Body Solid Dip Station Review.

[Brother Steel]

Here is my review of the Body Solid Dip Station model number GDIP-59.

I own quite a few pieces of Body Solid equipment and up to now I have not been disappointed with their products. I can comment that the folks at Body Solid have came through again with another fine addition to their great line of equipment with the Body Solid GDIP-59 Dip Station.

First off let me say I have been looking for a good dip stand/station for sometime. I wanted something which did not take up much room and would be sturdy enough to handle the full weight of a big guy plus additional weights.

I already have a pull up station as part of my power rack so I did not want a pull up rack/dip stand combination station. If you want one of these type units there are many different types on the market. Surprisingly there are very few types of pure dip stations on the market. After searching the Internet and seeing very few choices I went with the Body Solid dip station.

I ordered the dip stand direct from Fitness Factory Outlet. They had the best price by far. The shipping was included in the price. I am a good customer so they gave me a ten-dollar discount as well. Shipping was fast. I had my order in about a week. The unit came UPS. The box was in good shape upon arrival and everything was in very good shape with the unpacking.

Assembly was straightforward. There are only five main parts- two uprights, a crossover part and two feet. There are a total of eight bolts to install. You also have four end caps, four feet caps and four traction strips to install. If you are the least bit handy with tools it should be a breeze. If not get someone who is mechanically inclined to do it for you. The paper work that comes with the unit shows an exploited view of the stand and where everything goes. After that it is all up to you. There are no written directions telling you how to assemble the stand.

If I have to criticize anything about Body Solid equipment it is their instructions or should I say lack of instructions. The directions that comes with it is a joke. This has been true with all of the equipment I have assembled that came from Body Solid. While putting together a dip stand is simple, try putting together one of their multiple station home gyms and you will be pulling your hair out. Come on Body Solid if you are reading this you can do much better!

(On my Body Solid home gym that I purchased from Play it again Sports the guys told me almost no one puts that big machine together by themselves. It takes them four hours with two men who know what they are doing to get the job done. It took me eight hours by myself and I am very mechanically inclined. So if you have any doubts about paying someone for his or her skill to put together a piece of equipment for you then don’t for it will be money well spent.)

After the dip stand was put together it looks great. The fit and finish is top-notch. They also include a small bottle of touch up paint as well. While I do not like their new color, which is a light gray most people say it looks nice. (I liked the older white color they were using for their top of the line equipment. They are now using white for their PowerLine brand of exercise equipment.)

The dip stand is very sturdy and does not wobble when in use. Getting on and off is easy as well due to the crossover brace which also doubles as a step. The handles are large and long, which makes for a good grip and also allows room for changing hand positions. The handles are also angled outward from the uprights so the farther you slide your hands out the wider your hands are positioned from your body. This allows you to hit your muscles from different angles. It should be added that the Body Solid dip stand comes with a lifetime warranty. If anything goes wrong with it Body Solid will try to make things right.

The bottom line is if you are looking for a gym quality dip station then look no farther. This baby will stand up to years of hard use. Remember you get what you pay for.

Cost: $199.00 with free shipping in the U.S.
Dimensions: 38”L x 27”W x 53”H
Warranty: In Home Lifetime warranty.

Like I said this is not my first piece of Body Solid equipment. All problems I have had with my equipment, like broken parts, torn pads or touchup paint has been covered under warranty. I have found the Body Solid people very friendly and they try very hard to keep their customers happy.

It should be noted that I am in no way affiliated with the Body Solid Company or Fitness Factory Outlet. I am someone like you with a love of bodybuilding and hope this review will be of help to my friends in the bodybuilding community.

Lift to Live and Live to Lift.
Laterrrrrr…..
Brother Steel

[C Man]

The handles are also angled outward from the uprights so the farther you slide your hands out the wider your hands are positioned from your body.

Would appreciate you measuring the distance between the handles at their narrowest and widest.

[Brother Steel]

Would appreciate you measuring the distance between the handles at their narrowest and widest.

Hi C Man,

Thank you for your interest.

The measurements are as follows:
Starting at the narrowest useful point and going out to the end of the handle.
21 ¼ inches and 23 ¾ inches respectfully.

Hope this answers your question.

Laterrrr…….
Brother Steel

[Dinotrainer]

Good review 'Brother Steel'.

[mikeygotz1]

good review bro

[C Man]

If there's only a 2.5" difference in width from one end to the other then they're not really angled too much, are they? Reason I asked was I thought maybe the handles at the wide end were over 30", which would make them ideal for wide Gironda style dips.

http://www.ironguru.com/Home/tabid/6...-Pec-Dips.aspx

[Bluerain]

You know Vince never did squats or bench presses?

I think he has/had one of the best bodies out there.

Blue

If there's only a 2.5" difference in width from one end to the other then they're not really angled too much, are they? Reason I asked was I thought maybe the handles at the wide end were over 30", which would make them ideal for wide Gironda style dips.

http://www.ironguru.com/Home/tabid/6...-Pec-Dips.aspx

[Brother Steel]

I would like to thank all you guys for the kind words. I am glad you liked my review. I treasure that you took the time to read it. That makes all the effort worth it.

