The Powerline Smith Machine – Reviews are Mixed

The Powerline Smith machine combines the advantages of free weights with the safety and control of a machine. The full package includes a number of popular add-ons including a Lat tower, pec deck, and preacher curl station.

The System

This Powerline Smith machine includes stations to allow you to do all the core lifts including squats, all presses, shrugs, bent over rows, lat pull downs, crunches, preacher curls, pec flyes, leg extensions/curls, and more. The rack frame includes a chin-up bar and high quality pins to hold support bar and safety bars.

The features of the Powerline Smith machine home gym are:

• 2 liftoffs, 2 safety rods
• 41" Chin-up Bar
• 18 adjustment levels
• Powerline Flat/Incline/Decline Bench
• 150-lb Weight stack
• 1" diameter bar
• Pec Station
• Preacher Curl Station
• Leg Developer
• Lat Row Station
• Upright pillars are a full 24" apart
• Dimensions: 76"W x 45"L x 85"H

Note: Olympic weight plates and bench sold separately

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The Buzz

Powerline uses their patented Super-Glide carriage system that rides within the four 2"-by-2" 12-gauge steel pillars. There are nylon bushings used here, so that leaves much to be desired. For quality and smooth operation, you are better off with the Body Solid Series 7 Smith Gym that glides on Thompson ball bearings. That’s the big reason that Body Solid offers a lifetime warranty, while Powerline only backs this Smith gym machine with a 1-year parts warranty. While the steel support pillars are heavy duty, there are some design issues with this unit.

Reviews are mixed on this Smith gym. It’s fine if you don’t have high expectations, but for almost $1,300, you want a machine of better quality with less shake in the frame. The main problem with this Powerline design is that it is hard to re-insert the hooks into the holes since the left/right sides are independent and that’s an issue when you are trying to hang up a bar loaded with weights. Also, customers report that it is hard to place the bench in the frame because of the two cross bars on the bottom.

Our Take

It’s tempting at $1,223, isn’t it? It is a complete system including the base Smith gym and a ton of freebies — FID bench, pec, lat, leg, preacher stations, and a 150-lb stack – but the reality is, it is a lot of cheap equipment. The Powerline Smith Machine lack of quality is apparent when it is matched against the 7-degree angled Series 7 model offered by Powerline’s parent company, Body Solid. You want a unit that is built to last and can handle heavy sets. If you’re budget is limited, get a Powerline power rack ($389) and start saving for the Series 7.

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