Top pick
With a spacious footpad and a stable, easily adjustable design, this mini stepper is an excellent choice for people looking to stay active at their desk. But it’s not designed for anyone over 220 pounds.
The Sunny Health & Fitness Smart Advanced Stair Exercise Stepper has one of the most adjustable step ranges of any model we tested, a large enough footpad that even our tallest testers were comfortable using it, and a resistance knob that’s easy to adjust. It felt solid and stable but didn’t take up too much space on the floor.
It has a comfortably wide step range. Adjusting the step height is how you adjust the difficulty of a stepper — a taller step requires more effort than a shallow one. (Anyone who’s climbed the steps of an Asian temple will immediately understand this principle.) With a maximum step height of about 11 inches, the Smart Advanced Stair Exercise Stepper has more range than most other models we tested.
Testers with slight balance issues found the shallower step heights more comfortable for casual use, while more-athletic testers said the taller steps felt challenging enough to get their heart rate up.
The footpads are large enough for most testers. They’re 4.5 inches wide by 11.5 inches long. Testers who wear a men’s size 13, or a women’s size 11, said they provided enough space for their sneaker-clad feet — something other, more expensive steppers couldn’t manage.
The inside of the footpads have a shallow wall; some testers wearing sneakers with large toe boxes said they got in the way. However, it was a minor annoyance at most.
It’s incredibly stable. With a base that’s 16.1 inches long by 13 inches wide, the frame supporting the stepper feels rock solid, and it didn’t wobble, groan, or flex during testing. Even when testers weighed significantly more than the Smart Advanced Stair Exercise Stepper’s 220-pound limit, it didn’t show any signs of stress. (That said, we recommend people who are above the weight limit use our other pick instead.)
Adjusting the resistance is easy. Unlike some under-desk steppers we tested that put the resistance knob underneath the machine, the knob on the Smart Advanced Stair Exercise Stepper is on the front.
This means you don’t have to pick up the stepper or turn it over if you want to change the height of the step. There’s also plenty of space around the knob to grip it, so even people with grip issues can comfortably adjust the stepper. The same can’t be said for other models we tested.
It tracks your workout. The built-in LCD monitor displays step count, elapsed time, and calories. If you want more detail, the machine connects via Bluetooth to the free SunnyFit app, which logs your metrics and gives you access to guided workouts.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The footpads are too closely spaced for some people. With only about 3 inches between the pedals, several of our bigger testers found them too close together to use comfortably. Those with a wider stance said the Smart Advanced Stair Exercise Stepper put some strain on their hips because their feet were too close together, or it forced their thighs to rub uncomfortably.
If your feet naturally land more than 3 inches apart, the Sunny Health & Fitness 2-in-1 Power Stepper may be a better fit.
