The Sorinex Dark Horse Power Rack

[GarageIron]

I ordered a Sorinex Dark Horse earlier this week to replace my Rogue R3. The R3 was a good rack but wasn’t really what I was looking for. It performed as advertised but was missing some features (plate storage) that I wanted and had some features that I did not care for (Westside hole spacing). I set a max of $2500 of comparable racks. Long story short it came down to Rogue R6, Custom Rogue add on, 2 EliiteFTS 3x3 racks and the Dark Horse.

The Dark Horse is a 3x3 11g powder coated rack (in custom colours but standard black) with 2” hole spacing. The uprights are welded with a 30” working area within the rack. There is a 22” welded attachment that bolts on for plate storage in the rear with 10 adjustable storage pins. It’s 90” high. The safeties are pin pipe. The rack sells for $999, which includes shipping, and everything mentioned above.

I ordered the rack this past Sunday night. The order was processed Monday morning and I received an email from both their automated system and one of the Sorinex sales reps (Dan Ramsey). I asked to upgrade the J hooks to UMHW coated ones (I like that it makes for a shallower hook). They took care of it and charged me $40 for the upgrade (I was at $1039 at this point). I mentioned that I might want to shorten the plate storage attachment at some point to save space. The response was kind of surprising… He said if I had the measurements they would take care of it for me before it shipped. I declined because I hadn’t really thought it through. Hell of an offer though.

The rack arrived on Thursday morning, that was fast and on par with my R3 experience from Rogue. That said, I had the Rogue shipped to Canada and the Dark Horse was sent to a US address. Regardless, it was pretty damn fast.

I headed to the US to grab it and was a bit nervous… I knew the pallet was shipped and then received and handled a few times. I pictured a pallet jammed in a corner of a warehouse with twisted uprights and an El Camino frame stacked on top of it. I was blown away to see this (as it sat in my truck 7 minutes later)



I came over the border and was harassed a bit by Canadian border services. They wanted to make sure I wasn’t smuggling American cheese in the uprights and ensure I didn’t pay for health care while I was over there.

Now, before I go on, and to be fair…. I praised Rogue’s packaging in my R3 review. It was excellent. But what I saw when peeling back the shrink-wrap was stunning. I’ll let the pictures do the talking but the uprights were wrapped in moving blankets and every part was banded solidly to the pallet. I’m still taken back by this. They also drew a little horsey pic on my hardware box.





You are probably reading this and thinking… “Great review GI, but every review you have is positive and has these sensational aspects that lead me to believe you are an a$sshole of some sort”.

There were some problems with the rack and they are coming up.

First thing I see are the J-Hooks. Holy crap. These make the Rogue’s look like toys. They are built similar but beefy as hell. The UMHW coating is not only on the parts the bar contacts, but also on the inside where the hook contacts the racks. Amazing. Best part is that the use TWO bolts on the bottom to prevent twisting… I twisted the Rogue one to demonstrate in the pic.





I took the R3 down and drove it to its new home in a storage locker and then moved in the parts… and there were a lot. I think I put my last few racks together in like 20-30 minutes. Maybe less with the R3 which was very quick and easy.



The Dark Horse took some time. The uprights are designed to have the plate storage attachment (which is 2x2) offset to outside of the 3x3 uprights of the rack. I don’t know why they do this… but I think they sent me 2 left uprights. The only difference in these is where the plate storage attaches. I’d just drill in the middle if it were up to me, but whatever.. it’s not right. I tried flipping them around in various configurations in case I was wrong but there is no way to use the front pull up bar (look closely and you’ll figure out what I mean).

[GarageIron]

Once that was decided, I just moved on. It went together quick with the exception of the plate pins which take a lot of bolting together and adjusting due to my bumper plate setup (Don’t mind the plate storage setup, I’m trying something new that works for myself and my wife with iron and bumpers). At least it lets you do this. I hit a minor problem with the fat bar/rear upper cross member. The round tube is welded too close to the hole. This means the washer doesn’t fit. I can work with it no problem but again, a bit disappointing compared the level of quality I’d seen to this point. It worked out ok. I just bent the washer around the weld.



