Home Gym · 10 Min Read
7 Pieces of Home Gym Gear I Wasted Money On. Each Got Replaced by Something Under $50.
Seven things I bought for my garage gym would cost $1,872.40 at today's prices, and I would not buy one of them again. Each one got replaced by something that costs less than $50. Five of the seven replacements load the plates I already owned, and the other two hang from the bar on my rack.
The Receipt
Every home gym has a corner where the mistakes live. Mine has a power tower wearing two hoodies, a leg attachment I have not bolted on since spring, and a pair of dial dumbbells that stopped being heavy enough in about a year. I priced all seven at what their makers charge today, not what I paid, so you can check every line.
What I wasted, at today's prices
- REP leg extension and curl attachment$549.99
- Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells$479.00
- Titan steel clubs, 10, 15 and 25 lb$288.93
- Stamina Power Tower 1698$206.49
- Bowflex SelectTech 840 kettlebell$149.00
- REP Multi-Grip Pull-Up Bar$139.99
- Iron Neck Alpha head strap$59.00
- Total$1,872.40
- What replaced all seven$313.00
One thing before the list, because it decides whether any of this applies to you. It assumes you already own weight plates. I did, and the plates were the one purchase I never regretted. If you own none, add the cost of plates to every replacement below and the math changes.
Weight vests are missing on purpose, because they have a regret list of their own. So do adjustable dumbbells, if you want every dumbbell mistake in one place.
Five Rules for a Replacement
A cheaper thing is not automatically a better thing, so every replacement had to pass five rules. I checked prices, stock and owner ratings on each seller's own site on September 27, 2026, and I counted complaints on the makers' own review pages rather than on Amazon.
- Under $50 today, for a version that is actually in stock.
- It does the job I bought the original for. Not a similar job. That job.
- It lives on a shelf or a hook. No floor space, no drill and no charger.
- It runs on what I already had, meaning my plates or the bar on my rack.
- Owners like it, at least 4.4 out of 5 on the seller's own page.
All seven replacements come from one company, Kensui. That is less loyalty than arithmetic. Rule four rewards gear built to load the plates you already own, and that is most of what Kensui sells. Where the thing I regret still wins something, its entry says so.
The Seven, Most Expensive First
Leg machine
REP Leg Extension & Leg Curl Bench Attachment
I bought it to turn my adjustable bench into a leg machine. It does exactly that, and it takes over the bench to do it. REP rates it for 250 lb of plates, lists three of its own benches it fits, and estimates one to two hours to put together.
The trouble is the leg curl. Of the 91 reviews on REP's own listing, 18 are three stars or fewer, and nine different owners in that group say the curl is awkward or painful to get into. One called it a very expensive towel holder. That matched mine, and it stopped coming off the wall.
Replaced by
EZ-BOOT Pro $29
A platform that straps to your shoe, with a short post underneath built for thin plates. Sit on the end of a bench and straighten your leg for extensions, or lie face down for hamstring curls. It also does tib raises and hanging knee raises. One boot is $29 and a pair is $57.
Check the load before you order. The top of its page says 100 lb, and its own FAQ further down says it can hold more than 45 lb, so plan on the lower number. It sits at 4.44 out of 5 across 321 reviews, a pool it shares with the bigger EZ-BOOT MAX. That MAX won our tibialis trainer ranking, and it is sold out as I write this.
What the $549.99 attachment still wins. Load and feel, outright. It takes 250 lb of plates, and even its unhappy owners mostly like its leg extension. If you extend heavy, the boot is not a like for like swap.
Adjustable dumbbells
Bowflex SelectTech 552
The dial is the reason everyone buys these, me included. Turn it, lift, done. The problem is the ceiling. At 52.5 lb a hand, I ran out of dumbbell on rows and goblet squats long before I ran out of reasons to row.
