Universal UB300 Adjustable Bench (Discontinued)

This review is for the Universal Five-Position Weight Bench. I've had the bench for almost a month now and have used it many times. I paired this bench with a set of the Universal Power-Pak 445 Adjustable Dumbbells with Stand (Combo).The bench is all that I expected and works very well for its designed purpose. I truly think that it earned my 5 star rating based on it's performance to price point ratio. One minor flaw is that one of the black round shin pads does not stay on very well. One of the plastic clips just doesn't seem to fit well. But that is a very minor problem to me and not worth removing a star. In fact, 10 minutes a bit of glue or epoxy would permanently solve the issue.The bench feels very sturdy. I am 6' and about 200 lbs. and the bench does not wobble or move when I use it. Another thing that is great about the bench is the ease of adjustment. It takes two seconds to adjust the back to any of the five positions. Also, the bench is relatively light weight compared to other similar benches I've used in gyms. Moving this bench around is no problem.This bench is versatile but is not designed as a sit-up/crunch bench. The decline sit-up/crunch feature is definitely a secondary feature and if you are mainly looking to do sit-up/crunches, you should probably look at a different product. As such and as others have stated, the gap between the seat and the back is a bit uncomfortable when the bench is in the decline position. This causes sit-ups to be not as comfortable as on other products. For decline bench press, the gap is not as much of a problem...hardly noticeable to be honest. Again, considering the versatility and price point of this product, I didn't think this decline pad gap issue was a reason to remove a star.Overall, this bench is great as a general adjustable weight bench. It's designed for average build body types so if you are tall or very large, this bench is probably not for you. The bench is sturdy and the padding feels good...not too soft/squishy and not too hard. Paired with some dumbbells, kettle balls or other weights, it makes for a great workout. If you are looking for a good, solid reasonably priced general weight bench, this product is a great purchase.

