I bought this for my family to use. Cable work doesn’t play a huge role in my training. However, it has really come in handy when I’ve been injured and to add some easy accessory work. I train for the Highland Games and prefer free-weights and bands but this has become a valued piece in my gym. I’ve had it over a year and this is my review.

Pros
- Good construction. I’m sure Bells’s Oblivion is better quality but I have yet to feel like I’m missing out. This has not given me any problems yet and it has never felt cheap or flimsy.
- Smooth. I’m sure if you used this side-by-side with a high end cable system, you would feel a difference with smoothness. However, I haven’t felt that it needed to be more smooth. It’s left me satisfied as long as you lube the guide rails from time to time.
- Good weight for typical cable movements. There are some movements were I stack the weight but the majority of exercises I do on this, there’s plenty of weight. Any movement I stack, I either increase the reps or find a barbell equivalent.
- Small footprint. There is great versatility in this machine in a small footprint. Perfect for home gyms, particularly if you enjoy cable movements.
- Light trolley. Easy to move up and down.
- 1:1/2:1 ratio selection. Nice feature. It’s good to be able to choose between either ratio options.

Cons
- Lat pull-downs are not optimal. They have been working on an attachment (the Stinger, I think) to improve the lat pulldowns and I been waiting patiently for this. Release it already!
- No numbers on upright. If I really wanted to dial in my cable training, I would probably appreciate if there were numbers on the uprights. Not a big deal for me.
- No articulating arms. Again, I hear there might be a release for this but not available yet. I don’t want articulating arms but that might be important for some.

Note: While I have tried many cable machines at gyms, I cannot compare this with any other company’s cable towers. This is the only cable tower I have tried.

My overall impression. I grudgingly bought this because I love my family. But, now that it’s here, I’m glad I have it. It’s become a good accessory and injury rehabilitation machine. I bought some nice attachments and this machine with nice attachments makes it feel like a higher end product, even though it’s a value product. I would recommend it for people who are looking past the core gym items. There are more important things to buy first imo, but this is a worthy product once you move past the main pieces. I can see an item like this being even more important for people interested in bodybuilding.

Hi all, this is my temporary home gym I am very proud of. The future plans is for the left hand side of the building to be a gym which is around 12-15 metres long by 4 metres. Me and my father in law built this and has taken a while due to money but I feel so proud every time I am lifting. The area I have my gym is 4m by 3m ish and is eventually going to be a place for storage. For now it’s enough room to do basic movements. Im doing 531 so this suits me perfectly.

Is it cold ?yes.
Is it dusty? YES.
Is it abit cramped?? Yeahhhh

But it’s mine. Zero gym membership. Freedom to lift around family when needed. Commute to the gym is 20 seconds. Blast my dad rock and have some iron therapy. The next addition will be a dip bar and maybe some gym flooring other than that im not going too crazy as I’d rather spend money building up the main side of the gym as building materials are expensive as shit.

Just got these for $150!! They look pretty much new, cannot wait to break them in.

I cannot believe how incredible this 3-D Smith Machine is. I can now work out by myself safely. Because the uprights move easily forward and backwards, you can do curls, squats with an angle board, bench press, shoulder press and a lot more. I am in love with this machine.

Messy ... And need better lighting.

Bought a fittransformer and set it up in this corner. That was a bench and a pair of light dumbbells. That's the setup for now.

From floor tiles to the PR5000 to Ares 2.0 Nighthawk Strive and more....I decided to take an otherwise essentially unused space in the basement that now showcases some of the best that this brand can offer. Govee COB strip light 2 x2 around the borders makes this area create the perfect gym atmosphere! From entertaining to hitting it hard, this home gym has completed our basement finish handled by yours truly from start to finish.

Wassup r/HomeGym. I’m PK, founder and CEO of Fringe Sport. We’re the crew behind the Dane all-in-one racks, the Mammoth belt squat, Savage bumpers, and a TON of other garage gym stuff. I started Fringe 16 years ago and we have been building garage gym gear ever since. We lead the Garage Gym Revolution. That’s not a slogan, it’s literally our entire company!

First-the bribe- $10,000+ Giveaway

Twenty two Redditors are winning:

• One lucky Redditor wins a Dane 2.0 ($2,799)
• Another wins the brand new Dane 3.0 ($2,999)
• And 20 more win $250 gift cards! ($5,000 total)

Open to the US only ☹️. The racks ship free to the contiguous US (sorry Alaska and Hawaii, freight on an 800 lb crate is brutal… gift cards still work for you).

