BodySolid or Northern Lights

[Paldon]

Have you heard of either of these companies? I am looking for another bench, and was wondering which you thought would be better?

[C Man]

Northern Lights is more popular in Canada but it's definitely good stuff. Ironmaster makes a good bench as well.

[Ponin]

body solid is generally more expensive

but they are usually advertised as commercial quality

so you pay more for that

perhaps it will last long, or is more durable

[7digits]

i like Bodysolid. i have their freeweight leverage gym and their hack squat/leg press station and their h/d roman chair. i also like their coustomer service.

[Paldon]

i like Bodysolid. i have their freeweight leverage gym and their hack squat/leg press station and their h/d roman chair. i also like their coustomer service.

What do you think of their upholstery? What is the warranty on it? Was it 5 years or life?

I see you are in toronto as well. Do you go to the fitnesssource on yonge?
have you ever tried the equipment from fitness depot (northern lights?)

[srizvi1]

I'm curious about northern lights too. There's a seller here in the Washington DC Area selling a VKR machine. (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/d...211188355.html) And he only wants $50 for it which makes me wonder if it's one of the cheaper ones, but he says he paid over $299 for it which makes me wonder if its maybe actually one of the more expensive ones.

I'm pretty sure this one's sold anyways, but I want to know whether to consider this brand (if it's up there in "commercial quality" like parabody or keys fitness or body solid)

[C Man]

I've never seen cheaply made equipment from Northern Lights. I have that exact VKR unit. It's only 1 step below what you'd find in a commercial gym, and WAY better than the $129 units you'd see at a local sporting goods store. If I were you I'd e-mail that seller right now and offer him $75 for it instead of waiting to see if he sells it.

Edit: I just saw another post of yours where you said you weigh 150 lbs. Pretty much any VKR would suit you unless you're doing heavy weighted dips/chins, but that NL unit is very sturdy. I'm serious - you should e-mail the seller and offer him $75 for it.

[7digits]

What do you think of their upholstery? What is the warranty on it? Was it 5 years or life?

I see you are in toronto as well. Do you go to the fitnesssource on yonge?
have you ever tried the equipment from fitness depot (northern lights?)

the warranty is for life (even on upholstery) and i go to the Vaughan location. I think that the upholstery is pretty good.

[UberBerzerker]

i like Bodysolid. i have their freeweight leverage gym

I have this also - they are top notch in construction and details. upholstry is great too. I bought mine new from play-it-again-sports, and they guy said if I ever had an issue with padding or the like, to just bring it in and they'd replace it. (he might have meant they= store, not sure )

[Com-Shuk]

Bodysolid is today's winners of the 10 000$ lotto
Northen lights is Bill gates

[Paldon]

Bodysolid is today's winners of the 10 000$ lotto
Northen lights is Bill gates

that went over my head

you gotta run it by me again

[C Man]

Don't encourage him, he's a jackass. And if he continues to screw around in the Equipment forum I'll make sure all his posts are deleted.

[Com-Shuk]

Bodysolid is not worth much more than all the crap from taiwan that u can get at sears or alibaba.com

Northen lights is high quality, all in steel, ergotech paddings and a lifetime guarantee

[srizvi1]

I've never seen cheaply made equipment from Northern Lights. I have that exact VKR unit. It's only 1 step below what you'd find in a commercial gym, and WAY better than the $129 units you'd see at a local sporting goods store. If I were you I'd e-mail that seller right now and offer him $75 for it instead of waiting to see if he sells it.

Edit: I just saw another post of yours where you said you weigh 150 lbs. Pretty much any VKR would suit you unless you're doing heavy weighted dips/chins, but that NL unit is very sturdy. I'm serious - you should e-mail the seller and offer him $75 for it.

I wish I could do that, but it was over before it started. He had a buyer right away, even before I emailed him. (In case you're curious, here's his post http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/d...11188355.html).

There's another guy in Baltimore selling a Parabody VKR unit, but his starting price is $395. He said he's not going to go lower than $300, but thats still too rich for my blood (here's his post if you're cuirous: http://baltimore.craigslist.org/spo/210040499.html). I myself am looking to spend $200 and under because I can buy a new Keys Fitness one from my local sports store for $270 (their retail price is $400 - must be a high profit margin item).

