Speediance Gym Monster 2 - First Impressions: The Future of Smart Home Gyms?

Introduction

This, is Speediance Gym Monster 2, it’s one of the newest interactive all-in-one smart home gym offerings that allows you to get a workout in anytime, anywhere, on your own, following along with a class, HIIT, skiing, rowing, yoga, stretching, you name it, all from the comfort of your own home. This machine features the ability to instantaneously engage and disengage the 110LB weight stacks, adjust the specific weight increment from your fingertips via Bluetooth, seamlessly change between fixed and dynamic resistance profiles, and do all your favorite free weight, barbell, dumbbells, cable, and so many more movements. The best part is, as of today, you also get a free lifetime membership included with the purchase of the machine so that you pay $0 monthly for any and all of the included classes, meaning with no subscription’s fees ever, which right now really sets it apart from it’s competitors. Let’s check it out!

This Product

Hey guys this is Michael with the Jungle Gym Reviews. Today I am going to take you through my first impressions and initial feedback of the brand new Speediance Gym Monster 2. This is the first all-in-one smart home gym I personally have owned and am going to review, and because these machines are such a large and potential life-long investment, I really want to take the time to show you exactly what you can expect from the time it shows up to your door.

This will be the first video in a short series over the next 6 months where I will take you along the way as I integrate this machine into my training. Myself, my wife, my friends, and family will get to use it and provide their feedback, and I will really get a feel for how it works and how well it hold up long term, especially with all the nuanced functionality packed in as you can expect from such a heavy technology integrated machine.

One Thing to Note

So I typically am not super tapped into the smart home gym market and since I have always been more involved and aligned with like sports, running, free weights, machines, etc. However, as an automotive engineer and a technologically inclined millennial, I am well aware of the appeal and the practicality that these offer to people who are limited on space and have different knowledges levels or desires to really integrate health and fitness into their busy lives. That being said, I think I perfectly represent most of the average users or prospective demograph of audience who maybe doesn’t know that much beforehand about Speediance and their products, so I am pretty open minded to seeing how well or practical it all works in real world situations.

Unboxing

Ok so when you are purchasing a $3000-4000 product, depending on which version or package you buy, you should expect that the quality be up to that price tag standard. From the time I received this, I have been really impressed with the both the overall quality and aesthetics of everything from the packaging to the machine itself. The packaging was definitely some of the nicest I have ever seen for gym equipment, and thinking about retrospectively makes sense because it’s what you would expect from a new TV or something along those lines, because it literally has a big screen integrated alongside other presumably expensive electronics.

The unboxing itself everything was very straightforward you literally just opened the boxes, removed the foam liners where everything was nicely packaged and individually separated, and boom, it was time to move everything inside.

Moving and Setup

Move it inside and up the stairs was slightly difficult, and you definitely need two strong people to do this. The unit weight approximately ~170LBS all the weight is largely at the base of the machine where the motors are, so just have the strongest person carrying it there and be mindful of the weight distribution when going up or down a set of stairs, like I did moving it upstairs to my office, now auxiliary gym 4.0? Who knows, I’ve lost track.

Again, since this is made primarily for indoor use it has to and will fit through any doorways. The footprint while standing up is super minimal, as is the goal not only go be able to move but also for the general sleek, modern, and minimal aesthetics looking very unobtrusive and could even be seen as a decorating piece in any room.

One you get it to the floor or room you want to, it has wheels so it is very easy to move from there. You just roll it to the desired place and set down and lock the stabilizer base/footplate when you are ready to use it. I leave mine down all the time since I don’t have much foot traffic in this room, but it’s made to be put up and down with each you to have a very minimal front to back profile.

First Use

Ok so I was trying to film a live first use, but there were some technical difficulties. My videographer (lovely wife) was out of town for a work trip and I tried to use some of my camera equipment’s built in auto tracking features to record me which worked largely quite poorly so I don’t have any good footage to share

Initial Thoughts and Impressions

 So after the first few weeks of use, although it too early to give an real overall rating and any real long term feedback I was in general impressed with the quality and features, and even more so with how well it actually worked especially in regards to the overall resistance feel, and the machines stability. The attachments, connecting points, etc. also seem to be well thought out while being comfortable and durable enough to go really heavy at 110LBS a side individually in the cable or dumbbell mode or 220LBS max weight in the barbell mode. The UI (user interface) of the machine, the programs, and everything else seemed very user friendly and responsive, and even the soundtrack options had me even unexpectedly jamming out to some of the included music options.

 Again, since there is really so much functionality to try out and unpack, my initial focus has been on the manual workout mode to see at the vary core of the machine, as a cable machine, dumbbells or barbell, how it felt compared to free weights or a typical functional trainer type setup. The different resistance profiles and options were awesome and felt really great, the fixed cable option felt exactly like a buttery smooth functional trainer, the chain options got progressively heavier at the top end of each movement and the eccentric or flywheel modes provided great eccentric resistance which is something for sure I would like to explore more because you can’t get that with free weights or cable machines.

In the coming months I am really looking forward to trying more of the 300+ class offerings you can pick from as well as the cardio options like skiing and rowing. As I mentioned before, I will have some shorter videos highlighting some of those options along with myself, my wife, and maybe some other family and friends feedback and opinions on what they thought and if they would consider this as an option in their home.

Feedback and Initial Concerns

It’s still largely too early to voice too many bits of feedback or concerns, but as an engineer I am interested in the overall safety of the machine, especially with some of the single point failures of the electronics, specifically with Bluetooth connectivity issues or how the machine could have some sort of safety fallbacks if a bar slips out of your hands. They do have two levels of built in assistance modes which can sense you struggling with the weight, like on a bench press where you can’t get it off your chest, and they seem to work quite well. I just need to test and explore these options more over time to really get a feel for how well they are implemented here. The other safety issue I have noted so far is my own fault, but I imagine I can’t be alone which is the locking of the base to present the machine from tipping over. There have been a handful of times where I went to pull from a higher cable setting only to realize I didn’t properly lock in and secure the base which has resulted in the machine starting to tip over. Again they have a bright warning label to tell you to be careful, but I think it’s easy to forget and wish there could be some sort of built in electronic safety either audibly warning you the base isn’t locked or preventing you to start an exercise until doing so.

 I also personally had issues connecting some of the Bluetooth handles and the Bluetooth ring which does the weight selections, which required a few rounds of pairing, disconnecting, and repairing, so again could see down the line that this maybe becomes an annoyance if this happens frequently.

The last one I noticed is that the incline bench doesn’t change seat angles which is kind of annoying when you compare it to a normal version. Your body tends to want to slide down when the seat isn’t angled, but it’s not the end of the work, just something I wish they had the option to fix in place. 

The only other initial feedback I have is and was the lack of a real detailed manual on what to expect and how to get started, and some of the assembly instructions definitely left a little to be desired, but that could even be my fault if I missed scanning a QR code for a walkthrough video setup or similar, but I am just noting there were a few times where I was wondering if I was doing the right things especially when it came to the cables or some of the attachments, or moving the cables to the vertical position rather than on the cable column. 

Signoff, Questions, Q$A.

So guys that’s it for the first impressions on the Speediance Gym Monster 2 Stay tuned for the full review coming in a few months where we will dive into full specs, training programs, warranty, etc. as well as the more on feedback and content for some of the training while using this machine. 

If you liked this video, please subscribe to the channel to see more honest reviews like this, and stay tuned for our first merch line drop coming soon. If you guys have any questions, please comment down below, and I will be happy to answer or at least try. Thank you for watching the Jungle Gym Reviews, we will see you next time, take it easy, peace.

-Michael @The Jungle Gym Reviews