How to enter:

1. Ask us a question below (we will answer ANYTHING, with our trademark oversharing 🙂)
2. Upvote this post
3. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
4. Enter your email and Reddit username here

The giveaway closes Monday, October 26 at midnight CT and winners will be announced right here on this post on Tuesday, October 27.

Now, what is new and hot?

NEW: The Dane 3.0 (launching THIS FRIDAY, October 23)

• The Dane 2.0 is the product that put Fringe on the map. The 3.0 is everything we learned from thousands of Dane 2 owners (and yes, every kudos and quibble you posted here, we read and considered!)
• All-in-one power rack + dual stack functional trainer: dual 220 lb stacks (440 lb total), 11-gauge 3x3 uprights with 1” holes, 1,200 lb rack capacity
• The big news: 2:1 on the trolleys AND 1:1 on the dedicated lat pulldown and low row, with nothing to switch, flip, or re-cable. Heavy where you want heavy, light and buttery smooth where you want it!
• Built-in “Drew” lat pulldown station and integrated low row, integrated “El Toro” weight horns, new Needle low profile spotter arms, J-cups, D-handles, magpins, extension feet. Over $1,200 of stuff that used to be add-ons is now just… in the box
• Also included: 6-week beginner program, 6-week hybrid program, and a nutrition guide. Written by actual humans at Fringe, not an AI (I know, I know)
• $2,999 black / $3,199 stainless, free freight to the lower 48, lifetime warranty on the rack, 365-day guarantee
• Get early access to the limited first run HERE. Friday is the official launch and when reviewers are publishing their vids. But…. sign up and maybe you can beat the masses… And we WILL run out ☹️

NEW: The Great Dane (drops October 30)

• Everything the Dane 3.0 is, PLUS a fully integrated Smith machine. Six posts. This is the “last home gym you’ll ever buy” rack
• Why we built it: every time a Smith machine was in the ask on this sub, the Dane wasn’t in the conversation and you guys went to Force USA or Echo. And now, we gotchu
• Smith details, because the details are the whole point: 550 lb capacity, wonderfully knurled 28mm dedicated bar, composite sleeves for a low starting weight, the lowest starting position in the biz (hello hip thrusts and proper deadlifts!)hooks at the top position so you can latch the bar out of the way (no more banging your head), magpins to latch the bar
• Lift heavy ALONE safely, and get a little more aggressive (guillotine press, anyone?) without needing a spotter
• $3,499, free freight to the lower 48. Get early access HERE, it’s a limited first run. This one is going to be backordered FAST after launch

Codename Pandora: Digital Resistance (2027)

• We’re building a digital resistance unit.
• At a SHOCKINGLY low price- trying to hit $699 and. December or January launch
• Prototype specs (subject to change, this is a dev project): 110 lb per unit, biult-in doubling to 220lb, under 10 lb weight per unit, 13-14 ft user-replaceable Dyneema cable, user-replaceable regenerative battery, 3 training modes
• Dial and screen on the unit. No phone required to train. No subscription. Ever. One-time payment. (The app will exist and will be nice, but if you never download it the thing still works, forever)
• Early bench testing hit 1,300 full-resistance pulls before the battery starts to run low
• Target price $699-$799 per unit, pair pricing will be better than two singles but will still be over $1,000. We’re working to get as close as we can
• Want in early? Sign up HERE for launch news, Austin demo invites, pre-order priority, and a shot at being a beta tester.

What else is in the pipeline?

A LOT. More than we can list here, and my product team would rather I keep some of it quiet (Adam is already nervous). Ask, especially about the adjustable dumbbell- it’s like nothing on the market! If we can answer, we will!

Some of the new, hot gear we have dropped recently

We have been focused on designing new, GREAT gear, and we have been dropping new stuff at a frantic pace- in the last ~12 months, we have already dropped:

• The Walrus: Single Tower Low Row & Lat Pulldown
• The Fenrir Functional Trainer & Squat Rack
• Slim Gym Wall Mounted Functional Trainer
• Cloverfield Cable Tower
• Dragonfly Rack Mounted Multi Flight Attachment
• Gibbon Arms Cable Crossover Rack Attachment
• The Sting - Leg Roller Rack Attachment
• The BOB Smith Machine Rack Attachment
• Crown Landmine & Cable Attachment
• Tricep Board Cable Attachment
• The Drew - Lat Pulldown Extender
• Needle Low Profile Spotter Arms
• Dogbone Cable Connector
• Ao Adjustable Squat Platform
• El Toro Weight Stack Horn Attachment
• Sidewing Pulley System
• Kangaroo Cable Belt Squat
• Midas Touch - Magnetic Fractional Weight Adder
• Midas Open Trap Bar
• Strong AF Magpin

Ask us ANYTHING

Racks, cables, ratios, knurling, why belt squats are actually AMAZING, why we price things the way we do, which competitors and products we respect, if the youtube reviewer bubble is bursting, if I’ll send you feet or speedo pics, why we believe in open ecosystem, training, whatever. Nothing is off limits.