There's a smith machine being sold in DC for $375 which I might consider because you can do chinups on that and much more. I might start a thread on that if I check it out and seriously consider it to get everyone's advice.

Anyways, to bring this post back ontopic, I just bought a Body Solid preacher curl bench 2 days ago (picture attached). I demoed it at the guy's house and it seemed great. I need the right bar(s) now, but for the time being, I'll just dumbbell it. But again, it seems great so no complaints so far on Body Solid. They have a lifetime warranty on their stuff too, and the guy gave me the paperwork, but it says on there that it's nontransferrable so I'm wondering what I can do ahead of time to prepare in case soemthing goes wrong. Maybe changing the address?

[Com-Shuk]

And how much did you pay for that curl bench

im 100% sure you paid wayy too much for this fake commercial quality product.
Theres a couple reasons why our store refuses to sell bodysolid.
That's one of them

[C Man]

Pay no attention to Com-Loser. He's a teenager who works at a fitness store and think he knows everything. When he moves to the USA he'll see just how easy (not) it is to find Northern Lights equipment here.

Would you take fitness advice from a loser like this?

[srizvi1]

It was $125. I offerred $100, but he turned it down saying he paid $250 for it. I tried it out and it fit me well. I'm happy with this choice. And the unit was barely used and well maintained. It looked like a brand new piece when I saw it,upholstery had no markings on it whatsoever

[Com-Shuk]

We sell that bench for $198(CANADIAN)
and its a lot tougher, plus the ergotech padding is way better

Bodysolid is the biggest ripoff
explain to that idiot that hes not gonna get more than 100$ for his equipment and that if he wants to resell his fitness equipment at a higher price he needs to read up and buy from good companies.

[smokeater]

I paid $318 for Northern Lights' INHVY bench and think it was worth every penny. It's about 100lbs and supports me and the weights I lift. I'm about 220 and the heaviest dumbbells I've used on it have been 135lbs for dumbbell presses.

[Paldon]

Pay no attention to Com-Loser. He's a teenager who works at a fitness store and think he knows everything. When he moves to the USA he'll see just how easy (not) it is to find Northern Lights equipment here.

Would you take fitness advice from a loser like this?

WoW! What an ecto-looking homo. What's this ergocrap padding bull****? Something for Com-Shuk to get ass pounded by his homo boyfriends?
oh dear! oh no!

[srizvi1]

I've never seen cheaply made equipment from Northern Lights. I have that exact VKR unit. It's only 1 step below what you'd find in a commercial gym, and WAY better than the $129 units you'd see at a local sporting goods store. If I were you I'd e-mail that seller right now and offer him $75 for it instead of waiting to see if he sells it.

Edit: I just saw another post of yours where you said you weigh 150 lbs. Pretty much any VKR would suit you unless you're doing heavy weighted dips/chins, but that NL unit is very sturdy. I'm serious - you should e-mail the seller and offer him $75 for it.

C Man, what about $150? Now there's someone else selling a northern lights VKR in my area and he's asking $150 for it. That's a little outside of what I was hoping to spend for a used unit, but, you speak pretty highly of this brand. Last we spoke about this, first guy selling was asking only $50 for it.

[C Man]

Well $50 was insane, that seller didn't know what he was doing and gave someone a fantastic deal by offering it for that price.

If you're talking about this unit...

http://nlfit.com/DipStations/legRaise.htm

...then for $150 it's still not a bad deal because that unit is MUCH better than what you'll find at a major sporting good store for $100-125. Offer him $125 and see if he bites.

[BusyDizzyIzzy]

No thanks to anything with the Northern Lights name on it. Sh!t is CHEAP. My last rack was made by Northern Lights, I had a safety rail FAIL on me doing heavy squats. I was lucky and got out unscathed with no injuries. They use real cheap steel tubing, and their welds are GARBAGE.

BodySolid isn't anything special either, look at companies like Body Craft and Powertec, 2 companies that are BIG steps above in quality.

[Com-Shuk]

No thanks to anything with the Northern Lights name on it. Sh!t is CHEAP. My last rack was made by Northern Lights, I had a safety rail FAIL on me doing heavy squats. I was lucky and got out unscathed with no injuries. They use real cheap steel tubing, and their welds are GARBAGE.

