Great machine, but a couple quirks...
Written: Nov 07 '05 (Updated Nov 07 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 10 year warranty.
Integrated rowing machine.
Cons: Complex, awkward assembly.
Errors in the "Weight Trainer" programs.
Some flimsy plastic pieces.
The Bottom Line: I recommend this machine - but be sure to use the price guarantee from Sears. More feature-rich than the comparably priced Bowflex, and more fun to use, too.
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| tomch's Full Review: Weider Crossbar |
Sears has a deal where they will beat any other advertised price - I printed out Costco.com's price, brought it into Sears, and they sold it to me for $752.49. Woo Hoo!! Faster shipping, too. I picked it up at the store 4 days later.
I love the overall design of this machine. It is easy to adjust, and lots of fun to workout on. It's also much safer than "free weights."
The machine looks and feels rugged and sturdy with a few exceptions... The seatback has tiny plastic guides (where it connects to the seat-bottom) that broke the first time my kids played with the machine. I can't blame the kids, either - it's very flimsy plastic, and if you set the seatback on the floor, the plastic guards automatically bend and break. Also, the seatback feels wobbly when in the prone (lying down) position. They should have installed some kind of guide to keep the seat rigidly centered on the bar. The rest of the machine looks and feels well-built.
The leg curl station is not comfortable. The "Knee Pads" are placed too high in relation to the bench, so that your thighs are off the bench when doing leg curls. Yes, it works, but doesn't feel "right."
The leg extension setup works fine for people with long legs. I'm 6'3", and my feet weren't dragging on the floor at the bottom of the rotation.
The Personal Trainer program is a neat feature, but it has a few problems. On the programs that require 'split' routines (example: doing one leg first, then the other), they didn't allow for the OTHER leg in the programming! It tells you to do three sets (with the right leg, for example) and then you move on to the next exercise. I'm surprised that this wasn't noticed in any product testing. It's immediately obvious to anyone who uses the "program".
They could also do a whole lot more with the Personal Trainer (after fixing the above problem). It would be nice if the computer "remembered" what you entered, and adjusted the weights accordingly. Example: The program told me to do a 100 lb squat (default setting). I bumped it up to 200 lbs for my first set. On the next set, it automatically dropped the weight back to 120 lbs. It would also be nice if it remembered my weight settings from one session to the next.
Overall, I love this machine in spite of the few things mentioned. Earlier versions of this machine have had serious repair problems, so I'm glad that this one has a 10 year warranty.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tomch
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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