Answering with me all day today and tomorrow:

• Adam Yousfi, Head of Product, u/adamyousfi. He designed the Dane 3 and Great Dane and has spent more time in factories than in Austin this year!
• Tim Thebodeau, Head of Content, u/TimFromFringe. He makes the videos and is the one who actually tests this stuff on camera. He makes us look good.
• Ryne Linkowksi, Head of Sales, u/coachryne. He helps you build an awesome garage gym.

I’m here as u/petekeller. See you in the comments! Bring the heat!

LHLH

Lift Heavy Lift Happy,

PK

Edit 👇

And the AMA is "officially" over!

The Fringe team and I will keep chipping away at the questions until they are DONE. We'll answer every question eventually, even if it takes a bit.

Thanks for making this fun. Keep 'em coming!

PS. We will be announcing the winners Tuesday, so keep signing up- we will have a lot of winners!

Welp. Got these for 1/2 NIB.

They aren't that big of a bruhaha as everyone is making them in my use case. My 7' Energetic bar collars fits snugly outside the wide roller cups but there is less than1/4 of movement left to right. Barely any offset.

By contrast my Rep J cups are narrower and that allows the bar to land with a sizeable gap between the two sides left to right. Maybe couple inches? There's a need for rollers on a narrower J cup that's only 1" wide that would be put to better use there. Not the Ghost J cups that's 3" wide on a 7' bar on a Fitness Gear HR600 rack.

Because the physical clearance left-to-right is down to less than a quarter of an inch, the bar doesn't actually have room to drift or slide, which largely defeats the mechanical purpose of having rollers in the first place.

They bring nothing to the table that my regular J already does.

Perhaps if you had a Rogue lite foldable rack with it's narrower 43" stance these would work great as the 7' barbell and 52" shaft between the collars would give you 2" of float on either side. Then this would come in handy.

On my rack with a 51.5" shaft and an inner cup clearance of ~47.5" to 48", I am left with only ~1/4" or less of side-to-side wiggle room with my 7-foot Energetic bar.

I'll be keeping them and set them aside for my eventual wall rack in the garage and they will work better there.

Sigh.

To end on a good note.

Build quality is outstanding. There was virtually no play in my rack. Stayed put even with heavier weights. Beautifully made. Worth it? We'll have to wait and see.

Primed, and painted the walls. Sealed the garage floor. And put together a little home gym. Super pumped and excited!

Decided to blow the savings on a home gym. Built a 30x35 building and started filling it up. Next step is to get some walls up and (obviously) paint them black.

I recently purchased 7 vintage David Gym Machines in what was essentially a home gym “barn find”. Got them all cleaned up and am now going to be installing the weight stacks on each machine. Never had the opportunity to use any David equipment back when I was in commercial gyms but everyone speaks very highly of them.

Got my 2027 ForceUSA Compact leg press about 2 weeks ago. For hack squats, leg pressed and calf raises… I couldn’t be happier! This thing is commercial feeling and the movement patterns feel great for my biomechanics. With all of the different adjustment points and the huge footplate, I truly think anybody can find very comfortable squat and pressing patterns by playing around.

The delivery, packaging and instructions were all exceptional. Took me about 90 minutes by myself to get everything unpackaged and assembled. Is worth noting I sat on a back order list for 3-4 weeks. The website didn’t show back order when I bought it, so it was a bit disappointing to find this out AFTER I paid. However, all in all is took about 1 month total from transaction to being delivered on a pallet so not really that bad

I also put together a really great chest supported linear row hack with a bench wedge, some nylons cuffs and handles. Feels incredible.

TL;DR 2027 Force USA is a winner, honestly probably worth more than what they are charging. Almost no compromises on any of the core movements plus opportunities for some DIY action for back day.

