Bowflex 5.1 Stowable Bench Black/Red

Like other bowflex products this is packaged very nicely. I don't know how long the product has been sitting in a warehouse but there's some fit and finish issues, mainly the inside of the adjustable frame shows a lot of oxidation (outside is painted but not the inside I reckon) which was highly visible around the frame in the form of bronze dust and in the bag it came with. I wiped down the frame before assembling the product with a rag and it turned a nice shade of brown. Not the end of the world but still. On the bright side, this is an easy bench to assemble with the exception of the end caps for the feet pads. Whereas I had to use online instructions for the 552/1080 stand, the bench is very straightforward. For the leg pad caps, a rubber mallet will help, but as I didn't have one I tapped them into the rod with a ball-peen hammer and harder bits of cardboard from the packaging so I wouldn't break the plastic caps. I simply couldn't press them in by hand and I had a second person helping me push from the other side, putting our full bodyweight into it. The end caps are not a great design, and the rod is slightly too long so there's some play with the leg pads. What would really make this bench better is more adjustments. Namely an 80 degree, 10 degree, and a -10 degree adjustment for upright presses and flyaways, respectively. Sometimes I just need a slight incline or decline. The adjustments are made by simply unlocking an adjustment peg and moving the frame into holes on one side of the frame. You may want to go down a model like to the 4.1s and do what I've seen other folks do — use a wood block to add extra adjustment positions for a less invasive hack. This bench does store upright and doesn't take up a whole lot of space and is light enough to move around. However, I'm not a fan of the wheels. I wish they were bigger and not quite as underneath the frame so you could roll it easier. Lastly, as others have mentioned, there is a considerable gap between the butt rest and the back rest. If you sit farther back on the butt rest when you decline, I do get a little creak out of the seat, so I end up scooching forward a bit. What I do like: padding and quality of the seat is very nice. Overall quality and stability is nice. I'm going to have this for a while and get a lot of use out of it even though I wish it offered a little more. I purchased this bench because the legs were wider than what I was seeing from the Asian brands and I didn't want a super heavy bench in my second floor spare room. From what I can tell, this is a good buy compared to similar brands because of how wide and stable the legs are. Depending on your height, this can be good or bad since the wide legs near the seat of the bench might be in the way of your feet. Look for a more traditional bench for non-Bowflex heavy barbell stuff, if you need more adjustability, need a narrow leg at the seat of the bench, or if you intend on working out in a garage or basement where you can have sturdier equipment.