Slater stone mold vs echo slam balls

This is a comparison between the Slater stone mold and the Rogue echo slam balls including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. 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 Slater stone mold

This is an overview of the Slater stone mold including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the slater stone mold

Price: $50 - $220

The Slater stone molds are one of the products that Steve Slater promotes together with Rogue. The strongman bags are other products aimed at Strongman that he also showcases on Rogue’s website. The Slater molds range from 23lb to 536lb in various sizes and start at $50. The full specifications are:

Made in the USA
Designed and Produced by Steve Slater at Slater Hardware in Lancaster, OH (founded 1946)
Durable plastic construction, lightweight and portable
Build up to 50 or more Atlas Stones off one mold
10 different size options (8" to 24" diameter, resulting in stone weight of 23LB to 586LB)
Consistently clean, seam-free stones when preparation directions are followed
Molds have produced stones for many record-breaking performances at the highest levels of strongman competition

These are good, easy to transport molds to make your atlas stones wherever you need them, rather than transporting them.

Pros of the slater stone mold

The pros of the slater stone mold are

Price
See-through
Durable

The slater stone molds produce up to 50 stones from each mold, if treated with care. Compared to their main competitors from hybrid they are also cheaper. Also, you can see inside them while you are making the atlas stone, which makes the process a little easier.

Cons of the slater stone mold

The cons of the slater stone mold are:

Fiddly
No matching funnel
Not sold in sets

Apart from that, you will feel more comfortable with making atlas stones when you already know how to handle cement the slater stone molds are a little more tricks to handle than their hybrid competitors. They come with a little wooden peg to get them apart and with no funnel. The takes a little more finesse to make a stone than with the hybrid molds. Another bummer is that you can not just get a whole set of them in one purchase. You will have to get all of the different molds into your cart with no inbuilt discount.

Alternatives to the slater stone mold

Alternatives to the slater stone mold are:

The hybrid mold is the direct competitor of the slater mold to make atlas stones from Cement. While the hybrid mold is not see-through and a little more expensive, it is more user friendly for beginners. You can buy an extra funnel for the cement and when the stone is hardened you can pry the mold apart on the rim that goes around the mold. With the latter, you can not pry apart, but have to go around with the tapping stick.

The rogue strongman sandbags are the option if you do not want to work with cement at all. They come in sizes from 100lb to 400lb when filled with play sand. Other options are crumb rubber or lead shot. The strongman sandbags leave you with more weight options and can be stored and transported easily when emptied. The only downside of them is that they are a lot more forgiving on the user for grip strength as they do tend to give in more. Therefore they are not a true representation of what awaits you in a strongman contest.

The MK d balls are a heavy version of slam balls that go up to 150lb. This is a good option if you want the diameter of the ball you are working with to stay the same, but the weight to get heavier. These can also be used for slams without destroying the floor. The downside is that you will only get one for your purchase while the slater molds can be reused many times over.

Conclusion for the slater stone mold

The slater stone mold is a great option to make stones of all sizes. The instructional videos are also easy to follow and get yuh there. The only downsides of these molds are that they are a little messier than the hybrid molds as they do not provide a funnel and can not be compressed as much.