Croc Lock: Specialty bar collar

[Synthetickiller]

I got an email about this, so I figured I'd post this (nothing came up in the search or google).

Let's take a look at the product:


Here's a video attempting to sell you on it: See if you can actually watch all 400 seconds.



I'll post my opinion later on. It's late & I'm going to bed. The late night crew can take over.

[aCb123]

any update? i just ordered a pair hoping they are good. have seen some of the lock jaws break and I don't like the clamp of the prolocks.

[Synthetickiller]

any update? i just ordered a pair hoping they are good. have seen some of the lock jaws break and I don't like the clamp of the prolocks.

I was going to respond, but no one else did, so I figured I wouldn't bother.
Post a real review when you get them. I'd like to see a non-biased on opinion. I most want to see if there's something I missed. I shrugged these off as another gimmick.
Dave's review is horrible. Half of the "reasons" to buy the collars are a joke & can be done with other collars. Don't even get me started on the camera angle. Oh, unlike what he says, most collars don't fail in 3 years. I've had one collar fail (cheap chinese crap that cracked), not including spring collars.
It seems like a neat idea, but I'm really worried that the textile portion will become damaged / torn & the velcro will get crapped up (as all velcro does).

Unless you need a collar that can be removed without removing plates (if it were my money), I'd have have some Ivanko COT collars or the COCs w/ the spinlock. They all have no issues tightening down on special bars. They cost more, will hold up forever & the quality is amazing.

There is a collar the you can remove in the same fashion so you don't have to remove plates to get it off. I cannot remember the name at all. But...
It's the red one in the picture below (credit goes to dumb.bell)

[aclockworkoi]

Negged for no store link, especially since you knew they didn't show up on Google (even if you search "croc lock collars"). Just a bunch of crap:



Even worse:



Here they are for people that were lazy like I was when this was first posted and didn't feel like adding "efs":

http://www.flexcart.com/members/elit...d=479&pid=7069

I can't believe they put that video on the store page lol.

EDIT: on spread

[judgecrandall]

any update? i just ordered a pair hoping they are good. have seen some of the lock jaws break and I don't like the clamp of the prolocks.

Thanks for being the guinea pig, I'm also curious to hear your thoughts.

I was going to respond, but no one else did, so I figured I wouldn't bother.
Post a real review when you get them. I'd like to see a non-biased on opinion. I most want to see if there's something I missed. I shrugged these off as another gimmick.
Dave's review is horrible. Half of the "reasons" to buy the collars are a joke & can be done with other collars. Don't even get me started on the camera angle. Oh, unlike what he says, most collars don't fail in 3 years. I've had one collar fail (cheap chinese crap that cracked), not including spring collars.
It seems like a neat idea, but I'm really worried that the textile portion will become damaged / torn & the velcro will get crapped up (as all velcro does).

Unless you need a collar that can be removed without removing plates (if it were my money), I'd have have some Ivanko COT collars or the COCs w/ the spinlock. They all have no issues tightening down on special bars. They cost more, will hold up forever & the quality is amazing.

Agreed that Dave's "review" is awful on all fronts. I tried watching it the night you first posted, but got annoyed and turned it off. You've covered most of the points I was going to bring up, but I will say that the idea of putting $10 for replacement velcro into a collar every few years is unappetizing to say the least. I do see how the ability to remove a collar without removing plates would be nice in certain circumstances, but it feels like it's fixing a problem that doesn't really exist.

There is a collar the you can remove in the same fashion so you don't have to remove plates to get it off. I cannot remember the name at all. But...
It's the red one in the picture below (credit goes to dumb.bell)

Those are Okie collars. I thought they were out of production, but Crain still has them for sale.

[RandyMcdonald]

Thanks for being the guinea pig, I'm also curious to hear your thoughts.



Agreed that Dave's "review" is awful on all fronts. I tried watching it the night you first posted, but got annoyed and turned it off. You've covered most of the points I was going to bring up, but I will say that the idea of putting $10 for replacement velcro into a collar every few years is unappetizing to say the least. I do see how the ability to remove a collar without removing plates would be nice in certain circumstances, but it feels like it's fixing a problem that doesn't really exist.




