Monumental leap imho on the old one. Never in a million years would I have considered the old one for anything decently heavy, I'd neck myself on those tiny catchers. Some great quality heavy duty spotters, slap on the Jcup rollers if you're feeling fancy and you have an absolutely solid compact 4 in 1 station. Love it! Also on the price lol tbh I think it's very well priced considering the machines it replaces and the fact that the bench functionality is really good. An affordable standalone bench press that won't kill you starts at $1000 as the floor. A lot of gym owners have a dedicated bench press. It's just nice to be able to walk away from your rack/half rack and bench or if two people want to train at the same time. Obviously not top top of the list but I was in the market for a standalone not too long ago and decided against it as I couldn't find an affordable one that wouldn't kill me.
In defence of the old designs, both Megatec & Powertec, a lot of dedicated bench presses didn't have any spotting options in this price bracket. They were just benches with uprights. I think the demand for these dwindled as people became more educated about training - ie you get better results by not training chest and arms every day! Plus it didn't help me telling customers who came in wanting this option that it would be better getting something more versatile. So great to see something that is safe and built for serious training.
The 75 & 77 series Power Racks are being phased out and being replaced by the 78 series power racks. They are being phased out not because there is anything wrong with them, purely because the concept never took off. The concept being offering a modular rack that you can customise to your own preferences. Personally I thought it was a great idea and that is the reason I got some extra stock so people can have the option to build their rack. The racks themselves are just basic and solid. It is the attachments that set them apart from the pack. The lat option in particular. You basically get the same running gear as their stand alone lat pulldowns, but it is bolted to your rack to save space. I also liked that you could choose the chin up bar & spotters that suited your training style. Moving forward they will just offer the rack as a bundle that comes with multi grip chin up bar and flip down spotters.
Im curious about the stability of the ATX's design of this kind of bench. I have the powertec multipress and even tightened down, there can still be some lateral wobble.
What year model are we talking? The previous model ATX bench was better than the last Powertec design I imported. This current model is a step up. The advancements in design and manufacturing just make it easier and cheaper to make better quality equipment. This bench would have cost thousands years ago.
@samsfitnessgymequipmentaust it appears that ATX took a different approach on the sliding mechanism. On my powertec, a vertical bar runs through a horizontal channel. It looks like atx has a full square bracket around the horizontal tube. I could see how this might provide more lateral stability, but I'm not sure.
Monumental leap imho on the old one. Never in a million years would I have considered the old one for anything decently heavy, I'd neck myself on those tiny catchers.
Some great quality heavy duty spotters, slap on the Jcup rollers if you're feeling fancy and you have an absolutely solid compact 4 in 1 station. Love it!
Also on the price lol tbh I think it's very well priced considering the machines it replaces and the fact that the bench functionality is really good. An affordable standalone bench press that won't kill you starts at $1000 as the floor.
A lot of gym owners have a dedicated bench press. It's just nice to be able to walk away from your rack/half rack and bench or if two people want to train at the same time. Obviously not top top of the list but I was in the market for a standalone not too long ago and decided against it as I couldn't find an affordable one that wouldn't kill me.
In defence of the old designs, both Megatec & Powertec, a lot of dedicated bench presses didn't have any spotting options in this price bracket. They were just benches with uprights.
I think the demand for these dwindled as people became more educated about training - ie you get better results by not training chest and arms every day!
Plus it didn't help me telling customers who came in wanting this option that it would be better getting something more versatile. So great to see something that is safe and built for serious training.
Any chance of a ATX-750 power rack review.
The 75 & 77 series Power Racks are being phased out and being replaced by the 78 series power racks.
They are being phased out not because there is anything wrong with them, purely because the concept never took off. The concept being offering a modular rack that you can customise to your own preferences.
Personally I thought it was a great idea and that is the reason I got some extra stock so people can have the option to build their rack.
The racks themselves are just basic and solid. It is the attachments that set them apart from the pack. The lat option in particular. You basically get the same running gear as their stand alone lat pulldowns, but it is bolted to your rack to save space.
I also liked that you could choose the chin up bar & spotters that suited your training style.
Moving forward they will just offer the rack as a bundle that comes with multi grip chin up bar and flip down spotters.
Im curious about the stability of the ATX's design of this kind of bench. I have the powertec multipress and even tightened down, there can still be some lateral wobble.
What year model are we talking? The previous model ATX bench was better than the last Powertec design I imported. This current model is a step up.
The advancements in design and manufacturing just make it easier and cheaper to make better quality equipment. This bench would have cost thousands years ago.
@samsfitnessgymequipmentaust it appears that ATX took a different approach on the sliding mechanism. On my powertec, a vertical bar runs through a horizontal channel. It looks like atx has a full square bracket around the horizontal tube. I could see how this might provide more lateral stability, but I'm not sure.