REP fitness sports plates vs Urethane Coated Equalizer plates

This is a comparison between the REP fitness sports plates and the REP fitness Urethane coated equalizer plates. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the REP fitness Urethane coated Equalizer plates

This is an overview of the REP fitness Urethane coated equalizer plates including pros, cons, and alternatives. The original was published under which plates to buy from rep fitness. Follow the links for more details.

Rep Urethane Coated Equalizers $15

The REP Urethane coated Equalizer plates are a great way on how REP fitness thought about innovation in the fitness space and applied to their product line to make something that saves cost while still being durable. Urethane plates are said to be one of the most durable plates you can have for a gym. The problem is that it is costly to produce dumbbells or plates completely made of Urethane. So rep took their successful equalizer plate design and applied a Urethane coat to them. What you get is a very affordable, cool-looking plate for your home gym or for commercial use that is also durable. The full specifications of these plates are:

Six (6) precision-cut holes so athletes can move these plates comfortably from any angle.
Cast iron plates are coated in a commercial-grade ultra-durable CPU urethane that is highly impact-resistant and shock absorbent.
CPU Urethane has virtually no odor.
Attractive embossed logo and weight markings with white inlay.
Grip cutouts for easy handling.
3% weight tolerance.

Plate Dimensions (width/diameter)

2.5LB: 6.25” / 0.9"
5LB: 8” / 1”
10LB: 9” / 1.4"
25LB: 12” / 2"
35LB: 14” / 2"
45LB: 17.6” total diameter / 1.8" thickness

These plates are great for commercial use as they are easy to pick up from the floor and handled all kinds of exercises. If I owned my own gym for clients instead of a home gym, I would probably get these plates.

Pros of the Rep Urethane Coated Equalizers

The pros of the Urethane Coated Equalizers are:

Easy to handle
Forgiving
Cool design
Attractive price

These plates live up to the "better, faster, cheaper" credo that often cited in business to create a better solution. These plates are easy to put away, pick up from the ground, and load onto the barbell based on their six holes. The design also makes them look cool as the holes are not round but hexagonal.

The Urethane coating makes them more forgiving than regular iron plates so you will not have sharp edges or rubbing off other equipment in your gym. All of this at a very attractive price point makes this a serious contender, especially for commercial use.

Cons of the Rep Urethane Coated Equalizers

The cons of the REP Urethane Coated Equalizers:

Iron plates inside
The Integrity of the plates comprmised
No color options

I personally think these are a lot better than the regular Equlizer plates and absolutely worth the extra money compared to these. But you still have to keep in mind that you are buying an iron plate with a Urethane coating, not a Urethane bumper. This means that these plates will take a bigger toll on your floor and equipment when dropped from overhead than an actual Urethane or bumper plate. Don't believe that this behaves just like a bumper for your lifts. It behaves like an Iron plate with a bit of cushioning. If you ever have used an Iron kettlebell with plastic coating you get what I mean.

While the holes are great for moving the plates around, the integrity of these plates is compromised. They are more likely to crack or warp under heavy use than plates that have a full disc. In a mass use scenario where you have spare plates and can have a rollover contingency for a franchise that does not matter that much, but for your home gym it does matter when one or two of your 55s crack and you are short for your heavy cycles.

Compared to other bumper plates you have no color options on the equalizers. If you wanted to get black anyway, no harm done.

Alternatives to the Rep Urethane Coated Equalizers

Alternatives to the REP Urethane coated equalizers:

REP equalizer plates
REP rubber coated Olympic plates
REP HI temp bumper plates
Rogue 6 shooter plates
Rogue HI temp plates
TITAN bumper plates

The REP equalizer plates are an alternative to save a little money for more or less the same thing. Especially if you are not intending to use the plates for Russian twists or other exercises where you hold the plates you might as well go for the non-coated option and get some spare change to buy something else.

The Rep rubber-coated Olympic plates are an even more budget optimized option out of the REP plate lineup. You can also carry these around very easily and they do the trick of providing weight to your barbell. I personally don't like their design and would rather buy the Coated Equalizers. But that's just me.

The REP HI Temp bumper plates are in my opinion the better option for someone who is intending to do a lot of CrossFit or Olympic lifting at home but is on a tight budget. For this type of training, you need on average less weight on the bar than for powerlifting so the thickness of the plates does not matter as much. What does matter is the damage to your equipment and floor when dropping weights from overhead which will be considerably less with the bumpers than with the equalizers. Yes, the rubber coating does help, but you are still dropping plates with a metal core from overhead.

The Rogue 6 Shooter plates are in my opinion the right plates for someone who mainly does powerlifting at home, but is fed up with how hard iron plates are to handle. These will be easier on your back and you will be delighted that it has become a lot easier to load and deload your barbell with those 700 pounds you pull in meet preparation. They also make that nice rattling metal sound that anyone who can lift more than three wheels for reps loves. They are not great for commercial use as they are simple iron plates with holes in them. For that scenario, the urethane-coated equalizers are still better.

