Review of Band Flex Gym made by Stamina
by - Written: May 01 '03 (Updated May 02 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Many workouts, inexpensive, foldable, easy switch between workouts, great technical support from company
Cons: Very poor packing, boxes arrived in poor condition, however only small plastic piece was damaged
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a very good-quality (I did not say excellent), all in one work-out machine to gain muscle, this is the gym for you.
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| kd7klq's Full Review: Stamina Products Band Flex Gym 50-0202 |
The Band Flex arrived in 2 boxes on 2 separate days. Both boxes were in poor condition, however only a small easily replaceable plastic cap was cracked into pieces. I was surprised that nothing else was damaged.
There were no missing pieces during installation. It took me four hours to put the whole thing together (I only took one 15 minute break). I do have complaints about the instruction manual because there are some obvious mistakes, and there are some steps that could have been written a little more precise, especially about winding a cable around the pulley system.
There was only one major problem I ran into during installation. There are 3 grooves on this all-metal side arm where 3 pulleys are bolted in. One of the grooves was bent so badly (probably from the poor shipping), that I had to use some gigantic pliers I found in my garage to actually pry the groove apart wide enough to place the plastic pulley inside. There was also another pulley groove at the bottom which was pulled too far apart, and I had to use the same big pliers to squeeze it together so I could push the long bolt all the way through.
If you purchase this gym and put it together it is ESSENTIAL that you make DANG GOOD AND SURE you are using the correct LENGTH of screw. It is VERY easy to mess up if you don't pay attention. Some screws have very little difference in length which sometimes made it difficult to differentiate between the sizes. The instruction manual comes with a ruler however to guide you, make sure you use it!!! Other than this, I had no other installation problems.
The machine is solid, performs plenty of nice exercises which is really nice because it will take a long time before you get bored with this machine. It says in the instruction manual that persons over 250 lbs. should NOT use this machine, and I agree with the statement simply because I seriously doubt the machine would offer enough resistance or support the weight for someone over 250 lbs.
I am 21 yrs. old, 180 lbs, 5' 7". The machine fits me perfectly for all exercises. There are many ways to adjust the machine if it doesn't fit well for you. Switching between the exercises is simple and quick for most of them. The exercise book that came with the gym shows illustrations along with directions on how to perform the different exercises which I found very helpful. Storing the gym is not too difficult, you have to flatten the back-rest, pull some pins out, stick another pin in, and you're ready to fold it up.
If you are the kind of person that gets "ticked off" real easily at clicking noises, this machine is NOT for you because one of the pulleys on the upper left hand bar, and also the sliding seat both make soft clicking noises as you use the machine. I, however, am not bothered by it one bit. I would have given this product a 5 star rating if it weren't for all the installation problems and poor shipping.
I bought this machine from http://www.homegymcentral.com Great service. Even though I paid this company for the machine (I got a good price too, $329 including shipping), it is actually shipped from somewhere in Montana, from the Stamina company itself. It arrived in 2 weeks. At the time of ordering, they told me it would take between 2 to 6 weeks for delivery, but the average is 3 weeks.
Recommended:
Yes
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