Rogue Donkey vs TITAN plate loadable tower V2

This is a comparison between the Rogue Donkey and the TITAN plate loadable tower V2 including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the TITAN Plate loadable tower V2 $409

This is an overview of the TITAN Plate loadable tower V2 including pros, cons and alternatives. This article was originally posted in Which gym machine to get from TITAN. Follow the links for additional information.

Overview of the TITAN loadable lat tower

The TITAN plate loadable lat tower is a solid budget option for a lat tower. It stands by itself and is stable to use. It shops with the lat bar and row handle included which makes it a complete solution. There is not a lot you can do wring with this one if you want a lat pull tower on a budget. The full specifications of the TITAN plate loadable lat tower are:

- Dual 13-inch weight posts fit Olympic weight plates

- Four adjustable positions for the thigh pads will fit athletes of all body types

- A durable steel frame and powder-coated paint job deliver a sleek look that will last for years to come

- Four Bolt down holes give you the option for permanent mounting in your home or garage gym

- Includes lat bar and low row handle

- Overall Height: 84-in.

- Overall Depth: 56.5-in.

- Overall Width: 48-in.

- Loadable Sleeve Length: 13-in.

- Lat Handle Length: 37.5-in.

- Low Row Handle Length: 15-in.

This is a great budget option for any home gym or Iron den where people know what they are doing. It can even be used in a commercial with less experienced clients, as the plate loading mechanism is not as exposed as with other TITAN machines.

Pros of the TITAN loadable lat tower

The pros of the TITAN loadable lat tower are:

Price
Handles included
Stable design

One of the main arguments to go for TITAN products is the low price for industrial grade gym machine. The TITAN plate loaded lat tower makes no exception to this rule. For me, it is one of the better machines you can get from TITAN as it is stable and the pulley work is not as exposed as for the Cable crossover machine.

Another bonus is that the lat bar and row handle are also included in the price tag. You can shell out up to $200 for these items each depending on where you get them.

This whole machine is more stable than some of the other TITAN machines in the lower price range. I would definitely get this any day over the Cable crossover machine from TITAN.

Cons of the TITAN loadable lat tower

Cons of the TITAN loadable lat tower:

Plate loaded
No push movements
Build for normal humans, not superhumans

Plate loaded machines are great when you are the only user or this is not a lot of people around who frequent the machines. If you run a gym with peak times and people falling over each other, than you want the weights on the machine rather than separately on a plate tree.

The TITAN plate loaded lat tower is designed for pulling motions only. You can not adjust the pulley to make push movements possible. This lmits the range of exercises you can do with this machine. This becomes especially relevant when this is the only machine you intend to buy for your home gym. Here the functional trainer from TITAN might be the better choice.

As with all TITAN machines they have been produced with the average human in mind to save costs. Other vendors like Eleiko and Rogue think of the biggest possible human who could use their machines and build their machines around that. If you are 6 foot tall and weigh more than 250 pounds you might not like the seat on this or even rock the entire machine when you do your berserker mode pulls.

Alternatives to the TITAN loadable lat tower

The TITAN lat tower is a clone of the Rogue lat pull at a substantial lower cost. This is the lat pull machine to get for the commercial gym that puts the machine through a lot of abuse or the home gym fanatic who listens to heavy metal while pulling 300 pounds for sets of 20.

The TITAN wall mounted pulley is in my opinion one of the best options for a budget focused home gym to get all of their pulling needs covered. It is safer then some of the other makeshift machines from TITAN and costs less. The only downside is that it does not come with a seat and needs to be drilled into the wall to work.

The TITAN plate loadable functional trainer is the optimal compromise between budget and functionality, especially for the home gym. The pulley work as a little too exposed for most commercial scenarios and plate loading also does not help the case here.But in a home gym where you already own the plates and want to cover all of your accessory this is ideal.

Conclusion for the TITAN plate loadable lat tower

The TITAN plate loadable lat tower is a great option for the home gym owned by the average joe, as long as space allows for it. A professional gym might be better off with the functional trainer. If you lack space in your home gym for a while park of machines you might want to consider the plate loaded functional trainer as it eats up similar space, but offers more options on exercises.

Overview and review of the Rogue Donkey

The Rogue Donkey is the ultimate machine from Rogue to address your lower back and core for $1945. You have everything in one place and with 500 pounds of weight, this thing is not going anywhere, just like any good old donkey.

Overview of the Rogue donkey

The Rogue Donkey brings the reverse hyper and GHD space to a new level. Rogue thought about their designs again and combined the Z hyper and the Abram GHD into an all-purpose lower back machine.

The benefit of this is that you only need to buy one piece of equipment which fits both purposes. This means money and floor space saved. The dimensions of the Rogue Donkey aa followed:

Made in the USA
Color: Black
Weight: 500LB
Length: 73”
Width: 44”
Height:54.5”
3x3 Gauge Steel
73” x 44”

This is a great machine to have in a serious home gym or powerlifting establishment. Some CrossFit boxes might also want to consider getting one of these.

Pros of the Rogue Donkey

The Rogue Donkey has a lot going for itself, of you are interested in a machine for back extensions, reverse hypers and glute ham raises. I have yet to find a machine that is better thought through for these purposes and therefore saves space in your gym.

Cons of the Rogue Donkey

The price and weight might be off-putting for some. Not everyone wants to have a 500-pound piece of equipment in their home gym or get on one in a commercial gym. Reverse hypers and back extensions are also not the most popular movements, so watch out whether you are getting your money’s worth.

Alternatives to the Rogue Donkey

I think there are no better options than the donkey from Rogue for what it does. However, $2000 can be a hefty price tag, especially for first-time buyers. Here are some other options from Rogue for $2000:

The fortis rack is the best rack from rogue under $1000. Combined with an adjustable bench and with a little stretch of the budget an Ohio bar you have a fully functioning gym for the price of a donkey. The only downsides would be no color option and that you somehow have to take care of plate storage.

If you prefer plate storage and a color option because you already have a bench you can go for the RML 690C and Ohio bar. The budget would even allow getting one of the fancy Cerakote bars. My favorite is the Fraser bar.

If you want to build a garage gym with all of the things needed to do CrossFit you can also go for the 3WC and Alpha CrossFit package. This way you will have a foldable rack and everything including plates to get started with CrossFit.

Summary

If you already have the bases covered and you are looking into expanding your gym the donkey is a great option to be considered. It is not necessarily your first big purchase from Rogue.