To answer the question you are probably asking at this point, no it does not need to be bolted. I say that just based on having it set up unbolted to the ground and trying everything you could imagine to fak with it. It won’t tip with the plate attachment (loaded or unloaded) It is a monster. Moving it is a two person job. It bolts up straight. I found with the R3 that it was very unstable when it wasn’t bolted and I’m guessing that is due to the single cross member that is at the top center of the rack. The Dark Horse is supported on the uprights with a big cross member/fat bar the rear and a regular pull up bar in the front.






I did bolt it. Just because I saw the R3 go from flimsy to bomb proof by doing so.

I used the heavy duty Tapcons this time vs the wedge style and will never go back. I had it bolted in 24 minutes with one mistake that required two anchors to be removed and a start over. It was so easy. There are some extra steps with this rack due to the plate attachment but I’ll ask you to PM me if you want to know. It’s long and boring for a review hat has gone on too long already.

Anyone who hesitates buying a "needs bolting" rack, PM me. Its just as easy as bolting it together once you know what you need.







I haven’t lifted with it yet, but expect that it will be tighter for hand spacing. Not sure if that will be a problem yet. I’ll update this as I go for the next few weeks.

Although the upright not right and the washer issue were easily worked around, I"m interested hear how Sorinex responds to the issues I had with my rack.

[f0rbidden]

Awesome review man! Can you measure the inside hand spacing? Maybe take a pic with the bar in the j-hooks as centered as possible to see where the upright starts when compared to the power ring in the knurl? I find the handspacing in the R3 is already almost too tight for me so it would blow if that was the dealbreaker on this rack...

[GarageIron]

Awesome review man! Can you measure the inside hand spacing? Maybe take a pic with the bar in the j-hooks as centered as possible to see where the upright starts when compared to the power ring in the knurl? I find the handspacing in the R3 is already almost too tight for me so it would blow if that was the dealbreaker on this rack...

I knew YOU of all would be after this spacing so I checked it a few times knowing yhe question was coming. It's 42" across. So you lose 1" vs the Rogue. (I assume you expected 2" like I did). Here is my TPB basically centred.

[f0rbidden]

Awesome thanks man, that doesn't look too bad! The sandwich style are awesome for the extra spacing. I supposed it wouldn't be too bad to get Dean at BW to fab a pair of his J-Cups with the actual cup offset as far to the outside as possible, could be pretty sweet actually. Leave the big ones in the rack for benching and throw the other pair on the outside for squatting.

I think I'm gonna grab one of these racks in the new year, doesn't look like it can be beat for the money.

[GarageIron]

Awesome thanks man, that doesn't look too bad! The sandwich style are awesome for the extra spacing. I supposed it wouldn't be too bad to get Dean at BW to fab a pair of his J-Cups with the actual cup offset as far to the outside as possible, could be pretty sweet actually. Leave the big ones in the rack for benching and throw the other pair on the outside for squatting.

I think I'm gonna grab one of these racks in the new year, doesn't look like it can be beat for the money.

Edge is working on an outside grip Mono Lift attachment perfect for this... you can grab the sleeves if you want. It's a very cool design that can be attached to any rack... I don't wanna give out any secrets but it will solve your squat problem on any rack

[hulked]

Looks like monster...!!! Great review as always. I think with shipping included, this is probably the best deal.

[Keetman]

I think I'm gonna grab one of these racks in the new year, doesn't look like it can be beat for the money.

This is what I'm thinking. It looks like it competes with Rogue, Elite, Legend, and Texas Strength for a heavy rack with plate storage. I'm not sure if any of the other can get you this much rack for a grand. I'm not positive because its so hard to compare apples to apples with all of their hacked up websites....but this Sorinex rack seems to be an excellent value compared to the other players. Once you get over about $500 on the price of the rack....I just can't see why you'd mess around with anything else but a rack like this.

Nice job on the review GI. I didn't know this rack existed, but I like what I see.





Oh...on this:

Great review GI, but every review you have is positive and has these sensational aspects that lead me to believe you are an a$sshole of some sort

Fail. Your reviews had nothing to do with this.




Nice horsey too.

[KBKB]

Nice write-up on the review and nice photos too.

I'd rep you, but I'm on spread with you at the moment.

[GarageIron]

Nice write-up on the review and nice photos too.

I'd rep you, but I'm on spread with you at the moment.

