FJ's Verdict:

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Product Name: PRO
Company: prohands
MSRP: $21.95
Availability: Medium (Online & Maybe Some Stores)

Just about two weeks back, I squeezed the shit out of the Gripmaster and fell in love. Giving out 5 stars for a product is quite rare for me because it means perfection, and let’s face it… Perfection is hard to come by. There are many products I tend to LIKE… But they just aren’t perfect. So can Prohands improve on perfection? Well that’s what were about to find out. Enter the “PRO” series by prohands. This model is meant for the “hardcore” crowd with bigger hands that can generate vice-like grip. So that would be me.

If you read the previous review, you’ll recall that although the Gripmaster fit nicely in my hands, but it could have been slightly bigger. By no means was it uncomfortable though. This is the prime reason I was so excited to give the PRO series a whirl. It fits perfectly in my hands and this particular product came with the heavy tension springs, each of which require 9lbs of pressure to depress. Since this thing’s got 7, we have a total of 63lbs of pressure needed to squeeze the whole thing. It’s things like these that excite the hell outa me.

Before we begin, a few words from prohands about their PRO series hand exercisers…

Product Claims:

The PRO is our most advanced hand exerciser. It’s ideal for professional athletes and motivated individuals seeking maximum performance. The PRO expands on the ingenious design of Gripmaster providing serious athletes with the most advanced technical hand exerciser in the world.

Heavy Tension – For those requiring exceptional grasping power from the finest exerciser available for martial arts, climbing or weapon retention.

Extra Heavy Tension – Our highest resistance exerciser. Not recommended for the average or above average male hand. Appropriate only for individuals requiring extreme and extraordinary grasping power.

First Impressions:

Obviously the very first thing you notice about this is the size, and as I previously mentioned, I like it. But that’s not to say that you’ll like it, if you’re hands are average size than this might be a little big for you. Kind of like the original Xbox controller… the DUKE! If there are any gamers up in here they’ll know what I’m talking about. The rest of you, not to worry… I’ll explain it to ya. “The Duke” was a controller developed for the American market, and was ridiculed for being over-sized for most people’s hands. Whining dinglemunchers… I thought it was perfect!

Anyways, back to the PRO series. After the size, we have the superbly constructed springs. They have a chrome finish and give un-paralleled feedback when depressed. Prohands also decided to add some cushioning to the top of the pistons so that the squeezing is a more comfortable experience… A valiant effort but it’s execution isn’t that great. More on that in a bit.

Another thing I like is how the tips of the pistons are now curved in shape unlike the Gripmaster, which means the middle finger gets the tallest one while the pinkie gets the smallest. This cuvaciousness isn’t hugely noticeable at first… But it’s all about the details baby. FJ likes attention to detail.

Real World Results:

While the initial impression was all dandy and good, I found that the rest of the unit isn’t up to part with its younger brother. The way I see it, products are supposed to improve down the line (specially when you’re charging more $$), but in my opinion the PRO series has taken a few steps BACK. Argh! You might be wondering why I’m getting my panties in a bunch. Well let me show ya!

The very first thing is the quality of the plastic. The Gripmaster felt like it was made of a higher quality plastic because of its rigidity and smoothness of the finish. The PRO series has this matte finish on the plastic (who the hell authorized this?!) but beyond that… It has a “cheaper” feel to it. Sort of like the dollar store toys, but probably with better density.

This makes the whole unit creek and freak when you press it. If you take the Gripmaster, put it to your ear and give it 5 quick squeezes, it goes like this: “Wiff, wiff, wiff…”  All you hear is the sound of the springs and the pistons moving. No odd creeks, no weird crunches… Just world class construction quality. When you do the same with the PRO model, it’s all like “crickle, crackle, creek”. I’m guessing it’s probably because the PRO series does not have a metal band which goes around the middle, holding everything in place. Too bad.

Next up is the exclusion of the “lip”. Ugh… WHY?! The Gripmaster’s rubber comfort grip had a little lip at the end so that it hugged the muscle between your thumb and index finger (the dorsal interosseous if I’m not mistaken). It also allowed you to do the finger pinch exercise without the unit “slipping” and flying off your fingers in the instance you end up being a sweaty beast. Well it seems that the hardcore users of the PRO series are supposed to live without it. Stupid.

Then we have those padded pistons. I liked their slightly curvaceous shape when looking at the unit head on, but why in the world did they exclude yet ANOTHER design feature? The finger grooves! When you wanted to do a full-hand wrap & squeeze with the Gripmaster, the grooves allowed your fingers to naturally roll on to the pistons, but in the PRO’s case, the elimination of these means that the halfway point of your fingers rest against a protruding piece of plastic. At first this is no big deal, but after 7 reps of it grinding against your finger… Shit gets slightly uncomfortable.

One last thing. The pistons in the Gripmaster tend to move up and down perfectly, and in the PRO model they tend to do so as well… For the most part. There are times when they rub against each other, providing you with an awkward “clicking” sound when you depress each finger individually. Here’s a close up of the piston touching the other on the way up… You can see why it clicks.

As far as the exercises go though, I was able to perform all 11 that are available on their site. The manual that came with it was again useless… Only telling you about a few of the exercises that you can perform. The PRO itself was very effective, specially with it’s heavy tension springs. The only issue was that uncomfortable friction between the finger and head of the piston, but when doing exercises which require you to place your finger tips on top of the pistons, the PRO is all aces. Those cushions do make a bit of difference versus the plastic top of the Gripmaster.

Overall it was great to workout with… The creeks and crackles really have no meaning when you are doing a serious finger workout. Those were just some minor build quality issues that I would like to see fixed, but as since they don’t actually hinder the workout experience, I won’t hold it against prohands too harshly.

Conclusion:

So after all this bitchin’ and negativity, it is easy to conclude that the PRO series is un pleasant and useless. But the fact of the matter is that it’s so fucking NOT. You see, I’m comparing it to the one product that even had half a chance of competing with this thing, and that was the Gripmaster. Is the PRO hands better than 99% of those stupid v-grip hand squeezers? Yes. Is it’s construction and design better than 99% of most other hand exercisers – even ones that are built of metal? Yes. Is it portable? Hell yes…. But the only problem is that it stands alone, overshadowed by it’s younger brother which I had the pleasure of reviewing before it. That’s all.

Oh wait, and the higher price point also plays a strike against it. Still… If you have bigger hands and really need something that can provide optimal resistance for grip strength, check out the PRO series because it can go up to the Extra Heavy tensions levels (11lbs per finger). But for the rest of you… The fact that the Gripmaster exists, and is available for sale means that your decision is set up to be a no-brainer.

To Being Fit & Sexy For Life!

- FitJerk

Flawless Fitness Book

P.S- For those that don’t know yet. I’m doing a give away for my old pair of V-Shaped grip trainers since I don’t have a need for em. They’re still in prime time condition. Details will surface soon but one thing is for sure, it’ll be open to Bronze Members only… so become one for FREE on your left. Press “register” and check back real soon.