Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells

The range of these weights is great (unless you're a professional body builder) and the plates never feel loose, so there's no worries they'll fall off while using them. The only reason I don't give them 5 stars is that they mechanism to pick the weight sometimes locks up and you need to jiggle it around to get it to come loose.

Dumbbells are great ... a little longer and bulky than some but otherwise great. Biggest drawback is that the stand is not included. Other than that it would have rec'd a 5 star rating.

I've owned these babies for about 5 years, and for many of those years, used them 3 days a week to perform exercises across the spectrum. Shoulders, Chest, biceps, triceps, abs, legs, back. With the stand, I'm able to change weights fairly quickly, and since you have to adjust the weights with two dials for one dumbbell, that gives you the option of doing an offset weight for your hammer curls, as you can put 35 on one side and 30 on the other (as an example). Problems with my weights started fairly immediately. It was easy to turn the dials on one dumbbell and difficult to turn with the other dumbbell. With both dumbbells, I have to push the dumbbell down into the rack to make sure it's in set position to turn. If I don't press down, the dials don't turn. Now, my selecttechs don't look exactly like what's pictured (there's no red coloring in my selecttech 552's), so perhaps there've been design improvements.After less than a year of use, one of the 5 lb plates would fall off during an exercise. Getting it back on is a real pain in the butt, because the selecttech thinks the weight is still attached. Needless to say, if you're in the middle of a workout and trying to stay in a rhythm, this could set you back.After enough drops of that 5 lber, the plastic surrounding the metal weight plate began to crack. After a year, any time I would choose 12.5 lbs, one of the weights that shouldn't be attached would keep attaching. I'd either have to dial down the weight to lose the plate and go with a lighter weight dummbell, or I'd have to "unsnag" the plate off the dumbbell. This only happened with one dummbell, but it happened 100% of the time.Now, one of the heaviest weights drops off irregularly, and that takes about 5-10 minutes for me to get it back on and resume my workout. When the thing works as it should, it's a little bulky for some exercises but still does a great job, and its versatility, small footprint, and large amount of different weights makes it a great tool for a total body workout. I love being able to curl 40's and then immediately drop to 10's for some arm circles or other lighter weight exercises. 3 stars for its convenience. Remove 2 stars from the original 5 because of it being a PITA sometimes and faulty. Bowflex customer service has my emails, but hasn't responded to any of them.

I have owned these dumbells for over two years and they are great. Recently a plastic piece came out of one of the dumbells rendering it unable to hold the weights on to the handle. I have emailed the company and called them on several occasions. The emails go unanswered and the phone calls are put on hold for over 30 minutes. The follow up service is non existent. Once they have your money you will never hear from them again.

I purchased these weights for my son, but prior to wrapping them decided to give them a try. I've been lifting for twenty years and these were the best weights I've ever used. I will be purchasing another set for myself. The weights are well balanced and make changing up on drop sets easier than ever. Simple adjustments to constantly vary the weight also increase the intensity of the workout.