FEIERDUN Adjustable Dumbbells Review: Six Months in a Spare Bedroom

When my doctor told me at 66 that losing leg strength was the thing most likely to take my independence, I did what a lot of people do. I nodded, went home, and did nothing for a few weeks. Then I slipped on an icy porch step, spent the rest of that winter thinking about it, and finally cleared out the spare bedroom. I am Gene Holloway, 69, a retired rural mail carrier in Enid, Oklahoma, and I have been training in that room for about three years now. For the last six months, the FEIERDUN adjustable dumbbells have been the centerpiece of most of my workouts.

I did not buy them because they were fancy. I bought them because my wife Carol and I needed a set that could go from light enough for her to heavy enough for me without filling the room with iron. The FEIERDUN set promised that in one box, and after half a year of hard use, I can tell you exactly what that promise is worth.

How I've Used It

My knee has mild osteoarthritis and my lower back complains if I sit too long, so I do not chase heavy weights. I train three or four mornings a week, usually before Carol is fully awake. A typical session is goblet squats, overhead presses, rows, and some kind of carry, all with the FEIERDUN pair. Carol uses them on the days she joins me, mostly for seated bicep curls and shoulder work, and she has never once asked me to switch the weight for her.

The set I have adjusts from light settings up to 45 pounds per dumbbell, or 90 pounds total with the connector. I keep mine at a middle setting for warmups, then click it up for the working sets. The change takes about five seconds per dumbbell. That speed matters more than it sounds like it should. With fixed dumbbells, I used to skip a weight change because it meant walking to the rack, putting one pair down, and picking up another. With the FEIERDUN set, I just turn the dial and keep moving. One morning in the first week, Carol walked in with her coffee while I was switching from a light setting to my working weight. She watched me turn the dial, set the dumbbell down, and pick it up again, and she said, 'That took you longer than the squat did.' She was right, but the point is I did the whole change in place, without walking to a rack, and I did not lose the rhythm of the workout. On the days she trains with me, we use the same pair back to back. She sets hers light for curls, I set mine heavier for presses, and neither of us waits on the other. We have a rule in that room: if a piece of equipment does not get used at least twice a week, it goes to the garage. These dumbbells have never been close to the garage.

I have dropped one of them once, on the rubber mat, from about knee height. It landed on a corner and I expected the worst. There is a scuff on the handle and no other damage. The plates stayed locked in place, which was the part I was most worried about.

What the FEIERDUN Set Actually Includes

The FEIERDUN adjustable dumbbells come as a pair with a connecting bar that turns them into a makeshift barbell. I have used that bar maybe a dozen times, mostly for rows and a light bench press. It is not a real barbell and I would not pretend otherwise. The collars are plastic and I do not trust them with a heavy, fast movement. For slow, controlled work, it is fine. For anything explosive, I use the dumbbells the way they are meant to be used.

The locking mechanism is a dial on the end of each handle. You turn it to the weight you want, lift, and the plates that are not selected stay on the tray. That design is simple and it works, but it has a learning curve. For the first two weeks, I occasionally grabbed a dumbbell before the dial clicked fully into place, and one of the plates rattled. I learned to give the dial a firm turn and a quick visual check before I lift. After that, no problems.

The handles are smooth and the grip is comfortable for someone with arthritis in his hands. I have never needed gloves. The plates are covered in a coating that has not chipped or peeled, even where the dumbbells rest against each other on the tray.

The dial on the end of the handle is marked clearly, and the plates that are not selected stay on the tray while you lift. The tray is roughly the size of a large shoebox, and it is not packaging, it is part of the system. I keep it on the rubber mat with a strip of non-slip shelf liner underneath, because on bare carpet it slides a few inches with every lift. The whole pair is heavier than it looks in the product photos, which I consider a good thing. Lightweight equipment feels cheap in the hand. This feels solid, and six months of daily use has not changed that impression. I am not easy on equipment, and this has taken everything I have given it. I keep the dial set to my working weight between sessions, so the dumbbells are ready when I am. That sounds like a small convenience, but it is the reason I train on days I would otherwise skip.

Six Months of Daily Use: What Held Up and What Did Not

The honest answer is that almost everything held up. The dial still clicks cleanly. The plates still lock tightly. The coating still looks like it did the day it came out of the box. I have not noticed any wobble in the handles, and I am the kind of person who checks for wobble because I do not trust equipment that costs less than a gym membership.

