Customer Reviews

Amber Sporting Goods Space Saver VKR Workout Tower

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First off: I received the shipment missing two pieces from the manufacturer. I emailed them requesting assistance. They immediately shipped the missing two pieces to me. I can't fault a company for an honest mistake, but I will commend them for so quickly and easily fixing it.

Secondly, the unit, itself.
A) Construction: I was able to put it together by myself in under 2 hours.
B) Exercises: The pullups are good. Good widegrip and normal pullup options. Very little movement when using. The dips wobble just a little, but the tower is certainly stable. Also, because the dips are on the same side as the pullup bar, there needs to be a slight bit of care to avoid the overhead pullup bar when raising on the dips. This does not hinder the exercise, just requires a little getting used to. Although I don't use them as much, the pushup bars and vertical knee raise bars work well.
C) Space: this is why I purchased this equipment. I had a limited space and this machine excels at that. Because the exercises are all on the same side, the machine fits smooothly up against a wall. I am more than willing to be a little more attentive when doing dips in order to have the equipment fit where I wanted it to.
D) Bottomline: I wanted a pullup and dips machine and I had a limited space to put it in and the Amber VKR Tower - Space Saver definitely met my needs, along with adding two additional exercise options, and all for a very reasonable price ($130 + $55 S&H). I am very satisfied with my purchase.

I bought this bench because I could put it against the wall and not pull it away to do my chin ups, etc. It went together easily, all parts were there. Once it was put together I realized that this particular chair is better suited for a man than a woman. The arms are just far enough apart to be uncomfortable for lady elbows. I'm not small...I am 5'8 1/2" tall...and am long limbed...but I don't like having my elbows so far away from my body when I'm doing knee ups. I don't want to torque my shoulders by overcompensating. So I am selling it for half of what I paid for it due to that fact...not because of workmanship or quality. I recommend this product for men, not women.

I am 6'4"; therefore, I have found the VKR Tower lacking in two areas. When performing wide grip pull-ups, the padded arm supports are rather confining, coming too close to my sides. The second annoyance is the diameter of the pull-up grips; they are far too small for my larger hands causing too much effort to be directed into my forearms rather than the area I am attempting to strengthen, my back. To circumvent this problem, I wrapped a sock around the grips and used athletic tape to wrap around the sock and grip. Despite all this, I would buy the product again. It was the right price, and I was able to modify the product to make it work.

This power tower does the job. I had to knock one of the pieces together with a hammer to jam it in, but besides that, installation was smooth. Took about an hour. And it performs very well. I especially like the how the leg raise handles fold out of the way, so you can do pull ups and tricep dips facing away from the machine.

Earlier this year P90X got me hooked on pullups. I had been using a door mounted pull up bar, but I'm 6 feet tall and this became a pain. I began looking for a pullup tower tall enough to fully extend on pullups. I also needed something stable and compact. Commercial units were both expensive and far too big for my space...so I pulled the trigger and bought the Amber VKR. I would definitely recommend this product. It is certainly not as stable as a commercial product but is more than adequate for home use. My unit arrived without the shipping issues noted in other reviews. Minor damage to the box but the unit was in perfect condition. Some of the nuts and bolts were loose in the box but all were accounted for. I it together myself easily in about 1 1/2 hours using a crescent wrench and socket set. The fit and finish were very good. The top of the pull up bar is about 84" high in the assembled unit making it much easier to fully extend on pullups. I would highly recommend this product. Here are a few pros and cons...

Pros
Very good fit and finish, product lives up to it's description. Easy assembly. Minimum footprint. Stable for home use (minimal wobble with pull ups and dips - I am about 175 and 6 feet).

Cons
Good price but Amazon dropped the price $30 only days after I purchased the unit for around $186 - Aggravating!! Listed in the 150s now.
Pull up bar a little narrow (as described) and the end caps on the pull up bar slip and rotate (easy to fix with a little cushion/tape if desired). I like the adjustable foam grips on the bar allowing different grips though.
As another reviewer noted care must be taken with dips to not hit your head. Requires minor adjustment, not a big problem.