Those are Okie collars. I thought they were out of production, but Crain still has them for sale.

I was wondering the same thing....is this really solving an existing problem in a new and innovative way. I'll be curious to hear the user reports. Right now I don't see enough reason to purchase this over existing products that won't suffer issue's associated with Velcro.

[keyboardworkout]

Those collars are just plain silly. A rubber velcro collar, seriously!

Ivanko COT-1.25s and their cheap clones work great on smaller specialty bars. The Rogue Proloc collars will also work well on specialty bars.

[ironwill2008]

Here's a video attempting to sell you on it: See if you can actually watch all 400 seconds.

I toughed it out for a little over 2 minutes before I could take it no more.


Good grief; that guy needs to hire at least a semi-pro ad agency or something.

[aclockworkoi]

I toughed it out for a little over 2 minutes before I could take it no more.


Good grief; that guy needs to hire at least a semi-pro ad agency or something.

I made it through the whole thing, not sure how.

[Domicron]

I toughed it out for a little over 2 minutes before I could take it no more.


Good grief; that guy needs to hire at least a semi-pro ad agency or something.

production value increases by 5000% if he gives a donut to a homeless guy to stand there holding the phone...

[ironwill2008]

production value increases by 5000% if he gives a donut to a homeless guy to stand there holding the phone...

And 10K% if he has the homeless guy do the dialog too.

[Synthetickiller]

Thanks for being the guinea pig, I'm also curious to hear your thoughts.



Agreed that Dave's "review" is awful on all fronts. I tried watching it the night you first posted, but got annoyed and turned it off. You've covered most of the points I was going to bring up, but I will say that the idea of putting $10 for replacement velcro into a collar every few years is unappetizing to say the least. I do see how the ability to remove a collar without removing plates would be nice in certain circumstances, but it feels like it's fixing a problem that doesn't really exist.




Those are Okie collars. I thought they were out of production, but Crain still has them for sale.

That's the name! For the life of me, I couldn't think of it! I'm tempted to drop some cash on them, but I'm not sure it's where I want to drop $100. You think they're worth dropping that kind of coin on?

On spread as usual.

I was wondering the same thing....is this really solving an existing problem in a new and innovative way. I'll be curious to hear the user reports. Right now I don't see enough reason to purchase this over existing products that won't suffer issue's associated with Velcro.

Those collars are just plain silly. A rubber velcro collar, seriously!

Ivanko COT-1.25s and their cheap clones work great on smaller specialty bars. The Rogue Proloc collars will also work well on specialty bars.

Again, I don't get the marketing pitch. I've probably been a little too harsh on EFS lately, but it's not as if they aren't loading the gun & pulling the hammer each time.

I toughed it out for a little over 2 minutes before I could take it no more.


Good grief; that guy needs to hire at least a semi-pro ad agency or something.

I made it through the whole thing, not sure how.

production value increases by 5000% if he gives a donut to a homeless guy to stand there holding the phone...

I watched it twice. I think my poor soul is stained black from the experience. I don't know if he thinks trying to be a youtube reviewer is good (there's far better review channels out there), but I can't see it winning most people over.

For the record, I hate crock shoes. That crock lock saw horse is nice. I have another brand & they are a life saver. Spend your money there & not on these collars.

[aclockworkoi]

That's the name! For the life of me, I couldn't think of it! I'm tempted to drop some cash on them, but I'm not sure it's where I want to drop $100. You think they're worth dropping that kind of coin on?

On spread as usual.

I would like a pair of those too but don't think they are worth the $100 for me. I just spent $15 on cheap screw collars for another pair to hold plates on my trees to help protect the kids if they sneak out.

And 10K% if he has the homeless guy do the dialog too.

This made me laugh and my wife yell at me for being on my phone

[Synthetickiller]

I would like a pair of those too but don't think they are worth the $100 for me. I just spent $15 on cheap screw collars for another pair to hold plates on my trees to help protect the kids if they sneak out.



This made me laugh and my wife yell at me for being on my phone

Yeah, that's where I'm coming from. $100 is a lot of swag, especially craigslist. I might one day if I have the urge to buy something unique. I heard they are solid collars. I wonder if they are 1kg each or something can actually factor into the weight being lifted.


