Costco Marcy Smith Machine

[pharrelle]

Can anyone tell me anything about this smith machine made by Marcy and sold at Costco?? TIA

It says it is Marcy Diamond Elite Cage #146372

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...p=C&ec=&topnav=

[rtestes]

Originally Posted by pharrelle

Can anyone tell me anything about this smith machine made by Marcy and sold at Costco?? TIA

It says it is Marcy Diamond Elite Cage #146372

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...p=C&ec=&topnav=

Not Really, it does seem like a good bang for dollar. I would go to Sam's club and get this one with 300lb weight set. It is about the same for much less.

[phillydude]

Originally Posted by rtestes

Not Really, it does seem like a good bang for dollar. I would go to Sam's club and get this one with 300lb weight set. It is about the same for much less.

LOL... I just looked at the pictures side by side... it's exactly the same piece of equipment... and at less than half the price INCLUDING the weight set! Pays to shop around...

[pharrelle]

Originally Posted by rtestes

Not Really, it does seem like a good bang for dollar. I would go to Sam's club and get this one with 300lb weight set. It is about the same for much less.

Boy they really look almost identical. Even the logos on the padding of the bench and pec deck look the same. With the weights, a really good bargain.

Only negatives I can see are 1) I'm not a member of Sam's club 2) Sam's club uses "Ultra glide bushings" and Costco uses "Linear Bearings" on the smith slide.

Can one get a temp membership to Sam's club? I thought I saw one in the paper for Black Friday.

Thoughts anyone??

[KingSmono]

Originally Posted by pharrelle

Boy they really look almost identical. Even the logos on the padding of the bench and pec deck look the same. With the weights, a really good bargain.

Only negatives I can see are 1) I'm not a member of Sam's club 2) Sam's club uses "Ultra glide bushings" and Costco uses "Linear Bearings" on the smith slide.

Can one get a temp membership to Sam's club? I thought I saw one in the paper for Black Friday.

Thoughts anyone??

Well how much is a membership to Sam's club... like 30 bucks a year? Even if you had to buy a new membership, and only used it once, just to buy this piece of gym equipment, you're still saving hundreds of dollars.

[tsg2513]

Keep in mind that there is a significant difference between Linear Bearings and Linear Bushings.

[pharrelle]

I happen to be having lunch tomorrow near a Sams club and they have 14 of them in stock. I'll easily be able to check out brand, size, etc.

I looked and you can get a business membership for $35. It is a no brainer if it is the same machine. I put the pictures up side by side and they really are the same machine except for the color. As a matter of fact, it looks like the pics were taken in the same room just a slightly different angle as you see a window in one pic.

The weights on the machine are all the same and the lat bar/tricep bar etc are all laid out exactly the same. I'll let you know.

[hankhill]

If this is the similar to the SM4000 it should have 12ga steel
for the uprights. This is much better than the 1/16" material
found in some consumer-level gyms, but less than the 11ga used
by Hoist (985) or the 10ga used by the Titan.

[MannishBoy]

Originally Posted by pharrelle

I happen to be having lunch tomorrow near a Sams club and they have 14 of them in stock. I'll easily be able to check out brand, size, etc.

I looked and you can get a business membership for $35. It is a no brainer if it is the same machine. I put the pictures up side by side and they really are the same machine except for the color. As a matter of fact, it looks like the pics were taken in the same room just a slightly different angle as you see a window in one pic.

The weights on the machine are all the same and the lat bar/tricep bar etc are all laid out exactly the same. I'll let you know.

You can get one day Sam's passes. They just handed me 3 at the door a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, I threw them away, or I'd mail you one. You could call them and ask if you could get one?

Still, $35 for the savings here is obviously worth it.

[pharrelle]

Guys, I did stop by Sam's club at lunch. The machine is also made by Marcy. It looks pretty solid and they had it up on a display shelf and I got permission to climb up there and test the smith part of the machine. It worked pretty smoothly when equal pressure was applied throughout. The glides hadn't been oiled at all. The model number was MWB-4360.

