Jacobs LadderStep Machine - Step Climber Exercise Machine for A Great Climbing Exercise and Workout - Vertical Climber and Stair Stepper - Perfect Climbing Exercise Equipment for Gym Or Home

wonderful product !!

It takes some coordination, but this is the best butt-kicking cardio out there! I used to do 45 minutes per day when I had one at my gym. It's a 5 star piece of equipment, but I knocked off one star for the price. VERY expensive. Most homeowners could not afford one.

JL is an excellent concept but very badly manufactured - will not stand the test of time with any regular usage.I live in Ireland and imported a second hand unit from the JL distributer in Poland in 2014.After trying one of these machines in UK a few years ago, I did write a good review on Amazon. The ladder does give a very good cardio workout.But THIS review is about the workmanship - look inside the machine before you buy it! It looks and pretty much IS home made.Sure, it is made in a factory but it does not have factory made quality.Basically I was duped into buying a machine which the distributer said was 'like new' supposedly with just a 'couple of hours' use on it.I was charged the equivalent of what you pay in the U.S. for a NEW machine.When the machine arrived it looked ok from the outside except for the indentations on the maple rungs. Like it was used by football players who did not take off their football boots and change into trainers.The casing was fine apart from several screws missing and the transport wheels were well scratched up and worn. More than a couple of hours use.But overall, at first glance, it seemed ok.Then I tried it out. The mechanism was rough, loud and jerky. I could not maintain even speed or body position (height) on the machine.I removed all the covers. The chains were covered in a thick grease with dust and human hairs stuck between the linkages.The cable/brake release mechanism was set up wrong, with the cable pigtail clamped upside down.I stripped the chains off the rungs and degreased them, as they apparently do not get treated with grease, but a type of chain oil.The release cable had to be replaced and the brake adjusted, and the chains retensioned.But even tensioning/adjusting the chains was a disappointment. There should be washers behind the tensioning nuts. But there are not. Just nuts pushing directly against the frame work. Desperately unprofessionally made machine. How it passes the standards required to produce and sell to consumers is beyond me. If the machine were one fifth of the price, designed and manufactured in China, I could understand.So I spent hours upon hours trying to fix the machine. It is marginally better now and a whole lot cleaner than when I first received it. But it is still not right.I spent Stg. £3000 on this and was badly ripped off by Hampton Fitness. My contact there who sold me the machine would not answer his phone when I complained. He sent one email reply saying that he was 'truly' sorry. I asked that he get an engineer out to fix it but he never did.To be fair to JL themselves, they did send me some small parts free of charge and worked with me on trying to free up the mechanism. Unfortunately it still is not right and they could not send me any more free parts. I requested a new blower unit from Hampton Fitness, as the rollers in the chute carrier were all out of alignment with the frame. It never materialised.One picture attached shows just one area of the kind of workmanship you would be buying into. The chain linkages on the end of the ladder rungs are ALL at different angles. No consistency. Apparently hand brazed but with no jig. Just hold it there with a pliers and apply a spot of solder. That will do. Next..........More pictures are of the chute rollers all out of alignment.And pictures of the axle/bearing holders, ground down on one side to make them 'fit.' No washers behind the tensioning nuts, the list goes on.I think JL is an excellent concept but made cheap and nasty.

I've owned a Jacobs ladder for about 18 months. In my opinion it is not enough upper body work to be called a full body exercise. The burn you get is comparable to a step mill. I located one in a gym and tried it before searching for a couple months and buying used. I payed $1700. It's good for ONE part in your circuit .. But not your whole workout. It is of pretty good quality. I haven't had any problems yet. But I do expect to have some maint. Issues come up eventually.

This is the best workout I’ve ever had in two decades.

I use this machine at my local gym and it has done right by me. Good weight lost etc. I rated 3 because in one week one of the machines died and the second one suffered the same faith. Not even 3 months and they are of no use to anyone in the gym:(

Jacob's Ladder is everything you want in a cardio/workout machine and more. I'd had my eye on these for years and finally made the plunge - ordering in November. Despite a 45 day backorder, the JL finally arrived just about a week before this is written and it is everything I hoped for and more. Quiet, efficient, the JL is simply the best 'machine' workout I've ever done - and as a personal trainer with over 30 years experience that is no small compliment. The JL takes some getting used to and you'll be a tad sore the first few days, but it's worth the effort.

This is a great piece of equipment, I generally love low impact, whole body cardio equipment like this, the water rower and the Versaclimber. They're great because I mostly do HIIT and these pieces are ready to go the second I'm supposed to be doing the high intensity bits of my workout.