Adjustable Dumbbells · 12 min read

Finally, an Adjustable Dumbbell Ranking Built for Women. We Scored 15 on Grip Size, Jumps and Starting Weight.

Most dumbbell rankings grade how heavy a set goes and how fast it changes. We scored 15 on the three numbers that decide whether a pair fits your hand and your first sets: grip width in millimetres, the biggest jump below 25 lb, and the lightest weight it can be. The thinnest grips did not win, and the pair that did costs $49.

By Megan Doyle

Staff writer · Sep 27, 2026 · 12 min read

Why This Ranking Scores Different Numbers

I have trained at home since 2018 and bought more dumbbells than I like to admit. Every ranking I read graded top weight, dial speed and price. Our own tier list of loadable handles checked 38 criteria, and grip width was one of them.

Those are fair questions if you want 90 lb in each hand. They skip the three that decide whether a pair works when your hand is smaller and your first sets are light. And more of the people asking are women. On Strava, women were 21% more likely than men to record weight training in 2025, according to the app's Year in Sport report.

The hand is where the difference starts. In the US Army's 2012 body survey of 1,986 women and 4,082 men, the median woman's hand measured 180 mm from wrist to fingertip, against 193 mm for the median man. Across the knuckles it was 78 mm, against 88.

15 dumbbells scored · 32 checked · 5 criteria, 100 points · every number from the maker's own site on 27 September 2026

The 60 lb line is Strength Level's average one-rep dumbbell Romanian deadlift for a woman, 61 lb a dumbbell. Plate-loaded handles are scored on the smallest standard plate, 1.25 lb, and on their rated limit, since you add your own plates. That is also why price scores nothing. A $49 pair of handles and a $599 set with the iron included are different purchases, so the price is printed big on every tile instead.

S is kept for a dumbbell that is top of the board, alone or tied, on all three things in the headline. Below that, A is 85 points or more, B is 80 to 84, C is 75 to 79, D is 65 to 74, E is 50 to 64 and F is under 50. Seventeen of the 32 we checked could not be scored, and they are named further down.

The Board

S

$49AdaptaBELL PRO

A

$389.99Feierdun DB1

B

$549PowerBlock Pro 50

$219PowerBlock Sport 24

C

$335.99REP QuickDraw

$469PowerBlock Elite USA

$769NÜOBELL 580

$379PowerBlock Pro 32

$599NÜOBELL 550

D

$499Ironmaster Quick-Lock

$269Gungnir Dumbler

$114.97Titan Loadable 15in

E

$162.99Bells of Steel

F

$124.99PRx Loadable

$398Flybird DB2

Tap any tile for its scorecard.

Each tile is the price of one pair from its maker on 27 September 2026. The six plate-loaded entries need plates, and only Ironmaster includes them. Hover or tap a tile for its scorecard.

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What the Three Numbers Showed

Thinner Is Not Better for a Smaller Hand

I expected the thinnest handles to win this. They came last. The best study I found is a NIOSH-funded experiment by Kong and Lowe (2005), in which twelve women and twelve men squeezed handles from 25 to 50 mm. The women rated the 35 mm handle the most comfortable, and the authors published 31.5 to 37.4 mm as the range for women's small to large hands.

Their formula puts the best handle at 19.7% of hand length, which is 35 mm for the median woman in the Army survey. A 28 mm grip, the size of most Olympic handles, is what that formula gives for a hand 142 mm long. The shortest hand among the 1,986 women measured was 145 mm.

There is a catch if you care about squeeze more than comfort. In Kong and Lowe's own test, finger force was highest on the thinnest handle, and a separate study found grip force peaks when the handle is 17.9% of hand length, about 32 mm for the median woman. So 32 mm is the pick for pure squeeze, and anything from 31.5 to 37.4 mm scores full marks here.

Nine of the 15 publish a grip inside that range. Five sit below it, from 25 to 28.5 mm, and PowerBlock's Pro 50 sits just above it at 38 mm. My own handles are 34 mm. I noticed the width for about two weeks, then stopped noticing it.

The Biggest Jump Is the One That Stalls You

At the light end, a small step is a big change. Going from 5 to 10 lb doubles the weight. Going from 10 to 15 lb adds half again. My lateral raises have sat between 8 and 12 lb for two years, and a set that only offers 10 and 15 has nothing for that whole stretch.

