# Thoughts on a Nautilus Power Cage?



## buening (Feb 29, 2008)

Well my wife and I have decided to quit dumping our money into the gym and actually build our own in the basement since we have plenty of room. I don't deadlift or squat 1000lbs, so commercial equipment like elitefts and samson really would be overkill and not exactly in our price range.

I have found a Nautilus Power Cage NT1200 locally that has a new lat attachment new in the box. They are wanting $550 for it.  Here is a site that still has them new, note that lat attachment is $319 more.  Nautilus Power Cage

or

Product Display - Elite Fitness


Has anyone used this rack before?  It used 11 gauge 2x4 tubing, so it should be pretty damn stout.  It is now out of production, so I'm a bit hesitant with replacement parts availability. Thoughts?  From what I'm told this is a huge step above the other Body Solid, BodyCraft, Powertec, NYBB, and other stuff.  Some said they consider it semi-commercial.  Thoughts?  The first website I listed has it so low because it is out of production, so they are discounting the price. The second is what it used to go for, not sure why they still have the price at that.


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## Alleyezonme (Feb 29, 2008)

Why do you want a power cage? Over time all i have ever purchased were

1: 310 lb Olympic Weight Set (i paid 119.99 but seems prices have gone up since then - Sportsauthority has it for 159.99 but i bought it from there so maybe it will go down again)

2: BodySolid Squat Stand - 125$ Online no shipping fee @ Jesupgym.com

3: WEiDER Power Tower - 150$ no Shipping @ Bayoufitness.com

4: Olympic Sized Bench - 100-200$ (Any retail store or online)

Thats it, and basically i believe thats all you really need i feel like i really have my own home gym now (mind you i  bought everything over like a 8 month period just because i didnt really think about everything i could use)
But my point is only purchase what your going to use.

With all the equipment i just listed you would be able to do almost any exercise imagineable for around 535$ (unless you find that 300lb set cheaper then 159.99 which you probably could.

Wow i guess your not saving that much, however theres not 1 exercise i can think of that you wouldnt be able to do, and with your power cage i dont think it has anything for dips or pullups

Basically if your going to shell out 550$ you might as well get the most for your buck, not 1 piece of equipment when there are alot of cheaper alternatives now im not saying be cheap, but be smart.

And im not telling you to buy the equipment i listed but i think you need to re-evaluate what you really want out of your workouts and base your equipment around them


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## buening (Feb 29, 2008)

The Power Rack is the only piece of equipment I use. For the past 2 years that I've been a member of our gym, the only equipment I have used is the power cage and the dumbbell/barbells. They have all of the other machines there but my routine doesn't involve them. I figured I would be money ahead just to buy my own. I prefer the power cage for squats as there is a safety bar in case I get stuck LOL.  I can also use the Ironmaster Super Bench (which I plan on buying) with the barbell on the J-hooks for anything from bench press to seated overhead presses and many others. It also has an integral chinning bar for anything from hammer grip to narrow/wide grip chins.  Lat attachment is not a necessity, but may come in handy for mixing things up like cable rows, tricep pushdowns, lat pulldowns, etc.  

I guess I'm looking for anyone with experience with this rack as to the quality. I'm pretty sure Nautilus is quality stuff, but wasn't sure about their power cage.


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## buening (Feb 29, 2008)

Dumbbells I plan on buying:  Ironmaster :: Quick-Lock Dumbells

and the bench (look at all the possible attachments!) Ironmaster :: Super Bench


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## Alleyezonme (Feb 29, 2008)

ok my main reasoning for asking you why you want it is because some people want to buy things without having any logical reasoning behind it, i see that your used to that equipment and you already know the in's and out's of it, so that would probably be your best bet, however i would just read up reviews on that specific model or similar cages, shop around before rushing into things, sometimes you can even find a better deal! good luck!


