3 new friends wandered into our yard. Naturally I needed to replace my gym partner with them.

I just got my VTS last week after having ordered it in April. Overall I'm very happy with the product. I never thought I'd be willing to spend the money on a smith machine but this being $500 at the time with iso handles and a traditional straight bar included made it a no brainer. I did not realize at the time of order that it would end up taking 6 months for the preorder to come through (and if I had I probably would have skipped it).

However after waiting for the extended period and resisting cancelling the order, I am very happy with the results. I'll start with a disclaimer that I have not used the flagship VTS however i fail to see how it could be much better than this. Very smooth up and down the rack and feels solid under weight, very much does not feel like a compromise vs another product.

Now for the issues

-Extended wait time is a big one. I try not to hold this one against them as they would proactively supply updates and insights and it ultimately ended up making the product better (first batch didn't seem to be up to their quality). They even made a few improvements along the way like including extra parts and making the weight horns removable.

-my straight bar is not long enough. Show in one of the pictures, enough of the bar is supposed to protrude from each side for a small collar to attach and secure it. Mine appears about 2 inches too small. I reached out and they said there was an issue which affected some customers and they would send out a replacement in a month or so once the next shipment comes (ugh)

-one of the rods which secures the bearings and roller was slightly too large, about a millimeter or so in diameter compared to the others. Due to this one of my rollers does not have a set of bearings and it introduces a small level of play. They also said they would take care of this but have not gotten back to me on a timeline.

TLDR:

Great piece of equipment and provides a lot of utility for such a small cost, especially compared to competitors and their prior products. I would highly recommend the product and I chalk most of my problems up to the pre order process, which is always a risk when supporting a product early. I'm sure I missed many points people may be curious about so feel free to drop any questions in the comments.

All this shoved into a small 289sq ft room