| Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells | 
| Brand: Bowflex
Category: Sports
List Price: $549.00
Buy New: $398.99
as of 9/5/2010 18:23 EDT details
You Save: $150.01 (27%)
New (5) Used (1) from $395.00
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 206
Shipping Weight (lbs): 121.5
Dimensions (in): 24 x 22 x 14
MPN: 100130
Model: 100130
UPC: 708447505774
EAN: 0708447505774
ASIN: B001ARYU58
Release Date: August 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| ○ | Each dumbbell adjusts from 5 to 52.5 pounds; adjusts in 2.5-pound increments up to the first 25 pounds | | ○ | Lets you rapidly switch from one exercise to the next | | ○ | Combines 15 sets of weights into one, using a unique dial system | | ○ | Eliminates the need for multiple dumbbells cluttering your workout space | | ○ | Five-year warranty on weight plates, two-year warranty on parts |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description
If you want to get a good strength workout at home, but don't have much space, the Bowflex 552 SelectTech Dumbbells are an ideal solution. Newly designed, the innovative pair of 552 SelectTech Dumbbells combines 15 sets of weights into one using a unique dial system. It's one of the most space-efficient and flexible strength-training options available with its unique and effective design. With just the turn of a dial, you can automatically change your resistance on each dumbbell from 5 pounds all the way up to 52.5 pounds of weight. It adjusts in 2.5-pound increments (up to 25 pounds), enabling you to gradually increase your strength without bulking up. Specifications: 
Change the dumbbell's weight with just the turn of a dial. | 
The SelectTech 552 dumbbells adjust from 5 pounds all the way up to 52.5 pounds of weight. | | - Weight Range: 5 to 52.5 lbs (2.27 to 23.8 kg) for each dumbbell
- Exercises Available: 30+
- Weight Settings: 15
- Weight Settings in pounds: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 52.5 pounds
- Dumbbell Dimensions (Each): 15.75 inches long by 8 inches wide by 9 inches tall
- Weight (Each): 52.5 pounds / 23.8 kg
Leg Exercises: - Wide squats
- Calf raises
- Stationary lunges
- Stiff-leg dead lift
- Reverse lunge
- Side lunge
Back Exercises: - Alternating rows
- Wide row
- Dead lift
Chest Exercises: - Flat chest press
- Incline chest press
- Flat fly
- Incline fly
- Decline chest press
Abdominal Exercises: - Ab crunch
- Reverse crunch
- Lying trunk rotation
- Twisting side crunch
- Lying leg raise
Arm Exercises: - Standing curls
- Concentration curls
- Incline bench curls
- Scott curls
- Overhead triceps extension
- Triceps kickback
- Lying triceps extension
- Hammer curls
Shoulder Exercises: - Standing shoulder press
- Lateral raise
- Seated overhead press
- Front raise
- Rear delt row
- Shrugs
Manufacturer's Warranty
Two-year limited warranty on all parts; five-year warranty on weight plates; one-year warranty on labor
Product Description
Dial up results! The power of 30 standard dumbbells is in these redesigned SelectTech Dumbbells by Bowflex. Each dumbbell adjusts from 5 to 52.5 lbs., allowing you to build strength, loose weight and feel great! Compact and durable.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Design, its just the ruggedness thats the problem January 15, 2009
Robert R. Rowntree (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
74 out of 77 found this review helpful
No question great design - 5 out of 5 rating for sure. Support is a 4, pretty good. Where they fall down is on ruggedness. There may be improvements in the 2009 versions but the main problem with my 2008 set is many of the parts are made with plastics. There is 52 lb maximum of weight and thats alot to ask to support of some of the types of plastics used to construct this product. The minor flaw in my view is the choice of materials for this product. For example, the spindles that pick up and hold each plate in place are made of a thin hard but brittle plastic. If you do a set on a bench, get exhausted and drop these weights by more then a inch or 2 on the floor, these plastic spindles have a tendency to break. The hand unit, minus the weights will need to be replaced. Bowflex has a 2 year warranty and were pretty good about sending out a new handle. The handle got to me within about 5 days. For me I would rather they make the spindles out of a metal and pay $50 more. That is a testament to how much I love these weights. I am more careful with them now. So if you can see your way to either being very caring with these weights or rough on them and getting replacements (for free under the 1st 2 years warranty), I would not hesitate in buying these units. Otherwise, save yourself some aggravation and buy something else.
