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61 of 62 found the following review helpful:
Ok for price if you're not too tall. Oct 24, 2005
By Tied-up2
For the price this low-end home gym is generally able to do the things I wanted a cheap home gym to do. However, there are a few issues you need to consider before buying it. The biggest issue is ergonometric - this unit is not designed to be used by anyone over perhaps 5'10" or 5'11". I'm 6'1" and this creates problems for me. I have to find work-arounds to use a unit designed for people smaller than me. The problem is that form is very important when doing the exercises (when you don't pay attention to form, you either reduce the effectiveness of the exercise or risk injury) and finding work-arounds sometimes compromises your form during the exercise.
There are also a few quality issues but these were not entirely unexpected considering the price of the unit. It would have been nice if the bench padding were a little better but its adequate. The two most annoying quality issues involve the plate bars (the bars that hold the weights). This first issue was with the plate bar on the lat tower (cable) unit. It wasn't level. This means the weights keep trying to fall off one side as you put them on. The second issue is also with the plate bars. The unit is designed to accommodate standard plates (small holes in the middle) or Olympic plates (big holes in the middle). A "sleeve" is included with the unit that slips over the standard size plate bar that enables one to use Olympic plates (big holes). However the outer diameter of the sleeve is slightly smaller than standard Olympic size so an Olympic size spring collar (to hold the weights on the bar) is too big and doesn't work. I went down to Home Depot and bought wood clamps to hold the plates in place. Kind of a pain but functional (just another work-around). If you buy this unit you probably want to go with standard plates (small hole) rather than Olympic plates (big hole).
So I put this at 4 stars because for this price you really can't expect too much and it generally delivers what I expected a cheap home gym unit to do - with the one caveat: persons over 5'10" should try to find a home gym designed for taller people. Since only 5% of the US population is over 6 feet tall manufacturers tend to design for smaller people. If you're tall, good luck on that search.
Follow-up note. At this time of the writing above this unit was sold by several vendors on Amazon so its worth comparing the pricing. When I say above that this unit is OK "for the price" means the price I paid for it not the price necessarily listed here now. At the current price (on 7/7/07) I would only list it as 2 stars but could not see how to change the star rating.
26 of 26 found the following review helpful:
 Great value Aug 26, 2009
By JDub
"Superstar"
I did a lot of research before purchasing this bench because:
1) The pictures show both the lat and preacher extensions in their *storage* locations, so I wasn't able to see how they were usable from the pictures on the interwebs.
2) Comparable benches start in the $400-$500 range, and this sells for about half that...
3) The fact that it accommodated both Olympic and Standard weights was mysterious.
I've been using it for ~2 weeks now, and I can comfortably say that I would purchase it again. The lat and preacher extensions both fit in the usual location (into the upright that the leg extension comes off of), and work great. The product ships with Olympic "sleeves" and standard-sized plate poles (on the leg extension for example), so you're supposed to slip the sleeve over the poles (and your standard bar if you have one) if you want to use it with Olympic plates. As I have standard weights, this was great for me. I can't comment on how it performs with the sleeves, although others have suggested it's not quite perfect.
As for the low price? The bench is of seemingly good/high quality, but Phoenix (the mfg) definitely skimped on aesthetics *not* function when producing this. Here are my gripes:
* The paint they used is some kind of bubbled-looking powder coat (or so...) and it likes to flake off in places where you're sliding plates on and off of it. So, no big deal, vaccuum it up and move on...
* One of the uprights was welded 1/4" too low and I couldn't fit a washer when assembling. Washer omitted, works fine.
* The numbered assembly steps in the instructions are incomplete (you end up with left-over parts) but the exploded view of the bench is complete. So for a few of the minor parts (like the rubber stopper for the lat bar, and various caps for the ends) you'll need to refer to the exploded view.
* Assembly takes a considerable while. I would leave a good 3 hours.
* Mine shipped with an "Other side up" label affixed to the wrong side of the cross-bar that connects the two bench uprights to the leg extension upright. The pictures clearly indicated which side in fact had to face up, however.