The dial is also the part that fails. In June 2025 the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of about 3,844,200 of the 552 and 1090 sets, because the plates can come off the handle during use. When I read every one-star review of adjustable dumbbells, an owner on Bowflex's own store wrote in September 2025 that the dial would not spin.
Replaced by
AdaptaBELL PRO $49 a pair
Two short handles with a threaded post. Slide on the plates you own, spin the collar down, and that is your dumbbell at whatever your plates add up to. It takes 1 inch standard plates and 2 inch Olympic plates, and the pair is rated to 140 lb, which is 70 lb in each hand.
Owners rate it 4.51 out of 5 across 626 reviews.
What the $479 set still wins. Speed. A dial beats a threaded collar every single time you change the weight.
Steel clubs
Titan Steel Clubs, 10, 15 and 25 lb
Clubs are the most fun thing I own and the worst thing I kept buying. A fixed club weighs what it weighs, so every step up is another club leaning in the corner. At Titan's prices today my 10, 15 and 25 lb clubs come to $288.93. Titan makes no 20 or 30, so the next step after 25 is the 35 at $149.99.
Replaced by
EZ-CLUB V2 PRO $49
A wood club with a sleeve at the far end that takes 2 inch plates, plus a collar to hold them. Whatever plates you own become the head, so each step is as small as your smallest plate. Both Kensui builds landed in the top tier of our steel club ranking.
Owners rate the EZ-CLUB 4.50 out of 5 across 417 reviews, a pool shared with Kensui's mace.
What the fixed clubs still win. Shape. A slim steel club swings tighter than a stack of plates on a sleeve, and a wide plate can clip a forearm on a tight mill.
Power tower
Stamina Power Tower 1698
A power tower promises pull-ups, dips and knee raises in one frame. Stamina's own spec sheet is where mine went wrong. The weight limit is 250 lb, and that includes you. A 200 lb lifter has 50 lb left for a dip belt, which is not much of a future.
It also takes a 40 by 35 inch patch of floor and stands 80.25 inches tall. Garage Gym Reviews points out that most power towers are not built to be bolted down, which is why they tend to wobble a little in use. Mine did, and it ended up holding laundry.
Replaced by
DUO-Rings $49 a pair
Two birch rings on 16 foot numbered straps, hung from the pull-up bar on my rack. Pull-ups, dips, rows and knee raises all happen there now. Each ring is 28 mm on one half and 32 mm on the other, so you turn it around to change the grip.
Owners rate them 4.56 out of 5 across 162 reviews, and they won our gymnastic ring ranking. They do need something solid to hang from. T3's Matt Kollat put his own rings on a regret list because a doorway pull-up bar will not hold them properly, and he is right.
What the tower still wins. It stands on its own. No rack, no beam, and a back pad for knee raises.
Adjustable kettlebell
Bowflex SelectTech 840
Bowflex says it replaces six kettlebells, and for a few months it did. Then my swings passed 40 lb, which is as heavy as it goes. On our adjustable kettlebell ranking it finished 15th of 17.
I am not the only one who stopped reaching for it. T3's Matt Kollat reviewed the 840 and later wrote that after buying a pair of 16 kg cast iron bells, he hardly used it.
Replaced by
EZ-BELL PRO $49
A kettlebell handle with a round body that clamps a stack of plates where the bell would be. It takes 2 inch Olympic plates only, with 8 cm of loading space per side, and the PRO is rated to 100 lb. It finished first on that same ranking.
Owners rate it 4.59 out of 5 across 92 reviews.
What the 840 still wins. The dial, again, with six settings in seconds. Kollat is also right that a single cast iron bell feels best in the hand.
Pull-up bar
REP Multi-Grip Pull-Up Bar
I swapped the straight bar on my rack for this one to get palms-facing grips, because straight bar pull-ups were wearing on my elbows. It is a well made bar. Of its 200 reviews on REP's page, 160 are five stars and none are below three.
The regret is that I used one grip out of the lot, and paid $139.99 plus an afternoon of bolts for it. Two of its seven three-star owners said the same thing in their own words: a plain straight bar would have done.
