“My lil gymnastics princess plays all day and is gaining muscle that only this can provide. It is sturdy and a 170pound adult used it with no problem . Best for the money.”
“This was a Christmas present for our 6-year-old daughter, and I’m so glad we gave in and ordered this for her. These are sturdy and durable. Even my 10 and 11 year olds flip and swing on these. They are adjustable, so she will be able to use these for quite a while. You can also creat multiple set-ups because of the adjustable bars. Overall, this was a great purchase. We are very pleased. Shipping was insanely fast, especially for a large item during the Christmas season.”
“Sorry, this is a little long'¦ I have a 6yo boy & 4yo girl that are both getting into gymnastics. My son is advancing quickly, and we are looking to fuel the fire. This seemed to tick most of our boxes and left us in our budget so we could pad the entire room. So, we decided to take the plunge.
When It arrived, lugging it around eased my worries. It seems sturdy enough and appears well built. There were no glaring defects or cosmetic blemishes. It feels like people took care when building it and I didn't find any sharp edges.
When you set it up you start to see differences between this item and the ones they use at gymnastic centers. Let me list them here:
Frame Base:
It relies on tension to stay in position, unlike other systems that have pre-drilled holes. Where this gets tricky is getting the parallel bars aligned at a specific width. It took a few attempts because we kept accidentally sliding the bar as we tightened and, in the end, had almost an inch difference. (By the way, the bars do slide nice and easy.) This is not a big deal, but it took a bit. It also means it won't be super simple to shift to uneven and back.
With regards to the tension system, we tightened one of the clamps completely (see photo, top clamp) and it was getting tight, but I'm not sure how tight it is. I may, next time I go to uneven, slip in a pad or some card board to give it something to bite down on.
Bar:
I'll have to dock them a little for the bar. Four things here:
1. They give you a 1' black wood screw to drill into the bar. When I first placed the screw into the metal hole on the mounting arm to see how it fit, I noticed it stuck up a bit more than I liked. Enough that I grabbed a counter syncing bit from work and gave it a little more taper. The other thing was that it was a black screw... I ended up at home depot where I bought a bag of stainless screws, just so it would match!
2. Please mind the gap. It's just enough of a gap that you go.. ugh. Why? It makes it so shifting weight on the bars allows the bar to shift just a bit. Also, you are relying on the tension from the screw to secure it to the bar. A bar that was a good fit would have paid dividends here! (See Photo)
3. The length of the bar may be just short enough that if a screw came out the bar could fall out. This will probably never happen, but it has crossed my mind.
4. I know this is entry level, but one of the bars is not very straight (see Photo) and the finish on both is '¦ well, I think my kids could have treated it better. It's blotchy with drips on the bottom and I sanded down a little.
All that said, it seems strong enough because It can hold my weight (190) I wouldn't dare do anything on it! If we keep using this thing every day, like we are doing now, I may look for a better bar to install myself.
Bar Mounting Arm:
Again, you are getting what you pay for. This system works. You screw a knob into one side of the bar. It holds it enough that It's not going to drop. But it wiggles a little.
The threading on one of my bars is a little hard to start. Once you get it going, it's ok. But it may not last forever. That bar may just always need to be the low bar.
Final Opinion:
Overall, I like this little system and my kids love it. At just under 300 dollars it's a bargain and luckily, I don't have enough experience with the fancy units. I think we will get a few good years out of this unit. It may sound like I'm being harsh here, but I think feedback is important for companies and for people buying.
How is this for an older kid? We had a 16yo girl take it for a spin and I was cringing in the corner as I watched the bar bend. She went around it a couple times and big dismount'¦ phew, nothing broke and there was no blood.
4 stars because I want the people at Titan Fitness to know that I appreciate that they spent the time to build a starting system we could afford to give to our kids. (By the way, I'd give the 6' pads a 4 star too)”
