Mikolo Anubis 2.0 Ultimate Edition | Iron Clinic Review

Introduction

Mikolo released the original Anubis to much praise. It was a statement piece from a brand trying to shed its budget reputation, and it worked. The safety arm system was clever, cutting the depth footprint nearly in half when not in use. The chrome cable trolleys looked sharp. The overall fit and finish read premium in a way most home gym equipment at that price did not.

But the 1.0 had real problems. The front uprights used 1-inch holes while the sides used a different size, creating a compatibility mess. The finish scratched easily because the safety arms had nothing protecting the upright contact points. And the weight stacks were capped with no upgrade path. Mikolo heard that feedback, from me and from the community, and the Anubis 2.0 is their response.

We’re reviewing the Ultimate Edition here, which is the full configuration: dual weight stacks, a Smith machine, and those 3x3 uprights that now have 1-inch holes all the way around. The question is whether they fixed what needed fixing without losing what was already working. After 90 days of daily use in an unconditioned garage, I have a clear answer.

First Look

This ships in cardboard and styrofoam. At $3,000, that’s a legitimate complaint. I want to see machines at this price point arrive on a pallet, ideally in a crate, so parts stay together and you’re not hoping a FedEx driver treated the box gently. To Mikolo’s credit, they pack these things extremely well. There’s so much bubble wrap I get annoyed unwrapping it. But that wrapping does its job and everything arrived in perfect condition.

Once you start pulling parts out, the black and chrome color combination on the Ultimate Edition makes an impression. The uprights are clean, the hardware is uniform, and the chrome cable components carry the premium aesthetic through the whole machine.

The one visual step back from the 1.0 is the cable trolleys. On the original, they were fully chrome plated and looked like they belonged on the machine. On the 2.0, Mikolo added warning stickers to them. I understand the liability reasoning. They’re not bright yellow at least. But it breaks up what was a standout visual feature, and I wish there had been a cleaner solution.

Everything else reads right. Holes are cleanly cut. Laser-etched position numbers run up and down every upright so you know exactly what level you’re at when setting attachments. Parts that are supposed to fit together do, without forcing anything.

Build Quality

The uprights are 12 gauge steel, 3x3. That is the same wall thickness you find on quality power racks, and it matters because thinner gauges (14 gauge and up) can feel springy or hollow under heavy load. 12 gauge does not. The machine feels exactly as solid as it looks.

The hole pattern is now 1-inch diameter with 2-inch spacing, consistent all the way around all four sides of every upright. That was not the case on the 1.0, where the front and side hole sizes did not match. Fixing it makes this compatible with just about every rack accessory on the market. If you have 5/8-inch attachments from a previous setup, adapters work fine. The 33 hole positions per upright, combined with laser-cut numbering, make setting your preferred heights fast and repeatable.

The finish is where Mikolo made the most meaningful improvement. After three months in my garage with no climate control, no heat, no AC, and no humidity management, the uprights look exactly the same as day one. On the 1.0, swinging the safety arms would leave a visible scuff mark every single time. That is not happening here. The finish is clearly more durable, and I genuinely do not know what they changed in the process to get there.

That said, the safety arms still contact the upright directly with no UHMW lining between them. UHMW is a soft plastic buffer material, cheap and simple, and it is the standard fix for exactly this type of metal-on-metal contact on quality racks. By design, the arm pivots against the upright every time you use it. Three months in, the contact area looks fine. But if you are squatting in the same hole position every session for a few years, that is going to slowly wear. On a $3,000 machine, it should not be a question.

The aluminum cable components, hardware, and included attachments all match the quality of the uprights. Nothing feels undersized or mismatched.

Setup & Installation

I put this together solo in about two to three hours. Get a second person. This is not a one-person build. Several steps are significantly easier with someone helping, and with two of you this should go faster than my solo run.

The fit between components during assembly was noticeably better than the 1.0. Parts seated without forcing. Bolts threaded clean. Nothing needed to be shimmed or adjusted after the fact. The tolerances feel tighter throughout.

The laser-cut position numbers on the uprights are a small detail that makes a real difference during setup. When you are positioning J cups, spotter arms, or cable trolleys, you just reference the number at your preferred hole instead of counting from the bottom every time. Once you know your settings, adjusting mid-session takes seconds.

Footprint planning matters here. The machine is 91 inches tall to the top of the cable pulleys. Standard 8-foot ceilings will not clear it. Width is 79.2 inches, and you will want a couple of feet on each side for barbell loading. Depth without the safety arms extended is 46.7 inches, which is manageable. Add the safety arms and you are at 70 inches total depth. The Smith machine attachment on the Ultimate Edition adds a bit more width demand on the sides as well. Measure your space carefully before committing to a placement.

Performance

The cables are the first thing you notice when you start training on this machine. They are smooth and quiet through the full range of motion, with no catching, no hesitation, and no creaking. The trolleys slide easily along the uprights and adjusting position mid-session never feels like an interruption. I repositioned regularly over 90 days and it was never a chore.