Fo $399, not sure how you could beat it. The 300 lbs of weights and bar cost you $110 and the bench would be between $100-$150 if bought separately. I'm going to see how well it would fit into my workout room. If acceptable, I'm going to purchase. I can get rid of an old Weider bench and Weider Crossbow and have a single piece of equipment.

I did some additional investigating once I got back to the office.

http://www.impex-fitness.com/download.asp

Sam's club MWB-4360

http://www.impex-fitness.com/images/...0%20manual.pdf

Costco MD-9010

http://www.impex-fitness.com/images/...0%20manual.pdf

I then called Impex and asked them the differences and such. At first she said that they were the exact same machine made for 2 different stores with the only difference being color. I then mentioned that the one at Costco said it used linear bearings and the one at Sam's club used ultra-glide bushings. She admitted that was a difference.

In the PDF files for each, you can see that the slide is square on the one at Sam's club and round at Costco. Otherwise, exact same machine.

Now you have to ask yourself if the linear bushings on the Smith machine are worth $460 to you (adding the $110 for 300 pounds of olympic weights and bar). I would not even use the Smith machine as much as the cage and pulley system (lat, low pull, tricep, etc.). It seems worth $399 even without the Smith machine part.

I know that Dick's has a nice Ultimate Smith Machine II for $799, but then you have to pay $199 for the bench and $110 for the weights ($1,1080).

As a matter of fact, what stops a person from ordering extra parts for the MD-9010 (Costco) model for the slide portion and replacing the bushings with the linear bearings?? Surely it could be done for less than $460. I called and the replacement cost for the slide part on the Costco one is $10 each. That doesn't seem to make sense. Thoughts??

[hankhill]

Two thoughts:

(1)
I have the bench part of that setup, AB4050, and the manual
doesn't say anything about weight limits at all. The merchant's
(not Marcy's) website claims the bench has an 800lb limit, but I'm not
sure what that covers. Your manual says the limit on the leg developer
is 100bs, which seems ridiculously small. I had a cheapo Body-by-Jake
all-in-one machine with small 1.5" tubing and even it had a 150lb limit
on its (weaker looking) leg developer.

Does a 100lb limit seem right? I was easily using 125lb
on the Body-by-Jake so 100lb is pretty pathetic.

(2)
I noticed that they doubled up the lat pulldown with one of the
crossovers to save cost or real estate. In addition to being
esthetically unpleasing, seems like you'd have to sit off center
to use it. Kinda weird.

[pharrelle]

Originally Posted by hankhill

Two thoughts:

(1)
I have the bench part of that setup, AB4050, and the manual
doesn't say anything about weight limits at all. The merchant's
(not Marcy's) website claims the bench has an 800lb limit, but I'm not
sure what that covers. Your manual says the limit on the leg developer
is 100bs, which seems ridiculously small. I had a cheapo Body-by-Jake
all-in-one machine with small 1.5" tubing and even it had a 150lb limit
on its (weaker looking) leg developer.

Does a 100lb limit seem right? I was easily using 125lb
on the Body-by-Jake so 100lb is pretty pathetic.

(2)
I noticed that they doubled up the lat pulldown with one of the
crossovers to save cost or real estate. In addition to being
esthetically unpleasing, seems like you'd have to sit off center
to use it. Kinda weird.

I can't imagine the 100 lb limit being for real. This is a pretty solid piece of equipment. As for number 2, not quite sure about that.

Does anyone agree that it is plausible to substitute the linear bearing slide for the ultra glide bushing. As a matter of fact, Impex sounded ready to send it out to me for free if I said I didn't get them.

[kmfisher]

I'd like to add that the Costco price is the online price, not the in-store price. Where-as the Sam's Club price is for in-store purchase (or, at least pickup). So, Costco has shipping factored in, and for 445 lbs of equipment, that's a lot of shipping! You may want to check in-store Costco's to see if they have it and for what price.

[pcotten]

I saw this machine (half-assembled) at Sam's club today. It was sitting high up and I couldn't try anything. The frame looked & felt solid and sturdy. The bench felt kind of cheap when I looked at the cushions. Price is great. I thought for a few minutes of buying this and wait on Titan for a while. But somehow it felt not right. Something about it says "busy" with all that stuff in a tiny space. And their website doesn't have manual that shows the exercises to perform. Newbies like me don't like that. I already have a 300-lb set. Thinking of getting the Ironmaster dumbell set and using the barbell and dumbells to begin my workouts, while I wait on saving enough for a Titan.