 Amazing home workout tool January 27, 2009
Ronald W. Smiley (Maryland)
52 out of 53 found this review helpful
I used the 552 dumbells with my P90X workout and I have to say they made life a heck of a lot easier. It couldn't be easier to select the appropriate weight with these things, and with limited time between excersizes, these were golden. The construction is sturdy; not once did I feel any uneasiness in using them. Even moves where the dumbells were lifted quickly and brought back down didn't cause any issues with the locking mechanism of the dumbells. The only slight issue is the overall length of the dumbells. The width is manageable but the length can cause a few issues in maybe 5% of the excersizes performed. An example of this is doing concentration curls with both arms simultaneously. I ended up having to alternate to get around the length of the dumbell. All in all it is quite easy to work around this small issue and it doesn't impact the 5 star rating for me especially considering that having used the block alternative as well, the bowflex ones caused a lot less issues during excersize movements.
I used these without the stand, if you do as well make sure you lift with your legs and not your back. If you have a bad back, or just want to be safe, you may want to go with the stand. (Though theres nothing wrong with a little extra leg work with the proper form ;) ) In summary, if your doing P90X, or any other home workout routine that requires you to switch weights quickly, this is the dumbell for you. Also if your going for P90X know that the 552 version covered the weight I needed for every single excersize (I'm 5'11' and 195 lean muscle). I may have been able to go heavier on a few excersizes but the sheer intensity of this workout would have limited my reps significantly. Hope this helps!
Excellent solution for P90X or those that don't want a house full of weights February 16, 2010
Pen Name (Fairbanks, Alaska)
30 out of 30 found this review helpful
After a lot of consideration, I ended up purchasing these weights to use with P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program - 13 DVDs, Nutrition Guide, Exercise Planner. The program calls for a lot of different weights, and I was tired of leaving 8 different dumbbells lying around on the floor of my den. After using these for roughly three months, I am very pleased with them, and with a few exceptions, they work great for P90X.
CONSTRUCTION/DESIGN- As of 2/16/10, the model being sold on Amazon is the 2009 model, which came out in September 2008 and is the most current model available. There is no 2010 model, despite what many third party sellers claim (I have confirmed this with Nautilus). I have uploaded pictures of the version Amazon is selling, which comes with a black base plate. Amazon has lumped the reviews from the 2008 model in with this 2009 model, so read the reviews carefully. The 2009 model eliminates many of the complaints of the 2008, most specifically, it uses metal tabs on the weight plates to lock them in place. Construction is solid and it is very unlikely these will break. Although unlike traditional dumbbells, you can't drop these on the ground after a set. They are fairly sturdy, but I would be very nervous about dropping these from any height over about 5". The handle is ergonomic to fit the palm of your hand and the grip feels good and natural during lifting. The handle is thicker than a dumbbell and I prefer it to the thinner dumbbell handles.
The weights have a dial on the end of them that you turn to select the desired weight. If you select 10lbs, it will then lock in the two weight plates to make 10 lbs, and release everything else; so when you pick up the weights, you get 10 lbs and all the other weights are left in the base plate. When done, you put the weights back in the base plate. This works very well, with the exception of it "catching" occasionally if the weight plates shift a little bit. This happens maybe 1/100 times or so though and isn't a big problem. You just jiggle the weights a bit until it locks. The nice thing about this design, is that the two ends of the dumbbell don't have to be the same weight. You can set the dial to 10lbs on one end and 30 lbs on the other. This will effectively put 5lbs on one end of the bar and 15lbs on the other. I don't do this often, but it can lead to more variation in exercises, and I occasionally do it for tricep workouts or hammer curls. When lifting, the weights feel very sturdy. The plates are firmly locked onto the handle. There is no shaking or movement of the plates at all, and they don't feel much different than dumbbells.
PRICE - I definitely do not think these are worth the suggested retail price, but then again, I have never seen them sold for anything close to that. While they may seem expensive, if you calculate the cost of a large range of dumbbells (which typically sell for $1 per pound), these are a very favorable comparison. Just two 35lb dumbbells are going to cost you at least $50 (closer to $70 if new).