The cable system runs at a 2:1 ratio. What that means in practice is that the weight you feel at the handle is half of what is loaded on the stack. A 2:1 ratio is not unusual and is not inherently a problem, but it is something to understand before you buy. The stock configuration comes with just under 200 lbs per stack, which means you are pulling just under 100 lbs on a bilateral lat pulldown. For most people doing moderate weights, that is fine. If you pull heavy on lat pulldowns and rows, you will hit that ceiling quickly and will want to budget for the stack upgrade, which can bring each side up to nearly 300 lbs. No gym pins come included, which also limits how much of the stock weight you can access effectively on incremental adjustments.

The Smith machine performs well. The bar moves smoothly and quietly up and down the uprights. The knurling is present but not aggressive, which is the right call for a fixed-plane movement where your grip path does not change. The bar is not counterbalanced, so you will feel its weight, but that is standard for this category. It gets low enough for most lower body work, though for deadlift or RDL variations you will want a platform to stand on. That is typical across functional trainers of this type.

The safety arms are a clear upgrade from the 1.0. On the original, the outrigger feet had significant play when deployed. On the 2.0, they swing out to a hard stop and lock in with a pin. I loaded them through squats, overhead press, and bench press repeatedly over 90 days. They never moved. When not in use, they store at the back of the machine and have a dedicated position. Nothing gets in the way.

The low row and lat pulldown attachment swings in from the front when needed and stores on the rear crossmember when you are done. No permanent foot plate occupying floor space in front of the machine. The padding is firm and it holds you in position under load. If you are pulling from a bench and you are over 6 feet tall, you may find the cable trolley height a little limiting depending on which attachment you are using. Sitting on the floor solves it, and the trolley adjustability means you can dial in the starting position regardless.

Versatility

The 3x3 uprights with 1-inch holes all the way around give this machine broad accessory compatibility. Every 1-inch attachment you already own will fit. If you are coming from a 5/8-inch system, simple adapters exist and work without issue. With 33 positions per upright and trolleys that reach from 16 inches off the ground up to 79 inches at the top setting, there is very little in terms of cable angle and height that you cannot cover.

On the Ultimate Edition, you are running a power rack, a functional trainer, and a Smith machine from a single footprint. That combination handles barbell work, cable work, and machine-guided pressing all from one piece of equipment. If you add a bench and some plates, you have a genuinely complete home gym without needing anything else.

The one gap that matters is the center-mounted pulling attachment. Right now there is no way to use both stacks simultaneously for a bilateral lat pulldown or seated row. Mikolo makes 3D pivoting arms for the M4 2.0 and K6 2.0 that would help address this, but those arms do not fit the Anubis. A purpose-built center attachment would unlock the kind of heavy bilateral cable work these stacks are capable of, especially once upgraded. It is a real gap for a machine at this price.

Mikolo recently partnered with GMWD, known for leg training equipment. A belt squat attachment built for this machine would push the versatility ceiling even further, and I hope that is in the pipeline.

Value

The base Anubis 2.0 starts around $2,000. The Ultimate Edition with Smith machine and weight stacks is $3,000 before any additional purchases. That is a serious number.

What you are getting is a power rack, a cable machine, and a Smith machine in one footprint, with a finish that has demonstrably held up to real conditions and a build quality that feels like it will last. The accessory ecosystem is broad and standardized. The weight stack upgrade path now exists, which the 1.0 never had.

The total cost of ownership is worth thinking through honestly. The stock stacks are limiting for stronger lifters, so factor in the upgrade cost. Weight horns are a separate purchase. No gym pins included. By the time you have the machine set up exactly how you want it, you have spent more than the sticker price suggests.

That said, if you were planning to buy a separate rack, a cable machine, and eventually a Smith machine anyway, the math on this purchase works. The value case is strongest for someone building a complete setup and treating this as their one major equipment investment.

Who Is This For?

This machine works for almost any serious home gym owner, which is not something I say about many pieces of equipment at this price. It is not entry-level and it is not hyper-specialized. It sits squarely in the middle and handles a wide range of training well.

The best-fit buyer is either building a home gym from scratch and wants to get it right the first time, or someone upgrading out of a basic 3x3 rack setup who wants cable work without buying a separate functional trainer. If you already have a collection of 1-inch attachments, the transition to this machine is seamless. If you pull heavy on bilateral cable movements, budget the weight stack upgrade from the start rather than discovering the ceiling later.

Final Verdict

After 90 days of daily use, this is the version of the Anubis that Mikolo should have shipped the first time. The finish holds up, the hole spacing is consistent, the safety arms are genuinely secure, and the weight stacks can now be upgraded to meaningful capacity. Every specific complaint I had about the 1.0 has been addressed except one.

The UHMW gap is the thing I cannot set aside. A simple plastic liner on the safety arm contact points is standard on premium racks and costs almost nothing to implement. Not including it on a $3,000 machine is a miss, and it is a question mark about long-term finish durability under repeated use.

The stock weight stack limitations and the absent center-mounted pulling attachment are real practical gaps for heavier lifters, but neither is a reason to walk away. They are things to plan for.

The Anubis 2.0 Ultimate Edition is a well-built, well-designed machine that can anchor a complete home gym. I would buy it. I would tell most people looking for a single-purchase home gym solution to seriously consider it. Mikolo keeps expanding what plugs into this ecosystem, and the foundation they have built here is worth investing in.