I just spent 6 months using the Rep Fitness PR-1100 Squat Rack. Is It the best entry level squat rack on the market today? Why did I sell the 1100 after 6 months? Read on to find out!
Did the rack fail me!? Did the welds fail and it drop 400 pounds of cold hard iron on my back!? Read on the find out how the Rep PR-1100 did!
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Quick Review Summary
Buy it if you are looking for one of the best entry level full squat racks.
Pros
- Good build quality
- Many accessories available
- 1000 pound capacity
- Solid safety bars
- Fast Shipping
- Multiple Color Options
- Multi Grip Pull Up Bar
- Affordable Price
Cons
- Shipping is Expensive
- Customer service can be hit or miss.=
- J cups are a little basic
- 3 inch hole spacing may not be ideal
Rating
We are giving this a rating of 4.5 out of 5.0.
Full Review
Now on to our full review.
Website/Buying Experience
- easy
- modern
- simple
Rep Fitness has a solid site located at repfitness.com.
It is easy to use, modern looking and you can fully quote out the price for your rack with shipping before you buy it. Good experience overall in buying the Rep PR-1100.
Customer Service
- A bit slow to respond
- Nice to work with overall
- Order was lost but they quickly got it re-shipped and sent out with a 10% discount.
So I did get to experience the Rep Fitness Customer Service and while it was a little annoying waiting a day for a response, they did get back with me and solved my issue of questions about the shipping speed.
So, if you do have to deal with their customer service expect it to take at least a day to hear back.
One other problem that happened is that my original order never shipped because of some kind of fraud protection! I contacted them and they quickly got it solved and included a 10% discount for my trouble. Annoying but at least they made up for it.
Shipping the PR-1100
- Quick
- Tracking provided
As you can see from the above the ordering process was quick and everything from placing the order to have it delivered occurred within a 10 day period. The PR-1100 rack ended up being shipped and delivered by UPS.
I received your order, shipping, and delivery notification emails. So, no problems there and all very helpful.
Packaging
- Decently packaged
- Not free of tears, etc.
As you can see from the pictures the rack showed up packaged decently though it was not free of rips and tears. Their packaging is no where near on par with Apple but at least everything showed up in a box.
And It was still nothing like the Titan Fitness rack that showed up at my house a few years ago barely in the box. To Titan's credit though everything was there in the end.
Tools for Assembly
- Provided wrenches are crap
- Get yourself an electric screw driver and/or a drill/driver to really level up your rack building skills
So I have become an expert over the years at putting together racks. I have some tools I use to speed up the process. They are not necessary but greatly speed things up.
At the bare minimum, you do not want to use the wrenches included by Rep Fitness. That would take you all day and possibly cause RSI in your wrists.
Definitely have or buy a ratchet and socket set
You are going to need a ratchet and socket set that looks something like this one from Amazon:
You can get them most anywhere. Like an asshole I forgot to notate exactly which socket works with the bolts but you can probably confirm with Rep Fitness if you need to.
For fun: buy an electric drill/driver along with a 3 piece socket adapter
This is the combination I use to really power through these rack builds. But then again I am kind of engineering nerd and like power tools. Maybe you will also.
This is the drill I use with the socket adapter on it. It makes short work of these racks. And below you will see the pic links to Amazon where you can buy them also.
Because everyone should have one, buy an electric screwdriver
These don't usually have the power needed to screw the nuts and bolts on a squat rack but this is honestly one of the handiest tools I have ever bought so I decided to mention it. If you don't have one, just get it. They are quite cheap these days.
Assembly
- More difficult for one person
- No problems with parts fitting together
So I ended up putting this together myself. So it's possible but maybe not recommended. Let me go through a few pics I have of me getting it together.
