Experience with spotter arms instead of a power rack?

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I was hoping this community could help me make a decision on this topic. I’ve been lifting at a globo-gym for quite some time now mostly due to cost and convenience, but I can no longer take the low quality of the equipment. I have finished up the SSNLP and have decided to move on to the Bridge v1, and some of the variations would be literally impossible on this equipment, with no work around (that wouldn’t get me kicked out, anyway). I found a gym that has much better equipment in terms of bars, benches, bumper plates, prowlers, and is just a generally cooler place to lift. Everything about this gym is definitely better than the other gym, except one thing that I have never had any experience with.

The gym has no power racks, but only uprights bolted to the floor and the wall, with spotter arms that could be attached to the outside. When I checked out the gym they seemed completely sturdy, I racked the bar on my back quickly and it felt completely fine. There are many holes from the ceiling to the floor for adjusting the spotter arm and j-hook heights. My only concern is that it’s less safe to squat here and fail compared to even a low quality power rack. I never failed a squat, but I ended LP squatting 355lbs for three sets of five I was definitely glad I was in a rack since every set was seemingly RPE 11. In my mind, this is the place I will put the 4th plate on my squat, maybe even 5th depending on how long I live in the same place.

Other than this, everything about this gym is a pro and not a con, so let me know if anyone has experience making this switch, and how safe you have felt pushing yourself above spotter arms as opposed to in the rack. I would generally consider myself to be overly cautious and controlled in general compared to reckless and overconfident, so I’m not worried about doing something really stupid, but I will be learning RPE over the coming weeks (with a newborn messing with my sleep, too!) and figure it’s definitely possible to fail when I am not used to the gauging my potential each day.

Thanks!

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I have squatted and bailed on a squat in both set ups, and the arms are just fine. Remember that when you miss a lift, it’s not a violent reaction or anything-you hit a point at which you can’t move any more, so then if you really can’t make the lift, you lower the bar to the arms or pins.

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Ah okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much!