Gravgear vs Decathlon, Which One Makes the Best Weight Vest

It's a fair question. Let's be real, there is no way for us to answer it entirely without bias (obviously, we think our weight vest is the best).

We’ll compare the famous Decathlon Weight Vest to our Grav Weight Vest from all perspectives possible. You may take this as Decathlon Weight Vest review as well.

Despite the visual appearance for both weight vests, the biggest difference is the price (about S$170).

It means when you buy one Grav Weight Vest, you can get three Decathlon Weighted Vests.

Weight vests to be compared:

• Grav Weight Vest 16kg by Gravgear
• Strength and Cross Training Weighted Vest 10 kg by Decathlon, Singapore

In this article, you’ll learn the difference between these two weighted vest so you can make a better decision which one to get. We’ll compare in term of:

1. Unbox packages
2. Design and fitting
3. Test with calithsthenics workouts
4. Care instructions
5. Product warranty and support
6. Which vest to choose

Unbox packages

Weight vest is heavy. And they will often get treated brutally in the transportation process from factory all the way to user’s home. A strong and solid package is essential to protect the item and survive the endless tossing.

Gravgear thick cardboard box

Grav Weight Vest comes in a plain cardboard box sealed with transparent tape. The vest is wrapped in a plastic bag to prevent moisture. All weight blocks has been slotted in the weight vest.

Belt comes detached from the weight vest. It is so that you can take a rough measurement around your chest and adjust the belt accordingly, then strap it on the rear of the weight vest.

Decathlon compact well-printed box

The Decathlon Weight Vest box is about a quarter smaller than Gravgear’s. The box comes with decent information printed on top of it. Such as wearing instruction and material composition.

There are 5 items in the box: 1 x Decathlon Weight Vest and 4 x weight plates that weights at 1kg each. Weight plates are protected with cardboard separately.

Design And Fitting

On high level, both weight vests are having the the same design concept. One front panel and one rear panel to carry weights. Two Shoulder straps and one belt to connect both panels around the torso.

Design & components

Grav Weight Vest is made up of three separate main components:

• The vest
• The belt
• The weight blocks

The vest has eight slots for front and back to host the weight blocks evenly. Each weight blocks is approximately 1kg and adds up to total 16kg. You can remove all the blocks completely from the vest.

The belt uses hook and loop fastener and a buckle to secure around torso.

After adjusting the belt, you can attach to the rear of vest before putting on the vest. There are still small room to adjust (from 1cm to 10cm) before strapping on the buckle.

Decathlon Weight Vest comes in two main components:

• The Vest
• The weight plates

The vest is 6kg without additional weight. Sand filled horizontally in multiple rows at the front and back to make up the 6kg. You can slot in the 1kg weight plates for a total 10kg. Decathlon states that the weight vest cannot withstand weight more than 10kg.

The belt is built-in and adjustable, uses hook and loop fastener and a buckle to secure around torso.

The shoulder straps is also adjustable at the front.

Fitting & Sizing

Weight vest should provides extra weight without unwanted momentum when user is in a motion. We design Grav Weight Vest to become part of the body.

We’ve tried parallel to the ground position (push-up) and upside-down position (handstand). The front and back panel stick to the body all the time.

Decathlon Weight Vest has a overall slimmer and longer profile. It can be a good choice if you plan to hide the weight vest under shirt or jacket. It attached to the body relatively well when in normal standing position. 

Grav Weight Vest's belt design also allow to firmly strap on a slimmer torso. The shorter profile is friendly to smaller body frame (ladies). You can opt for the narrower 12kg version for optimal fit while not sacrificing the flexibility and fitting.

Grav Weight Vest adapt has a maximum circumference up to 160cm. While Decathlon Weight Vest is only up to 110cm. 

In another words, Grav Weight Vest tolerate better with most body sizes.

Decathlon Weight Vest on the other hand was trying to adapt to all body sizes with just one vest design. Hence the more adjustable components. However, we think that the bigger panel will does not fit well to smaller body.

Padding

Grav Weight Vest is heavily padded with high-density TPE foam. Especially the shoulder strap. That’s crucial to spread the extra gravity evenly to the whole body. A well-padded shoulder strap should make a weight vest feel lighter when putting on.

That’s also the secret our weight vest able to keep its shape after heavy usage over and over. The TPE foam might deform in high pressure (e.g. if you hang the vest with weight on a bar). Just take the load away and let it rest, the pressed foam will resume its fluffiness and elasticity over time.

As the front and back panel can hold up to 8kg each. It is important to add a layer of buffer between the weight block and torso or it can be uneasy to fell the block directly.

Decathlon Weighted Vest has minimal padding overall. We think that Decathlon make the sand filled panel as padding, so you can insert the weight blocks at the outer section of each layer. The shoulder strap is thin and connect with adjustment straps.

Without the weight plates, you can roll up the Decathlon Weight Vest in a very compact form and fit it in a small bag.

The overall build is minimal. Even with the 4 x weight plates inserted, you can still put on a T-shirt to hide it. Stealth mode!

