By Jacob Chambers, Founder & Lead Reviewer · Updated 23 August 2026
We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. This never affects our ratings.
A pair of fixed dumbbells from 2kg to 32kg costs about £700 and eats a wall. This Strongway pair does the same job for £339.95 on Amazon UK and takes up the space of a shoebox each, which is why dial dumbbells have quietly taken over British home gyms. Nine weight settings per hand, a single twist to change them, and silicone-coated steel plates that will not rust in a cold garage.
They are not the best adjustable dumbbells sold in the UK. They are, at this money, an unusually sensible amount of dumbbell.
How we review
This review is based on Strongway's published specifications, the Amazon UK listing and recurring themes in verified owner feedback for this system and its 40kg sibling. We have not run a long-term test of this exact pair, so wear and durability claims are reported from owners rather than measured by us.
Anyone building a first home gym in a spare room, garage or under a bed. If your training is dumbbell presses, rows, curls, lunges and goblet squats, one pair of these covers the whole programme without a rack, a bar or a plate tree. They also work well as a second set alongside a barbell, since 32kg per hand is enough for accessory work at almost any level.
Skip them if you train shoulders seriously and care about 2kg jumps, or if you already own a full dumbbell set.
Check the Strongway dumbbell price on AmazonEach dumbbell sits in a moulded tray. Twist the end dial to your number, lift, and the plates you did not select stay behind in the cradle. The locking mechanism only rotates when the dumbbell is docked, which is the safety feature that matters: you cannot accidentally unlock a plate halfway through a set of presses (Strongway's product specification).
The trade is speed and space. Changing weight means walking back to the tray, so drop sets and supersets take a few seconds longer than they would with a rack of fixed dumbbells. In a home gym that costs you nothing you will notice. In a busy circuit it grates.
| Weight range | 2 kg to 32 kg per dumbbell |
|---|---|
| Settings | 9 per dumbbell (2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32 kg) |
| Sold as | Pair |
| Adjustment | Dial selector, locks unless docked in the tray |
| Plates | Laser-cut steel with silicone moulding |
| Handle | Contoured non-slip grip |
| Storage | Cradle tray included, floor stand optional |
| Also available | 40 kg version of the same system |
Every dial dumbbell trades granularity for compactness, and Strongway has traded more than most. Going 2, 4, then 8kg means your third setting is double your second. On a bench press that gap is irrelevant. On a lateral raise, moving from 4kg to 8kg is asking your side delts for twice the load overnight, and the honest answer is that you will end up doing more reps at 4kg for a while rather than progressing the weight.
There is a workaround that costs nothing: change the tempo and the rep target instead of the number on the dial. Three seconds down on a 4kg lateral raise is harder than a fast 8kg one, and it bridges the gap until you can genuinely handle the next step. For pressing, pulling and legs, the 4kg spacing above 8kg is standard and nobody complains about it.
Progression is what makes these worth owning at all. Total weekly sets, split across at least two sessions, is what drives muscle growth more than any specific exercise or piece of kit (BJSM systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis, 2023). A pair of dumbbells you can adjust in four seconds gets that volume done on days when a trip to the gym would not have happened.
See today's Strongway dumbbell priceStrongway sells this 32kg pair in two configurations, with a floor stand and without, and the price difference is roughly £70. Direct from Strongway the pair runs £299.95 without the stand and £369.95 with it, so the £339.95 Amazon price sits in between and the variant you land on decides whether you got a bargain or paid over the odds. Read the option selector, not the headline. If you plan to keep them under a bed the stand is wasted money anyway; if they live in a corner of the lounge, the stand is what stops them looking like builders' rubble.
The NÜOBELL 2 to 32kg is the better dumbbell in every way that does not involve your bank balance, with 2kg increments and a faster change. The Bowflex SelectTech 552 stops at 24kg but has finer low-end steps, which suits smaller lifters. Our best adjustable dumbbells UK guide ranks the field, and once you have a pair, the goblet squat and a decent weight bench turn them into a full gym. More kit decisions live in the home gym section.
Nine settings per dumbbell: 2kg, 4kg, 8kg, 12kg, 16kg, 20kg, 24kg, 28kg and 32kg. The jump from 2kg to 4kg to 8kg is coarse at the bottom, then it settles into a consistent 4kg step. For pressing and rowing that spacing is fine; for lateral raises and rear delt work, where 4kg is a huge relative jump, it is the main frustration owners report.
For most home lifters, yes, for years. 32kg covers pressing, rows, lunges, goblet squats and Romanian deadlifts well past the beginner stage. You will outgrow it first on lower-body work, where a pair of 32s stops challenging a strong lifter, and that is usually the point to add a barbell rather than heavier dumbbells.
Some movement is normal on any dial system, because the plates sit in a cradle rather than being bolted together. Owners describe the rattle as noticeable but minor, and it is quieter than the plate-slap of a spinlock set. If you hate any noise at all, fixed hex dumbbells are the only real cure.
Check the variant before you buy. Strongway sells the 32kg pair both with and without a stand, and the option you pick changes the price by about £70. The listing title mentions a stand but the selected variant may not include one, so read the option box and the item description rather than the headline.
The NÜOBELL 32kg pair adjusts in 2kg steps and changes weight faster, but costs considerably more. Bowflex SelectTech 552s go to 24kg with a slider and finer low-end increments. Strongway sits between the cheap plate-and-collar sets and those premium systems: fewer settings than either, noticeably cheaper than the NÜOBELL, and built heavier than most of the sub-£200 dial dumbbells on Amazon.
No. Dial dumbbells have a plate-locking mechanism that only releases when the dumbbell is seated in its cradle, and dropping them can knock the selector out of alignment. Set them down under control on the tray, not on concrete. Treat that as the price of having nine dumbbells in one handle.
An honest review of the Modern Fitness multi-function power squat rack with dual pulley cable crossover: 1000kg frame rating, real dimensions, the ceiling height problem and what you still have to buy.
An honest COROS NOMAD review covering the 1.3 inch MIP touchscreen, 22 day battery, free offline topo maps, the voice-note adventure journal and the missing torch.
An honest Garmin Instinct 3 Tactical Edition review covering solar battery life, stealth mode, night vision compatibility, the green torch, and whether civilians should buy it.
The best inversion tables in the UK for 2026, compared on weight capacity, height range, ankle locks and build. Honest picks from budget frames to the FDA-registered Teeter.
Best Exercise is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no extra cost to you and never influences our independent reviews or rankings.