Review of the Mark Bell SlingShot brand STrong belt

[cmarti063]

The Basics

I ordered one each of the brand new 10mm and 13mm STrong powerlifting belts on sale from Mark Bell’s SlingShot brand the first day they were available for purchase. The only available option is single prong, and the 10mm comes in black with a red belt loop while the 13mm comes in red with a black belt loop. Both belts come with the STrong logo stamped in foil on the back of the belt and on the belt loop. The 10mm is $120 shipped and the 13mm is $135 shipped. This price range is competing with the major manufacturers like Inzer, Best, Pioneer, Titan, etc.

Both belts were shoved into a single box, which ended up leaving some marring on one of the belts. It would have been ideal to have them each shipped in their own box, since there was no discount offered for single-box shipping.
















The Craftsmanship



In Mark’s promotional YouTube video, he touts how pliable the belt is while saying that it still provides all the support of other belt manufacturers.




The belt is certainly pliable, but not in a good way. The leather used in the construction of these belts is called “belly leather,” while the brands that we have come to know and respect like Best Belts and Pioneer use “leather bends” or the “shoulder leather.” Belly leather, which literally comes from the belly of the cow, is very thin and pliable. It makes a fine choice for things like knife sheathes or other items that need to be made pliable, but the leather is not very supportive. Leather bends, on the other hand, have a fuller grain pattern and are much thicker, and offer a much greater degree of support, which is a desirable trait in a lifting belt.

Since the leather is so thin, they had to layer up two pieces on the 10mm and layered up 3 pieces on the 13mm. The brands I mentioned a moment ago use fewer layers of thicker hide to achieve the desired thickness, which makes the belts more supportive. The leather used in the STrong belt is almost spongy to the touch. For a reference point, the 10mm belt offers about the same amount of support as a nylon belt from a sports store.




Wildly enough, the layers AREN’T GLUED TOGETHER!! This is an issue for a couple reasons. One, the glue makes the laminated layers stronger and more supportive. Two, if the stitches ever start pulling, the belt layers will separate with no glue to hold them together. Three, the belts make an awful creaking noise where the layers are rubbing against each other. Additionally, the layers don’t even line up properly.







Continued in next post...

[cmarti063]

Cosmetically, the stitching on the belts, especially around the tongue, is terrible. It is crooked and uneven on both belts. Additionally, the black edging is poorly applied and clearly bleeds over the edges on the red 13mm belt.










The Bottom Line

These belts are way overpriced for what you get: inferior leather, poor craftsmanship, and low support. Support the quality manufacturers before wasting cash on this.


Additional Pictures

[Synthetickiller]

Thank you for being a guinea pig. I was curious if these were great or crap. Sounds like I'll have to pass on this one.
I was hoping for something decent. It seems like his products or hit or miss.

On spread. I'll get you back on recharge.

[chadsalt]

Thank you for being a guinea pig. I was curious if these were great or crap. Sounds like I'll have to pass on this one.
I was hoping for something decent. It seems like his products or hit or miss.

On spread. I'll get you back on recharge.

^^x2

[dragon360]

Great write up. ****e you had to take the hit but nicely put together.

[thejosef]

Thanks for the detail and honest feedback. Much appreciated. Repped.

[Bench905]

I always had a feeling that some of the STrong stuff were just moneygrabs. Like the $150 STrong logo'ed Crossfit Lite TR 2.0s...they are $79.99 plain from reebok without any discount. People were basically paying $70 to advertise.

[retiredrunner]

My $35 dark iron belt > that

[mikennrg500]

I'm pretty satisfied with my Gangsta wraps, Slingshot, and knee sleeves. This is not something I'll be buying from them after the review.

[Mech6]

The Basics

I ordered one each of the brand new 10mm and 13mm STrong powerlifting belts on sale from Mark Bell’s SlingShot brand the first day they were available for purchase....

Everyone should send you some money for saving them from these. Nice review.

[RedHazerz]

Thank you for this awesome write up. Reps On Spread

[smokinHawk]

I could tell from their advertisement these were not the kind of belts I was looking for.

I do want to buy the SBD belt for its lever then send it to pioneer and have they make a belt for me using their lever.
not sure if SBD would just sell the levers.

[BulkMore]

Mark Bell = 100% natural

Him and his brother did the JRE podcast 2 times now. Both were good episodes though.

[pioneerfit2014]

The way the SBD lever is design won't allow for them to be put on another brand. If you notice, one side is two rows of holes almost like a double prong buckle belt. The other side is where the lever will screw in place.

I don't know if they did that on purpose or not but if you wanted to try the lever, you would have to buy their belt. I personally think they left a LOT of money on the table by not making their design compatible with all existing lever belts on the market.

Matt aka Pioneer

I could tell from their advertisement these were not the kind of belts I was looking for.

I do want to buy the SBD belt for its lever then send it to pioneer and have they make a belt for me using their lever.
not sure if SBD would just sell the levers.

[NurseGray]

Amazing write up. Thanks so much for the honest review!

