues/partner/neighbors might be disturbed.

• They usually fail quickly when used several hours per day because most electric walking pads aren’t made for extensive use.

• In many cases, the motor starts smelling funny or even catches fire when used for longer periods without a break. Just like in these two cases:

All these problems are related to the motor. So, it makes sense to consider if a manual walking pad without a motor is the solution.

I’ve used both systems extensively and thus can provide you with all the insights about the advantages and disadvantages of manual walking pads.

Advantages of Manual Walking Pads

Manual walking pads are super quiet

If you’ve ever been on an electric treadmill, you know they can be quite noisy. Whenever your foot hits the treadmill, the noise is louder and the pitch higher, resulting in an ambulance-like sound. Moreover, electric treadmills tend to become louder over time.

The three recordings below were made in 2024, on the machines I owned at the time. They are illustrative, and they are separate from the measured figures further down this page.

Manual treadmills, on the other hand, don’t have a motor that howls with every step. Instead, they are much more silent. There’s still some noise, of course, but compared to the ambulance-like sound of electric treadmills, this is more like ocean waves.

It's not that simple to understand the difference in sound level from the above recordings. Here are our own measurements, taken at one metre, 1.8 m height, in a 22 square metre room with a wooden floor and the windows shut:

• The Office Walker measures 33 to 45 dB in daily use. A whisper is around 30 dB, so it sits just above that.

• Electric walking pads measure 60 to 68 dB, at or above the 60 dB of a normal conversation.

While those are recordings of two specific devices the recordings are representative according to my experience with a variety of walking pads.

Non-electric walking pads are durable due to simple mechanical elements

Again, the motor of electric walking pads is one of the most fragile parts among other electronic parts. Manual walking pads use simple mechanical elements like bearings instead. These are battle-proven in many devices and can last a long time, especially when those parts are of high quality and the treadmill is used in a clean environment like inside a house.

Manual walking pads save you the electricity a motor costs to run

An electric walking pad draws power for every hour you use it. A manual one draws none, because there is no motor in it to power. What that saving is worth depends entirely on your own tariff and your own hours, so rather than quote a figure that would be wrong for most people, put your numbers in below.

Want to stop walking while you think? No problem on a manual walking pad

If you have to focus hard on a problem, your body usually slows down or stops walking for a while. With electric walking pads, that’s not possible. You either decrease velocity via the remote control or jump on the side panels of the treadmill to suddenly stand still. Either is interrupting your natural flow and may look funny, especially in online meetings.

A manual walking pad allows you to adjust your speed on the go. It slows down when you slow down and stops when you stop.

You burn more calories on a manual walking pad

Not the motor, but you move the walking pad. This naturally burns more calories and increases your heart rate compared to walking at the same pace on an electric treadmill. It's akin to walking on a treadmill with a slight incline.

You can run on a manual walking pad

Many people are looking for an electric walking pad that can be used for both walking and running. But those devices are very limited when it comes to their maximum velocity. With manual treadmills, the speed limit is up to you. If you want, you can do a little sprint while you’re waiting for the computer to restart or turn off your camera in a boring meeting and start jogging.

While you can run on a manual walking pad, you need to be careful. Just like electric walking pads, there are no handrails that you can use to hold on to.

Disadvantages of Manual Walking Pads

More expensive than electric walking pads

It’s counterintuitive: you remove the motor and other electronic parts, but the price increases. Manual walking pads are more expensive than most (low-quality) electric ones. The reasons:

• A manual walking pad is larger and thus requires more material.

• Electric walking pads are made of few moving elements, while manual treadmills, on the other hand, consist of many mechanical parts like bearings.

• Electric walking pads use a simple belt that’s dragged over a surface, while the walking area of a manual one consists of slats. This makes them much more complex to build.

While non-electric walking pads are more expensive, they can be used for much longer. At least if you purchase one with high quality. Due to the usage of battle-proven mechanical elements, they won’t fail quickly like electric walking pads, and there’s no risk of them catching fire. And on top of that, you even save on your electricity bill.

Non-electric walking pads are usually heavier

Due to the curve and the mechanical elements, manual walking pads require more material. That makes manual walking pads heavier than their electric counterparts. Some manual walking pads can weigh upwards of 85kg.

Manual walking pads are somewhat bulky

With the higher weight, manual walking pads also take up more space than electric ones. Depending on the model, you might need a dedicated space as large as a common desk setup.

You walk slower and less

On a manual treadmill, you often walk slower than on an electric one. The reason: On an electric walking pad, you can set the speed. Then you’re forced to walk at that pace. With manual walking pads, you walk at your natural pace which changes depending on the work you do. Since you also stop from time to time depending on your focus, you might walk a bit less than on an electric walking pad. However, from a fitness perspective, that doesn’t make a big difference as you burn more calories anyway.

Conclusion

While manual walking pads have some disadvantages, I personally never looked back after switching from an electric model. It is quiet enough that I stopped noticing it was there, and the walking feels natural in a way the electric one never did. Even the higher price pays off in the long run since they don’t consume electricity and you don’t have to replace them frequently.

The manual walking pad I ended up building

Everything above is why the Office Walker has no motor in it. It draws 0 watts, it measures 33 to 45 dB in daily use, and there is no part inside that wears out and ends its life. It is assembled by hand in Berlin, the deck opens with two bolts, and every wearing part is stocked for 10 years.

See the Office Walker · Specifications · How quiet it actually is