I'll update the photos with better ones tomorrow in daylight. I have one bulb in the garage and am not sure what to upgrade to. Maybe I'll start a thread about that. Somebody must know lights.

[jackbravo]

not sure why some of the two line threads are painful to read, yet this one felt too short. looking forward to more pics. this may be my next rack. is the difference between this and the base camp the gauge (11 vs. 7)?

EDIT: it looks like main differences are gauge, band peg holes, and 4 sided numbered holes. the base camp scout is looking pretty good actually, though double the price with options.

[AttyGuy]

You are probably reading this and thinking… “Great review GI, but every review you have is positive and has these sensational aspects that lead me to believe you are an a$sshole of some sort”.

You say this like it is a bad thing. . . . LOL.

[Vmango]

I'll update the photos with better ones tomorrow in daylight. I have one bulb in the garage and am not sure what to upgrade to. Maybe I'll start a thread about that. Somebody must know lights.

Nice review and very nice rack. I'd put in some florescent lights in the garage....the office style ones. I'm going to do this to my (unfinished) basement to get some more light. Some track lighting would work nicely too but be more expensive.

[817boy]

Edge is working on an outside grip Mono Lift attachment perfect for this... you can grab the sleeves if you want. It's a very cool design that can be attached to any rack... I don't wanna give out any secrets but it will solve your squat problem on any rack

Great Review. Update this thread if you notice any problems once you start lifting in the rack.

Im very interested w/ that monolift attachment. I like to squat wide but i need a monolift to do this.

[f0rbidden]

Craig, when you decide to sell this rack for something else let me know

[GarageIron]

Some better pics. I'm going to check out some lighting today. I also do not work for "Swiffer".

[GarageIron]

Craig, when you decide to sell this rack for something else let me know

If I buy anything else in the near future I'll be sleeping in the garage with those moving blankets Sorinex sent me.

[f0rbidden]

If I buy anything else in the near future I'll be sleeping in the garage with those moving blankets Sorinex sent me.

Can always count on the good men at Sorinex to get you through a divorce!

[twirp]

Your dreams will be filled with the dulcet sounds of the saber safeties neighing as they are pulled from the rack. Your nightmares filled with OCD anxiety about the superfluous and off center holes (which were not there in the pony's picture in your R3 thread!). You will awaken cursing the metalworkers who had neither templates nor common sense.

Sleep well, dark horse rider.

[SDSammy]

Nice review!

Love the fact that you included lots of pics!

[dumb.bell]

. . . but I think they sent me 2 left uprights. The only difference in these is where the plate storage attaches. I’d just drill in the middle if it were up to me, but whatever.. it’s not right. I tried flipping them around in various configurations in case I was wrong but there is no way to use the front pull up bar (look closely and you’ll figure out what I mean).[/IMG]

Are you going to get them to send you the correct upright?

[Skidmarx]

Great lookin' rack. Sucks that you got 2 lefties.

Looks like you have plenty of bar storage on top of the weight storage rack.

[ProtienandIron]

Great review. What a beautiful rack that is.

[817boy]

Will the UHMW inserts on the Jhooks and safeties ever wear down?

[f0rbidden]

Looks like you have plenty of bar storage on top of the weight storage rack.

This is an extremely clever idea!

[jmon22]

I would assume that he will make them send the correct upright since he paid $1000 for it. I certainly wouldn't accept that. Other than that, great rack.

[GarageIron]

Not sure what to do about the upright. I'll see what Sorinex has to say. I just can't understand why they wouldn't just drill everything in the centre and not worry about left or right.

[trimble006]

Those weight storage pegs look really short...

Great looking rack though!! Definitely one I'll have to keep my eye on for the future.

[StephanBB]

This is what I'm thinking. It looks like it competes with Rogue, Elite, Legend, and Texas Strength for a heavy rack with plate storage. I'm not sure if any of the other can get you this much rack for a grand. I'm not positive because its so hard to compare apples to apples with all of their hacked up websites....but this Sorinex rack seems to be an excellent value compared to the other players. Once you get over about $500 on the price of the rack....I just can't see why you'd mess around with anything else but a rack like this.

Going to agree with others above. I may very well purchase this rack after this review? Any band peg options? After you put in a few workouts let us know what you think of the hole spacing.

Edit - Do they offer additional attachments for the dark horse?

[Accutron]

Very nice, great review and pics.