[smokinHawk]

The way the SBD lever is design won't allow for them to be put on another brand. If you notice, one side is two rows of holes almost like a double prong buckle belt. The other side is where the lever will screw in place.

I don't know if they did that on purpose or not but if you wanted to try the lever, you would have to buy their belt. I personally think they left a LOT of money on the table by not making their design compatible with all existing lever belts on the market.

Matt aka Pioneer

You are from Pioneer then?
I am talking having you cut the holes in your custom made belt for me using their hole pattern. I'd Have you make the belt to my stiffness and size with the hole pattern like theirs so I can use their lever.

[BulkMore]

How many money is it??

bout tree fiddy

[McBrody]

bout tree fiddy

TREE FIDDY?!? I ain't got no tree fiddy!!!

[Domicron]

How many money is it??

can't be bothered to google it, huh...

[snova031]

How many money is it??

It's many monies.

[pioneerfit2014]

You are from Pioneer then?
I am talking having you cut the holes in your custom made belt for me using their hole pattern. I'd Have you make the belt to my stiffness and size with the hole pattern like theirs so I can use their lever.

If my dies don't fit their hole pattern I would have to buy new ones which will be in the 400 range. I have no problem with the money if I conclude that there is a market for it. I would also have to do a patent search to see if the belt pattern is something I can duplicate legally.

[Stasher1]

How many money is it??

Exactly 16.7 monies, unless you has the fancy monies, then it's 3(fancy monies)/brown

[KoolDJVader]

Nice review, glad I didn't wait for this to come out and went ahead and got a great belt.

[congore]

The Basics

I ordered one each of the brand new 10mm and 13mm STrong powerlifting belts on sale from Mark Bell’s SlingShot brand the first day they were available for purchase. The only available option is single prong, and the 10mm comes in black with a red belt loop while the 13mm comes in red with a black belt loop. Both belts come with the STrong logo stamped in foil on the back of the belt and on the belt loop. The 10mm is $120 shipped and the 13mm is $135 shipped. This price range is competing with the major manufacturers like Inzer, Best, Pioneer, Titan, etc.

Both belts were shoved into a single box, which ended up leaving some marring on one of the belts. It would have been ideal to have them each shipped in their own box, since there was no discount offered for single-box shipping.
















The Craftsmanship



In Mark’s promotional YouTube video, he touts how pliable the belt is while saying that it still provides all the support of other belt manufacturers.




The belt is certainly pliable, but not in a good way. The leather used in the construction of these belts is called “belly leather,” while the brands that we have come to know and respect like Best Belts and Pioneer use “leather bends” or the “shoulder leather.” Belly leather, which literally comes from the belly of the cow, is very thin and pliable. It makes a fine choice for things like knife sheathes or other items that need to be made pliable, but the leather is not very supportive. Leather bends, on the other hand, have a fuller grain pattern and are much thicker, and offer a much greater degree of support, which is a desirable trait in a lifting belt.

Since the leather is so thin, they had to layer up two pieces on the 10mm and layered up 3 pieces on the 13mm. The brands I mentioned a moment ago use fewer layers of thicker hide to achieve the desired thickness, which makes the belts more supportive. The leather used in the STrong belt is almost spongy to the touch. For a reference point, the 10mm belt offers about the same amount of support as a nylon belt from a sports store.




Wildly enough, the layers AREN’T GLUED TOGETHER!! This is an issue for a couple reasons. One, the glue makes the laminated layers stronger and more supportive. Two, if the stitches ever start pulling, the belt layers will separate with no glue to hold them together. Three, the belts make an awful creaking noise where the layers are rubbing against each other. Additionally, the layers don’t even line up properly.







Continued in next post...

Great review and thanks for giving all of us the honest take on these belts. I picked up a couple of Best Belts and have no regrets. Your belt advise has always been spot on.

[Domicron]

i don't often comment in review threads of stuff i know nothing about and don't use, but i do appreciate that you take the time to post them.

you might link this thread or even just copy the review straight into your belt sticky.

also check your PM

[darren.dugan]

Shares this with my local USPA page on ********. Well done!

[C123C]

Excellent review and appreciated. Sorry this didn't work out as fitting in with the rest of your collection.

[pryme]

Thank you for your review and pics. I just received my Inzer 13mm single prong and it doesn't dissapoint at all!
I knew it would take some time being it was not black(about 8 weeks) but I knew I would get something that would impress me and last. I have an inzer lever and its still perfect after 5 years.

That belt looks like cheap junk in the pics compared to the Inzer.

[BDiamond]

Solid in-depth review. I love a lot of the SuperTraining products (especially the Gangsta Wraps) but one thing I've noticed is usually the first run/version of their stuff seems to not have the best build quality. I've been pretty lucky where I haven't had many issues, but I always know people who have. I think part of this is them likely rushing stuff into production and figuring out their suppliers. However in time they usually come back with an improved version. This seems to be the case so far with most of their products.

[rancid_theclash]

can't be bothered to google it, huh...

I think hes talking about the SBD belt , which isn't for sale yet, so he can't google it