Pros

• Affordable
• Compact
• Versatile for a wide range of functional exercises for all major muscle groups
• Easy to adjust weight resistance and swap out cable accessories
• Heavy-duty construction
• Great warranty (Residential Limited Lifetime)

Cons

• Limited weight challenge for Intermediate/Advanced lifters (especially leg exercises)
• No elegant Leg Press setup

Inspire Fitness FTX Functional Trainer

Versatile Exercise Equipment in a Compact Footprint

This is a great machine for a small home gym. For under $2,500, you can perform functional exercises for every major muscle group, and it has a footprint of less than 5 feet x 4 feet. Coupled with an adjustable exercise bench, I’ve managed to configure the machine to replicate almost every major exercise I do in a regular gym. My main gripe is that I can’t really do heavy Leg Presses with it — although I can sort of set it up for Single Leg Presses for a bit more challenge. Weight stacks provide up to 160 lbs of total  resistance (80 lbs per cable/stack).

Available from Inspire Fitness who offers special pricing to Costco members. Top Fitness (formerly Precor Home Fitness stores) which has a physical store down the street from me even gave me a price match on the Costco price.

Have a little more room and more money to spend? Consider the higher end FT2 Functional Trainer.