Overview: A review of the Weider/Icon Health and Fitness Crossbow exercise machine.
I purchased the unit at Sears when they were having a sale for $499 ($100 off). This resulted in saving the shipping charges had I ordered it directly from the Crossbow's website. After waiting almost 4 weeks for it to arrive, I spent an afternoon assembling it. Having worked out with a friend on a Bowflex for 9 months I was familiar with this type of resistance training. Overall the Crossbow is an excellent and equal substitute for the overpriced Bowflex.
Pros:
Safe and effective workouts, no need for a spotter.
Fits in a very compact area, about 7x9'. Folds up for storage.
Heavy, sturdy construction.
You can easily add/remove weight without getting up from the bench! I never did like Bowflex's method of clipping weight together.
Accessories easily available, I even ordered Bowflex's squat attachment and foot harnesses and they work great on the Crossbow!
Even with all accessories I bought it was almost 1/3 the cost of the Bowflex.
With all the accessories I don't believe there is a single exercise that cannot be done on one machine and not the other.
Since the rods extend to both sides, the 240lbs is actually per side so it actually offers up to 480lbs of resistance! This also highly depends on the exercise, especially how much the rods are bent before starting your motion. For bench press I would use about the same on either machine. However, because of the shared tension line the Crossbow uses, when doing one-sided exercises (one arm curls) it does not compare pound-for-pound. You have to use up to 50% more on the Crossbow. However with the 200lb upgrade available, the Crossbow undoubtedly offers FAR more total possible resistance.
Cons:
Took too long to arrive, not sure if that should be attributed to the manufacturer or Sears. They also report a 3-6 week backorder on the powerod upgrade.
Assembly took about 4-5 hours by myself, a few of the instructions and parts list in the manual are vague or simply incorrect.
The leg attachment does not have a leg curl bar, so you have to stretch the leg extension bar in order to use it for curls.
No place to store the latbar when not in use, so I drilled a screw into the back of the vertical frame to hook the lat tower lines onto when not in use.
The quick clips they used are of somewhat poorer quality than that of the Bowflex. They painted them too, so I went through a break-in period where the clip rod would stick somewhat. I got a few finger pinches out of that.
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