So, the overall impression that I have is that this is a quality bench that definitely gets the job done, but that some of the minor details are keeping it from selling for more. That's great for me, because I have a perfectly functional bench at half the price, and I don't care about the details above. In fact I'm leaving the "Other side up" label for effect.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Most amazing piece of gym equipment i've owned!!! Jun 16, 2009
By Farooq Pervez
Just like a lot of other people that get home gyms for the simple reason of not going to the gym for personal reasons, I too was looking for the most parts an all in one type. I don't like those cable/rod type machines, they just don't give you that being back in the gym type of feeling. So after some positive reviews, good price and most importantly, the Lat pull bar option, made me go with this bench. I had it shipped to my home in a really heavy box. The assembly was very difficult and some of the instruction was just inadequate especially assembling the Lat bar and required just some common sense. Having your own wrench/socket set helps big time. Because of the lack of instruction, I first didn't put the plastic cuffs on the lat bar that first go in the base and at top and in between the moving mechanism which made it very uneven and frictional. I think one of the other reviewers probably made the same mistake and mentioned something about the weights being uneven. Once I figured that out and put all the cuffs in the right places, the Lat pull became amazingly practical and definitely a plus feature of this bench. The bench itself is very sturdy and cushioning is just right, I didn't want it too soft. I purchased a Weider 300lb Olympic bar set from Sears the very next day I got the bench and couldn't be happier. I can basically get a complete gym workout with this thing other than aerobics. The only annoying thing is and it's not the bench's fault is taking the lat bar out for legs etc. Even if you have a midsize ceiling, you would just have to tilt the whole bench to be able to take the Lat bar out, but if the lat bar was any shorter, you wouldn't get a nice workout, so I guess something you have to work around with. All in all, I'm very happy with this purchase.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Decent Bench for the Money Jan 10, 2010
By MaChiBLue
"....."
I decided to try and exercise more, and gain some more muscles so I bought some weights and needed a bench. For the price this isn't that bad, pretty good actually. But it is a bit small for me, being 6'3". The padded bench is small for me, but shouldnt be an issue for those of smaller statures. Assembling the bench was quite an adventure, as others have written some parts are not labeled correctly. Also some of the bolts, screws and washers come packaged in different boxes. There is a large piece of cardboard with the majority of the hardware attached to it via plastic, but some are scattered around. This was one of the major drawbacks, not only was it frustrating to look for the missing screws/bolts, but it also added to the build time. Overall build time was around 3 hours for me and my brother, with constant searching for missing hardware and for the tools needed. Once assembled the bench is pretty large, well planted and stable. Build quality is pretty good, except for the paint which peels off with the slightest touch. Also, my bench already had some surface rust on it, I'm guessing from sitting around so long and maybe during shipment, but I can see past that (some spray paint will cover that up)
Overall I'm satisfied with my purchase. It's a great bench with some quirks for an amazing price.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 No usable incline position Aug 06, 2011
By The Old Hag
If you have no need for a usable incline position on a bench, then this bench would be a good one for the money. However, there are much cheaper benches out there that have incline position that are usable and the incline bench press is sort of a fundamental exercise. Look at the picture closely. There are only 2 positions on the main uprights. The position displayed is the one for the incline. The bar would be to the backside of your head. So how in the world are you supposed to grab the bar, pull it over and press safely? Well, now that I have the bench put together I know that is not possible. There are other annoying design issues that don't turn out as you would hope. For instance, actually storing things in the storage stands right behind the main uprights would prevent you from pulling the bar off to go do some squats and dead-lifts. The bench is too wide to do this from the front.
On the plus side, this is a pretty sturdy bench and the lat bar works well. But the lack of a usable incline position really hurts this one for me. What I have done is lowered the uprights all the way down so that I don't have to do adjustments between decline press and flat press. For incline press I pull the bar off and do a dumbbell press. My thoughts is that if you are going with standard weights then buy a standard bench with leg extensions and buy one of those door chin-ups bars and do cheats. The preacher curl is unnecessary feature. You should be able to work your biceps with 100 alternative and better exercises at home. Lats are another story.
This thing is sort of the equivalent of a GMC Yukon.
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