Power Rack query

will56

Hi,

I'm looking to build a home gym and I'm stuck trying to decide on the best power rack to get.
I'm not looking to spend a fortune on the whole set up ideally around €1100-1200 including weights, bars etc.
Is there much difference in the build quality of TDS, Bodycraft, Bodycraft and powertec ? Is the weight of a rack a big thing to consider when purchasing ?

squod

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056337591#post73469275

Marathonic had a thread about his. You could PM him for more info.

will56

Thanks. I read Marathonics thread before, very informative but his set up is beyond my budget
I'm just asking if anyone has any experience of using different racks and if they found much difference in different weights/brands ?
Also if anyone knows or has heard if any brand should be avoided or if one should be chosen over another ?

marathonic

Hi,

I'd definately avoid the CF375 Power Rack as the spec's show it as being very light (which I read as "not strong") and the thread linked to in my review of my setup doesn't inspire confidence.

You definately have the budget for this package - which I'm sure you've looked at. You'll also be able to get 10% knocked off it via FatCheese.ie.

When I originally purchased my setup, this package was £780 and I asked them for a price if they switched the Lat Pulldown, Low Pulley and 200lb Weight Stack with this 235kg olympic weightset and they agreed to do it for the same price (they ended up sending me the Lat Pulldown, Low Pulley and only removed the 200lb weight stack - I'm not sure if this was an error or if it was what they originally thought they were agreeing to)

Postage to Ireland cost me £45. Your budget of €1,200 works out about £1,000 so I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't agree to this figure for:

Bodycraft F430 Power Rack
Bodycraft F432 Dip Attachment
Bodycraft F602 FID Bench
235 KG Olympic Weight set
and a free belt and gloves
..... you can contact them via the "Live Chat" button on their website during office hours

It's really up to yourself on what you want to spend. The Irish-Lifting.com racks also get pretty good reviews - their cheaper rack is the same weight as the Bodymax CF475 but the spacing between the holes on the uprights is smaller (according to reviews I've read) - this will allow for you to get a closer fit when adjusting for each of the lifts.

This PowerTec rack also seems to get good reviews but, in my opinion, is nowhere near as good value as IrishLifting or PowerHouseFitness - especially as, with IrishLifting, you should get free delivery.

will56

Thanks for that Marathonic, might look at the f430 again.
How do you find the spacing for the safety bars ?

marathonic

will56 wrote: »

Thanks for that Marathonic, might look at the f430 again.
How do you find the spacing for the safety bars ?

The spacing is fine - it's the same as the Irish-Lifting models and you'll get a better idea by looking at the pictures in my original review: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056337591.

One thing about my rack (I'm not sure about other models) is that you can't overhead press inside the rack as it's not high enough. On the Pre-2011 model of the rack, you needed to purchase additional uprights for the outside of the rack. On the 2011 model, there are uprights attached to the front of the safeties (again, this can be seen on the photos). These allow for O/H pressing outside the rack.

kevpants

Jesus the F430 is a lot of cash €1000+ for a rack!? I have the CF475 and it's been battered 3-4 times a week for the past 18 months with 200kg+, I've dropped 280kg rack pulls onto the safety bars and it's solid.

It's also half the price of the F430.

There's no added benefit to it being heavier, the rack is only as strong as it's weakest point. The weld on the CF475 is good on the hooks and safeties and that's really all that matters. I check the welds for stress every now and then and don't worry about it.

No doubt the F430 is a great bit of kit but for that price it would want to squat the weight for you!

the drifter

kevpants wrote: »

Jesus the F430 is a lot of cash €1000+ for a rack!? I have the CF475 and it's been battered 3-4 times a week for the past 18 months with 200kg+, I've dropped 280kg rack pulls onto the safety bars and it's solid.

It's also half the price of the F430.

There's no added benefit to it being heavier, the rack is only as strong as it's weakest point. The weld on the CF475 is good on the hooks and safeties and that's really all that matters. I check the welds for stress every now and then and don't worry about it.

No doubt the F430 is a great bit of kit but for that price it would want to squat the weight for you!

Agreed...i have the irishlifting rack...ive pulled and dropped 220kg onto the pins on it and tis the finest...gets used 2-3 times a week...no issues.. itsallabouttheEmo even had a go at busting it and couldnt... I have the cable attachment which is holding up well also.

marathonic

Yeah, it's pretty expensive now - I can't argue with that

However, when I bought it, with more favourable exchange rates and a lower price on the package itself, my entire set up cost me a little under €1000 including delivery.

For this, I got:

Bodycraft F430 Power Rack with Lat Pulldown/Low Pulley
Bodycraft F432 Dip Attachments
Bodycraft F602 FID Bench
235 KG Olympic Weight set
Dip Belt
Triceps Rope
and a free belt and gloves


To be honest, if I was going for it at current prices, I'd get the following (with free delivery):

Rack: €349.99
Bench €169.99
Weights: €289.99

This comes to a total of €809.97 - for comparitive purposes, this is £680 (you'd have to pay £45 delivery with powerhouse but you'd get 10% off advertised prices so you'd get £705 worth of equipment (at the advertised price) for the same price as the above package from Irish-Lifting.