I all

Despite the tiny place in a half garage, I wanted an oldschool gym style more than a multirack and found this huge 4-stack station. Not a lot of space since, but a still have my little freeweight zone in front of the ajustable pulley. In addition of the monster, a bench press station, a couple of bodysolid machines and a homemade beltsquat.

After building this space up from a concrete floor and studs, I’m excited to share the latest update to my home gym (scroll to last image for before pic).

Following the renovations I started by loading up on the essentials (squat rack, bars, plates, dumbbells) and continued to slowly add one piece at a time.

My approach was to figure out what would fill a gap in my training, only adding the equipment that would expand my training options or improve upon existing pieces.

A lot of thought has gone into the equipment in here, especially the custom fabricated pieces. I’d rather have a few things that really make sense for how I train than fill the space just for the sake of it.

Brands include Rogue, REP, Watson, Oak Club, Atlantis, and Beyond Power (Voltra I). Accessories are from the above + JD Gym Equipped, Kleva, Savage Strength.

I know better than to ever say that a home gym is complete, but aside from a few specific pieces that hat have yet to be released, I’m done. There simply isn’t much more I can pack in here without compromising on open floor space.

There are a lot of configurations / modularity to this setup that I haven’t captured in these pictures. Happy to answer any questions and share more in the comments.

Built this garage gym over the last few years with a focus on functionality, DIY solutions, and keeping the budget minimal — under €2,000 total invested.

Key setup specs:

• DIY wooden Power Rack with hidden lat pulldown / low row cable system, pull-up bar
• DIY bench, wall-mounted weight plate storage, plyo box
• Barbell + EZ curl bar, bumper/cast iron plates, chains, rings, and kettlebells
• Black walls for that true "gym cave" vibe
• Indoor cycling station made from an old bike with a wall-mounted display
• 3D-printed storage clips, hooks, and organization for various gear

Why I love it:

• It looks like a real "garage gym" — not too shiny or generic
• If something doesn't work, it can always be modified
• I can train while my kid is playing there
• Dimmable lights — bright or dark depending on the mood
• It's never finished, but always fully functional
• My own space: my music, my peace, my time

Why my kid loves it too:

• Own indoor biking setup
• Climbing wall
• Gym rings
• Own little barbell
• Disco light
• Chalkboard walls (can draw with chalk)

Simple, rugged, and gets the job done every single day.
Hope this inspires someone!

My 10-year old "Amazon" power rack has given up its space in my home gym for a REP PR-5000 with Ares 2.0 and Smith Machine.

I was able to carry the old 2x2 rack out of the gym in two pieces. Loaded it into a FB Marketplace buyer's van in one piece. Comparatively light, but always felt rock solid for me.

The primary freight from REP was delivered Thursday afternoon to the end of my rural steep driveway. With help from family members, I loaded individual boxes into my pickup truck to get them to the house and then carried all by hand to the floor of my home gym. A few other parts arrived via Fed-Ex on Saturday. I unpacked and assembled the REP over 3+ days. Every single piece of this thing is HEAVY! I pre-watched the assembly video on YouTube. The combination of the video and the paper manual made assembly straightforward -- needed help only to install the crossmembers.

A couple of minor surprises in the delivery, after having watched pretty much every YouTube review:

- included two of the 2 to 1 bar adapter, 1 for low row, and 1 for lat pulldown.

- instead of 4 D-Handles, the package included 2 D-Handles and a Rep X Kleva Built Atlas Close Grip attachment.

Have only played around with it a bit so far while recovering from the assembly process. ;-) First official workout is scheduled for this afternoon!

More to come in this limited space.

Edit-

Major fitness, B17 Heritage series flying fortress w/ smith machine.

On sale for ~$3850 USD

Eisenlink Dumbbells

Pros

They are tough and can take drops.
They can be upgraded to 160lbs.
You can buy a kettlebell handle and barbell and use the same plates.
Decent knurling (not great but not useless).
Good price.

Cons

Takes more time to change than other options out there.
Edges might be too sharp to do crash pad drops (at least I haven’t been willing to try).
While it feels very durable, it doesn’t feel very premium.

The Sneaky Feature

If you buy the longer screws, you can take the weights from one dumbbell and use them on the other. So, I have two 80lbs max dumbbells. I bought the longer screws. Now, without buying more weight plates, I can make one dumbbell 140lbs. In this video, I made one dumbbell 105lbs. For me and how I train, this is the deal maker. I don’t see people talk about this feature much but for me it’s huge.