Rogue HI temp bumpers are an alternative to consider to the REP HI Temp bumpers if you are mainly into oly lifting. Stay away from the equalizers if you are intending to drop your plates from overhead often and compare the low-end bumper options for your need between different vendors.

TITAN is the friend of everyone who wants to make their home gym dollar stretch as far as possible. As long as you do not mind minor quality issues and know how to assemble things without instructions or sand down / widen some drilled holes, TITAN is your best option to get the most home gym for your buck.

Conclusion for the Rep Urethane Coated Equalizers

The REP Urethane Coated Equalizers are from my perspective some of the best plates in the market for commercial use. They look good, are practical, do not cost a lot and will not be wrecked by the average joe in your gym. You also can get quite a lot of them on a plate tree which is also important for commercial use. If your clientele is heavily into Oly lifting you might get real bumpers instead. For a home gym, I also think that they are nice, but I would lean to more upmarket plates or something really cheap like simple iron plates in this scenario.

Overview and review of the REP fitness sports plates

This is an overview of the REP fitness sports plates including pros, cons, and alternatives. The original was published under which plates to buy from rep fitness. Follow the links for more details.

Sport plates $69

The REP sport plates fill the gap between competition plates and bumper plates by being super durable, forgiving when you use them outside, and still being decent when dropped from overhead. The only two negatives about these plates are price and how they travel during an Olympic lift. The full specifications of these plates are:

Ultra-durable. Seriously.
Textured rubber around the outer edge for easy handling.
Low bounce.
Great for commercial use.
Up to 10% quieter than standard black bumpers when dropped from overhead.

If you are intending to outfit a boutique gym and want to impress your clients without getting competition plates, then these are the ones. For a home gym, I would be a bit more specific about what you mostly do what your plates and make my investment from there.

Pros of the REP Sport plates

The pros of the rep sport plates are:

Rubber plates with a competition design
Color-coded plates
Durable
Price compared to competition plates

These rubber plates have been done from a mold that emulates the shape and feel of competition bumper plates. The only big difference is that there is no metal disc in the middle. This makes them easier to ease outdoors and more forgiving when used for anything else than Olympic lifts.

Compared to regular bumpers these plates are also color-coded. This looks cooler and also has some practical value to keep the plates apart when you are training.

As these plates are full rubber they really can take a punch. If you are expecting these plates to be maltreated a lot, then go for these instead of regular bumpers.

The price on these plates compared to competition plates is about half. If you rebuilding a home gym that trains everything under the sun give these plates a serious look before you buy competition bumpers or regular bumpers.

Cons of the REP Sport plates

The cons of the REP sports plates are:

Not IWF certified
Lifting dynamic on Oly lifts
Price compared to regular bumper or Iron plates
Bar space

These plates are not IWF certified and hit differently for Olympic lifts than competition plates. When you clean or snatch these pates there just a little different from how they fight gravity compared to competition plates. This is minimal, but minimal counts if you are an elite Olympic lifter. Still, that does not apply to most of the population out there.

Compared to regular bumper plates and iron plates these are still a lot more expensive. So ask yourself if you really really need plates with a low bounce and 10% less sound when dropped. 10% less sound still means loud enough to wake the kids and annoy the neighbors without a drop pad. If you get a drop pad, why get the sports plates? If you don't lift overhead, why not just get iron plates?

Compared to iron plates these plates take up more space on the bar. If you lift more than 5 plates on each side on a regular basis this becomes and you should opt for iron plates. Again the exception, rather than the norm.

Alternatives to the REP Sport plates

Alternatives to the REP fitness sports plates are:

If you want to stay with REP seriously ask yourself what you use your plates for. Chances are high that you should get bumpers or Iron plates instead based on your use case. The only exception is a boutique or strength gym that charges a high membership. This is the plate to get to keep clients happy without breaking the bank.

If you would like black plates with color coding and a metal insert, then the Rogue black training plates are for you. I have these plates myself as they were the only ones available when I started my Rogue-themed gym and they were a bit of an indulgence. But I train 5 times a week, run a fitness blog, and try to impress people on my social media channels. Unless you don't care that much about the money they are not really for the average joe. If you want to indulge yourself as a personal lifter, have a look at the mechanized Rogue iron plates.

TITAN also offers competition plates iron plates and bumper plates. TITAN is cheap and has more quality issues compared to Rogue and REP based on my research. I personally think TITAN has to be seen as an "I want the best package deal on my home gym" approach.

Conclusion for the REP Sport plates

The REP sport plates are a great option for the boutique gym that wants to tell their clients "this is why you train here and not around the corner". A dedicated all-around athlete at home will also appreciate the money saved compared to competition plates and not feeling cheap for getting regular bumpers. IN most cases Iron plates or bumper plates are the better choices based on what you are using them for to save money for things like kettlebells, a nice barbell, or an adjustable bench on your cart.