Starting to see if everything is there:
Getting the two right side posts up:
All posts and the top rear brace are now up:
And now the pull-up bar is up and rack is pretty much done. Now time to just go through and make sure everything is tightened up:
Key Features/Specs
Assembled Dimensions: 84″ tall x 48″ wide x 47.5″ deep
Weight Capacity: 1000 pounds (453.59 kg)
Material: 2″ x 2″ 14 Gauge Steel Tubing
Hole Spacing: 3 inch
- Multi Grip Pull Up Bar
- J-cups
- Safety Bars of decent quality
Wobble Factor
- It does wobble
- Wobble reduces as you add weight
- No holes for securing the rack to the floor
- No vertical weight horns on the rack to hold plates
- Can buy weight horns to further weight and reduce the wobble
So if there is no weight on the rack or a lower amount of weight on the rack then this rack will wobble when you rack the bar, etc. It is not concerning though and should be expected from an entry level rack like this.
Here is a video I threw together highlighting the wobble with only around 120 pounds on the bar :
It will wobble significantly less once you start putting some serious weight on it.
No holes to secure the rack to the floor
This is quite common in these entry level racks but just so you know there is no way to secure this rack to the floor without drilling your own holes.
No vertical weight horns on the rack to hold plates
Many racks like this, including the Titan T2 include these vertical weight horns that can be used to thrown on some 45s and help stabilize the rack. This rack does not have these.
Can buy weight horns
You can buy weight horns like the above from Rep Fitness or Amazon. However, keep in mind they will take up some of your available holes and can get in the way a bit.
Hole Spacing
- 3 inch spacing
So unfortunately the Hole Spacing is 3 inches. What does this mean exactly!?
As you can see in the picture below it means there is 3 inches of space between each of the holes on the rack. This determines how many different positions you can fine tune your safety bars into.
3 Inches is okay but obviously doesn't allow for as much adjustability as 2 inch or 1 inch spacing.
Weld and Steel Quality
- I saw no issue with welds
- No sign of rust
I am definitely not on expert on steel fabrication. That being said all the welds looked fine to and in looking inside the uprights I saw no signs of rust.
Accessories Available
- Lat Attachment/Low Row Add-on
- Weight Horns
- Landmine Attachment
- Dip Attachment Add-on
You can check out all the accessories available by looking at the Product Page on Rep Fitness.
That is one great thing about this squat rack is that there are a lot of accessories available to purchase.
Compared with Similar Options
- Better quality that the Titan Fitness T2
So, I would say the main competitor to this rack is the Titan fitness T2. And I would definitely say that this is a better quality rack than the T2. I had the T2 at my home in Dallas and it just felt flimsier than this one does.
Honestly though they are very comparable and I think either is a good entry level rack. Some people though are not fans of Titan Fitness because of issues with their quality.
What could be better
- Better j cups
- Sleeve options for the safeties
- Plate holders
- Holes to secure the rack
- Numbers on each hole in the uprights
Better j cups
So I would love to see better j cups for this rack. The ones that come with it are okay but not fantastic quality. They also moved around a lot. In the end I went with some j cups that I found on Amazon that lock into place.
Sleeve options for the safeties
I would love to see some steel sleeves available as an accessory that we can add on to the safety bars.
Plate holders
It would be great to see some plate holders available on the back of the rack, so that you can at least more easily weight the rack down with some 45s.
Why I sold it
The only reason why I sold this rack is because I am moving and I didn't want to have to go to the trouble of moving it.
I also really wanted to try something new and I'm going to go for something else like a half squat rack! Review will be coming soon on that also!
Resell Value
- high
The resale value of this rack is actually very high! I bought the rack about six months ago for a price of around $300 with shipping. I just sold it for a price of three hundred dollars! So, it basically cost me nothing to use that for six months!
The word seems to be getting out about this rack and the guy I sold it to knew all about it and had read all the reviews online
Selected Reddit Comments about the PR-1100
Here are some Reddit Comments we have found about users of the PR-1100 that we think are helpful:
Rep PR1100 Initial Thoughts from r/homegymCard Card Card Card
Rating
We are giving this a rating of 4.5 out of 5.0.
Wrap Up
I really think this rack is the best entry level squat rack and power cage that you can currently get on the market.