wears out fastOctober 16, 2008 Beware! Over time, mine wore out and the ratchet hook no longer holds on the gear teeth. It just suddenly pops free, and it can crush your fingers if they are in the way when it lets go. I have looked it over carefully and can't see anything that has come loose. It's just wear and tear, and it didn't have heavy use.
Cable broke before I even used itOctober 9, 2008 I wanted to like this thing. Yes, the assembly took a couple of hours, and I had to flip back and forth in the manual, but I got through it. I had the same issue only being able to get two of the three bolts on the seat to thread. So I loosened the bolts holding the mounting plate to the frame and also the ones holding the legs on. This allowed enough "play" to get all three seat bolts threaded. Then I tightened them all. No problem.
So it's all put together, I sit down on it and one of the cable ends - the little knob at the end that you feed into the "keyhole" on the leg - popped off. And there seems to be no way short of welding it myself to get it back on. I called Century to see if I could get a replacement cable. No. I bought it through eBay and so I have to go back to the guy I bought it from. I mean, c'mon! It's a tiny cable - probably no more than 3-4 bucks. Just send me a new one. I'll PAY for it. Nope. So now I just have to hope that the seller can get it for me under warranty.
Bottom line: seems like a great machine with a MAJOR Achilles' Heel in the form of a cheap cable.
Perect Streching machineSeptember 30, 2008 Despite what the other reviews stated, I had no issues assembling this machine. It works great and we've already seen improvements. It easily stores in the corner so we can readily use it while watching TV or hanging out in the living room...
broken cableSeptember 15, 2008 One of the tension cables frayed and became non-functional in 3 uses of the machine.
Century VersaFlexSeptember 8, 2008 Because of all the reviews, I was skeptical about this product but I decided it was worth the gamble. It was delivered in about three days-super fast. I checked all the parts to find nothing missing then read the instructions. Yes, the instructions are a little difficult but I put the stretcher together in about 1.5 hrs start-to-finish. I do have a lot of mechanical experience, so I think that helped. I'm very impressed with the stretcher as it is better than I expected. Everything works perfectly, no problems so far in the month I've had it. I lubed all the moving parts and it works really slick. Read the instructions, take your time, and don't get frustrated and you'll be happy with the results. It does a great job of stretching the muscles. I'm not at all limber; the results are much better than stretching on the floor. I think it was a very good purchase and I really enjoy using it.
