Valor Athletics Inc. CB - 12 Lat Pull Down / PLG / Low Row

I bought this lat pull down machine as part of a home gym I''m building. Lat pull down machines can be very expensive: one of the most expensive devices one can purchase. They can easily run into the thousands of dollars for a "commercial grade" machine. I bought this one because of the low price and features it has. I didn''t want the kind that can be added to a power rack as an attachment because that would just clutter up my power rack and the cost (without a weight stack) was as much as buying a separate lat pull down machine. Thus I bought this Valor unit. It came in 2 boxes. Unpacking it and assembling it took about 2 hours. All the parts were there, and the packages of nuts and bolts are clearly labeled. One piece that has metal ears on it to hold a pulley had the ears bent. It was probably crushed during shipping. This worried me because I thought it might affect the rotation of the pulley. Using a piece of wood and a small sledge hammer I was able to straighten the metal ears. One person can assemble this machine. It comes with 2 cheap metal stamped wrenches, but I recommend you use a ratched, sockets, and wrenches. You''ll need a 17mm socket and wrench, and a 9/16" socket. There are many nuts and bolts. I highly recommend using a cordless impact wrench to speed up assembly. Start your nuts and bolts by hand to avoid stripping the threads, and then zip them on with your impact wrench. This speeds up assembly. There are two different diameter cables that are used for the pulley system. This can be a little confusing, however the diagram is fairly clear and very accurate in displaying the assembly. You can''t install all the pulleys and then feed the cables last. You need to feed the cables and install the pulleys as you go along.

My impressions are as follows:

Pluses: For the low price you get a lat pull down machine without a weight stack that can perform several exercises: lat pull downs, tricept pushdowns, arm curls, front shoulder raise, and abdominal crunches. The seat can be set low enough that I (5''10") can get a full stretch doing front lat pull downs. This machine is also good for doing seated rows plenty of range of motion. You can do seated crunches, but the range of motion is limited. The smoothness of operation is acceptable. The machine feels solid but is fairly light. One should consider fastening it to the floor for maximum stablity. When assembling the pulleys, don''t overtighten the fasteners or the pulleys will start to drag.

Negatives: The product arrived damaged. The metal ears for one of the pulleys were bent. I considered sending the unit back, but decided to straighten the ears myself it worked. The seat of this unit is too short front to back and too close to the front column. This makes doing behind the neck lat pulldowns impossible. You''ll either hit your head on the pad attached to the column in front of you, or bang the bar against the back of your head. There just isn''t enough room. It''s like this machine was designed for a child or a midget. The seat needs to be longer front to back. When I first tried doing tricept pushdowns I ran out of travel with the cable; it would bang against the upper pulley while pushing down on the bar. Thus I couldn''t achieve full extension. After some thought I discovered that if I add about 10" of chain between the lat bar and cable, the bar hangs lower in front of you and you have more travel to do tricept extensions and achieve full extension. Problem solved.

Conclusion: If I had been able to try this unit out in a store I''m not sure I would have bought it. Ergonomically it is cramped front to back, and the unit could use more pulley travel so one wouldn''t have to monkey around with different chain lengths to achieve full range of motion for different exercises. The machine needs to be about 4" taller, and have a seat about 6" longer to make it more comfortable to use for larger people. It''s probably designed to be compact so it will fit in cramped bedrooms and small basements with low ceilings. The seat height is low, but acceptable. After assembling this unit you will feel like an "iron worker". There are a lot of parts and nuts and bolts. Buy a cordless impact wrench to speed up assembly. After putting this piece together I decided to keep it. It would take hours to disassemble and repackage it in order to send it back. This is not a "commercial quality" machine, but should work fine for a home owner. It should be durable if not abused. If you learn how to make this machine work for you, by using different lengths of chain for various exercises, you can use it effectively. I''m going to buy a seperate tricept pushdown bar, and add a specific length of chain to it, to use exlusively for tricept pushdowns. For front lat pulldowns I''ll simply use the cable and lat pull down bar. Thus less monkeying around between different exercises. I will also make a new a seat for it that is longer. So... this is probably the least expensive lat pull down machine with these features that one can buy, but it does have it''s limitations and shortcomings. If you are willing to do a little modification to it to make it fit you and do what you want it to do -you can save thousands of dollars. That makes it worth it in my opinion to own this machine.

Actually bought this lat machine from Overstock. Machine arrived via UPS in two boxes. The heavier box was beaten up pretty badly but all contents were intact and undamaged. Putting it together took around two hours. Don''t bother using the tools included. It would take you forever!. You only need two sizes of rachets. Directions were terrible. Luckily I am somewhat mechanically inclined and figured it out. The owners manual is a joke and directions are basically two diagrams with one of the main body and the other with the cables. Make sure you feed the B cable from the kick plate back toward the back of the machine. Any other way will require you to backtrack. Quality of the machine is very good. Feel is good. Lubricated it with some WD 40 and it is very smooth. Tried to call Valor Athletics to give them my feedback and only got a voice recording. Left my name and number. They never called back. The next day I could never get through. Would get a continued message that my call could not get through. No where on there web site to give a review just a rating. Like Powertec this company makes a good product just not good at the customer service end. No literature on exercises like Powertec. No if these companies could be like Bowflex. My last Bowflex had the best directions for assembly I have ever had and there customer service is great. Like my Leverage gym from Powertec, I am hopeful I never need parts from Valor Athletics.