The one thing I would change is the tray. The dumbbells sit in a molded plastic tray that keeps the unselected plates in place while you lift. It works, but it takes up more room than I expected, and the tray slides on the carpet unless I set it on the rubber mat. I solved that by putting a small piece of non-slip shelf liner under it. That is a cheap fix, not a design flaw.

The connecting bar is the weakest part of the kit. I do not mean that it broke. I mean that it is the part I trust the least. For a 69 year old doing light rows and presses, it is fine. If you are younger and stronger and planning to load it near the top of the weight range, I would buy a real barbell instead.

There was one morning in April when I thought something had finally broken. I set the left dumbbell down after a set of rows and heard a metallic rattle that had not been there before. I turned it over, checked the dial, and found that a small screw on the end cap had worked itself loose. I tightened it with a Phillips head screwdriver, and it has not come loose since. That is the only maintenance I have done in six months, and it took about ninety seconds. I also check the dial engagement before every heavy set now, a habit I picked up after that first week of rattles. It takes two seconds, and it has saved me from a few sloppy lifts. The drop I mentioned earlier left a scuff on the handle but nothing worse. The plates stayed locked, the coating did not chip, and the tray did not crack.

I have not noticed any wobble in the handles, and I am the kind of person who checks for wobble because I do not trust equipment that costs less than a gym membership.

How It Compares to the Fixed Dumbbells I Used Before

Before the FEIERDUN pair, I had a rack of fixed dumbbells that went from 5 pounds to 40 pounds. That rack took up a corner of the room, it cost a small fortune to fill, and I still did not have the right weight for every exercise. The FEIERDUN set replaced all of it, and the space I got back is the reason I can do floor work in the same room.

The tradeoff is speed. With fixed dumbbells, you grab and go. With the FEIERDUN set, you turn a dial and check the lock. That is an extra two seconds per change, and it is the only real downside I have found. For a home gym where I am not racing a clock, two seconds is nothing.

If you already own a full set of fixed dumbbells and you have the space, there is no reason to switch. But if you are starting from scratch, or if you are tired of a rack full of iron you rarely touch, the FEIERDUN set is the better use of money and floor space.

What I Wish I Knew Before I Bought Them

I wish someone had told me that the dial needs a firm turn. My first session with them was almost my last. I had watched a short video, skimmed the guide, and decided I knew what I was doing. I turned the dial to the middle setting, lifted, and one of the plates dropped onto the tray with a clatter that startled me. I set the dumbbell down and inspected it for five minutes before I realized the dial had not clicked into the detent. I had turned it most of the way, but not all the way. The fix was simple: turn until you hear the click, then give the handle a gentle tug to confirm the plates are locked. That one habit has prevented every rattle since.

I also wish I had known that the tray is part of the system, not packaging. You do not throw the tray away. The dumbbells need it to work. Keep it, and keep it on a non-slip surface. I set mine on the rubber mat with a strip of shelf liner underneath, and that stopped the sliding I complained about in the first week. The tray is the piece I would replace first if it ever broke, because nothing else in the kit depends on it the way this design does.

And I wish I had bought the set a year earlier. I spent that year doing the same exercises with a mismatched collection of fixed dumbbells and a lot of excuses. The FEIERDUN set did not make me stronger by itself. It just removed the excuses, and that turned out to be the most valuable thing it does. When the dumbbells sit on the tray with the dials set, the room looks ready. That sounds like a small thing, but on a cold morning it is the difference between starting my workout and finding a reason to put it off.

Who This Is For

This set is for someone like me: an older adult who wants to build and keep strength at home without turning a bedroom into a warehouse. If you are 60 or older, if your doctor has told you to work on leg strength, and if you want one piece of equipment that can serve two people with different strength levels, the FEIERDUN adjustable dumbbells are a very good fit.

It is also for anyone who is tired of tripping over fixed dumbbells. The space you get back is real. I measured my spare bedroom when I set up the gym, and the rack I removed freed up about a third of the floor. That is the difference between a room I can move around in and a room I can only stand in.

Who Should Skip It

If you are a powerlifter or someone who regularly trains with heavy barbells, skip it. The top weight of this set will not challenge you, and the connecting bar is not a substitute for a real barbell. You will be frustrated within a week.

If you already own a full set of fixed dumbbells and you have the space, skip it. You are not gaining much by switching. And if you are not going to use them, skip it. No piece of equipment builds strength while it sits in a box. I know because I have watched it happen to more than one friend.