Seven of the 15 never force a step bigger than 2.5 lb below 25 lb. Two are dial sets, the Feierdun DB1 and the PowerBlock Pro 50. The other five are plate-loaded handles, and they only get there with a pair of 1.25 lb plates, the smallest standard plate. Four dial sets and the Ironmaster force a 5 lb step below 25, and the Flybird DB2 moves in 10 lb steps: 15, 25, 35, 45, 55.

The Lightest Setting Decides Your Raises

Most dial sets start at 5 lb, which is fine until a warm-up, a rehab set or rear-delt work wants less. PowerBlock's Sport 24 starts at 3 lb and its Pro 32 at 4. The Flybird starts at 15.

Plate-loaded handles swing both ways. The Olympic handles here weigh 8 to 13 lb bare, so the Bells of Steel pair can never be lighter than 13 lb. The lightest thing on the board is a pair of handles that weigh 1.56 lb together, 0.78 lb each, before a plate goes on.

The raw numbers behind every score, in the headline's units:

Grip is the maker's published diameter. Smallest jump is the biggest even step below 25 lb, with plate-loaded handles counted on 1.25 lb plates. Top is the maker's rating per hand, counting its own add-on kits. Scroll sideways for every column.

The Winner: Kensui AdaptaBELL PRO

S Tier · 92 / 100

AdaptaBELL PRO

$49 a pair · 70 lb in each hand, 140 lb across the pair
4.51 out of 5 from 626 reviews on kensui.com

• 0.78 lb a handle bare, the lightest start of the 15
• 2.5 lb steps all the way up with a pair of 1.25 lb plates
• A 34 mm grip, inside the 31.5 to 37.4 mm range for women's hands

The AdaptaBELL PRO is not a set. It is a pair of short polymer handles that turn weight plates into dumbbells. It takes any 1-inch plate, and 2-inch Olympic plates too, with a centring adapter Kensui sells for them.

It won because it is the only one on the board that is top, alone or tied, on all three numbers in the headline: a 34 mm grip inside the women's range, 2.5 lb steps from the bare handle with a pair of 1.25 lb plates, and a 0.78 lb start that nothing else here can match. Kensui rates the pair to 140 lb, which is 70 lb in each hand, so it covers the heavy end too.

Now what it does badly. It is the slowest kind of dumbbell on the board to change. You spin off a flat cap, slide the plates on and spin the cap back, which takes me about 30 seconds a handle, where a dial takes a second. That is the one score it drops, 4 of 10 for speed. It also needs plates, and the dial sets come with theirs. My own plates are costed in the story of my neoprene dumbbells, if you want the real bill.

Get the AdaptaBELL

$49 a pair · 100-day money-back guarantee

The Rest of the Board

A Tier: Feierdun DB1, the Best Dial Set Here

If you want a dial, this is the one. FED Fitness's Feierdun DB1 steps 2.5 lb at a time from 5 to 25 lb, then 5 lb to 50 and 2.5 to 52.5, on a 31.75 mm grip. It costs $389.99 a pair. It scored 88, full marks on grip and jumps, and lost to the winner on starting weight and room to grow while beating it on speed.

B Tier: PowerBlock Pro 50 and Sport 24

The Pro 50 at $549 moves in 2.5 lb steps all the way to 50 lb. Its 38 mm grip is 0.6 mm past the top of the women's range, and that cost it 7 points. The Sport 24 at $219 is the lightest pin set here, 3 to 24 lb in 3 lb steps on a 32 mm grip. It is also where you run out of room first, because 24 lb is the top.

C Tier: Five Sets That Step in 4 or 5 lb Jumps

REP's QuickDraw ($335.99 for the 30 lb pair) has a knurled 32 mm grip and grows to 60 lb with REP's own plates. PowerBlock's Elite USA ($469) grows to 90 lb with kits. NÜOBELL's 580 ($769) and 550 ($599) reach 80 and 50 lb on 32 mm grips. PowerBlock's Pro 32 ($379) runs 4 to 32 lb in 4 lb steps. All five have grips inside the range and change in seconds. What holds them in C is a 4 or 5 lb step at the light end and a 4 or 5 lb floor.