USE WITH P90X - I originally did P90X with dumbbells. I had three different dumbbells, which just isn't enough for the variety of exercises used in that program. If money and space is no object, I would recommend a full dumbbell set over these, as dumbbells are better for the exercises. But for most people that just isn't practical. I hate pulling out and storing even three sets of dumbbells every other day to workout. The SelectTechs look so good that I just leave them in my den year round.
The main advantages the SelectTechs have with P90X is the ability to select smaller weight increment, and being able to make weight changes quickly. Before these I owned a set of 10s, 15s, and 25s, which isn't enough variety. Going up from 15 to 25 on bicep curls is a very big jump for me was too light, 25 was too heavy, and my form was terrible because I was struggling with the weight. With the SelectTechs, I could go to 17.5, then 20, then 22.5, then finally to 25. being able to go from 10lbs to 12.5 on tricep exercises, rather than 10lbs to 15 helps significantly. The other advantage is to quickly change weight increments. With P90X, you have about 15-30 seconds to set up for the next exercise. 5-10 seconds is all the time I needed to change the four dials on the SelectTechs and get a new weight.
CONS - The real problem with these weights is the length. I had no real problem with the width, which is very manageable, but the dumbbells are 16" long. This can cause a problem with some of the P90X exercises. There are maybe 7-8 exercises during the entire program that are awkward to do because of the length of the dumbbells. There are about 2-3 exercises that are very awkward to do (to the point that I actually switch to my dumbbells for these). Congdon Curls and Flip Grip Twist Kickback (tricep exercise) are two that I can think of off-hand that are difficult to do. You can ultimately make it work, but it's going to feel a little funny as you try to hold the weights out far enough to clear each other or your chest. This isn't enough of an issue that it would discourage me from buying them again.
I originally debated between getting these and the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 Single Dumbbell, since I was worried 52.5 pounds wouldn't be enough. Even though there are a few exercises where you could eventually need more than 52.5 pounds (heavy pants and lawnmowers come to mind), I really think this is enough weight for 90% of the people who will be doing P90X. And as Tony says, if you don't have heavy enough weight, you can always add reps. I would not buy the 1090s (which go up to 90 lbs) for P90X because I think the length of those, which is even bigger than the 552s), would just be too unwieldy for many of the exercises.
The SelectTechs did come with a short DVD that shows you some workouts specifically designed for these dumbbells and how to use them. I did find this beneficial since it gave me some tips that I didn't know about lifting. Optionally, I bought the Bowflex SelectTech 552 / 1090 Dumbbell Stand to use with these. It looks great, but I'm not sure I would buy it again. If you don't care about looks, the box the SelectTechs are shipped in makes a great stand on it's own and is very sturdy.
Huge and awesome. December 3, 2008
J. Reynolds (Portland, OR USA)
44 out of 47 found this review helpful
I just got them, and my first impression upon getting them out of the (decidedly ample) packaging was "wow, these things are MASSIVE." They really are huge, in a way you may have to see to really appreciate; they're around 16.5 inches long and they're about 8.5 inches wide at the largest plate, and will have a pretty commanding presence in whatever room you keep them. That being said, they space they take up is relatively minor compared to an actual set with this range of weight, and it's really nice not having to stack plates or slide weight awkwardly on and off of traditional adjustable dumbbells (anyone who's done it knows what I mean).
My second thought was that I was surprised how well-designed they actually are. These guys look and feel like a pretty stunning example of modern industrial design; sleek and slick despite their size, you will likely not mind that they get looks. I've not seen previous models, but these are really a pretty space-age feeling package, especially once you turn the rubberized dials to your desired setting and lift the bells out, exposing all manner of intricate and refined-looking innards between plates that were not chosen. I really can't say enough about how nice these things are to look at (but i am a design geek, you may not be so impressed or really even care at all).
In use, they are almost as nice - dials turn with a satisfying click, they lift out of their stands smoothly and cleanly, and there is very little wobble or jingling between the plates (definitely not enough to leave me worried at any time that something is going to go wrong). The overall size of them doesn't actually feel like it reduces my range of motion, but it is something I'm always aware of while lifting, so we'll see how that works out. They slide back onto their stands without problem, and there's no awkwardness in setting them down - no waiting for a click, or shifting them to find their intended resting spot. They're then ready to have their weights reset, and you're off doing another exercise in a few seconds.
Overall, they were expensive but I feel like I got what I paid for. Recommended.
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