Mikolo Power Cage, 2000LB Squat Rack, Dual Pulley Cable Crossover System, Multi-function Free Weight Home Gym Workout Machine with Attachments

I have waited 6 months to write this review, to make sure I could honestly recommend this power cage, and in hopes that it will help others determine if this cage is the right fit for you. I spent a few months agonizing over budget versus need, as we first started with a yard sale light weight cage, that we quickly outgrew. My top consideration was how durable the construction would be, as my son and I lift 5 days a week. Second, I was concerned with the build quality, fit and function. Lastly I was concerned with the cables and quality of included handles. After 6 months of routine usage, I can absolutely recommend this as a good home gym.In the box is the cage, attachments, hardware, and instructions. I put this together with my 14 year old son with no issues. The instructions aren't great, but if you've used a weight cage before the construction is relatively intuitive. I purchased the red/black color option and did have a few scuffs in the paint on the top back cross member. As this faces the wall, and it lives in my gym basement, I didn't find the need to have customer service replace, so I left it as is. I also had one clip for the top cross member arrive bent (see photo), but that was relatively easy to straighten and finish the build. Everything else was great, no dents, chips, or defects. Putting the cage together, everything fit better than expected. I did put all screws in loosely to make sure the alignment was right, then went though and tightened it all down.A few things to note - attachments are good to get you started, however it does not include a v-bar, and the 18" straight bar doesn't rotate for things like standing curls. The safety arms, j hooks, and dip bars all fit into the cage uprights snugly, so no concerns with shifting. The pulleys are much better than expected. The action is smoother than many machines, providing you weight the bar evenly on both sides. I can get away with a small difference, say if you need a 2.5 lb addition on one side, but it will stick with 10 lb difference. The pulleys are independent, which means I can set one up for high pulls and move the other one to the bottom of the upright for low lifts. There is a foot pad on one side, meaning I can turn my bench to face the cage, put the pulley even with the bench and do rows as well. The cage is large enough that a spotter can still get in and spot for squats, but compact enough that it worked well in my basement.As far as operational, due to my limited space to the side, I find that the landmine attachment digs into my rubber mat. Not an issue for me, but if you can't take your landmine further to the side, it may scrape into the floor. The weight holders in the back are ok, however I do not keep more than 60 lbs on each side, with 2 tubes, this is 240 lbs spread between 4 weight pegs. The reason for this is accessibility, since its backed up close to a wall, I find it's easier to have a free standing weight plate holder. I also have not found the need to bolt this into the ground, however we aren't squatting more than 250 lbs, and typically nothing heavier than 180 on either pulley. My son can also jump up to grab the pull up bar, and the cage doesn't budge. I can also either loop bands over the top for pull downs, or around the bottom pegs for resistance. After 6 months of use, I have seen enough stretch in the pulleys to take up the tension by one hole, but I feel that was more design tolerance than stretch. As always, your mileage may vary, especially if you've stacking on heavier weights.Bottom line, for two people lifting at the same time, I like the efficiency this compact cage brings. Yes, if my son is squatting and I'm using the pulley, we will have to take down the olympic bar since the pulley would rub against the j-hook, but that's the only limitation. Otherwise, he and I can set up the pulleys at different heights for different exercises, we have the spotter arms so one of us doesn't always have to drop everything to go spot, and the flexibility allows for me to do 90% of the workouts that I can achieve across multiple machines at the gym. If you were hesitating due to build quality or functionality, I have not had any issues there. I think this is a fantastic versatile cage that helps save space but also allows you to incorporate pulleys and various other lifting outside of your standard cage functionality.

A lot of bang for your buck. Had this rack for two weeks now and love it. The independent stacks make it super easy to superset cable movements. The stacks move smoothly (as long as you load the stack evenly) and the height adjustment is easy. The bench is sturdy enough for any lifts I’ll ever do and is easy to move around. The attachment selection is fantastic, but definitely on the budget side. The rack itself does not give the budget friendly feel at all. It’s stable without taking up too much space. Easy to assemble. It took me a couple hours from cutting the boxes open to clean up. I did 95% of it on my own. The customer support is impressive. I had a question about the delivery and got a quick and very detailed answer.Now, the not so perfect parts are picky issues. None of them are all that bad. No way to really do lat pulldowns. You do need to load the stacks evenly or they drag. Each stack has horns on either side. You need to have the same weight on each side of the single stack for it to move smoothly. Access to the plate rack is a bit cumbersome because it is on the center support. Placement further away from the wall helps, but that defeats the purpose of the small footprint. The plates are a bit hard to hold with one hand due to a lack of handle. They have a bit of a lip, but not much. A hanger for the bar would be nice too.

Before I proceed I have to say that they have a great customer service. I'm sure they're not here in the US but they get back to people in a timely manner.Something that must be clear and kept in mind is that this is for home use therefore you can't expect to have the stability of the regular gym equipment.Mine is sitting on a 1/2" rubber mat and it is pretty stable. Another factor is that I'm only 154lbs so it doesn't shake too much due to my weight.Assembly is pretty simple. With the help of the instructions and a video from YouTube, was an easy task.Quality - I'll give it a 9 from 1 to 10. The reason why is the paint starts to chip off too soon from the safety bars. Nothing wrong with that because it doesn't affect the performance of them. Another reason why is a 9, is because the thread of the nuts that are built into the frame where you can store the weight plates, was stripped and couldn't tighten up the screws. I must say that I contacted the manufacturer and they corrected the issue. Actually, I was very surprised and happy with the way they handled it. I won't get into details.Performance - I'll give it a 9. Again, considering this a home power rack, is somewhat narrower than the regular gym equipment, making it feel weird when doing chest exercises like the one where you set the handles all the way to the top. Pull ups are uncomfortable too due to the short length of the bar and the steep angle at the ends. I feel my hands start to slide down due to the steep angle. It's not the end of the world, at least for me, but if you have a wider frame then it's going to feel way worse. The same thing happens with the lat pull down bar that comes with it, steep angles and kind of short.I decided to remove the feet attachment to do row exercises. This could be just because I don't have too much room in the bedroom where I set it up but I did notice that the range of motion is too short. The angle of the attachment pretty much limits you to do the exercises seated on the floor. Cannot do it sitting on the bench.The rollers are pretty smooth and even though they tend to tangle from time to time. It's just a matter of untangling them and they work fine. I've noticed this with the heavy plates, 45's though.Other than that, I'm happy with the purchase which I've had for the past three months. I love cable exercises because of the constant tension on the eccentric part of the movement. I also like it because I was able to do rack pulls again and perform a series of exercises that I couldn't do before the purchase. One thing to add, when doing rack pulls I use a couple of pcs of plywood to bring my knees to the correct height. This is because of the location of the first holes on the rack.As you can see, you have to play with it and be a little creative, but it is a nice rack. Would definitely recommend it despite the above mentioned. A gym membership these days is around 50 bucks, at least here in NYC so do the math. I hope this review is of any help for those thinking about getting it.Thanks !!!