DeerRun classic: One minute review

Using one of the best under-desk treadmills, otherwise known as walking pads, have become the easiest way to sneak movement into a workday, and the DeerRun Q1 Classic leans into that promise with a low price, zero assembly model with a relatively compact footprint. It’s built for steady walking rather than running, with a responsive remote and a deck that feels stable and lightly cushioned.

It’s not whisper-quiet and the companion app is basic, but if your goal is to add a few thousand steps while you edit docs or watch a webinar, this compact slab of motivation makes a convincing case for itself.

DeerRun classic review: Specifications

DeerRun classic review: Price and availability

• $188 USD / £169 GBP / AU$413
• Very affordable
• Often on sale

DeerRun often discounts the Q1 Classic/Classic Pro family heavily; I’ve seen it listed at $188 in the US, with a stated 300 lb maximum user capacity and a 60-day risk-free trial plus one-year warranty. In the UK its Q1 Classic/Classic Pro walking pad is listed at £169 on DeerRun’s UK store and in Australia the same model is shown from AU$413 on DeerRun’s AU store.

Value is where the DeerRun Q1 Classic shines. For a sub-$200 walking pad with a decent-sized belt, a proper remote, and a one-year warranty, it’s outstanding value. There are slicker pads with folding frames, longer belts or quieter motors, but they typically cost a fair bit more. If your goal is to add 5–10k steps to your day while you work, you won’t find many better bargains right now.

• Value score: 5/5

DeerRun Q1 Classic review: Design

I’ve been using the DeerRun Q1 Classic in a spare-bedroom office with a big desk and a fairly wide gap underneath. I’m 5 foot 7 inches and weight around 60 kg, and the deck felt a comfortable size for steady walking while working. It ships in a single box and there’s no assembly – plug it in, pair the app, and you’re moving within minutes.

Getting the unit upstairs was the hardest part; it’s manageable but a bit hefty. First impressions were good: clean design, compact size, and a belt that feels well set up out of the box with no sticking or drift.

Day to day, it’s a smooth operator. The handheld remote is responsive, so nudging your pace up or down feels natural rather than jumpy. The deck has a hint of bounce without wobble, and even after longer sessions I didn’t notice excess heat or that telltale treadmill overclocking smell. Noise is where it falls short: it isn’t obnoxious, but I wouldn’t use it during calls. I could watch webinars, but I had to turn my volume up.

This is a walking pad first and foremost, rather than an at-work under-desk treadmill. With a top speed of 6.1 km/h, it’s designed for a brisk walk rather than a run. There’s no safety rail as standard, but you can buy one separately as an accessory, although if you’re just planning to walk on it, you shouldn’t need one.

Storage is straightforward. It doesn’t fold, and it’s a touch heavy to lug around, but I could tilt it against the wall behind a door, and its slim 4.5-inch profile barely ate into the room. If your sofa sits tall off the ground, you could slide it under; but mine is too low to fit the height of the pad.

The power cable is short, which may impact the layout of your workstation, and DeerRun charges extra for a longer lead – again, some cynics might feel nickel-and-dimed here. On a practical note for upstairs offices: running created enough vibration through my timber floorboards that items started migrating across my desk. The pad itself stayed composed; but as the minutes passed, more and more items started edging towards the edge of my desk before tumbling onto the floor. Shock absorption isn’t the best.

• Design score: 4/5

DeerRun Q1 Classic review: Features

Very basic. The PitPat app pairs quickly and offers simple programs but it’s not clear whether it can sync with apps like Strava. I couldn’t work out how to do this and found conflicting information online. Personally, I just used the remote to control the speed of the pad and promptly ignored the app after setup.

• Features score: 3/5

DeerRun Q1 Classic review: Performance

The build is pleasantly robust for the price. The deck feels stable, the belt runs true, and the top surface is grippy without being abrasive. You don’t get a fold-up rail or incline - this is a flat, under-desk pad - but there are transport wheels and it stands upright neatly.

Walking quality is the headline. The pad accelerates and decelerates smoothly, speed changes via the remote are measured rather than lurchy, and I didn’t experience belt stutter or drift once it bedded in. The deck has just enough give that longer stints don’t feel like you’re marching on plywood. On a solid ground-floor slab, it should be ideal; on suspended floorboards, plan for some transmitted vibration at higher cadences.

• Performance score: 4/5

DeerRun Q1 Classic: Should I buy?

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How I tested

Used daily under a desk in a first-floor spare room, including long work sessions and webinar viewing. Assessed ease of setup, noise, stability, belt tracking, top speed, app pairing and day-to-day storage.

Urevo Spacewalk E4W: Specifications

Urevo Spacewalk E4W: One minute review

The Urevo SpaceWalk is an ideal home walking pad for people looking to get extra steps in during rainy days or for remote workers trying to bring an element of movement to their working day. It has a generously-sized tread belt with ample shock absorption, measuring 100cm x 38cm, which is similar to other market leaders.

The speed range is 0.5 to 6km per hour, which can be adjusted by either a remote control or by the Urevo app on your phone. The app itself contains a whole host of functionality, recording activity data, offering challenges to participate in and ‘World Tour’ videos to accompany your walks.

The walking pad is exceptionally quick to set up – very much a plug-and-play piece of apparatus with a reasonable 1.8m cable length which, given that the equipment is likely to be under a desk near a plug, will be suitable for most users. The walking pad has an LED display that shows the speed, distance, time, steps and calories, all that most users will need for walks. Estimating steps on the display is a useful inclusion and, I found, to be very accurate.

