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Titan Fitness equipment vs Rogue [Article, Video]

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Feb 8, 2020 7:27:14 AM

TITAN power rack

Titan fitness equipment vs Rogue

 
If it is in stock and you don't mind the minor quality issues go with TITAN to save half the price. If you want everything to fit, have a good finish and be at the edge of what is available in the market go for Rogue. Details in the article.
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Rogue fitness vs TITAN fitness

 

Rogue Fitness is the current market leader when it comes to a functional home gym and commercial gym equipment. They have one of the widest portfolios including racks, barbells, benches, dumbbells, and apparel for the weekend warrior and dedicated athlete. The biggest downside of Rogue Fitness is their comparatively high prices to the competition.

 

TITAN Fitness is the clear cost leader when you want to build a home gym on a budget that is still similar to what Rogue offers in function, look, and feel. While you will save about half on the sticker price you will run a higher risk of inconsistencies in quality compared to a purchase from Rogue. The equipment will be safe but is more likely to have blemishes, quality issues with welds or that pieces will not easily fit into place. That makes TITAN a good option for a DIY enthusiast who does not mind tinkering with their equipment, but not the first choice to get the best equipment and treat yourself.

 

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Titan fitness 

 
To understand Titan Fitness a little better and compare it to Rogue I will describe some context and how businesses function. This will give you more clarity about what you get for your money's worth when you are buying TITAN. 
 
Titan Fitness is part of TITAN Distribututors Inc. which was founded by Russel Raynor Robinson more than a decade ago. Their headquarters is in Memphis with additional distribution centers in Horn Lake and Fresno. Under the Titan distributors Inc. umbrella, you will find four brands:
 
  • Titan attachments
  • Titan outdoors
  • Titan ramps
  • Titan fitness
 
Unter the brand of Titan attachments you can find anything that will attach to a tractor to move things around. The portfolio ranges from pallet forks to hay spears to arrive at concrete breakers.
 
Titan outdoors has everything you need to get a barbecue going. And with barbecue, I mean a real American proper one with a cook egg, pig on a spit and teak furniture to go with it. 
 
Titan ramps have everything to get your quad bike, granny or cattle (in no particular order) on and off a heightened area. If you need to get something from A to B and load it onto your truck or tractor before going, Titan ramps probably have the matching product. 
 
The last brand in the Titan distributors is TITAN fitness. Titan fitness offers racks, barbells and other fitness equipment for the home user. 
 
What is important to know for you when you buy from TITAN fitness is that they are ultimately a distributor at the heart of their business operation, not a producer of fitness equipment. Distributors usually make their money by using the following tactics:
 
  • Buying equipment at a low price and keeping it in stock to sell at a higher price 
  • Consolidating orders and placing a bulk order at the producer to gain a couple of percents
  • Playing off different producers against each other to get the lowest price on a certain big order 
What is absent from the TITAN fitness websites and the distributor site is an actual location where they produce the equipment that they provide. I am not 100% sure that they don't have any production site but based on having four brands tied by a distributor Inc. it is a well-informed guess that they do not have one. 
 
The good thing for you as a consumer is that this business tactic achieves very low prices for you. One of the core values of Titan Distributors. The bad news is that TITAN does not control quality, has no research and development, will struggle with replacing faulty equipment and cut corners wherever they can for a low price. That is not a bad business model when you want to save money, but if you want quality and high availability TITAN just does not the control. 
 
Combine this with reports about TITAN fitness that they usually copy the ideas of other brands and are more often out of stock than Rogue you get a rounder picture. In fact, you might even buy old Rogue equipment which they could not sell because there was no demand or did not make the quality standards. More often than not reviews show blemishes on the finish or other minor quality faults. 
 
Overall you will save a lot of money with TITAN vs Rogue. The trade-off is that you will have to wait if you want something very specific which is out of stock and life with some minor quality drawbacks. 
 

Rogue 

 
Rogue Fitness was founded by Bill Henniger in 2006 and is based on Columbus Ohio. In 2017, after forming a team of 500 employees in Columbus Ohio, the invested $50 Million for a local factory which triest to source locally in the US as much as they possibly can. In the meantime, they have expanded to Europe with a distribution center in Finland.
 
Rogue has heavily leaned into the Crossfit community and established itself as one of the go-to brands for Crossfit gyms and home gym owners in the US. They own the production and distribution of their products. You find innovations in the industry like using Cerakote coating or building rigs instead of racks often at Rogue first and everywhere else second. The lever arms attachments to their racks are one idea to turn your rack at home into all possible machines you could find in a professional gym.
 
This being said Rogue has a good reputation in most of the product reviews you will find. The finish and shipping is good and customer services helpful. Their business is built around owning the production and the distribution of one particular segment of the fitness market using steel. Compared to TITAN their model is one of a producer and vendor, rather than a distributor.  In return, their equipment is almost double the price as they have to calculate at more cost for material and staff. 
 

Racks 

 
Racks from TITAN Fitness will usually be about half the price of Rogue and half a year behind any new update they come out with. This does not hold true for everything, but can be used as a general rule of thumb. Think back to them being a distributor, not a producer. They need to negotiate with rogue or another producer to get the product into their system cheaper and then negotiate a contract to buy in bulk. These things take about half a year. 
 
The TITAN racks will do the job just like the Rogue racks. They will just be more likely to take longer to ship or stock and might have some blemishes. The good news is that you can often buy two of them for the price of one. 
 

Barbells 

 
Barbells are easier to source and have demand for. Normal barbells which are mostly in one piece are a good option to buy from TITAN. They are easy to buy in bulk and to store. This all plays to the strengths of a distributor. If you want to save money on your home gym TITAN barbells are definitely a good place to look. 
 

Benches 

 
Benches need a bit more assembly and manual labor than barbells. If you want a sturdy bench for powerlifting or you are a very big man/woman, go for Rogue instead of TITAN. If you buy in bulk for your cardio classes, go with TITAN. 
 
Miscellaneous 
 
Anything which needs a lot of welding is better bought from Rogue than from Titan. TITAN will have the second rate material which has production failures or quality issues. This shows up again and again in reviews of safety bars, cambers bars or other equipment that need special labor or machines. The less likely it is to be mass-produced in a machine, the more you should lean towards buying from Rogue instead of TITAN.
 

Summary 

 
If it can be mass-produced, bought in bulk and easily shipped safely yourself some money and buy from TITAN as long as it is in stock. If it is new, experimental or shall last for a lifetime without any compromises, buy from Rogue and start saving some extra money. 

Topics: Rogue, TITAN