Howdy, I doubt I can answer your initial question but with regards to the customer reviews, they don't exist simply because people don't feel the need to tell people about it... If you read user reviews for anything, games, holidays, cars or whatever they tend to fall into two categories, either those dissappointed with the product/service, or those who's expectations of the product were highly exceeded. No reviews shouldn't be seen as a negative thing. Imagine if you bought a treadmill, and it does exactly what you expect of it, nothing more, nothing less, would you search the internet for places to write about your treadmill 'that does what it's supposed to?'
There's little finesse in treadmills, and not much room for exceeding customer expectations... if a treadmill has a feature, it will be marketed and priced accordingly! Personally my advice would be to look into the specification of the treadmill and what features it has, and assume it'll work as it's supposed to. If there's any out there that offer a warranty then even better!!
I was in a shop called Decathalon at Merry Hill Shopping Centre in (or near) Dudley (West Mids), which is a fantastic sports megastore, kind of like JJB, but without the vast expanse of Chav clothing - everything is pure sports. I noticed they had a variety of treadmills, all of which came with a warranty....
I'm feeling so generous I thought I'd find their site for you, heheh.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/tread-mill-4183830/
Hope that helps!
Oh, and welcome to the forum!