Rogue Froning medicine ball vs Echo slam balls

This is a comparison of the Rogue Rich Froning medicine ball and the Rogue Echo slam balls including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Echo slam balls

This is an overview of the Rogue Echo slam balls including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the Rogue Echo Slam balls

Price: $35 - $109

The Rogue echo slam balls have been specifically designed to take a lot of abuse for being thrown on the ground. Regular medicine balls can often come apart at the seams when thrown on the ground too often. The Echo Slam balls fix this problem by being robust and providing a dead bounce. They are also cheaper than regular medicine balls. The full specifications of the Rogue Echo Slam balls are:

Sold Individually
Weight Options: 10 LB, 15 LB, 20 LB, 25 LB, 30 LB, 35 LB, 40 LB, 45 LB, 50 LB
Grip-friendly, rubberized exterior shell
Diameter: 9" (10LB - 30LB balls), 10" (35LB - 50LB balls)
Color: Red with LB and Rogue logo in White
2 Year Warranty*

These are great for most WODs and save you some hassle compared to regular medicine balls.

Pros of the Rogue echo slam balls

Pros of the Rogue echo slam balls are:

Price
Dead bounce
Stability

This is a workhorse of a medicine ball that gives some of the most pounds per dollar in the Rogue medicine ball line up. You can abuse the heck out of it and still comes back for more.

Cons of the Rogue Echo Slam ball

The cons of the Rogue Echo slam ball are:

Limited choice of color
Not great for throwing

You have to like red to like these balls. If you want more color in your life you might have to opt for other options from Rogue. They are also not great for partner throws because of the dead bounce.

Alternatives to the Rogue Echo Slam ball

Alternatives to the Rogue echo slam ball are:

The D-Ball medicine ball comes in black and has a bit more grip to get it off the floor. If you intend to do heavy medicine ball lifts to shoulder, rather than mainly slamming the medicine ball, than the D-Balls are the better option for you.

If you are looking into something with a little extra weight to throw and catch then the rubber medicine balls might be the better option than the Rogue echo slam balls. These are low cost and have no dead bounce.

Conclusion for the Rogue echo slam balls

The Rogue echo slam balls are a great low-cost option to go heavy on slams. In most cases, they might even be a better buy for a home gym owner than a regular medicine ball.

Overview and review of the Rogue Froning medicine ball

This is an overview of the Rogue Froning medicine ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of Rogue Froning Series medicine ball

Price: $110

The Rich Froning series medball is an interpretation of the Rogue Standard medicine balls in Black and red. It is only available in 20lbs and comes with the same specs as the standard black balls from Rogue. These are a nice addition to your gym if you want to tip your hatto the CrossFit legend or just like the colors red and black. The specifications of this medicine ball are:

Part of the Rich Froning Signature Series
Made in Columbus, Ohio
Weight: 20LB
Diameter: 14”
Coated Vinyl Shell – moisture and scuff resistant
Soft Shell safe to use at high speeds, but strong enough to maintain stable shape
Double-stitched paracord threading on seams
Color: Red with Black and White Branding (Rogue and Froning logos)

A nice Christmas present for anyone who already owns a home gym and no medicine balls.

Pros of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The pros of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Red and black color scheme instead of black
Double-stitched

This is a nice little customization on the standard medicine ball to get a pop of color into your gym. The standard Rogue medicine balls only come in black. That is not for everyone, especially if it is off-brand for your gym or the color scheme in your home gym.

Cons of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The cons of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Only available as 20LB
Higher cost than standard ball

These balls are $5 dearer than the standard ball of the same size. This can make a difference if you are trying to outfit multiple gyms and buy somewhere between 20 - 100 medicine balls. For your home gym, it will probably be more a question of personal taste rather than pricing.

Alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball

The alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball are:

The standard for most CrossFit WODs for males is a 20lb medicine ball. For females, this drops to 14lb. If you like the color blue and want to equip yourself with an inspiring medicine ball you can get the Camille Le blanc version of the medicine ball which comes in 14 lb instead of the 20lb the Froning version has.

Dynamax is the market leader in the US for medicine balls. While Rogue at first resold these medicine balls they went on to produce their own brand to maximize profit margins on low price tag equipment produced in masses. There is not a big difference between the two. Still, if pressed, I would always go for the product that is core for the company. The core competency of Rogue is to work with Steel to build first-class racks and barbells. Dynamax focuses on perfecting the stitch on their medicine balls.

The standard Rogue medicine ball is a good alternative to Dynamax if you want to buy a lot of medicine balls and do not care that much about the design. If you like black, you can save some money on bulk buy compared to Dynamax balls the same size.

Slam balls are a great, cheap alternative to medicine balls. If your medicine balls are used 90% of the time to be thrown on the ground, save yourself some money and yourself/or clients some injuries. These balls are cheaper to make and do not bounce back from the floor to hit you in the face. If your training is more about throwing against walls or to each other, stick with the classic medicine ball.

Conclusion for the Rich Froning medicine ball

This is the right medicine ball for the dedicated CrossFit individual with great ambitions or the one's around him who want to give something nice. Anyone who buy in bulk is probably better off to either trade up in quality by buying Dynamax or compromising in price and getting a lot of Rogue standard medicine balls.