Looking into buying a Power Rack...reviews?

LoveLiveLift

I am looking at buying a power rack so I can safely lift at home. I did find one, but could not find any reviews online about the maker of the rack or the rack itself.

Does anyone have experience with Active Fitness Products power racks?

The rack comes with 400+ lbs of weights and an oly bar, as well as a lat pull down and low pulley attachment. The only downside is that a bench is not included. I guess my question is: Does it really matter if I can't find reviews?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

DopeItUp

Depending on how much you squat it's not gonna matter too much. Mostly it's bells and whistles. The nicer ones come with weight storage, chain storage, resistance band pegs, pullup bars, dip attachments, etc..

Personally I've heard nothing but great things about the EliteFTS stuff. It's fairly pricey but they have a ton of options and you tend to see their stuff in actual gyms. They have smaller adjustments too, some down to 1" (most are 1.5 or 2"). The cheaper brands have 3" adjustments typically for example. The EliteFTS stuff ranges from about $600 for the most basic to $2500+. Or you can get the monolift for $4k or so

LoveLiveLift

Thanks! That was my thought. I probably won't squat enough for it to ever be a problem. And $4k? I would build my own rack first. :laugh:

Aperture_Science

Power racks are pretty simple bits of kit and the bare minimum requirement is that they are capable of taking the weight you intend to use. So, when sold as a set of weights and a rack I think it is fair to assume that the rack has the capability of taking the full weight (plus a little more) being sold with it.

From that point of view then, when buying a set the differing prices are really going to be due to marketing, aesthetics or bells and whistles (as DopeItUp says above).

If it were me I'd be looking at the cheapest set I would find that had about 120-150kg (260 - 330) including the Olympic bar and a bench. I wouldn't want to pay extra for lat pull down rig but having a chin, pull up bar and attachments for dips are very useful.

In fact, that is exactly what I got; second hand form eBay. I needed to go to the sellers house with a van and strip it down myself but I saved hundreds.

chuckyp

I shopped Craigslist when I was looking for mine. You can often find used commercial quality equipment on there for good prices. I got a commercial Maxicam power rack for $400 that retails for $1100. It's safety bar spacing is a little farther apart than I would like, but it works out ok for me and it's made of thick steel with mostly welded connections. It's also a lot taller than some of the consumer models. Some of the cheaper ones are fairly light gauge steel and have a lot of bolted connections so they can sell them disassembled in a box. The only disadvantage is that the lighter ones might want to move around on you. It doesn't take a lot of steel to support a lot of weight though, so honestly even the cheapest racks will probably support all the weight you will ever lift.

The money I saved buying the used rack I spent on a new bar, weights and bench. All the used weights and benches on Craigslist look they were salvaged from sunken ships for some reason. They probably made the unfortunate evolution from inside the house, to the back patio, to the side yard, to for sale.

LoveLiveLift

Thanks! I did find this one on Craigslist. And, @chuckyp- I totally agree about the plates looking like they were salvaged. Thanks for the input.