I was recently contacted by the company HVO, which makes various fitness equipment, with the hopes of me possibly reviewing their products. After some discussion, we settled on the leg curl/extension machine because it is something that I would actually use as someone who enjoys leg day.
Again, this product was sent to me by HVO for free. But I explained to them that this is going to be an unbiased review with me expressing my own personal opinions.
First, in terms of packaging, everything arrived in one cardboard box. All the parts are bubble wrapped, and mine was largely unscathed, with only one part that had some noticeable scratches.
Installation of this machine is relatively straightforward, as most of it is already pre-assembled, and everything is put together with only a few bolts. The bolts are also well labeled, so you can get the entire thing put together relatively quickly.
As far as the machine itself, it’s relatively compact and is a good bit smaller than a single horse stall mat. This is partly why I wanted this machine. It doesn’t take up too much space, and I felt that it was worth giving up that space in my single-car garage gym.
In terms of use, I’ve only put a few workouts in on this machine, but I would say that overall my experience has been good. I do want to point out that you can use this machine sitting up or lying down, depending on how you set up the pads. I personally only use this machine sitting up to save some extra space. The only reason to make the pads lie down is to do lying leg curls, but with the 24-position sundial, you can basically achieve the same thing sitting up. Lying vs sitting will hit slightly different muscle groups, and you can look that up for yourself, but for my uses, it’s close enough, and I’d rather save the floor space.
Speaking of adjustments, this machine does offer a few different options. The back pad goes back and forth, up and down. The Seat pad’s angle can be adjusted. The thigh roller goes up and down. And you have two sundials to adjust your leg positions. With the larger sundial, I really appreciate that they added position numbers because I do adjust this multiple times a workout to change between leg curls and extensions. There are no position numbers on the smaller sundial, but this isn’t a problem for me because I keep it in the same spot for everything, so it never gets adjusted. I can see this as being annoying if you constantly have to adjust it. Overall, there’s a lot of adjustability with this machine that I think most people are going to be able to make it work for them.
As far as the pads, I really have no complaints here. They are both 2 inches thick and offer adequate stiffness, but are not uncomfortable.
Now, let’s talk about actually using this machine. Personally, I only wanted this machine for doing seated leg curls and extensions, so I have the most experience with that. For these exercises, I think this machine does a great job once you get your proper positions dialed in. I haven’t used a similar machine since I worked out at a commercial gym years ago, so I don’t have a good frame of reference, but I’m so surprised that I can get such a pump and burn from just one 45lbs plate. It can get pretty difficult when doing a lot of reps. That being said, I think this machine would be beneficial for those who don’t own a lot of plates because most people would not need it with these exercises.
In terms of versatility, you technically can do quite a few different exercises with this machine. But some of the more practical options are highlighted by HVO, and I think that this machine is viable for those exercises. For example, you can position the leg roller to sit above your thighs and do calf raises. The machine is actually really functional for this. Then for those who like split squats, again, the leg roller can easily be positioned to give you a place to rest your foot. I really wish that I got this machine sooner because I spent hundreds of dollars on a pair of Rouge leg rollers that attach to a rack. I much prefer to use this HVO leg roller because it’s already there, and there’s really no setup time.
Again, overall I would say that this is a good machine, but not all is perfect. There are a few minor things that I think can be updated. First, there are two little square tubes that are used as storage locations for the thigh rollers and back pad. What I don’t like is that it’s just metal-on-metal contact. Over time, this black paint is going to get destroyed and I think these areas are going to be prone to rusting. I say this because my machine already shows signs of rust internally. This is something exclusive to this particular product, but really any gym equipment that’s imported can show signs of rust because it’s sitting in a container for potentially months, going over the ocean, then sit some more in a warehouse for who knows how long when it hits the US. So I’m not necessarily knocking HVO for this, I’m just saying that if this area gets scratched up, it too may start to develop some rust. My next complaint is with the selector pin for the smaller sundial. For some reason, when some weight is added and the machine is in use, this pin constantly makes a popping noise. It’s something that I’ve personally gotten used to, but is an annoyance nevertheless. Lastly, the handles that are attached to the back pad of my machine are angled weirdly. This is because the circular couplings that they attach to are welded unevenly. This is one of those fit and finish things that separates products. Aside from looking weird, I also don’t like how these handles are just held in place by a small bolt that loosens very easily under use. From my experience, it’s basically impossible to tighten these handles down and not have them wiggle out of place over time. This should definitely be addressed. But luckily for me, I never use this machine lying down, so I never have to worry about this.
And that’s the HVO leg curl/extension in a nutshell. For under $400, I think that this is a good buy. It offers a good amount of versatility for those who want a multipurpose machine and but is also very good at what it’s primarily designed to do, and that’s leg curl and extensions.
