Merax Athletics Fitness Power Rack Olympic Squat Cage Home Gym

Arrival - The rack came in two separate boxes of thick cardboard. Each piece was individually wrapped in easy-to-remove plastic, however, they were not firmly secured in the boxes. I could hear pieces rattling around when I moved the boxes. As these are heavy boxes, I don't imagine every handler of this package was treating it with care (as evidenced by the many rips on the outer portion of the box - although I do not blame the seller for the treatment of the package by FedEx). All pieces were undamaged, and all pieces were accounted for.Hardware and Assembly - The instructions are not detailed step by step by step. There are 5 total pages of instructions, with each page showing the attachment of several pieces of the frame at once. However, there is not much to assembly - just put the right pieces the right way in the right spot and put the bolt through. Outside of the basic frame, no piece looks so similar that there will be confusion. Just make sure you put that first page on correctly, because any mistake is going to cause you to completely disassemble. As stated previously, a socket wrench and ratchet (size 17) and a wrench is required. I used two socket wrenches and double fisted each bolt. Every piece fit where it should and I did not have to curse the Earth in order to get pieces to fit.Usage - For casual lifters, all pieces of this rack should be fine. No additional equipment required. However, as stated by other users, having J-hooks for the barbell lifts for upper level lifting would definitely be a good idea, or even if you just need ease of mind. I do not lift heavy, am not a professional lifter, and do not plan on "one-rep maxes" and such on this device. I am using what comes with the rack without issue. Inside the cage, I feel fine, but I am not a big guy (6'0, 135 lbs). If you are bigger, it might feel a little cramped. The pulley system is a little underwhelming. I will take the advice of some here and lubricate the system, but there is hardly any negative resistance of the pulley system out of the box. It is smooth down, but tight coming back to rest. We'll see how it does with a bit of grease.It does come with 4 weight pegs that attach to the back legs of the frame. I don't plan on using dozens of 45 lb plates, and as such, the size of the pegs are enough for me. In fact, the size in general is perfect for me. I have a 650 square foot apartment, and this fits in the living area nicely without taking too much space. I ave 9 foot ceilings, and there is still enough clearance at the top of this rack for me to do full pull-ups using the pull-up bar. No dip bars or handles.I needed to relocate the system after assembly for fear of smashing a window. Without weights on the system, I was able to easily slide and "walk" the rack off the mats, and "walk" and slide the system back on mats in the new location. The rack did not feel unstable, wobbly, or like it was going to break apart. It is heavy, but light enough that I could lift one corner to get it back on the floor mat.Overall, I really like this rack. It does what I need it to do, and it is safe, sturdy, and easy to put together and take apart. It does have a few issues, and if you are a serious power lifter, you may have a few more, but for what it costs and what it offers, it is great for me. If I could give it 4.5 stars out of 5 stars, I would. It is not quite a 5, but a 4 doesn't quite do it justice.

I've owned this rack for less than a month, but I thought I would give my first impressions on it.Packaging: The cage arrived in 2 separate boxes, every post came in a plastic sleeve to prevent scratches. Hardware comes in bags, but they make it super simple by putting washers and nuts on to the bolts. The cage uses only one bolt size, the pulley system uses the rest of the hardware. super simple, and mever had to wonder if I was using the wrong bolts.Assembly: I built this rack in a little over 2 hours while not in any particular rush. At minimum you will need 2 adjustable wrenches to build this, a rachet and socket set will speed the job up alot, however I would not recommend using power tools, hand tools only. You could very easily over tighten with a drill motor and bend the steel. A stepping stool will be useful as well.Instructions were very clear and straight forward, laid out in a step by step manner. You don't have to guess what nuts and bolts to use as they are labeled on the hardware card they come attached to. The instructions for the pulley and cable routing are labeled with numbers indicating the order the pulleys need to be fed and installed. I assembled all of it by myself with no problems or confusion (well... except I built it without my exercise mat laid out on the floor first. Oops.)Quality: For what it is, and the price the quality is excellent. The welds are good, the steel is strong. There were some scrapes in the paint of the bottom posts, like they were sitting next to each other and something got scraped across both at the same time. Definitely happened at the manufacturer, not because of shipping, but whatever, I'll be beating the paint up myself, so I don't see it as a big issueUsability: First I want to talk about the things I don't like.-The knurling on the pull-up bar is a bit aggressive, and I might end up sanding it down a little.-The cable system out of the box is a little rough, but becomes a lot smoother if you apply a bit of grease to the sled and pulleys.-The bar supports are angled down slightly, and the barbell rolls after racking. They seem safe enough, but I'll be investing in a pair of J hooks.And that's really it. Those are the only criticisms I have at this point. Really this rack is awesome. I put it in the spare bedroom in my apartment and have been using it just about everyday since instead of going to the gym. The lat pull down and low rows are awesome accessories to have. The weight holders keep my bedroom gym tidy and compact. The amount of accessories that work with this rack are amazing, I bout a Valor Fitness BD-CC2.0 Cable Crossover attachment to go with this, as well as dip handles. I also got a multi grip pull up bar, but I would have needed to drill some holes to install it, and it was a little too high for my ceiling, so I will be sending that back.Last Words: This is an excellent buy for any home gym. I'm sure I will get years of use out of this cage.edit: Spelling errors and had previously stated hardware was on a card. Its not, its in bags. I got it mixed up with my weight bench, oops!

This is a very well made power cage. Coincidentally, it’s on our team colors black & blue. Relieved that the chin up bar isn’t knurled, allowing us to secure our TRX on it, along with some resistant bands. Nice having the chin up bar configured into a triangular segmented shape, ro allow us to attach resistant bands to it.We have one section set up for triceps, other, haven’t decided yet.Rubber legs big enough, to offe just enough ground clearance for us to cinch a 2” heavy duty strap with a caribiner. BOOM! Anchor for bands & a short bar for arm curls, or switch off to single pulleys for shoulders.Did NOT want the lat pull down attachment, because would take up too much footprint in our limited space fitness studio.ALL for under $500!!!…Maybe the areas I see some improvements, a rubber type strip, going across the tops of the safety catches, to not wear down the knurling on our barbells, nor scratch & dent up the blue coaxing on the catches.Second thing…Heck a annoying to adjust the safely catches up/down. Decided to use them for hanging our weighted vests.Ok, last thing…Luckily, my spouse is mechanically inclined, because the directions read like pick-up-sticks. Wow, for real, the directions were like a puzzle, in itself.For what we got, 4.5 stars is well deserved, will just round up to 5 Stars. The several things mentioned, weren’t a “deal breaker” 1/2 star deduction mainly for the less than minimally detailed instructions…Always opportunity for making things better. Right?