[pharrelle]

Originally Posted by kmfisher

I'd like to add that the Costco price is the online price, not the in-store price. Where-as the Sam's Club price is for in-store purchase (or, at least pickup). So, Costco has shipping factored in, and for 445 lbs of equipment, that's a lot of shipping! You may want to check in-store Costco's to see if they have it and for what price.

Agreed, I don't think you can get it in a store at Costco (at least not mine). I did put a delivery option on at Sams Club and the shipping and handling came to $315.00. Add that to the $399 price and you have $714. The unit normally sells for $445 so that would take it to $760. You still get the extra 300 pound olympic weights and bar.

To me, it'll be worth it for them to load it into my vehicles and then a friend and I can walk it into my house.

[SeanB.]

This is unrelated but similar. I was shopping for an elliptical machine this past week and had decided on a Proform 20.0 (new model) for $799 at Sports Authority. I'm not normally a fan of Proform equipment, but this one was considerably nicer than any others I've found outside of the specialty stores.

While at Sam's Club yesterday, I saw an identical elliptical by Icon Healthrider (8.5EX). The only difference is the one at Sam's has a 7" tv instead of a built in audio crosstraining coach. to assist you in your workout. Personally I think both options are gimmicks anyway, but of the two, I'd rather have the tv. The mechanism looked to be exactly the same. The price listed on the Healthrider was $699.

I called up my brother and had him check on the computer and sure enough, both are manufactured by Icon fitness, same machine.

Unfortunately, it was out of stock at that store. They checked and said it was at a nearby location. I went and bought it - another nice surprise...it rang up at $619. What's funny is that at the manufacturer's websites, the Proform MSRP is $799 while the Healthrider is $999. My guess is that they are phasing out the Healthriders and Sam's got a good buy on them.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a good deal on a solid, smooth elliptical, it might be worth your time to make a trip to Sam's.

BTW, while I was there, I did see the Marcy smith machine and thought it looked like a great deal at the time myself.

[Prodigy]

Pharrelle,

Did you pickup the machine? Or you planning to pick it up?

Just curious to find out how good the machine is because I am also looking. Would love to know what exercises can be done on the machine, etc.

Thanks,

Prodigy

[rtestes]

Originally Posted by Prodigy

Pharrelle,

Did you pickup the machine? Or you planning to pick it up?

Just curious to find out how good the machine is because I am also looking. Would love to know what exercises can be done on the machine, etc.

Thanks,

Prodigy

I would be hard pressed to name an exercise you couldn't perform with it and the 300 lb Olympic set. The variety of exercises isn't a problem.

[pharrelle]

Originally Posted by Prodigy

Pharrelle,

Did you pickup the machine? Or you planning to pick it up?

Just curious to find out how good the machine is because I am also looking. Would love to know what exercises can be done on the machine, etc.

Thanks,

Prodigy

I'm picking it up tonight. Not sure if I will get a chance to put it together prior to my going out of town for a couple weeks starting on December 10th. One reason for the push is a good price and I get $100 fitness reimbursement from company each year. Plan is to get $100 to help with price for 2006 and maybe buying another 300 pound set for 2007 so don't have to move weights as often for various exercises.

Rtestes is correct in that you will be able to perform just about every movement between the free weights and the various high,low, crossover pulleys, etc. BTW, thanks once again for pointing out this buy!!!!!

[RagingHulk]

I'm about a hair's breath away from getting the Marcy unit myself (the one from Sam's -MWB4360 I believe).

I have two questions:

1) Is there anything that compares to it for the price? I like the Ultimate II at Dick's, but it cost 2.5 times more when weights and bench are included.

2) Is this Marcy really as great a bargain as it looks? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I don't want to buy a POS either. I went looking at the Sears and Dick's stuff and the equipment they had for $300-400 was really cheap looking and feeling. Has Marcy really got the quality/price balanced that good?

Thanks in advance for response.