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## Alleyezonme (Feb 29, 2008)

personally if your going to buy the cage i dont think you should buy that specific bench, all those attachments are very costly and it seems a little rediculous to pay 200$ for a bench that is just the seat! i understand that it has attachments but i think its very over priced

That being said if i didnt already have a bench i think i would go with this one - Check it out! also like i said take a look at a bunch of different benches before rushing in to buy 1 you'll regret! - Also do you really need those dumbbells? there really expensive and thats what the oly plates are for lol (man im trying to convince you out of everything!! haha!)
Weider 220 Olympic Width Bench - Wal-Mart


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## buening (Feb 29, 2008)

No offense but I wouldn't trust my grandmother on that bench. I don't want to be loaded up on a bench with a set of heavy dumbbells and the damn thing tip over or snaps the incline pin.  I'm willing to spend money where it is needed, as this gym will be used for many years. It's not going to be one of those Bowflex gyms that I use once and then put on Craigslist for $50 after I paid $3k for the damn thing.  The bench may be a bit overkill, but if you look at any "quality" bench, they will be $300+.  

For example:

Body Solid Flat / Incline Bench
BodyCraft Deluxe F/I/D Dumbbell Bench
Powertec Utility FID Bench

Before I took my break from lifting 4 years ago I was up to a 275 bench, 350 squat, and nearly 400 deadlift. With a bench like that, you need a good quality bench for safety reasons.  With a squat like that, a good rack or a semi-commercial rack will fit the bill. Commercial racks are often 9' tall, which is too tall for my basement ceilings. 


Dumbbells are necessary for my lifts as I prefer using them for bench and unilateral work.  Barbells don't exactly work when doing bent lateral raises 

I chose those dumbbells because they are cheaper than those horrible Powerblock or Bowflex SelectTech  ones  like  Bowflex SelectTech 1090 Dumbells, Stand & 5.1 Bench - eBay (item 220207356970 end time Feb-29-08 17:38:13 PST)
If you drop one of those hard enough and you will be sorry. Too many breakable parts on those kind of adjustables.   The Ironmaster dumbbells are expandable up to quite a bit (200 I believe), whereas those Bowflex and others are not.  They also replace an entire wall of hex dumbbells, not to mention a helluva lot cheaper   GP Solid Head Urethane Dumbbells 5-125 lb. (PSDU)


So........has anyone used this power rack?


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## mm2239 (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi,

Hope it;s not too late to respond to this. Just saw this yesterday while looking for the weight stack for my NT 1200.

I've owned mine for about 4 years and I got the lat attachment (the one for free weights not the weight stack) about 3 years ago.

I think my biggest complaint is having to screw and unscrew the knobs when I want to  change the level of the safety/spotter bars. It's not a real big deal, but I got used to just sliding the bar in and out to change levels while at the the gym.

My second biggest complain is it doesn't have weight storage pegs on it. That would be nice!

My third complaint is that it's time consuming to assemble/reassemb. I've had it in three different rooms over the years and now, like you, it's in the garage. My garage is insulated pretty well and I see not signs of rust. It's been in the garage for about 2 years now.

Not sure why the top piece is angled/slanted eigther. Seems like it should level. I'm a short guy though, so this doesn't really present a problem either.

The lat attachment is starting to stick on me lately too. Proabably due to my neglecting any type of preventative maintenance though??? One of these days I'm going to bust out the owner's manual to see if there's anything I should be doing about that.

The chin up bar works fine. My elbows don't allow me to do chins any more, but I've done hundreds of wide-, narrow-, neutral-, and reverse-grip chins over the years and never noticed any promblms.

The thing is as solid as a rock too. 

Hope this helps


David


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## buening (Mar 19, 2009)

You don't have to screw the knobs in, as they are spring loaded into the holes.  For extra safety and heavy loads, I typically screw them all the way in but for light loads I may only screw one of them in.

Weight storage pegs would definitely be nice!  I bought a weight tree and it does the job, just takes up a bit more space.  Then again, if it has weight pegs on the sides it might be a pain to load up the lat pegs, as I do this from outside the cage.

I disassembled it and reassembled it and yeah it takes time, but not really much more time than others.  Try taking apart one with cable crossovers or more moving parts 

If I recall correctly, the top is angled so that you have the height at the front to do chins and the back is lower so the top pulley for the lat attachment will clear the rack.  If they were level, you'd be adding more height to the lat attachment and you may have ceiling clearance issues.

You might want to put some lube on the bars.  My local sports store carries a clear spray lube just for this.


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## Hoglander (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm thinking of picking up this one as supplement to what I have. Basically I'm looking to buy a spotter that keeps it's mouth shut and that does the job right. 

I also like the pull up and dip functions on it. 

Powertec Power Rack (P-PR) US$449Web Direct Brands - BestBuyFitness.com


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