Replaced by
Swissies V2 $39 a pair
Two hooked handles that hang over a straight pull-up bar and put your palms face to face. The straight bar went back on the rack, and the handles go on and off in seconds.
Owners rate them 4.88 out of 5 across 183 reviews, the highest score of the seven.
What the multi-grip bar still wins. Every angle at once, bolted in, with nothing to hook on.
Neck strap
Iron Neck Alpha
A neoprene head strap with a nylon tether that, in Iron Neck's own words, is there to support small weight plates. It does one job well. You nod your head up against a plate hanging below you. Owners on Iron Neck's site rate it 4.3 out of 5 from 368 ratings.
My problem was everything else. Curls to the front and bends to the side meant a plate balanced on a folded towel. On our neck trainer ranking the Alpha scored 20 of 41 points.
Replaced by
EZ-NECK PRO $49
A curved, padded plate holder with two handles and a threaded post. Lie on a bench and hold it to your forehead for curls, to the back of your head for extensions, or to the side. It takes standard and Olympic plates, and the PRO is rated to 100 lb.
Owners rate it 4.90 out of 5 across 126 reviews. Here is the honest part. On that neck ranking it finished 13th of 22, one point above the Alpha, because it does not train rotation and it needs both hands. If you train neck three times a week, the $199 EZ-HELM won the whole board.
What the Alpha still wins. Your hands stay free, and it packs smaller.
If You Replace One, Make It the Dumbbells
Line the seven up and every replacement works the same way. It moves the weight off the product and onto the plates, or the bar, that I had already paid for.
Of the seven, the dumbbells are what I pick up every session, so that is where $49 goes furthest.
★★★★★ 4.51 out of 5 across 626 reviews · AdaptaBELL PRO, $49 a pair, in stock
- Takes 1 inch and 2 inch plates, so it uses whatever is in your garage.
- Rated to 140 lb across the pair, 70 lb in each hand.
- No dial, no tray and no selector to jam.
"I currently use one set for heavier weight and another for lighter weight to reduce changing plates between sets."
Cal Y., five stars, verified buyer
"Not as quick to change as I hoped. Grip feels good, thicker than twist lock dumbbells so getting used to it."
Brian N., four stars, verified buyer
Questions Before You Order
- What if I do not own any plates?
- Then $313 is not your real bill. The rings and the Swissies need no plates at all. The other five do, so price plates in before you compare anything.
- Standard or Olympic plates?
- The AdaptaBELL takes both. The EZ-BELL and the EZ-CLUB take 2 inch Olympic plates. The EZ-BOOT Pro and the EZ-NECK take standard or Olympic, according to their product pages.
- How heavy do the boot and the neck trainer go?
- The EZ-NECK PRO handles 100 lb, and the $129 MAX handles 200. The EZ-BOOT Pro's page says 100 lb at the top and more than 45 lb in its own FAQ, so plan on 45. The bigger EZ-BOOT MAX is built for 200 lb, once it is back in stock.
- Where do the rings go without a rack?
- A beam, a sturdy tree branch or a ceiling mount. Not a doorway bar.
- What if I hate one?
- Kensui runs a 100-day money-back trial on its own store, which is longer than it took me to know about any of the seven above. Buying for someone else instead? There is a gift list for that.
Prices, specs, stock and review counts were read on each seller's own site on September 27, 2026: REP leg attachment, Bowflex 552, Titan steel clubs, Stamina Power Tower 1698, Bowflex 840, REP multi-grip bar, Iron Neck Alpha and kensui.com. The recall is CPSC notice 25-311, June 5, 2025. The T3 piece is by Matt Kollat, December 27, 2022.
Start With the One You Use Most
For me that was the dumbbells. $49 a pair, rated to 140 lb, and they take whatever plates you already own.
Get the AdaptaBELL100-day money-back trial · in stock, ships in 24 hours