Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Review (2024): Top Contender for Best Budget Dumbbell?

If you’re looking to start a home gym, outfitting a garage with gym equipment can be a daunting task, but your first step can just be a purchase of a versatile piece of gym equipment.

RELATED: Best Home Gym Machines

Take the best adjustable dumbbells, for example. GGR founder Coop Mitchell began his journey into garage gyms with a pair of PowerBlock dumbbells off of Craigslist. With dumbbells being a versatile piece of gym equipment, they’re a great first purchase; plus, adjustable dumbbells are space-saving, replacing several sets of fixed dumbbells with just the space of one dumbbell pair.

When it comes to a budget-friendly pair of adjustable dumbbells, there are quite a few options from NordicTrack, Bowflex, and Titan Fitness. How do the Core Home Fitness dumbbells compare to these top brands, though? We took them through our testing method and compiled our thoughts in our Core Home Fitness adjustable dumbbells review. Read on to see if this set is the best for your home gym.

We’ve Tried Virtually Every Pair of Adjustable Dumbbells

As Coop likes to say, we’ve tried and tested out virtually every pair of adjustable and traditional dumbbells—over 40 sets of the best dumbbells. We’re constantly scouring the dumbbell market to provide you with honest reviews of new and top brands.

Our team of testers consists of certified personal trainers, coaches, and competitive athletes, so you can trust our expertise in the field of fitness. We live and breathe this stuff. For the Core Home Fitness adjustable dumbbells, GGR Everything lead reviewer Lindsay Scheele tested them out, noting aspects of:

• Durability and construction
• The dumbbell handle
• Aesthetics
• The dumbbell in use

In addition, we did our due diligence to see how the buying experience was, from ordering and delivery to customer service.

Core Home Fitness Dumbbells

Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells and Stand

GGR Score: 4

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Product Highlights

• Adjustable dumbbells ranging from 5 to 50 lbs
• Dumbbell stand and cradles included
• 5-lb increments
• Dumbbell dimensions of 14.5” L x 7.9” W x 7.5” H
• Stand with dumbbells dimensions of 22” L x 33.5” W x 31.9” H

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Low starting weight
• Replaces 10 pairs of dumbbells
• Dumbbell stand and cradles included
• Quick change handle

Cons

• Low maximum weight
• No smaller increments at lighter weights

Bottom Line

The Core Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells and Stand come with two adjustable dumbbells, ranging from 5 pounds to 50 pounds. The set includes cradles and a stand that allows for quick changes without setting the weights onto the floor. Weights can be adjusted in 5-pound increments with a quick turn of the twist handle, making them ideal for metcons and workouts requiring quick adjustments in the middle of the workout.

Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Video Review

A Quick Look at the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells

Founded in 2016, Core Home Fitness is a sister company to Core Health and Fitness, which has designed and distributed fitness products since the early 1990s: selling brands like StairMaster, Schwinn, Nautilus, and more.

Core Home Fitness has the goal of providing innovative fitness equipment to supplement home workouts for those with a demanding life. The Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set is built with this in mind. The dumbbells go from 5 to 50 pounds and increase in 5-pound increments, which is enough weight for a good amount of people.

Instead of a knob adjustment, the dumbbells have a twist lock technology in the handle, allowing weight adjustments to be made with a twist of the handle. This allows for quick weight changes, and quick home workouts in between the busyness outside the home gym.

Before You Buy

• The ergonomic handle is contoured and textured with a soft grip, although it wasn’t our favorite in testing. More on that in a bit.
• The adjustable dumbbells are budget-priced at $369, but if you’re thinking of a dumbbell stand to go with the weight set, the dumbbells are sold with a stand for only $439, which isn’t a bad deal at all.
• The maximum weight for these dumbbells is 50 pounds. There’s no chance to expand on the weight, aside from adding magnetic weight plates to the ends. Although the budget-friendly price is tempting, if you’re wanting a heavier amount of weight, you might want to look elsewhere.

Are the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Worth It?

Well, unless you can wait for Amazon Prime Day fitness deals on a more expensive pair of dumbbells, the Core Home Fitness dumbbells are worth the cost, with a few exceptions for some people.

The Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells are made to be budget-priced, and certainly fit that mark. When compared to other budget-friendly sets of adjustable dumbbells, it’s one of the more competitively priced sets at $369. One of the most popular budget dumbbells, the Bowflex SelectTech 552 adjustable dumbbells, are priced at about $430, although they go up to 52 pounds. I wouldn’t say the 2-pound difference is enough to justify the price difference, though.

