This review is for the Diamand Elite Smith Machine MD-9010G.
I received delivery in December 2024.
Here’s the brief:
I give it 4 stars out of 5, and I’m close to giving it 5. Marcy did a great job, I’m very satisfied. The one I received is well made. It is not commercial grade equipment and Marcy does not advertise it as such. Assembly is a challenge but worth it. The sliding weight post for the pully system could be better even for home use grade, but it’s good enough and easily upgradable if you’re so inclined. The smith machine bearing mechanism is very good for the price.
Here’s more detail in case you’re interested:
I am so close to giving this rack 5 stars. The sliding weight post for the pully system is not as smooth as it should be and easily could be with the correct material insert. This is the insert that serves as the interface for sliding up and down the chrome plated guide post. There are silicon like pads normally used for this purpose that have much less friction than the plastic installed on this rack. I’ll fix mine very soon. Also, this rack really should have a pull-up bar included. I’ll be adding that too. Those 2 things are all that’s keeping me from giving it 5 stars, not a big deal really and Marcy could easily fix. I understand though it comes down to making business decisions on pricing and the market.
Assembly is way more than I expected but it’s worth it. I’m really impressed how well Marcy organized it with all the piece parts. No parts were missing and I found only 1 minor error in the instructions that at this point I don’t even remember what it was. Don’t unpack and separate the bolts, nuts and other stuff from the shrink-wrapped cardboard. I almost did that before I noticed the cards are marked to reference numbers in the assembly instructions. The instructions are mostly all exploded view assembly steps, very few words. Reference both manuals provided when assembling. You need to have some minor level of experience in such assembly. If you don’t you can probably still do it, it will take even longer, and then you will have the experience. For those that don’t have much experience, when you’re assembling metal components like this leave the nut and bolt connections loose until all are in place, then go back and tighten everything. Loose is about an 1/8†gap relative to snug and you may need to go back and open the gap up more on specific bolts if you find some parts are not aligning. It took me over a day to assemble. Assembly could be made easier if it were shipped in more preassembled pieces but that would make shipping more expensive and larger pieces for you to handle to get to where you are setting it up. Like everything it’s a tradeoff. Though assembly is a pain, I think Marcy did the right tradeoffs.
As with any new rack you may get, it will take a little time using it to get it setup to for your preferences. For example, I needed a longer chain extension (not included) on the 2 pulley cables for doing chest fly movement. I finally found the right length for me that also works well for hooking the lat bar in the center to both pulleys. I had doubts the lat bar centered between both pulleys would work well, but it does when you get it right.
The leg extension/curl could have been designed to be easily removable. That piece of equipment is not something you want to have to deal with when you’re using the bench for other purposes. I’m going to fix mine to make it removable. I think most people would not do that themselves and may find it annoying when using the bench for other movements, and then end up leaving it off and not using it much. There are several ways to make it easily removable. The easiest being to just make a through pin insert design with a flat head and safety clip on the other end, both of low enough profile to avoid too much contact with the inside of the knees when in use. This will require a different bushing insert setup with ID sized to fit the pin insert.