D to F: The Heavy Handles

Ironmaster's Quick-Lock set ($499, plates included) has a 31.75 mm grip and grows to 165 lb with its kits. Its bare handle is 5 lb and the locking screws make it 10. Gungnir's Dumbler Standard ($269) starts at 3.3 lb, second-lightest here, and takes 110 lb with collars built in. Its 25 mm grip is the thinnest on the board, and it ships from Norway.

Titan's 15 in. pair ($114.97) is rated to 400 lb a handle on a 28 mm grip, weighs 8 lb bare and comes without collars. Bells of Steel's handle ($162.99) has brass bushings, a moderate knurl and the heaviest start here at 13 lb. PRx ($124.99) publishes no weight limit, which cost it every room-to-grow mark. Last is the Flybird DB2 ($398): it starts at 15 lb, moves in 10 lb steps and lists a 1-inch rubber-coated grip.

Checked, Not Scored

Seventeen of the 32 we checked could not go on the board.

• No grip size published (7): Bowflex Results Series 552 and 1090, NordicTrack 55 lb Select-A-Weight, Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set, and Ativafit's Spark 25, Martian 50 and Lava 66. The 552 is the best-known set of all. It starts at 5 lb and steps 2.5 lb at a time to 25, for $479 (on sale for $399 on the day we checked). Bowflex gives no grip size on the product page, in the owner's manual or anywhere in its help centre, so it could not be scored on the first number.
• Not sold by the maker in the US today (4): MX Select's EVO MX55 (distributors only), PowerBlock's Elite EXP (not in the US store), Merach (sold out in every size) and JaxJox (its site no longer loads).
• Sold out (3): Kensui's AdaptaBELL MAX, Gungnir's Dumbler Olympic and Titan's 105 lb chrome set.
• Near-copies of a model on the board (3): Titan's 20 in. handles, NÜOBELL's S 560 and PowerBlock's Pro 100 EXP, each with the grip and steps of a model already scored.

Every Score

Columns: Grip (25), Jumps (25), Start (25), Room (15), Speed (10). Scroll sideways for every column. Prices from each maker on 27 September 2026. Plate-loaded prices do not include plates, except Ironmaster's.

Which One Fits You

Do I Need to Own Plates?

Yes, for the winner and for every plate-loaded handle here. The AdaptaBELL takes any 1-inch plate, and 2-inch plates with Kensui's centring adapter. For the smallest jumps you need a pair of 1.25 lb plates.

Is 34 mm Too Thick for Small Hands?

Measure from the crease of your wrist to the tip of your middle finger. Under about 165 mm, Kong and Lowe's small-hand band tops out at 33.4 mm and a 32 mm grip fits closer. Over that, 34 mm is inside the range. I noticed mine for two weeks.

What About the AdaptaBELL MAX?

It was sold out when we checked. The MAX is $149 a pair, holds 150 lb in each hand and has a 38 mm grip, just past the top of the women's range.

Does Anyone Pay for This Ranking?

Strength Gear Guide earns a commission when a reader buys through a link on this page. It does not change a score, and every mark behind every score is in the tables above.

Sources: each maker's own store, read on 27 September 2026 (kensui.com, fedfitness.com, powerblock.com, nuoathletics.com, repfitness.com, ironmaster.com, gungnirofnorway.com, titan.fitness, bellsofsteel.us, prxperformance.com). PowerBlock grip sizes: its own grip guide. Bells of Steel weight and limit: its own 2022 product article. Hand sizes: ANSUR II, the US Army's 2012 survey. Grip research: Kong and Lowe (2005), Rossi et al. (2012). Product names and images belong to their makers.

The Light End Is Where This Pair Wins

Fifteen dumbbells, three numbers. One pair started lighter than everything else on the board, stepped in 2.5 lb jumps on the smallest plates and fit the grip range for women's hands. It still goes to 70 lb in each hand, and it costs $49 a pair. Kensui takes it back for a full refund inside 100 days, and orders ship within 24 hours.

Get the AdaptaBELL

$49 a pair · 100-day money-back guarantee · ships in 24 hours