Bowflex SelectTech 1090 Review: One Dumbbell, 17 Weights

The Bowflex SelectTech 1090 is the big brother to the 552, and it exists for one reason: you have run out of weight. Where the 552 tops out at 23.8kg per hand, the 1090 climbs to 41kg (90lb), and it does that with the same twist of a dial. One dumbbell covers 17 settings, from a 4kg warm-up load all the way up, which is why a single unit replaces a whole rack of fixed dumbbells in the corner of a garage or spare room.

Who is it for? Stronger lifters, mostly. If you press, row and Romanian-deadlift with dumbbells and the 552 has started to feel light, this is the obvious next rung. The headline verdict: the 1090 nails the job it was built for, packing a genuinely wide range into a tiny footprint, but the compromises run deeper than on the 552. The jumps are 5lb (roughly 2.3kg) the whole way up with no fine steps down low, the body stays long and boxy at every setting, and the plastic shell means these cannot take a drop. It is not cheap either.

Who it is for

The 1090 makes sense once you are strong enough to use it. For dumbbell bench press, heavy rows, walking lunges and shrugs, having up to 41kg per hand in one tidy unit is the whole appeal, and it spares you buying and storing eight or nine separate fixed pairs. The NHS recommends strengthening work across all the major muscle groups on at least two days a week, and a single pair of these covers most of that brief on its own.

Who should skip it? If your working weights sit under 24kg, the cheaper SelectTech 552 does the same job with smaller, more useful 2.5lb increments low down. And if your training leans on curls, lateral raises and other light isolation work, the 1090's coarse 5lb steps and long body will frustrate you more than they help. This is a strength tool, not a finesse one.

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The dial and the weight range

The mechanism is the same idea as the 552, scaled up. You twist a dial at each end to the number you want, lift the handle clear of the base, and the plates you did not select stay behind in the tray. Both dials have to read the same weight before it will lift cleanly, which sounds fiddly but turns into muscle memory within a session; a swap takes well under ten seconds once you have the knack.

The range is where it earns its keep. Seventeen settings run 10, 15, 20, 25 and onwards to 90lb, which Bowflex lists as 4 to 41kg per dumbbell. That is a lot of ground for one handle. The catch is the step size: 5lb throughout, with none of the 2.5lb baby steps the 552 gives you at the bottom. On a heavy bench press a 2.3kg jump is nothing. On a strict lateral raise it can be the difference between a clean set and a grind.

Build, durability and the drop problem

Here is the part to understand before you spend. The 1090 is steel plates wrapped in a thick plastic casing, with a knurled handle that looks like metal but is not. That construction keeps each dumbbell manageable to haul out of the cradle and holds the price down, and in normal use it is fine. The weakness is impact. These carry a Do Not Drop label for good reason: the plastic lips that catch the discs can crack or chip if you drop them from bench height, and a cracked selector is an expensive, often terminal, fault. The rule owners repeat is simple; set them down in the tray, never let them fall.

There is history here too. In 2024 roughly 3.8 million older SelectTech 552 and 1090 units were recalled in the US after plates could work loose mid-lift. The current redesigned version was built to fix that, so buy new and buy the latest model rather than a used set from the recalled run. Knurling is the other niggle. It is shallow, more of a texture than a bite, so heavy sets with sweaty hands can feel a touch slippery; a little chalk sorts it.

In use: the length is the real catch

Once you are lifting, the 1090 mostly behaves itself. The plates sit tight with little of the rattle you fear from a weight that splits apart, and the handle diameter is comfortable across long sets. The problem is the shape. Each dumbbell measures about 44cm (17.5in) and stays that long whether you have dialled in 10kg or the full 41kg, so at light weights you are swinging a big, empty-feeling bar. On presses that barely registers. On movements where the ends can clip your body, curls, lateral raises, tight work near the shoulders, the length forces a wider path than a compact fixed dumbbell would, and smaller lifters feel it most.

Progressive overload is the whole game with weights like these. The ACSM's position stand on resistance training points to steadily raising the load as you get stronger, and the 1090 gives you room to keep climbing for years, which a fixed 15kg pair simply cannot. That headroom is the trade you are making for the bulk.

1090 vs 552: which one

This one is straightforward. If your dumbbell lifts sit under about 24kg per hand and are likely to stay there, buy the 552; it is cheaper, shorter, and its small early increments suit curls and raises far better. If you already press or row heavier than that, or you know you will get there, the 1090 is the one with the headroom, and buying it once beats outgrowing the 552 and paying twice. A few lifters run both, a 552 for light isolation and a 1090 for the heavy compounds. That is overkill for most people, but it works.

Value

The 1090 is a premium buy, and on Amazon UK the current listing is per dumbbell, so a matching pair means ordering two and roughly doubling the headline price. Set that against the alternative. To match its range in fixed dumbbells you would need something like eight or nine pairs spanning 4kg to 41kg, which runs to hundreds of pounds and a wall of steel to store. Viewed that way it is good value, and it slots neatly alongside a solid weight bench for a compact home setup. It just is not the budget route, and the plastic build means you are paying for convenience and saved space, not for something you can throw around. Watch for sales; these discount at Black Friday and through the year.

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