In other words, it'll basically work out the same price for this package from PowerHouse fitness as it would for the above items from Irish Lifting.

joebass

are powerhouse fitness any good with follow ups? I ordered the deluxe strength package and + 2 x 20kg extra plates well before christmas

1. they delivered to the wrong house at the far side of town
2. left me short about 65kg on the 185 I should have got
3. no lat/low pulley
4. because they left it out the back of another house in the rain with the weights just lying open on a pallet, they're kinda rusty now
5. also, no free belt and gloves (least of my worries)

Ya couldnt really recommend that kind of service, but I put the CF475 rack together today and it is v.solid, even if the spacing is a tiny bit big, I feel a whole heap safer in that than the last contraption I had

marathonic

joebass wrote: »

are powerhouse fitness any good with follow ups? I ordered the deluxe strength package and + 2 x 20kg extra plates well before christmas

1. they delivered to the wrong house at the far side of town
2. left me short about 65kg on the 185 I should have got
3. no lat/low pulley
4. because they left it out the back of another house in the rain with the weights just lying open on a pallet, they're kinda rusty now
5. also, no free belt and gloves (least of my worries)

Ya couldnt really recommend that kind of service, but I put the CF475 rack together today and it is v.solid, even if the spacing is a tiny bit big, I feel a whole heap safer in that than the last contraption I had

Well, to be honest, point 1 and 4 are more than likely the couriers fault as opposed to powerhouse fitness.

For the free belt and gloves, there's a checkbox in the website that you are supposed to check before adding the package to your shopping cart to register for them. Did you do this?

Items 2 and 3 are indeed PowerHouseFitness's fault. You should click on the live sales advice button on the top left of their website when they come online later today and ask them about this. What plates are you missing? I know that, with my order, I was missing two 25kg plates but, when I contacted them, they told me that they weren't in stock for another week or two and gave me the choice of waiting or else swapping them for different sized weights.

I also decided to buy a dip belt and triceps rope and they didn't charge extra delivery as they were sending the plates anyway.

joebass

I'd chalk 1 & 4 down to the courier, the belt and gloves are definitely on the list of stuff I ordered, but to be missing so many weights out of it 2 x 20, 1 x 15, 1 x 2.5, and 3 x 1.25, thats the main problem

also when they're out of stock with part of an order you would expect you would be told, an email or phonecall would help, and also it wouldn't be an odd number in a weights set, really they only had 1 x 15, 3 x 2.5 and 1 x 1.25 lying around? That doesn't sound right

I've yet to get a reply, so I might try the websites quick chat thing, see if that speeds things up

marathonic

joebass wrote: »

I'd chalk 1 & 4 down to the courier, the belt and gloves are definitely on the list of stuff I ordered, but to be missing so many weights out of it 2 x 20, 1 x 15, 1 x 2.5, and 3 x 1.25, thats the main problem

also when they're out of stock with part of an order you would expect you would be told, an email or phonecall would help, and also it wouldn't be an odd number in a weights set, really they only had 1 x 15, 3 x 2.5 and 1 x 1.25 lying around? That doesn't sound right

I've yet to get a reply, so I might try the websites quick chat thing, see if that speeds things up

Yeah, I'd have expected to be told too but I wasn't. I was in a better position than you though as it was only two 25kg plates missing (which I didn't need at that time). It's highly unlikely that the plates you've listed are all out of stock.

One thing I done that you could consider is check the weight listed on the shipping documents on the package you received (and the online specs for the components you ordered). When I done this, the shipping documents listed a weight that meant the two 25kg plates couldn't have been included in the package. Therefore, I knew it was a PowerHouseFitness issue as opposed to the items being lost in transit.

If your package was left in the wrong location, the plates may well have been stolen too. Checking the courier documentation will give you a better idea of what happened and you'll be in a better position to argue with PowerHouseFitness if you can confirm, like I did, that the weight listed indicates that the plates weren't delivered in the first place.

joebass

marathonic wrote: »

One thing I done that you could consider is check the weight listed on the shipping documents on the package you received (and the online specs for the components you ordered). When I done this, the shipping documents listed a weight that meant the two 25kg plates couldn't have been included in the package. Therefore, I knew it was a PowerHouseFitness issue as opposed to the items being lost in transit.

If your package was left in the wrong location, the plates may well have been stolen too. Checking the courier documentation will give you a better idea of what happened and you'll be in a better position to argue with PowerHouseFitness if you can confirm, like I did, that the weight listed indicates that the plates weren't delivered in the first place.

Well they didn't deliver to me, so I've to go back and get the courier documentation, might have a look around to see did weights fall off anywhere, I have to say it was extremely badly packaged, the way the weights were thrown loose when I got them they could have ended up anywhere

Also they replied to the negative feedback I left and still no reply to my email ...priorities

will56

Stuck now trying to decide if I should go for the standard rack or spend that bit more to get the heavier one.
The heavier one is probably more than I'll ever need but would this be better than getting the lighter one and wishing I'd gone that bit more.
Would be a bit concerned about the lighter rack moving when racking weights.
Anyone have any experience with the lighter Irish-lifting rack ?

joebass

Get the heavier rack, I was sorry I didn't get it the first time around, It wasn't the Irish lifting rack but if you stick at it long enough you will need it, I was following the stronglifts 5x5 program and got up to 175kg squats, a solid rack comes in handy for that amount

and on a positive note, powerhouse fitness sent out most of what was missing from my order the following week, except for 2 x 20kg which they hadn't in stock

on the downside some of the holes in the weights they sent are really badly done, can't get some of them on the bar at all