The media could not be loaded.  A weight bench is a simple enough thing but the exact details of making a good one are very important. Universal / Nautilus studied each one and really got it right with this one. I looked at many benches around this price point and felt like they all fell short somehow and I looked at more expensive benches thinking you get what you pay for and a more expensive bench must be better, but Universal really knocked this one out of the park and got it right. If you use dumbbells and maybe situps (no barbell*) this bench has everything you need and nothing you don't (which would mean excess size and weight!). Speaking of which, if you don't want the leg supports the bench is designed and painted such that you can leave that off and it looks equally sharp.*see edit/update at the bottomPros:Solid- when the box for this bench showed up I was surprised at how light the box was. It actually had me worried as I've tried out benches that felt like they had give and of course when you've got weights up and you need to focus on perfect form the last thing you want is the chance of feeling a slip or flex underneath you. All fears were gone after setting it up though. This thing is SOLID. The design is clever - the supports extend from your CG at an angle to the floor supports and rest directly on the foot piece rather than being bolted to the side. This is akin to holding a weight overhead instead of out from your body - it will just transmit the weight with nothing to flex. Benches where the supports are bolted to the side have to sink in as the shear force is absorbed and the repeated loading will loosen the nuts. Also the current design I received (not exactly pictured) has both supports meeting at and welded to an elbow at the same point where the seat meets the back rest so there are no holes for pins or bolts that may allow slop or loosening over time. This sucker distributes weight like a roofing truss and is NOT flexing. Bottom line is that this bench is very well designed to be solid without needing a bunch of big heavy bolts that you have to worry about loosening over time. There are just a couple light bolts so it doesn't slide apart when not under load. I think using good engineering design principles and reducing the need for the amount of steel required not only kept the weight down but probably the cost too.Mobile- somewhat related, the next nice surprise was the easy mobility. I considered a nice solid Marcy and I liked that it felt like a tank when I sat on it but I didn't like you had to wrestle it like one to move it. Them's the breaks, right? Turns out it's not though- because of this bench being structurally intelligent instead of just being over-engineered it is not terribly heavy even though it's solid. This means that those of us who are trying to squeeze a few home gym items into a relatively small room will be able to quickly and easily get this bench stored against the wall. That goes for family members too, so if someone wants this out of the way so they can say hop on an exercise bike or lay out a yoga mat they won't have to struggle to move it because it only weighs about 20 pounds.Comfort- The bench padding is comfortable without being too cushy. Some benches are so hard it is distracting. Some are so cushy that you feel like you're laying back on a couch. This one has a considerable amount of padding but also perforations to breathe so your shoulder blades don't stick against it like cheap car upholstery on a sunny day. This is not to say you'll want to hang out and watch TV from this bench, this is to say that your focus can stay on your form where it belongs.Length- I'm 5'10" and scooted all the way back to the rest with the bench at the 45 incline the back of my skull rests at the top of the backrest. This is perfect for me. Again that is scooted all the way back, if you are slightly taller and like to have support for the back of your head you will *probably* still be okay. If you are a lot taller you may not share my opinion that this bench's length is just right, but I think for most of the population it will provide head support without being oversized.Decline- This bench DOES have decline but I can understand why some of the reviewers have missed it. If you look at the bracket stops there are actually *4* brackets, one for 45 degrees, then 30, 15, and flat. But this is a 5 position bench? The trick is that the top of the bracket stop has a channel so the bottom of the support arm that attached to the back rest extends beyond the bottom stop bracket and rests in that channel to prevent lateral movement. There are two shock / wear plates on the support arm where it rests in that support bracket channel and the other contacts the back rest for support and to transmit load solidly. Again, a very clever design. If that description doesn't make sense then just hold the support arm against the back rest while lowering the back rest fully to decline and boom you are there. It will make sense once you see it, but again I don't blame anybody for not seeing this (I didn't at first either!) but the flat position really is flat (even though flat could possibly be convinced as "barely decline" if you were looking for it) and the decline position is a full -10 degrees. The only problem is Nautilus does a terrible job of telling the user how to get there.This leads me to my only real CON of this bench: Documentation. People are using this as a 4 position bench instead of 5 because you are left on your own to figure out that the decline setting is not supported like the other 4 settings. Also there are no assembly instructions, just an exploded parts diagram. It still went together fairly easily, it's a simple enough design, but there are a couple details that I think at least merit a special note, e.g. when you put the back rest's support arm on you need to be aware that the wear plate near the top goes "up" and the wear plate near the bottom of the support goes "down" so that they contact the other bench parts when put in the decline setting. I initially put mine in upside down and it wasn't until I figured out how it was supposed to go into decline that I even noticed those extra plates I've been calling wear plates on the support arm and realized I had it upside down (since it doesn't matter for the other 4 positions). I consider this very minor in the big picture, especially because the bench itself is everything you could want in a dumbbell / sit-up bench and absolutely worth 5 stars, especially at Amazon's price, but it seems silly they didn't toss in a couple notes about assembly and usage that would have been very helpful if the other reviews here are any indication.Please note the current model's design is slightly different than the picture, the back channel with the stop brackets now goes straight down to the rear "foot" rather than having the curve near the bottom in back as pictured - just something to be aware of if you are looking at the pic trying to better picture what I've done my best to describe above.Last but not least, Amazon's item description gives a max user weight of 300 lbs. My bench has a sticker on it that shows a user + weight limit of 430 pounds. I've not sat on it with a combined weight of more than the mid 200's or so but I believe even that limit of 430 is probably conservative.[...]*Feb 2014 Update: After 2-1/2 years, I still love this bench. Last August I picked up a squat rack off craigslist and have been using this bench in conjunction with that for barbell training. Pulling the bench in & out of the rack when it's time to bench makes me appreciate the efficient design's light weight. The rack's j-hooks and safety pins make this bench better for me to work out by myself with than a bench with a built-in stand, plus it saves space since the bench can stay in the rack between workouts rather than needing room for a separate benching station. I'm still a lightweight and haven't had a total of more than about 350 pounds on this bench but it always feels rock solid.

The back lifts up to its highest position (see photo), which is lower than I usually use at the gym...one more click up and this would have been a great bench...Also the leg restraint is a little small for a larger person... it seems just right for someone who is already fit