REP fitness Urethane coated Equalizer plates vs Rogue machined plates

This is a comparison between the REP fitness Urethane coated Equalizer plates and the Rogue machined plates. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Machined Olympic plates

The Rogue machined olympic plates will set you back about $582 dollars or $5.24 dollars per kg. These plates are especially good to use for home gyms who want some extra precision. This overview has originally been published in the article "Which rogue plates to buy" which you can find on this blog.

Most popular Rogue plates

This is an overview of the most popular Rogue plates on Marathon-Crossfit.com in 2020 based on views and click thoughs for purchase on Rogue Fitness. If you want more detail on how the data was collected and what the strengths and shortcomings of the data set are you can dig deeper on what were the most popular rogue products in 2020.

These were the most popular rogue plates on Marathon-Crossfit.com. On the plates, I would caution between overall popularity and the popularity of my site. The plates listed below are more niche than the Rogue bumpers, the calibrated steel plates, and competition bumpers. If you want a safe bet for your use case these three might be better, as more people buy them.

The Fleck plates are a variation on the Rogue bumper plates which have been infused with red, blue, yellow, and green to indicate the weight of the plates. The splash of color also makes them more fun compared to the regular bumpers. If you find the rogue bumpers too bland but also do not want to shell out more than $1000 on calibrated steel plates or competition bumpers to get color coding then the Fleck plates are for you. You can read the full review of the Fleck plates via this link.

The Rogue Urethane plates are color-coded and also claim the best durability in the Rogue plate portfolio. Whether that warrants the high price tag compared to regular bumpers is a question you have to answer for yourself, but I personally don’t think so. If you want to spend more money on plates, spend it on precision rather than durability in my personal opinion within the Rogue portfolio. Rogue equipment is known to be more durable than the competition so I would not put too much focus on this unless you run an Olympic training center where the plates will go through hundreds of heavy drops per day. You can read the full review of the Rogue Urethane plates here.

The Rogue black training plates have the best dead drop in the Rogue portfolio which means they bounce the least when dropped from overhead. These are the plates which I use most often as I like the design because black does not show marks as easily as other plates. You can read my full review of the Rogue black training plates via this link.

The 6 shooter plates from Rogue are often overlooked as a good option for commercial gyms. They are relatively cheap compared to other Rogue plates and easier to handle in a gym setting where you have a lot of them flying about. The downside is that you can not use them for overhead drops as this will wreck the plates, floor, and barbell in the process. You can read the full review of the rogue 6 shooter plates via this link.

Overview of the Rogue Machined Olympic plates

These plates are Rogue take on the standard metal plate. They have come up with a great design which combines grey hammertone with black writing. Many lifters love the sound of multiple metal plates clanging together when they post a new pr. These plates are made to precision with a 2 to 3% tolerance which sets them apart from the rest of the industry. These are the type of plates which a no-nonsense dungeon gym will hold. You get quite a lot of weight for your dollar with these ones.

Weight / Diameter / Thickness / Price per pair

45LB / 448mm / 1.50'' / $160

35LB/ 360mm / 1.50'' / $128

25LB / 300mm / 1.50'' / $ 105

10LB / 228mm / 1.22'' / $48.50

5LB / 195mm / 0.83'' / $32

2.5LB / 162mm / 0.63'' / $23

Available sets

245LB one pair each size $582

Pros of the Rogue Machined Olympic plates

The biggest pros are the price and machine precision. Compared to the calibrated steel plates and high-end bumpers you get the same amount of weight for roughly half the price. Metal also feels different when you move it around. It makes more noise and just feels rawer. You will also be able to fit more weight onto your barbell.

Cons of the Rogue Machined Olympic plates

These plates have no color coding and you can not always be sure what you put on the bar. This makes it more likely to misload a lift. If you do not have a platform these plates are also a lot more likely to eat into your floor on deadlifts than bumpers. They will also not sustain constant dropping of the weight from overhead. Especially your barbell will suffer and deform quickly if you use them for Olympic lifts. In addition, they will also not age well in damp places as they will oxidate.

Alternatives to the Rogue Machined Olympic plates

Alternatives to the Rogue Machined plates are:

If you still want that metal feel, can tolerate a bit more variance on the finish and prefer black, the Rogue Olympic plates might be for you. They will also come in at an even lower price point.

Bumper plates are the alternative for the home gym warrior who wants to protect their floor and lift overhead. You will fit less weight on the barbell, but you can train without a platform without wrecking the floor.

The calibrated steel plates come with color coding and are IPF approved. If you want to prepare for your next powerlifting meet and train like the pros, this is the option for you.

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.