SPORTNOW Power Cage with Cable Pulley Review: 900kg Frame for £350

SPORTNOW's Power Cage with Adjustable Cable Pulley System costs £349.99 (3 October 2026) and puts a power rack, a dual cable pulley setup, a pull-up bar and dip handles into one 80kg steel frame. The headline is a 900kg load rating, which is three times the figure on SPORTNOW's older cable crossover cage and far beyond anything a home lifter will put on it. The weak spot isn't the steel. It's a listing that leaves too much unsaid about the parts you'll actually touch: the safety catches, the pulley ratio, the accessories and the warranty.

We rate it 3.9 out of 5. It's a strong spec for the money, and the 19-position pulleys are the best thing about it, but you're buying on a thinner description than most cages at this price give you.

Who it is for

This suits someone setting up a garage or spare-room gym who wants barbell squats and presses plus cable work, and doesn't have the floor space or budget for a separate cable machine. The pulleys cover lat pulldowns, seated cable rows, cable flyes and tricep pushdowns, so you're not limited to the handful of moves a bare rack allows.

It also suits lifters who already own plates. Because it takes 25mm and 50mm plates, an old standard set from the loft and a newer Olympic set will both work.

Skip it if you want certainty before you spend. Our best power cage UK guide lists racks with fuller spec sheets, and if you need clear warranty terms in writing, that's a reason to look elsewhere.

Check the SPORTNOW Power Cage price on Amazon£349.99

The 900kg question

A 900kg rating sounds like commercial kit. Read it carefully, though. The listing says the frame "is engineered to load 900kg", and that's almost certainly a static figure for the whole steel structure under evenly spread weight. It doesn't tell you what a single safety catch will take when a 120kg bar drops onto it from a failed squat, and that's the number that matters when you train alone.

SPORTNOW doesn't publish separate limits for the safety catches, J-hooks, pull-up bar or dip handles. Ultrasport, by comparison, gives four separate figures for its cheaper rack. We'd treat the 900kg claim as a sign the frame is heavily built (the 80kg listed weight backs that up) and still be conservative with what you drop onto the catches until you've seen them in person.

The pulley system

Each side has its own pulley that moves through 19 height positions between 29cm and 173cm. That's a properly wide range: low enough for curls, pull-throughs and rows, high enough for pulldowns and face pulls, and the stops in between let you set flyes and woodchops at chest or hip height. Plenty of budget rack-and-pulley combos give you only a high and a low anchor, so this is a real advantage.

What the listing doesn't tell you is the ratio. On a 1:1 pulley, 20kg of plates feels like 20kg at the handle. On a 2:1, it feels like roughly 10kg and the cable travels twice as far. Neither is wrong, but it changes which plates you'll need and how your numbers compare with a gym machine. The listing also says the cage comes with "multiple handle attachments" without naming them, so don't assume a rope, a long bar or an ankle strap is included until you've checked with the seller.

Space and setup

The listing gives 168cm by 128cm by 215cm, but its own item dimensions show both length and width as 168cm. We can't tell which is right from the page, so measure for a 168cm square to be safe. Then add room to the sides: cable flyes and woodchops need your arms out wide, so the real working area is closer to 3m across.

At 215cm high, it fits under a standard 2.4m UK ceiling with room to spare for assembly. A low garage is a different story. Check the clearance under any up-and-over door track at the exact spot the cage will stand, and if you want full pull-ups you'll need headroom above the bar too. At 80kg of steel before plates, put gym flooring down first.

How it differs from SPORTNOW's other cage

SPORTNOW sells two cages with cables, and the names are close enough to confuse anyone. Our SPORTNOW cable crossover power cage review covers the older one (ASIN B0FZZWCWYF), which was £359.99 when we last checked. The differences:

• Load rating. The crossover model is rated to 300kg for the frame, with 120kg on its plate-loading weight bars. This model claims 900kg and gives no separate pulley limit.
• Size. The crossover stands 220cm tall on roughly 168cm by 165cm; this one is 215cm tall and possibly shallower at 128cm, if the listing's size field is the accurate one.
• Pulley adjustment. This model's 19 stated positions from 29cm to 173cm are spelled out clearly. The crossover listing describes high, low and crossover positions without that detail.
• Extras. The crossover ships with a landmine, T-bar row handle, leg press bar, triceps rope, chain, two resistance bands and a footboard. This model lists dip handles and unnamed "cable accessories", and no landmine.

If you want a landmine and a known accessory list, the crossover is the safer buy for £10 more. If you care more about frame rating, finer pulley adjustment and dip handles, this one makes more sense.

Why the training matters

The NHS physical activity guidelines ask adults to do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least two days a week. A cage with pulleys covers legs, back, chest, shoulders and arms in one footprint, which makes that target realistic at home. A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 cohort studies found muscle-strengthening activities were linked to a 10% to 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and total cancer, with the biggest drop at around 30 to 60 minutes a week (Momma et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine). That's two decent sessions, not a daily grind.

How it compares

The Ultrasport Power Rack is about £90 cheaper and comes with a 4 year warranty, which is its biggest advantage here. It has a single lat pulldown and low row rather than two adjustable pulleys, though, and its 200kg spotter rating is modest. Pick the Ultrasport if a long warranty matters more than cable variety.

The WINNOW power cage at around £331 is the closest rival. It names every attachment in the box and states its 50mm uprights, but its pulley is a high and low setup rather than 19 positions. The Strongway MultiGym power cage costs a little more, at under £400, and gives you a 400kg-rated cage with dual pulleys, a landmine and safety pins. If you want a plate-loaded cable station with a sturdier rack and can stretch to £800, the GYM MASTER GM3 adds an 11-gauge frame and a bench.

Against that group, the SPORTNOW wins on pulley adjustability and loses on information. You're the one who has to fill in the gaps.

See today's SPORTNOW Power Cage price

Recommended reads

• The best power cages in the UK
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• SPORTNOW cable crossover power cage review
• Lat pulldown guide
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