AmStaff Fitness DF2109 Single Stack Plate-Loaded Trainer

I highly recommend this unit. The minor complaints I have are far outweighed by the overall solid build of this product. Pros: - Very small footprint. It is ideal for the small space I have for a home gym. - Very robust engineering. The only thing I imagine would eventually wear would be the pulleys, cable and bushings. All of which would be easily replaceable with a trip to Home Depot. All of the other parts are very solid & weldable if that were ever required. - Very simple engineering. - Assembly is straightforward. The diagrams and steps are clear and unambiguous. - It is inexpensive relative to other pulley units. I believe this is priced right & the other guys are charging way too much for what these things are. - It uses the weight plates you already have (standard or olympic) - It can be used to store weight plates as well. Cons: - It smells for a week or two like low quality rubber. If you are sensitive to smells, I would unpack it in the garage or shed & leave it there for a couple weeks before assembling it. - Adjusting the pulley height isn't terribly quick. You take out the threaded bolt out from between the pulleys, move it & thread it back in. All told it takes me about 45 seconds to get this done. I still like that it is very secure though & the thread pitch is such that it would be difficult to crossthread it & still has lots of engagement. - The drywall anchors & lag bolts that come with it don't work. The lag bolt ends up just pulling the anchor out of the wall. I ended up using other ones. - It would nice if it included an adaptor to attach both pulleys to single point attachment accessories. You can attach them to only one pulley, but it would be a little less wear if the load was evenly applied. That being said, making one wasn't difficult. - It would be nice if the unit was one foot taller. At 6' 1", the pulley mechanism is inline with my head at the highest setting. If it were another foot higher, I would be able to be against the machine, standing when on the highest setting. For some though, being shorter make it fit in some spaces.

The 2 that I bought both met and exceeded my needs. The delivery was awesome, right to my apartment door and in. The motion of the machines after a little lubrication are flawless. The dimension specs were exactly what I needed.