Fitness Gear 45 lb Olympic Cast Plate Review

Pros

Consistent dimensions between plates
Budget-friendly, at about $1/lb

Cons

All the weights ran heavier than stated, averaging at 45.7lbs
At 15.75 inches in diameter, they’re smaller then standard 17.75 inch diameter plates for deadlifts

The Bottom Line

The Fitness Gear 45 lb plates are a great value, at $1/lb. They are good for squats and general lifts (despite being heavier than stated), but they’re a bit too small in diameter for deadlifting.

Our Rating:

Buy for $45 from DicksSportingGoods.com

Shipping and Packaging

We purchased four Fitness Gear 45 lbs plates (for 180 lbs total), to see how they stack up.

The weights were shipped in flimsy cardboard packed with paper, and wrapped with packing tape. The boxes were pretty beat up when they arrived. One set of weights was double-boxed, but the other set was not, so there wasn’t any consistency to how they were packed. There was some minor scuffing / chipping on the edges of the plates, but no major issues. The packaging could be better, but we weren’t too concerned as plates are pretty durable.

The packaging the plates came in was flimsy – but it worked.

Weight

All the weights ran heavier than stated, measuring in at 45.26, 45.53, 45.98, and 46.01 lbs. Or 45.7 with a standard deviation of 0.3 lbs. Many of the more expensive manufacturers claim to be within ± 2% of 45lbs, which would be 44.1 to 45.9lbs. Two of the Fitness Gear plates are outside this range, but none of them deviate too far, with only 0.75lbs separating the lightest and heaviest. This is acceptable, especially given their price.

Size

The diameter of each of the four plates was 15.75″, which is smaller than the 17.75″ used for deadlifts in Olympic lifting. The diameter of the center holes was 2.08″ across all four plates, as well. This is a good size for most Olympic barbells. At their thickest point, there was a slight variation in size, with the plates ranging from 1.66-1.69″ in thickness.

The center hole measured 2.08 inches across all four plates.

The plates have a nice coating and there are no sharp edges on any of the handles.

Overall, these are good budget plates for everything except deadlifts (or other floor-based lifts).