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I needed a lat pulldown machine that would also allow me to do various rowing exercises yet was compact enough to fit in my home gym. While I was not looking for pro gym quality, I did want something very well built as I work out six days a week religiously. With respect to this machine, I needed something that would stand up to regular use twice per week. While I have only had the machine for a week now I can tell that it is exactly what I was looking for. The design is very good and the machine is well made. In summary, I would point out the following pros and cons of this machine:

Pros:

-It has a very small footprint yet a good range of motion (cable length) relative to its size. This was important to me as my home gym is simply a spare bedroom in the house (10'' x 12'') and many of these machines are like TVs at Costco--they look small in the store, but when you get them home they are huge and dominate the room.

-The action is smooth for the type of machine (plate weights). Not as smooth as a stack machine in the gym, but very good for what it is.

-It is light enough for one person to move around, yet if you store enough weight on the include rack below (a very nice feature by the way), it will not move around while being used.

-The folding foot plate for doing rows is very well designed and a nice touch. Many of the other machines forget this feature and it makes it infinitely more difficult to do rowing exercises.

-The seat and back pad are thick and well made.

-Finish is good and the machine is very attractive. While it does not affect how the machine works, it is a plus that it looks so nice.

-The build quality is good and the frame is solid; I can''t see any part of the machine ever wearing out or breaking, with the exception of possibly one of the two cables (I guess it''s possible but I doubt it).

-It comes with both a lat pull down bar as well as a short bar for doing rows and other arm/back exercises.

-The Valor Fitness website contains not only a video showing all of the features of the machine, but also a detailed diagram complete with measurements so a potential buyer can make sure the machine will fit well in their intended space. Perhaps a small issue to some, but I thought it was a big deal since I did not want to order something on line and then not have it fit in the space I had.

-Finally, as noted above, it has a storage bar on the bottom back frame rail to place the weight plates on when not in use. This really helps as it not only stabilizes the machine, it makes weight changes very fast for this type of machine.

Cons:

-It might be a bit small for some users. I am 5''7" and the machine is perfect for me. However, I can see really huge guys having an issue with the size. I believe one of the previous reviewers commented on this fact, sating that he thought the machine was made for "midgets" or something like that. While I don''t agree with that, I am not 6''4" and 280 pounds either...

-If you want to do pull downs behind the back (I never do), this is not the machine for you. The previous reviewer is quite right on this issue--if you try to do this you will plant your face right into the back pad. This is the only single defect that I have found in the design of this machine. However, if it were large enough to do this, it would have probably been too large for my room. Again, I do all of my pull ups in the front so I would never have even noticed this issue had I not read the previous reviewers comments.

-My machine arrived with a defective pulley (it was missing an inner bearing part). However, on the up side I made a quick call to the company and they had the part to me within three days. The guy who answered the phone was not only very nice, he was also the owner of the company. I give them 5 stars for customer support. Not their fault really that some machine in China put a bearing together wrong and they got me a replacement part in days with no questions asked.

-The seat pad is somewhat small and close to the machine. I also agree with the previous reviewer that this part of the machine should be about six inches (or so) longer to accommodate larger users. Again, it is not a problem for me and I doubt it would be noticed by anyone 6'' tall or shorter, but for the really big guys this might be an issue.

Overall--great machine. I highly recommend especially considering the price, quality, customer support and quick delivery (four days for me).

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I purchased this product after weeks of searching for something that would allow me to continue the lat pull-down exercises that I was doing in physical therapy once I was discharged and continuing to recover on my own. In all my searching, this was the only Lat Pull down machine that was even close in price, and it has a pulley connection near the floor, and at about chest level.

I do agree with the other reviewers, the directions consist of a couple of diagrams, with no indication of where to start. My husband and I were able to put it together in about an hour though, so it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

In addition to lat pull downs, I am able to use this machine for standing cable rows, and a pivot exercise using the middle pulley (the one that is supposed to be for crunches) and leg abduction exercises using the bottom pulley.

The frame of this machine will probably last the rest of my lifetime.

The only problem that I have had so far is that the cable comes off the bottom pulley when doing the leg abductions. I also had to shorten the cable as it was twisting in the middle. Just use fewer links of the chain above the weights.

The harness for crunches looks nice, but it restricts your range of motion. If you really want to do crunches, hook up a couple of ankle straps and do crunches pulling on those.

Update on February 16, 2012

After one of the cables developed a small bulge, I contacted Valor Athletics using the contact form on their website, and in less then a week, they sent me a new set of cables, free of charge. I am very happy with not only the product, but the service from Valor as well.

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Like the other reviews have said, the assembly directions for this machine aren''t very good, but once you figure out which screw goes where, it''s pretty easy. Although the screws aren''t labeled in the package, they are numbered on the directions: Just turn to the second page and see the quantity of each screw and you have it figured out. It took me about 90 minutes to put this machine together with a socket wrench and an adjustable wrench. In terms of quality, I owned a lat machine made by Buckeye Barbell (long out of business) and have used other machines over the 40 years I''ve been lifting, and I have to say this machine is built extremely well. It''s a compact machine made for home use, so it is somewhat smaller than other lat machines, but I''m 6 feet tall and weigh 185 pounds and this works well for me. I can get a full stretch using both the lat machine and the low row with cable to spare. The lat bar is smaller than a standard 48" bar so some may not like this feature, but I don''t like a very wide grip. For those who have said about behind the neck pulldowns being cramped, two things: First, you will smash into the seat pad, and second, behind the neck pulldowns are great for ruining your shoulders and rotator cuffs and are one of the worst exercises you can do, so it''s not an issue for me. The seat is smaller than those found on other machines but again, I fit on it with no problems. I can see someone who is really big having some difficulty but for the average person this is fine. I can see someone as tall as 6'' 2" using this with no difficulties. Buy a good low row handle and triceps rope and you''re good to go. The metal is strong on this machine and it''s relatively light so if you need to move it, it''s fairly easy. Cables and pulleys are high quality. I would highly recommend this machine regardless of price.

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