Review: Argos Opti Cast Iron Weight Plates – a Budget Hit?

Equipment Reviews

Standard (1”) plates don’t have to suck – and if you can snag these surprisingly decent plates in a sale, you might thank yourself!

Scroll to the bottom for my scores

Argos isn’t the first place I’d expect to go looking for serious home gym equipment. You’d kind of expect it to be stacked with pink dumbbells, low-quality resistance bands and the kind of stationary bike that eventually ends up as a clothes hanger in the corner of a rather unfit person’s bedroom.

And it sort of is.

But a discount code and a Black Friday sale one year led me to the Argos Opti Cast Iron Weight Plates. And despite all my reservations, I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Here’s why.

What I Like About Them

Standard plates (the type with one-inch-diameter holes) are the distinctly less-glamorous cousin of the Olympic plate. And that is why almost all the bigger equipment makers effectively turn up their noses at them. And if you are a powerlifter or an (Olympic) weightlifter, fine.

Many home gym gurus will tell you that standard plates are somehow inferior to their Olympic (two-inch) cousins.

However, if you are an ordinary home gym owner, standard plates are fine. You can even build your entire home gym using just standard plates – and I can think of many reasons why you should do just that. More on that in another post.

Aside from that drama, cast iron weight plates are just cast iron weight plates, right? Well, actually, not all iron plates are built the same. I own scores of various assorted plates I got from here and there. And to a point, they can be very similar. But there are differences.

Some are thicker than others, which can be an advantage or a drawback. For instance, a thinner plate means you get more onto the bar. The Mirafit tri-grip standard plate is an example.

This plate (which I will review separately) is of a far higher quality than the Argos Opti plate. Its coating is far more durable and the tri-grip handles are very useful. And it’s much thinner.

But thinner isn’t always better for weight plates. For dumbbell presses, curls and flyes, as well as rows, a wider plate like the Mirafit tri-grip 10kg plate seriously reduces your range of motion. That’s where a thicker plate can help.

This plate also has a relatively thick rim, which makes it quite easy to grip, load and store.

The grip is not wide enough to use for hammer curls and carries, unlike a tri-grip design. But it does make loading and unloading bars a bit easier than many other metal plates.

They also feel really good on a loading pin, which is possibly where I use them the most. Stack them up on the pin, attach a handle with a strong carabineer and you have a really good tool for farmers’ walks.

You can also use this setup to perform a home gym version of the plate-loaded shrug.

However, the thing I really like about these plates is their price. At the time of writing, these retail for £55 for two 10kg plates or the same price for four 5kg plates. That isn’t very competitive. Shop around and you’ll find some alternatives on Amazon, eBay and the like for around £45.

Weight plates on a loading pin with a carrying handle.

But Argos does really good sale prices on these, and that means you can often get hold of Opti packages for much less. I paid in the £30-35 range for most of my sets at various times.

Yes, Argos charges for delivery. But the delivery service is actually very good, as you can pick a one-hour timeslot that suits you.

And compared to the other low-cost plates you can find on e-commerce sites, these are better. I’ve weighed them, and they are relatively accurate, very close to being dead on the 5kg and 10kg marks.

The coating isn’t perfect, but for a low-cost plate, it’s acceptable. Most of my Argos Opti plates have now been through the wars, and I’ve had to remove rust and repaint parts of them. But compared to other plates in this price range, they do OK in the durability stakes.

What I Don’t Like About Them

The above leads to exactly where the biggest problem with these plates comes in: They don’t look or feel very “premium.”

They look basic and low-budget – because that is what they are.

So if you are looking to build a home gym that looks and feels like an upscale commercial gym or the kind of fitness space that a competitive powerlifter or an Oly lifter might use, these really don’t look the part.

They will chip over time. You will need to oil them regularly, scrape off rust and repaint them – British winters are not kind to thinly coated cast iron plates. If you want to buy zero maintenance plates, the Argos Opti plates aren’t them.

So – Should You Buy The Argos Opti Cast Iron Weight Plates?

You have to judge the Argos Opti plates is their price, size and durability relative to similar plates. And for me, they win on all counts.

If you just care about the “big three” lifts, you won’t be messing with standard plates. But if you are a budding home gym owner who is – say – looking to expand from up from a 20kg spinlock dumbbell set, these are amazing.

They aren’t bulky or wide. And that is great if you want to put them on a pair of spinlock handles, a loading pin for a DIY cable setup or use them on an adjustable kettlebell.