@ the wife comment, I'll be there one day & that will happen to me, probably from this forum. I had a good laugh from that!

[Stasher1]

Those are Okie collars. I thought they were out of production, but Crain still has them for sale.

Not out of production, just not very common. They're actually Gruvlok "Hingelok" pipe couplers...


http://www.anvilintl.com/products/gr...gelok-coupling

[keyboardworkout]

Thanks for the info Stasher

Look here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gruvlok-Hing...-/390448224014

[dac22]

These collars remind me of the velcro collars made by BFS: http://estore.biggerfasterstronger.c...-collars-stock

[morebarbell]

Strength Tech, Inc is no longer selling/distributing the Okie collars. I suspect that they just special ordered the couplers with a different rubber insert. Crain has some remaining stock in black. Or maybe he's special ordering them now. I don't know.

There's some relevant discussion about the Okie collars on pages 5-6 of the collar thread:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1208028391

And at the top of page 6, there's a link to Tim's review of the Grizzly velcro collars.

[Bench905]

I didn't watch the video - I can't watch garbage like that. I hate the marketing phrases they throw around:

"This collar is going to change the game."
"It's built like a tank."
"It has a million uses."
"the options for this are limitless"

Million uses? Limitless options? It's a f'in barbell collar. What the hell are they talking about?

[morebarbell]

I just looked up the price on their website. Really?!

Retail Price $59.95
Our Price $44.95
Sale Price $39.99

[-aesop-]

These have actually been around for a few years, this is just the updated version. They used to be $20-25

[tombro]

It's all starting to make sense now!!! They are purposely welding their specialty bars on a crooked angle to increase the demand for Velcro collars! Dave Tate should be the next Bond villain with this plan!

[Wildtim]

Wish I'd seen them for $20. I want to see a Sorinex test with these. Having used a velcro collar for over a year now I don't worry that it will wear out. If the rubber holds well enough they would be really nice, but probably not $40 nice, $60 is just a joke.

[ironwill2008]

I just looked up the price on their website. Really?!

Retail Price $59.95
Our Price $44.95
Sale Price $39.99

LOL. That's just freakin' nuts. The more I read/hear about that company, the more I dislike them. I doubt I'll ever spend a penny on any of their stuff; they can keep it.


Maybe it's just the 'practical person' in me, or what I know about how stuff is manufactured, but whenever I'm considering any kind of purchase, I always look at the materials the item is made of, the method of manufacture, and how many actual humans touch the item as it's being built. I always seriously consider actual value received.


If it's some plastic gizmo that gets spit out of a mold at the rate of a million a minute, with a few other bits of plastic attached to it, and if the manufacturer tags it with some ridiculous high price just because of "who" he is, he can stick it where the sun don't shine.

[tombro]

The one thing I don't get is how his main selling point is how they won't crack. Are not well over 75 percent of all screw collars made of solid steel?

[Stasher1]

The one thing I don't get is how his main selling point is how they won't crack. Are not well over 75 percent of all screw collars made of solid steel?

To my knowledge, the only commonly available collars prone to cracking are the plastic Quicklees and Lockjaws, with the latter primarily failing due to abuse.

[RestoringTally]

These collars remind me of the velcro collars made by BFS: http://estore.biggerfasterstronger.c...-collars-stock

I have a pair of Spud Wrist Wraps that look like those BFS collars. I bet the wrist wraps would work, too, even though they are not lined with neoprene.

[jamesovercome]

That would work for most uses but I doubt that would work for farmers walk handles where the weight pushes down on the collar. I use BWTG collars because I can tighten them up ridiculously tight. Normal collars will pop right off.

[RestoringTally]

I just looked up the price on their website. Really?!

Retail Price $59.95
Our Price $44.95
Sale Price $39.99

EliteFTS is having a Christmas sale. They have a new sale price for this collar:

Sale Price $40.46

Their new higher sale price makes sense in view of the thread: EliteFTS "Sale" On Closeout Items - Prices Increased

[TomMutaffis]

If you have a specialty bar and you did not want to spend $40 then one effective way to create a collar is to simply crank down a wrist wrap around the bar. You have to wrap them really tight but they hold up very well from my experience, and it is usually something that you already have in your gym bag.