Customer Reviews

Weider Club 290 Power Tower

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My journey to purchasing the Weider Power Club 290 started with a simple search for a pull up bar. After reading numerous reviews of pull up bars, it seemed there were a lot of variables that made a simple pull up bar difficult to select. They were either not sturdy, or didn't fit certain doorways, or would damage the door's trim paint, etc.

In that research I learned about the Weider Power Club 290 and several other VKR-type equipment that had pull-up bars. The Weider is more expensive than others, but reviews constantly gave it accolades for being sturdy and easy to assemble. Having limited space, minimum foot print was also important. Compared to lower priced brands, this model takes up the least amount of floor space. I also liked the fact that in addition to pull-ups and chin-ups, I could add vertical knee raises and dips to my routine. Pull-ups, chin-ups, VKR, and dips are all some of the best compound movements that can be done to gain strength, so it was easy to convince myself to spend the extra money.

After receiving this equipment last week, I agree with the reviews I'd read. It is easy to assemble with excellent instructions so long as you spend a few seconds studying each picture (in addition to reading the instructions). It is sturdy (minimal flex...I'm 175 lbs), looks nice, and gives a great workout. Those unsure about whether you can do a pull-up or chin-up may want to look into the Weider Power Club 390, which offers an assist feature to reduce the weight you have to pull up.

My tips for assembly would be (as mentioned above) to study each picture for a few seconds paying attention to when washers are used, etc. I mistakenly assumed washers were used on a couple of steps when they weren't. I didn't discover this until a later step when I ran out of washers but still needed 4. I was able to assemble this unit entirely by myself, though the step of adding the arm rests was a bit awkward - a second set of hands would have been helpful. The only tools used were a ratchet wrench set, phillips screwdriver, and rubber mallet. Adjustable wrenches would work in place of the ratchet wrenches, but you need to use two.

In summary, I am very happy with this purchase. The equipment looks nice, takes up minimal floor space (for VKR equipment), is sturdy, and provides a great workout compliment to my existing equipment.

Update July 2010: I've been using this equipment for 7 months now, and I am still happy with it. One drawback that another reviewer mentioned (and I agree with) is the lack of a real close-grip pull-up. You can do shoulder-width, wide-grip, and the 'inside' narrow grip, which is still a pretty good variety. Still a 5-star in my opinion though, as I'd much prefer the added ability to do full body weight dips and VKR's (not to mention the extra confidence in the stability) as compared to a cheap doorway pull-up bar.

I was in the market for a stable, substantial Power Tower to be used primarily for pull-ups and VKR's. This product fits that description with a few notable flaws. For an easy assembly process, be sure to have a socket set handy (even though it's not listed as needed) and a few extra washers.

Pros-
Easy to assemble- took 1 person about 1 hour with a good socket set
Stable & Substantial- easily supports larger users
Small footprint relative to other Power Towers

Cons-
Arrived with numerous scratches
Foam hand grips for VKR station impossible to install (they are still off)
Many of the washers were stuck together and could not be separated without breaking them

Overall, I am happy with the purchase.

Unfortunately there is a slight angle to this tower so my knees kept hitting on the way up. Facing the opposite direction helped but it felt less comfortable. The angle is the main reason I am giving this a low score. It's hard to see the angle from the picture however once I did my first pullup I was pretty disappointed.

Also I really like doing close-grip pullups, which I wasn't able to do using this tower. I thought the inside pullup grip would suffice, however its spread too far to get the effect I was looking for.

It did seem to be relatively solid, it just wasn't as functional as I thought it would be.

I took it down and got one of those over the doorway pullup bars instead.

I have wanted a VKR/dip station for a long time, so I was excited to have received this as a gift. As cited in other reviews, the box arrived in fairly poor condition, and several pieces were scratched. But, hey, it's exercise equipment - it doesn't need to be pretty :) As the father of 4, I didn't find time to assemble it right away, so it went down to the basement. This past weekend, with a couple of hours to myself, I went with socket wrench in hand to put this together...and found several problems:
* First, a piece that connects the two base beams that sit on the floor had a bent flange where the drill hole sits. I carefully torqued the bolt that connects that piece to the base beam, and it flattened out - sigh of relief.
* Second, while trying to assemble the pull up bars, I discovered that the two pieces that sit on the left side don't have drill holes that line up. I can't fix that :(
* Third, now that base is assembled, I notice that it doesn't sit flat - it rocks between the back right and the front left corners by about 3/4 of an inch. Lovely.