I am an average person 5'9" and my head hits the pullup bar while doing dips. In fact when i straighten myself up, the pull up bar is at nose level. So this feature is useless if you are over 5'6".Also, the side arms tend to shift apart , no matter how much you tighten the bolts, it really is annoying to be in the middle of a dip and the arms start moving away a bit. Then the pull ups,your stomach or worse your groin may hit the vkr seat , happend to me a couple times, especially when you are trying hard to get a few final reps in.
All in all , its a horribly designed station made for people who need to use only the VKR, the pull up and dip bar are pretty much useless for me.
Tall people beware.

I am getting ready to "Bring It" with P90X and needed a pull-up bar. After tons of research, I decided I wanted something more stable and more durable than the "in door chin-up bars". I came across several VKR workout towers, but most were rated between 250-300lbs. I am 6'3" 300lbs, so when I stumbled upon the Amber VKR Workout Tower, I was a bit skeptical of its 350lb pull-up bar rating, but with all the positive reviews I decided to give it a try. I was able to assemble the tower in approximately 1 hour, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the tower materials for the money. Once I got the tower assembled, I was able to perform the "true" test. I was able to do pull-ups without worry. Sure there is a little give, but absolutely no stability problems. I performed knee raises and dips on the VKR portion of the tower (which is rated at 450lbs) with absolutely no trouble, or the "flimsy feeling" I would have had with a lesser workout tower. I am by no means saying this tower is commercial quality, but if you need a quality tower with a true 350lb rating for around $160.00.......you do not need to look any further!!!!!!!

I am a 6'3" 245lbs man and have been on the market for an appropriate power tower for some time. I decided on this product because reviews were very positive and the design looked solid, which has proven to be true. It is built of good material, with a wide and strong base for great stability during your work-outs (even fast dips which tend to be jerky) and the backwards leaning design lends well to heavier people (like myself) due to that fact that it takes into account the counter-balance needed when hanging from the chin-ups bars.

The only problem I have is when I do wide grip chin-ups, my head hits the bar... I easily compensate by resting my chin against my chest, and though not the best form, it provides the extra clearance I need to perform the exercise.

I am extremely happy with this purchase, and would definitely recommend it.

I bought this pull up tower about 3 months ago and am very satisfied with the product. Its very stable and well worth the price. When I first got it I could only do 3-4 pull ups, now after a couple months I do 3 sets of 10 every other day or so. I use the dip and knee up function every so often, it does the trick but does wobble a bit..if this is the excercise you intend to focus on you may want to consider a different product. If pull ups are your focus this is a great buy...whatever you do dont buy any of the doorway pull up bars...they dont work and you are likely to mess up your door head/jamb and trim.

Pros -

1. Great value for money. I paid [...], free shipping and no taxes. Great deal.
2. Thankfully Amber Sporting has clearly put load limits for this piece of equipment on the Amazon page itself. So i could see if it will hold my weight. The limits are 350lb for the pullup bar and 450lb for the VKR. I assume Dip bar will take around 350-400lb which is more than enough for me.
3. A really tall person will need to bend his knee while chinning, but a person of my height (5'10") should do just fine.
4. Pretty stable for me. I weight 206lb.

Cons -
1. I hope not every customer has such a lousy shipping experience as i did with this package. UPS lost my package the first time. Amazon was nice enough to replace it and overnight the new package via Fedex. However, the packing was so bad, i got a pile of metal held together by tape and pieces of cardboard. Really lousy packing. I even had some car exhaust components in the package!! Whats up with that??
2. The assembly instruction are poor but not too terrible. I put the thing together in 2 hours.
3. The arm rest pad was torn in 2 places, again a packing issue. Might bother some person, but not me.

I recommend this product and would have give 4 stars if not for the below 2 issues.. Excellent value and great for a home gym.

EDIT -
1. Some reviewers have complained that the stand sways. I suggest that they tighten all the bolts up and make sure there are no loose bolts. After i tightened the bolts, the stand seems quite a bit more stable. Still there is some bending of the vertical pillars and the pullup bar. Load limits mentioned seem to be absolute limit loads beyond which the structure might break.
2. What i do dips on this stand, my head hits the pull up bar!! this is a problem for sure.I have bend my neck and lean forward to clear the bar. take a look at the product picture and decide for yourself if you are ok with that.