First off shipping was solid. I remember they arrived a few days after I ordered. Packaging was nice. They ship as empty 'shells' so there is some assembly required which I'll get into later. But they came packed up all nice and tight and ready to put in work. My first impression is they felt extremely sturdy which was well observed as a year and a half later they are still as good as the day I got them.
The regular shells came with 7 handles. Seems like a lot and it sort of is. The bag itself is not very big so when doing certain movements the handles are uncomfortable. Especially if the movements involve the bag resting on the body in any way. They simply dig into the skin. On the flipside having all those handles is a nice feature. Gives the bag a lot of variation. Whats interesting is the large bags do not have side handles like shown above. Instead they have ...flaps. Just a piece of extra vinyl hanging off with a little padding in them for a grip. I'm not really a fan of those. In fact they're pretty useless with a heavy bag.
I mentioned a few times already the material and structure seem to be solid. And after a years worth of punishment its holding up to its end of quality. I havn't even noticed any breaks in stitching, handles are still intact, and so far no sand has leaked either.
Speaking of the sand, USB does sell filler bags to put the sand in. They are essentially the same material only allow the sand to stay inside the bag and not spill out. The shell itself is not 100% sealed so sand will leak out if you just fill it up. I opted out of the filler bags and just went with some 3M Industrial Grade garbage bags from Home Depot. These worked just fine. I did layer about 3 bags for the bigger shells just in case. Then used zip ties to seal them shut. I probably should have filled the 80lb with rice to help fill the bag out. 80lb of a sand has made the shell itself rather awkward to work with at times as the sand will shift from side to side. So far the garbage bags have been holding up well. No leaks recorded to date.
As for effectiveness I really like using these things for just about anything. They don't offer the weight resistance or intensity to really hit some serious strength training but anaerobic or fitness work they're awesome. I will say the price tag is a bit steep. Most start around $70 and then theres the bags, ties, and sand to fill each one in. Oh yea, and shipping. So it is a bit of an investment. There are cheaper alternatives. Mainly just getting some old canvas duffel bags from a military supply and using the same methods to fill those up should work just as well. But if you want to drop the coin on some high quality, and good looking, bags then USB has some great products. Plus their site has a pretty extensive database on training and exercise programs to keep ideas fresh for clients.
Enjoy!
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