These are, unlike some Bowflex products, mostly good. However, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind. First, and probably most importantly, they do have plastic parts, so you definitely do not want to drop them, especially on a hard floor. If you have relatively thick mats, like tumbling mats, it is possible they could be dropped safely, but most definitely not on concrete or some kind of hard flooring. I would be hesitant to even drop them on a carpeted surface. The inner mechanism could easily break in that situation, then you basically have a very heavy paperweight. Also, these are much bulkier than traditional free-weight dumbbells, which can be an issue if you have low ceilings and are doing shoulder-press type exercises standing up. I work out in my basement, which has seven-foot ceilings, and even though I am not extremely tall, I am tall enough that if I do standing shoulder presses with these I will easily hit the ceiling and put a nice gash in it. Finally, when you dial in a weight selection the locking mechanism does not always totally engage the plates so you may have to slightly turn the dial and/or jiggle the weights to get them out of the stack. The first two things are major, the other is relatively minor.
Overall, the ability to get 50lbs of dumbbell weight in a compact space is very nice. And for a lot of people, that is probably all the dumbbell weight they will ever need. The handle grip is much better than most dumbbells and they do not get slippery in your hands. I would highly suggest getting the stand that can hold them because constantly bending down to pick them up and put them back may be hard on some people's backs. They are also a lot cheaper than getting 50lbs of regular dumbbells, which is nice. I personally use these in conjunction with regular dumbbells, and for exercises where I am concerned about dropping them if I use max weight I use the regular dumbbells I use those, and for those, I am not concerned about it, I use these.
Overall, these are a pretty good option, but you do kind of have to treat them with kid gloves. Much more than you would ever have to with regular iron dumbbells. I have had these for years and never had an issue with them and do recommend them as long as you keep the things I mentioned in mind.
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