Globally there are more than 1800 manufacturers of pilates equipment and new manufacturers are appearing almost every day. They offer pilates reformers with wide variety of options. The prices of the pilates reformers are also changeable depending on many factors. These factors are mainly the manufacturer country, the used materials and the quality of workmanship.
If you are looking for a new pilates equipment, you’ll notice there are plenty of suppliers in every region. They offer different colors, different reformer types, various packages etc. Especially if you are new in this business, you’ll have troubles for finding the best product. So we will describe now how to choose the best reformer.
How to Choose The Best Reformer
There are plenty of criteria you should check before buying a pilates reformer. If you are not a specialist in sport equipment and buying the reformer for the first time, you have to be extra careful. Low quality equipment can harm your health. So what criteria are important during the choosing of pilates reformer?
Wood Material
Good pilates reformers are made of natural hardwood timber. Most popular timber is European beech. European Beech is the ideal timber for pilates reformers. This timber is a light-coloured wood with a straight grain and even texture, which gives a nice look to the reformers. European Beech originates from mainland Europe; however, it can be found as far afield as the UK and Baltic states. As an alternative mahogany, cherry and walnut timbers also can be used as wooden parts. However due to the high prices of these materials, many manufacturers use low quality timbers such as oak, pine etc. Even there are manufacturers who use plywood as the wooden parts. The plywood is extremely cheap than the natural wood, but it is not suitable for the pilates reformers.
Leather
Another important components is the leather parts of the reformer. Manufacturers use the faux leather on many parts of the reformer. Main bed, jump board, box, head part and shoulder supporters are covered with the leather material. Faux leather fabric is a great cheaper alternative to real animal leather. It is an artificial fabric with a PVC surface made to look and feel like real leather. Faux leather fabric is truly one of our most versatile products.
As your body and face touches this leather every time, the material quality is very important. The leather itself should be anti-bacterial and fire retardant suitable. The cheap versions of the leather will harm your health, will tear easily and after a while it will start to smell.
Other Points
After choosing the proper wood timber and leather material, you have to give an attention to other aspects. Still there are plenty of important points. The springs must be strong and suitable for long usage. All metal parts should be polished and chrome plates. The aluminum parts should be machined well. And beside the material, the workmanship is also very important for the good pilates reformer. You can easily detect a good workmanship if you have a chance to compare it with the low quality one.
Do not prioritize the price while choosing the pilates reformer. A low quality reformer will not be useful and you’ll not use it for a long time. But most importantly, it can harm your health.