As others have mentioned, these are shipped in three boxes of weights at 50# each, and one narrow box that holds the stand. In my case, while extremely heavy duty boxes were used, and well taped, one of the boxes was sliced open and minor damage to rubber ends of DBs in that box occurred. Looks like it was slid over something which cut it through.
In any event, 2×5, 2×10, 2×15, 2×20, 2×25# DBs are included, making this an excellent "base" set. Handles are knurled and as expected in diameter and abrasiveness. No gloves required, but your mileage may vary.
Is there a smell? seems to be the burning question. Of course they have a smell. They were just born of chemicals. They smell like what they are: rubber. So if you have ever had a new bike tire in your house, that is the smell, multiplied by a few pairs. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, and I was able to start using right away. I cannot relate at all to folks who seemed like they were going to swoon after opening the boxes.
NOTE: I "washed" these with dish soap and water before using because they are covered in manufacturing residual dust etc. and will make your hands filthy otherwise. Mine did *not* have any kind of oily residues, as others have mentioned; again, just new tire smell, which for me is not obnoxious. But hey- some people think cilantro tastes terrible, so there is no accounting for taste.
NOTE #2: Unlike the way Amazon's own brand and some other DBs I have purchased are wrapped, these were just loose in the box. No Styrofoam, no placement in a baggie, nada. Just in the box. So they are not going to be 100% brand new and flawless looking when you take them out. Get over it. They're dumbbells. They'll look like that in a couple months of workouts anyway. Also, because there is no protection, be judicious in opening the boxes. Just slice around the tape so you are not gouging a chunk out of your new best friends.
I got these for basically a buck a pound, which is what weights were before Covid, and what they should be anyway, and held off on buying them until I hit the sale amount. Having said that, they would still be worth it for the $200 amount too, of course, just slightly less of a bargain.
As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the A-frame is easy to put together, but will take your fingers off if you are not watching what you are doing when replacing the weights onto the rack, something which was also true at many gyms I have used and is a bug and not a feature of this style of rack.
Definitely recommend, and would purchase again. Plan on augmenting with additional weights and eventually using a horizontal rack for all of them, but this was a steal– and delivered on top of it.
I am keeping the boxes. These are some of the heaviest duty boxes I have had sent to me. You should keep them until your return date is over anyway, in the event something untoward happens and they need to go back.