So, I called Weider - an experience that will not make my 'surprise and delight' top 10 list. Apparently, I was supposed to 'register' my product within 30 days (yeah, didn't see that)...and having failed to do so means that I would have to pay $25 to have new parts sent out to me. Immediately upon voicing my disappointment with that feedback from the customer service rep at Weider, I came to Amazon to write this review. I'll post some video to illustrate the issues listed above.

So, I lack the ability to provide an opinion about how this product performs because I have yet to finish assembly. However, I wanted to post my experience so far. Hope that someone finds this review useful.

After doing all the research for a space saving pull-up/dip tower, this one clearly seemed to be the best looking product. But then I read the reviews-- half the people liked and half absolutely had horror stories. This delayed me buying it for several months as I looked at the other options. But they all looked cheap so I decided to roll the dice and get this one.

And I was very happily surprised. Yes there was a big scratch on one of the pieces and yes the package of nuts and bolts inside had popped open during shipping and were all over the place...but in the end I was missing just one washer. I don't doubt that others had genuinely nightmarish experiences, so maybe it is all about luck of the draw.

Assembly was easy and I only needed help from someone else for about ten seconds as I held a heavy piece up and needed my wife to thread a large bolt through it. Took me about 2 hours. Every step of the way I was waiting for the disaster to hit-- missing piece, piece that didn't fit, drill holes not alligned, etc.-- but it never happened.

It looks great, feels solid. Very happy with it.

I just bought this piece of "equipment" about a year and half ago, and just last week the pull up bar broke while I was exercising. I fell all the way down to the ground because when the bar broke (although it didn't came off completely), it vended suddenly enough to make me lose my grip. My knees are a little sore, but luckily no serious injuries. So... being an understanding and reasonable person, and knowing that "things" happens, I decided to find out how much it would COST ME to replace the bar. After digging for a while in the Weider website for the part, I found out that it would cost me $324.59 (yes, that's the list price) to replace it. I decided to contact them via email, to see if this was a mistake. A couple of days later, I get an email telling me the following:

"I was given the ok to offer a discount on the cost(that is the replacement cost of that part). I can get it ordered for you for $[...] plus S&H, which brings the total cost to [...]. If you want to proceed with this order let me know and I will email you the info on how to send in the payment."

I completely understand that they are in the business of making money, but I think that they should have better business practices. Paying $[...] for a part, when a new machine will cost me $[...](shipped), I don't think is a good deal or "discount".

I would like to point out that before the pull up bar broke, the machine worked fine and the dip bars are still working fine, although I am a little weary when I use them. I am just writing this review as a cautionary tale so people can make their own minds. The machine breaking could be an unique situation and all other machines in the market may last for years, but please be aware that if the machine does break, you will not get the right support from the manufacturer.

The W. club 290 is very well built and was easy to assemble, if I was able to own only one piece of exercise equipment this would be it

Overall it not a bad product, but the packaging was terrible. There was no internal support in the box. It basically looked like they had put the pieces in plastic bags and thrown them in a box. Paint was scratched and metal was bent. Fortunately I was able to bend it back enough to get the thing together. The worst part of assembly was, as others noted, getting the handgrips on the dip bar. They really need to rethink their design on that one. It seems sturdy, looks decent, aside from the scratched paint. It is tall, beware if you have low ceilings.

My first impression wasn't brilliant. The box it came in was nowhere near sturdy enough for what was in it. Some parts had scratches on them. One of the steel pieces had an end piece missing. The steel they've used for the construction is cheap, and it wasn't easy to put together because things didn't quite line up properly. Once it was assembled, though, it seemed to support my weight well and felt quite solid.. It's not bad for the money, but I'd consider spending a little more for something better.

I wish I could give a positive review for this bench since it is, by design, much more stable than others though manufacturing quality and customer service is poor.

I was given this bench for Christmas and found the pull-up bars were uneven after assembly, by several inches. The arms bolt into the central frame and the bolt holes weren't drilled correctly. So, aside from the dip station, the bench basically can't be used.

Weider customer service was polite and offered to replace the offending parts, however, they haven't been able to actually send the parts or even tell me when I can expect them. It's been nearly 2 months and the issue remains unresolved, needless to say I'm disappointed with Weider and this product.