BodySolid isn't anything special either, look at companies like Body Craft and Powertec, 2 companies that are BIG steps above in quality.

What are you talking about, you probably broke it yourself or assembled it wrong.
northen light offers the biggest tubbing for residential products.
The powerrack is awesome and 100$ cheaper now
Ive dropped 400lbs quite a few times in the one i assembled myself and its still holding perfectly.

Btw the VKR is great, i use it to do dips with 2plates and more and it never shakes unlike the one at my gym
Its worth 150$ used..

The gray one is worth the extra 200$ though.

[C Man]

Gimme a break. One failure and you condemn the whole company? Nonsense.

I have a Powertec piece in my home gym. There's nothing about them that makes them any better than Body Solid or NL. There have been more posts here complaining about assembling Poweretc equipment and pieces not fitting together properly than about any other company.

[srizvi1]

What are you talking about, you probably broke it yourself or assembled it wrong.
northen light offers the biggest tubbing for residential products.
The powerrack is awesome and 100$ cheaper now
Ive dropped 400lbs quite a few times in the one i assembled myself and its still holding perfectly.

Btw the VKR is great, i use it to do dips with 2plates and more and it never shakes unlike the one at my gym
Its worth 150$ used..

The gray one is worth the extra 200$ though.

What's the gray one you're referring too Com Shuk? extra $200?

I think this guy's got the upper hand because there are no other vkr machines on craigslist right now. So $150 is def worth it? How does this compare to the higher end ones I've seen in high end fitness stores - keys fitness, (maybe)hoist, lamar, etc? how much would this probably cost new in a store?

[BusyDizzyIzzy]

What are you talking about, you probably broke it yourself or assembled it wrong.
northen light offers the biggest tubbing for residential products.
The powerrack is awesome and 100$ cheaper now
Ive dropped 400lbs quite a few times in the one i assembled myself and its still holding perfectly.

Btw the VKR is great, i use it to do dips with 2plates and more and it never shakes unlike the one at my gym
Its worth 150$ used..

The gray one is worth the extra 200$ though.

It isnt just one failure. I used to own about $5,000 worth of Northern Lights equipment. And always had small issues here and there with most pieces of equipment. Their welds are poor. The steel quality is subpar. Having 10 years exp. MIG/TIG welding I know what a good weld and a poor/sloppy weld looks like. There were a number of complaints on Northern Light equpiment about 5-6 years back. I won't ever go back to their crap again. Canadians should stick to making hockey sticks and leave the Steel products to the USA and other countries.

[BusyDizzyIzzy]

Gimme a break. One failure and you condemn the who company? Nonsense.

I have a Powertec piece in my home gym. There's nothing about them that makes them any better than Body Solid or NL. There have been more posts here complaining about assembling Poweretc equipment and pieces not fitting together properly than about any other company.

Do you know what grade steel Powertec uses or Northern Lights? I bet you don't. How about what grade bolts they use? Again Im sure you don't. I do though, I know where the costs are cut. Powertec uses a higher grade steel and better grade nuts bolts and washers than does Northern Lights.

[C Man]

No, I don't know the answers to any of those questions. I don't know how steel is graded either, all I know is gauge. What I do know is what I said before - there have been more posts here complaining about assembling Poweretc equipment and pieces not fitting together properly than about any other company.

[BusyDizzyIzzy]

No, I don't know the answers to any of those questions. I don't know how steel is graded either, all I know is gauge. What I do know is what I said before - there have been more posts here complaining about assembling Poweretc equipment and pieces not fitting together properly than about any other company.

Guage is only telling you the thickness of the steel. But it doesnt tell you about the tensil strength or mallability of the steel.

The Powertec equipment I bought does use a higher tensil strength steel. As for assembly, I only own their utility bench,hyper extension roman chair combo and their powerrack. All 3 items went together without any issue, directions were simple and straightforward. I honestly can't speak for their other equipment. But I can speak for the high quality steel and bolts they do use. Their powdercoating is surprisingly good too.

I may have some old digital pics of my old Northern Lights rack kicking around, If I find em, Ill post em up and show the areas I had major issues with.