Another budget dumbbell is the NordicTrack Select-A-Weight dumbbells, which is comparable to Core Home Fitness in weight and price. On Amazon, you can find the NordicTrack dumbbells for $350 and reaching a maximum of 55 pounds, making them one of the best deals on budget dumbbells. Still, there are a few perks that may make you pick Core Home Fitness over NordicTrack.

For one, quick weight changes can be made with a twist of the handle; for the NordicTrack you have four pins that have to be adjusted for a single dumbbell, meaning the adjustment mechanism is a bit slower. The weight selection is much faster on the Core Home Fitness dumbbells, which might be worth the extra $20.

As far as weight options go, the Core Home Fitness has no ability for expansion; 50 pounds is the max weight. If you want a dumbbell that can grow with you, you may want to consider the PowerBlock Pro 100 EXP dumbbells. Furthermore, if you’re looking for a heavier dumbbell for your strength training, you may consider NÜOBELL adjustable dumbbells, capable of going to 80 pounds.

Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Specs

Using the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells 

The Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells performed well in our testing, and GGR lead reviewer Lindsay Scheele rated the dumbbells a 4.5 out of 5 while in use. The dumbbells feel mostly balanced in all exercises we performed, as the weight plates are circular and the weight is distributed to the dumbbell heads on either side, like a traditional dumbbell. We performed presses, dumbbell deadlifts, goblet squats, lunges, biceps curls, and rows with the dumbbells.

The dumbbells are made with a mostly flat head at each weight increment, which makes for a comfortable feel of the dumbbells, especially when the weight is resting on the hips before a set of bench press. The twist-lock handle helps quick changes in the weight cradles between exercises and sets, giving them exceptional ease of use. “The dumbbells also click when they hit the weight you want, which is just really satisfying,” Lindsay adds.

The range of weight, between 5 and 50 pounds, will suit most people’s needs, leading Lindsay to rate the optionality a 4.5 out of 5. She adds, “Having the dumbbells with a starting weight of 5 pounds is great for those doing any sort of pre-hab work or accessory work.” It’d be nice if there were smaller weight increments at lighter weights, but it’s not going to be an issue for most.

Durability & Construction

The durability of the Core Home Fitness dumbbells is one place of concern. The materials used are plastic, composite, and aluminum. The website doesn’t add much information either, just saying that it has a “durable coating.” 

The dumbbells have been out for a bit now, and many customers say that the dumbbells have been durable for them, but they’re not the most durable-looking pair of dumbbells we’ve seen, leading us to rate the durability a 3.5 out of 5. Lindsay adds, “The amount of plastic parts worries me. I wouldn’t want to drop these dumbbells on any hard surface.”

Although, as a brief reminder, it’s a good rule of thumb to never drop your adjustable dumbbells if you want to make sure they last.

Footprint

Like most adjustable dumbbells, you’re saving a lot of space in your garage gym by replacing multiple sets of dumbbells with just one pair. With the Core Home Fitness dumbbells, you’re replacing 10 pairs of dumbbells—which isn’t the most we’ve seen, but it still covers a good range of weights, leading us to rate the weight sizing a 4 out of 5.

These are pretty compact dumbbells, with the maximum length being 14.5 inches at 50 pounds, whereas other dumbbells can be longer at similar weights (cough, Bowflex, cough). You will have to have space for the weight cradles. If you decide to put the dumbbell stand with the dumbbells as well, you’ll need a space 22 inches long and 33.5 inches wide to place the stand at.

RELATED: Best Compact Exercise Equipment

The Handle

We might be dumbbell handle snobs here at GGR, but for good reason. While using dumbbells, your grip is one of the most important aspects while in use. You want your grip to be comfortable while not slipping.

With that said, the handle of the Core Home Fitness dumbbell was one of our least favorite features of the adjustable dumbbell, rating the handle just a 2.5 out of 5.

On the website, the handle is described as being contoured and textured with a soft grip…Lindsay simply describes it as “just plastic with no knurling.” It didn’t feel very supportive or grippy. Lindsay adds, “I’m not sure if there is an inner metal rod inside the handle, but overall not our favorite handle we’ve tested.”

