Nautilus Smith Machine Review

Another of the cheap smith machines typically carried by Costco and comparable in price to the Marcy Smith Machine and Freemotion r31 Smith Machine.

Nautilus decided to outfit this machine with (2) adjustable pulleys to do chest exercises and various arm exercises with and although you won't find this option on many other smith machines (except the Hoist), the functional operation of the pulleys is more for show than for use.

The major weakness of the pulley system is that they are too close together to be of much use for chest exercises, although they are nice for doing curls and arm work...

Nautilus Smith Machine Key Features and Specs:

• Smith carriage bushings
• Built in pull up bar
• Adjustable bar catches and safety stoppers
• 6 Olympic plate storage pegs
• Includes lat bar, cable handles (2)
• Multifunction bench with leg extension

My criticism of the Nautilus Smith machine doesn't stop with the pulley system. I think there are (3) other major problems with this machine that make it a real strong NO recommendation from me.

The first problem is the smith carriage system that it uses bushings instead of linear bearings. If you want to be constantly greasing the poles, and have them bind up on you, by all means get a smith with bushings - but don't say I didn't warn you not to.

Second, since Nautilus decided to use the adjustable pulleys, they completely left out a lat tower option - what a stupid move that was on their part! I wouldn't even consider getting a smith machine without lat tower as it will limit the number of exercises you can do by at least 10.

And third, since there is no gun rack or front safety catch you'll be limited to doing all your exercises on the smith carriage. That's not something I'd be willing to give up for any amount of money...

see my recommended alternative to the Nautilus Smith Machine

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