ICON Fitness Weider PRO 8500 Smith Cage (Box1)

Great piece of equipment for the price. Very sturdy and really not too complicated to assemble. Assembly is time consuming, but instructions are very easy to follow and everything is labeled wonderfully. Highly recommend this for a home gym or a small training studio like we bought it for.

If you are buying this machine because you want to have the advantages of a cable pull with the squat rack, DONT! The cable pull is stiff. There is a lot of friction on the black weight rack that slides up and down, it completely screws up the eccentric phase of you workout. In addition the concentric phase isn't much better, the load is inconsistent due to the friction. Don't buy it.

Great piece of equipment, allows me to do almost everything i want without going to the gym. It does take approx 8 hours to assemble but the directions are clear and easy to follow just take your time. Buy two extra 18" of chain link from your local hardware store and you can use both high pulleys together. Add an Olympic bar and you can do squats and press exercises free from the smith guide rods.

I was looking to set up a home gym in my basement because I was sick and tired of going to "Globo-Gym" and dealing with the crowds. I needed something functional and affordable, and this is it!! Now I'm not a powerlifter or bodybuilder or anything even close, but with this set up I can do just about every exercise I can think of. Let me break it down:The adjustable power rack: There are slots from 2' to 6' to do everything from Bench Press, Squat, Shrugs, Shoulder Press, Calf Raises etc.The Smith Machine: The bar glides smooth, the latches take some getting used to but they work fine, and the adjustable safety stops are great to prevent injury. Again, Bench, Squat, Shrugs etc. Just with the safety of a smith machine.High Pulleys: The whole pulley system is smooth and wasn't that difficult to set up. It comes with a lat pulldown bar, a tricep rope and two handles. If you want to do anything with a large range of motion (cable crossovers) you will need to go to the hardware store and buy 2' lengths of chain to add to the high pulleys...Easy fix.Low pulley: Again, the pulley system is smooth. The low pulley has a foot rest for doing seated rows while on the floor. And again, a length of chain will add range of motion for anything you can think ofButterfly/Pec Deck: This to me is the weakest part of this machine. Its just awkward, you can't move the bench all the way back to sit and even if you could you would be sitting too low. So you have to half squat while pressing your back into the backrest. I'm 6'0" and I can't use this properly, maybe if I was shorter and I could just stand completely under it...I don't know.The Bench: Its an adjustable bench that goes from straight up 90 degrees to flat with varying degrees of incline in-between. It also goes decline....barely. Without measuring I would say is goes to maybe 15 degrees decline. Its functional, I just wish it were a little bit deeper.The preacher curl pad and handle are great. The pad adjusts to three heights and is very comfortable.The leg extension is decent enough and the leg curl is just OK. Both seem a little bit too narrow for my liking and the pads move too much.It doesn't come with weights so I bought a barbell with 300 lbs of weights and two dumbbell handles.For the price and functionality you can't beat this machine. With a few additions and adjustments you will be able to do almost every exercise you can think of without the hassle of a crowded gym.

Item was damaged during shipping. Does not seem sturdy enough to endure shipping. Getting a replacement part was very difficult.

I bought this for my husband and he isLoving it! I'm not going to lie, putting it together was tough but absolutely worth the effort . The cage is sturdy and you can excersice many different muscles. The chest flies aren't as smooth as you would hope but everything else was great!

Pulley system is terrible. Cables feel like their rubbing.

Very impressive piece of gym equipment. Looks very sturdy. But a couple of issues. The weight carriage bushings are plastic, so when you use the cables, the weights slide up and down unevenly. Cheap design. Doing pecks is an exercise in instability. Secondly, the weight bench is not very stable. There is a lot of manufacturing tolerance where the seat and back attach to the pivot bolt. It rocks back and forth a lot. I'll have to find a solution for that.