Core Home Fitness Vs NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbells 

NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbells

NordicTrack 55-Pound Select-A-Weight Dumbbell Set

GGR Score: 4.1

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Product Highlights

• 15 weight options in 2.5-lb or 5-lb increments
• 10-pound knurled handlebar 
• Included storage tray
• Includes a 30-day trial to iFIT
• Compact piece of equipment with a smooth weight selection design

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Space-saving
• 15 weights in one piece of equipment
• Includes storage tray
• Moderate knurling

Cons

• Great value, but an investment
• May feel awkward when fully loaded

Bottom Line

NordicTrack’s 55-pound Select-a-Weight adjustable dumbbells are versatile and space-saving, offering users 15 different weight options in one.

One of the best pairs of dumbbells to look at and compare the Core Home Fitness dumbbells to would be another competitively priced budget pair of dumbbells: the NordicTrack Select-A-Weight Dumbbells.

There is a $20 difference between the two dumbbells—in favor of NordicTrack—and both offer free shipping. The NordicTrack dumbbells also go up to 55 pounds, which is a bit more than the Core Home Fitness dumbbells’ max weight of 50 pounds. Plus, for the knurled handle aficionados, NordicTrack has knurling (although it’s fairly passive).

Still, some features of the Core Home Fitness dumbbells might make the $20 difference worth it. The dumbbells have a smaller starting weight, for example, at 5 pounds. If you’re looking to do lighter pre-hab work, this might be a better starting weight than the NordicTrack’s starting weight of 10 pounds.

Another aspect is the quick twist-lock handle of the Core Home Fitness dumbbells. With a quick twist, you can make adjustment changes in moments. The NordicTrack dumbbells, on the other hand, have four individual selector pins—two on each side of the dumbbell—to select weights. While it’s not the slowest weight change system, it significantly is more than the Core Home Fitness’ adjustment system.

Ultimately, the big determining factor will be preference, on which feature weighs heavier on your goals—and wallet. You can read more in our NordicTrack dumbbell review.

Customer Experience 

The Core Home Fitness adjustable dumbbells are covered by a 2-year manufacturer’s warranty. Core Home FItness allows 30-day returns; however, the item must be in perfect working condition and in its original packaging, or else there will be a restocking fee added. The customer is also responsible for shipping costs. Because of the little wiggle room on returns, Lindsay gave their policies a 3.5 out of 5.

Customer service is great in our experience, however. Lindsay was able to get a reply back from contacting them within 30 minutes, giving them a 5 out of 5. They can be contacted by phone, email, or a contact form on their website.

Ordering and Assembling the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells

Lindsay gave the delivery and assembly of the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell set a 4.5 out of 5. Although the dumbbells were sent disassembled in a 100-pound box, she says, “They’re easily assembled by placing the weights together in the weight cradle with the handle.”

The dumbbell set can be ordered from the Core Home Fitness website. Financing is available through Affirm.

Customer Reviews

As of this writing, the Core Home Fitness dumbbells have a high customer rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from 63 reviews, which is a great rating (albeit it’s on their own website where reviews may be moderated). For reference, Amazon’s product page has a slightly lower rating of 4.6 stars out of 1,200 reviews, which may be a better indicator of customer satisfaction.

All reviews are pretty positive, speaking highly of the build of the dumbbells—specifically the flat dumbbell heads. Others remark that the dumbbells are durable; one customer who had an issue with the handle got a replacement part from the company easily, as well.

The most notable criticism is that the dumbbells only have a maximum weight of 50 pounds. Many customers would like to see something heavier than that, preferably around 80 pounds or so, like the Snode AD80s.

RELATED: Snode Adjustable Dumbbells Review

Final Verdict of Our Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Review

After testing out the Core Home Fitness adjustable dumbbells, Lindsay is a big fan of them as a budget adjustable dumbbell. She says, “If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on adjustable dumbbells, I would absolutely choose these. I think they feel great in use, and I love how easy it is to change the weight.”

As with other budget-priced dumbbells, the max weight might be low for some, but it’ll be enough for most. There are other competitively priced budget-friendly dumbbells available, but with the competition being similarly priced at best, we don’t think you’ll go wrong with this set of dumbbells.

Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells Rating

Overall score: 4

Core Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells FAQs

Caine Wilkes, OLY, CNC, USAW-L1

Caine Wilkes is an Olympian, placing 9th in weightlifting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A former gym owner, he also has more than 15 years of experience coaching other athletes in weightlifting, CrossFit, and functional fitness.

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