You will eventually need the slanted risers and the squat rack but you should be able to function fine for awhile without both unless you're already at the point where you're advanced enough you can lift heavy (in which case both items are important for safety). However, if you're not that advanced yet, having microweights will get you there faster than not having them. How often have you continued to use a 10 lb. dumbbell, even though it's no longer challenging, because you can't yet lift the 15 lb.? If you had microweights you could rather quickly go up to 11lbs, then 12, then 13.5, then 14... and, voila, you're at 15lbs so much faster than had you struggled trying to jump from 10 to 15. That's just an example. I don't have microweights yet but I find myself in this quandry all the time and I just stand there thinking 'If I only had those d*mn magnets..." My problem is my dumbbells aren't the right kind for the magnets (real pretty but not practical) so I'm spending money right now on new dumbbells. But, until I have a complete set of simple hexagonal dumbbells I can't even afford the microweights. Meanwhile, I'm not really accomplishing much if one dumbbell isn't challenging and the next one is way too heavy. I'm not worried about a squat rack because I can't lift a barbell of such heft that it necessitates having a squat rack. We all have our individual issues, but I'm going for new dumbbells, then the microweights first, slanted risers second, the pullup bar third, and the squat rack last. To make matters worse, my barbell & weights are Standard when I should have gotten an Olympic set. I didn't know better when I started all this so everything I have has to be overhauled at some point.