Thanks again,
Your comrade in the lifting of the steel and the pounding of the Iron.
Brother Steel

[xsessive]

If you just want a good solid dip machine for a whole lot less money, check out this one. www.ultimatebodypress.com

[vikingsrule92]

If you just want a good solid dip machine for a whole lot less money, check out this one. www.ultimatebodypress.com

that thing is wobbly and you sure as hell can't put extra weight on it, hell a belt would drag on the ground. You're much better off paying the extra $50 and buying a cheap VKR

[xsessive]

One of the guys who reviewed the product on the site wrote "Also, one thing I did not think about when purchasing, I love to do weighted dips, and with the grip heght of this unit it is much easier to walk up to the bars and bend your knees than trying to climb up a dip station with weights attached to you."
http://www.ultimatebodypress.com/dip...eviews-21.html

[mtl]

www.ultimatebodypress.com

You could probably get someone to build you a studier dip setup at a muffler shop.

[xsessive]

Probably not, this one is made of 16 gauge steel and has been tested up to 300 lbs. It has the same wall thickness as standard exhaust pipe with a 3 inch radius bends. How much can you bench?

[ronnisize]

1st of all, I know this is an old thread- but I just recently bought the Body Solid dip station.
And I did so after reading this thread, so I feel I may comment here and share my own personal review with explanation and pictures.

For quite a while I had been looking for a dip station.
I read some reviews on the Body Solid dip station, they were mostly positive.
Go figure.
So after many times looking at it online, I finally pulled the plug and bought it.

I had expectations that were slightly above average since the pictures looked alright, the reviews were okay and because of the advertising slogan
"American designed and very well made in China".
What can I say.

I was deeply, deeply disappointed when I unpacked the Body Solid dip station.

At first sight I could already tell just how bad the welding of the pieces were.
By my standards which are just normal average, they are so bad, if this was my product I would be ashamed.

If that's Body Solid's interpretation of, quote "American designed and very well made in China" this tells all you need to know about Body Solid.
In their defence I will assume, they don't really think it's good quality.
They're just saying it.
Anyway, judge for yourself, have a look at the pictures I attached at the bottom of this comment.
I took them of the new, unused, just unpacked device.

(note: the device has suspicious marks but I can't say whether they are due to handling from shipping, if it had been sold and returned before or if it came like that from the factory. So I will leave those marks out of the review and they don't matter in my evaluation of the built quality)

To me as someone who knows a little about welding, I can say with certainty that these pieces have been welded
by someone who had ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what he was doing.
NONE.
I've seen completely untrained people welding for the 1st time in their life do a much much better job.

But this dip station isn't part of a welding lesson- it's a complete product that Body Solid sells to their customers
who want to use it for a body weight work out.

If you want to make dips you must be able to rely on the device without any second thoughts.
It has to be stable and fatigue endurable.
It has to take the repeated workout of guys who weigh at least up to 180pds and possibly do weighted dips.
I'm a tiny guy. only about 135pds- yet I WILL NOT LAY MY HEALTH IN THE HANDS IN THIS PIECE OF ...

Now, if someone might ask, what do you expect for that price.
Simple answer.
I paid more than 200$.
That's not a huge amount, but not a small one either for a few pieces of welded metal from China.
When I pay that amount of money for a chinese built simple construction for the particular purpose-
I expect a device that doesn't scare me from using it because I don't want to have an severe accident while working out.

Again, look at the (non-) quality of the welding.
Look at how they didn't only weld badly but also didn't even weld the whole joints which makes the connection even weaker.
It's obvious without a doubt that this piece was put together by a total amateur with no education in welding at all.
Which is in my opinion very dangerous and absolutely irresponsible considering the purpose of the device.

Go figure how the "welder" knows that he welded well enough to make a stable connection.
Of course he doesn't know it- because he can't know it- because he's obviously never done it before!
And obviously there is no quality control either- in that case this piece would have never made it to retail.

Judge for yourself if that's what you want to spend your money on, if that's what you want to work out on and if that's a piece you want to trust your health with.
I know I don't.
But I do know, I will never, ever buy anything again from Body Solid.

[AttyGuy]

If you are dissatisfied with the product, return it. The guys at Body-Solid and Fitness Factory are very good about that stuff. I have the Body-Solid dip station and it's awesome. Looks to me like you were looking for things to complain about.

[grumpytude]

judging from your pics, the welds are definitely not the best in the world- I don't own this dip station but I have demo'ed it and its pretty nice for the price of the piece. I would return it if you are not happy and maybe look into a more "commercial" piece (Atlantis, Legend, Precor, Sorinex etc.) but you will definitely be paying alot more, the pieces will be much heavier and maybe take up more floor space.

[Tyciol]

Guys I went to BS' website to find pics of this thing to accentuate the review, so here are the promo ones one how they advertise it to look:


I wish BS' stuff weren't so expensive cause it looks quality and I want something like the above or maybe one of these versions with other features:


OP can you put your feet on something and do supine BW rows like that?

[AttyGuy]

The key to B-S products is: a) wait for a killer sale at www.fitnessfactory.com; or b). wait for a 40% coupon at Modell's. The basic dip station is awesome, IMO. The others are overkill, unless they are all you have (i.e., no pullup bar, etc.).

[SDSammy]

If you are dissatisfied with the product, return it. The guys at Body-Solid and Fitness Factory are very good about that stuff. I have the Body-Solid dip station and it's awesome. Looks to me like you were looking for things to complain about.

This!

As for the OP, I'm always suspicious of new members whose only post is to rave or complain about a product but I think you are being overly dramatic, thinking your 135lbs would break it, lol.

If you aren't happy with it then return it. I've had mine since June or July (the welds look great) and I've done weighted dips (200lbs +) without even so much as a slight wobble.

[KBKB]

As for the OP, I'm always suspicious of new members whose only post is to rave or complain about a product but I think you are being overly dramatic, thinking your 135lbs would break it, lol.

You mean the guy (ronnisize) that bumped this thread, not the OP (Brother Steel), don't you?