The walking pad weighs 18kg, making it quite a bit lighter than others I’ve tested, ideal for moving from room to room and up and down stairs, which I have done while switching between using it under my work desk and in front of the TV. The noise levels are very low considering its 2.25HP motor, and I had no complaints from my co-workers on Teams whilst I was using the device.

The main drawback of the device is its limited top speed, at only 6km per users are limited to not much more than a light jog – it’s sadly unsuitable for runners. It's at a slightly higher price point than the usual super-budget Amazon options, so users may want a device like the Mobvoi Home Treadmill SE that provides a dual purpose, but still a great buy.

Should I buy?

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How I tested

I tested the walking pad for two weeks, mostly walking on it for an hour every day. I typically used it at a pace of 3km per hour but jogged up to 6km per hour speed. I tried using it with and without shoes, but preferred wearing trainers because the surface got hot. I also tested both the remote control and the app-controlled functionality.

Bob & Brad D6 Pro: One-minute review

Massage guns are growing in popularity, and Bob & Brad are one of the brands leading that charge. We loved the smaller Q2 Mini last year, awarding it five stars in our review.

Our only complaint is that it needed a bit more power. If you were looking for something that packs more of a literal punch, then the D6 Pro is its bigger brother, and boy does it deliver on this promise, while building on everything that made the Q2 Mini so good.

It’s much less portable than the Q2 Mini, but still comes with a carry case for easy transportation, with a bunch of attachments for various muscle groups. The massage gun is outstanding in every way: it's simple to set up, easy to use, and can really hit the spot, delivering percussive relief from exercise-induced soreness anywhere on the body with its flexible grip and rotation.

There’s a definite learning curve, both with the relatively basic on-device button layout and the pretty thick instruction manual, but I’ve been using it for a few weeks as a post-gym treat and it’s helped me work on an injury, improving ROM and reducing soreness. A terrific device.

Bob and Brad D6 Pro: Specifications

Bob & Brad D6 Pro: Price and availability

•  Available now 
•  Priced at $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$380 

The D6 Pro arrived back in 2022 and retails for $249.99 or £249.99, which equates to around AU$380 in Australia. It’s available pretty much anywhere in the US and Ul, including Amazon, but Austrailian outlets are scarce.  

At some retailers, we’ve seen discounts down to around $180 / £170, so there's scope to score a deal during sales events such as Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday. 

This is remarkably cheap for a five-star gun of this caliber. Therabody, the biggest name in percussive message, tends to price higher than Bob & Brad, but both this device and the compact Q2 Mini earned their five stars by offering comparable performance and outstanding value for money. 

• Value score: 5 / 5

Bob & Brad D6 Pro: Design

•  Pretty large for small hands 
•  Minimal buttons 
•  Multiple attachments 

The Bob & Brad D6 Pro is portable, in that it comes with a carry case, but it’s still much larger than the Q2 Mini. That does mean it has much more power (more on that shortly), but if you’re using it on yourself, you may struggle. Especially if you have smaller hands: it's clearly built for men, and some women may struggle to hold onto it and hit their shoulders or back. 

I’m blessed with pretty large paws and even then it can be a little unwieldy. However, it's a small gripe: the massage gun is remarkably well put together with a matte finish that makes it easier to grip. However, if you are worried about this sort of thing, the Q2 Mini is the perfect solution. 

It’s also very easy to switch the attachment heads out. Just pull and they come out, and you can push another right in, sharing the same push-lock mechanism as other Bob & Brad guns. The carry case has enough room for the D6 Pro and all of the heads, so it's easy to transport and sling into the back of a car when needed. 

On the upper grip of the gun, there are two buttons and a small display. One button increases the speed and powers it on, while the other can lower the speed and switch to a different mode setting. It’s nice and simple, but when it springs to life it can take a second to get it in position afterward. 

I think I’d have liked a dedicated power button to get myself ready before switching it on, but such gripes are small potatoes compared to the efficiency of the gun.

It’s also got a button that allows the neck to be stretched out so it’s more linear, making it ideal for self-massage in harder-to-reach spots.

The D6 Pro charges via USB-C and there’s a cable and power adapter included in the box. Thank god it's USB-C, as close a thing to a universal charger as we have these days. No specailist cable means it's easy to find a way to charge it when you need it. 

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Bob & Brad D6 Pro: Performance

•  Long battery life 
•  Attachments can offer completely different massages 
•  Packs a punch 

I’ve had a few sports massages in my life and used massage guns before, but none have hit as hard as the D6 Pro. It offers plenty of force (over double the Q2 Mini’s output) at such a pace that it regularly and reliably hits the spot after a gym session.

While I’ve been using it post-squats to massage my quadriceps and glutes, I was most impressed with it on my upper arms. I’ve been carrying an injury on my left deltoid, and in lieu of booking a massage appointment, I’d just been living with it. It flares up with shoulder press exercises, but for the most part, I’d been trying to ignore it.

I set the D6 Pro to tackle it and, despite it being in a pretty awkward position to self-massage, was impressed with the results. It’s still an issue, but it gets better after each session with the massage gun. I’m not saying the D6 Pro can cure whatever it is that ails you, but for my specific use case, I found it very useful indeed. 

It doesn’t hurt (well it does, but in a good way) that the heads themselves are softer than some alternatives.

I did find the instruction manual pretty dense with detail. That’s no bad thing, and there’s a lot of information in there, but I think I’d have preferred a companion app to triage a muscle issue and recommend the attachment for the job rather than thumbing through each time. Still, it’s a small nitpick.

• Performance score: 5 / 5 

Bob & Brad D6 Pro: Scorecard

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