Breath-ability

It is crucial how well a weight vest is able to dissipate heat. We think both weight vest are doing a fair job in this aspect, in a different way.

Decathlon Weight Vest uses longer panels that measures at 32cm long and 29cm wide. It also implemented double-belt design that sacrifices the open-sided area to dissipate heat. 

Although Decathlon's vest covers up more body real-estate:

• it does not stick tight to the body and often create gaps in movement
• horizontal air-ways between sand-filled lines.

It does help the heat dissipation.

Belt Security

The ability to keep a weight vest attached to body does not only smoothing the action, but it is important as a safety measure too.

Sudden release of weight vest (belt break open) create dangerous momentum. Especially if you are in the some unusual body position (like handstand), or when you are working out at the edge of maximum ability.

Both Gravgear and Decathlon are using rear-to-front belt design to fasten the weight vest around torso. They both has velcro hook and loop fastener at the end.

Decathlon Weight Vest has a weaker belt security due to its smaller velcro fastener. If you added the extra 4 x 1kg weight plates, each front and back panel will have about 5kg. 

At Grav Weight Vest 16kg maximum weight, each side measures at 8kg. The belt offer more strength to hold the weight vest together by using bigger velcro hook and loop fastener. On top of the velcro, it has a buckle to act as second line of defence.

The heavier the weight vest, the more belt strength is needed.

Test with calisthenics workouts

Pull-up

The male model is 175cm in height, weight 75kg. We put only 8kg in Grav Weight Vest, no extra weight in Decathlon Weight Vest(original 6kg).  

In pull-up, both weight vest works about the same. At the top position near the bar, the rear part of Decathlon Weight Vest will detach from your back. While Grav Weight Vest stays contacted all the way.

If you are doing L-sit pull-up, the Decathlon Weight Vest front panel might get in your way due to its longer profile.

When in dead hang position, Decathlon Weight Vest allows more room between shoulder and neck due to the slim shoulder strap.

Push-up

The front of Decathlon Weighted Vest detach from the chest while it is facing down. In this test, the shoulder straps have been tightened to the maximum and that can't help the front to keep contacted with chest. This create extra momentum in the push-up action, especially in push-up variants like explosive clapping push-up. The front of weight vest will hit the chest at the highest point when pushing up.

Grav Weight Vest stays connected firmly with the body. Generally you wouldn't feel the movement of weight blocks. At the bottom position, the thick weight blocks tends to reach the ground first. This may make the push-up range of motion a little shorter than usual.

Handstand

You cannot slot in the extra 1kg weight plate while doing handstand with Decathlon Weight Vest, as they will slide out in an upside down position. So the maximum weight you can perform with is 6kg.

The long profile of the front might chips in the abs area while doing the initial kick-up to a handstand position. Otherwise, the weight vest holds it position pretty well given you have fasten the belt tight enough.

You can handstand with Grav Weigh Vest with maximum weight 16kg without issue. All the weight blocks are secured in individual slot and enclosed with a flap.

Jumping

At highest point of jumping, the upper part of Decathlon Weigh Vest will lift off the shoulder and chest. While Grav Weight Vest generally staying intact with body surface in the up and down motion.

Care instruction

For Grav Weight Vest usual cleansing, there is no need to tear down all the components every time. Spray odour eliminator after once in a while will be suffice and keep the vest fresh all the time. Or you can use a damped cloth to wipe the whole vest.

Dry the vest as a whole at somewhere dry and well ventilated. We generally suggest to avoid exposing the vest to direct sunlight. Doing so within 1 or 2 hours should do no harm to the product.  

Read the Grav Weighted Vest full cleaning guide: How To Clean Grav Weight Vest

For Decathlon Weighted Vest, There is no official cleaning guide. They do mentioned:

• Do not iron
• Do not bleach
• Do not dry-clean
• Do not wash and tumble-dry

Product warranty and support

Decathlon

Decathlon provides generous Returns & Exchange Policy. Customer will have to sign up and become Decathlon member so they can exchange or refund the product with no time limitation. There are a few condition to meet though:

• The product is in a new/resellable condition
• All packaging and tags are still intact.
• Proof of purchase (which will be recorded in your member account)

Gravgear

We hope to provide flexible and easy return process as a small business. For every Grav Weight Vest sold (and all other products too):

• Lifetime Warranty
• 30 days Return/Exchange

Of course, the product has to be in the same condition and never been used for hygiene purpose.

Should there be any manufacturer defect that affect the product functionality, we will fix or exchange the product at our cost.

Here are a eligible scenario. Jack bought a Grav Weight Vest for 1 year and found out the belt’s stitching starts to fail. It is likely to impact the future usability so we proceed to send a new belt to him as a replacement.

Best thing is the easy verification process. Customer just have to provide the order number which can be found in their order email and a few pictures of the defect. We recognize our own product. No registration and physical receipt required!

Which vest to choose?

The saying “you get what you paid for” is not necessarily applicable in everything, but it is true in this case.

If you are just starting out and want to feel how a weighted vest generally works, go for Decathlon Weight Vest.

If you are serious about your fitness gear investment and want the best value for money in long term, go for Grav Weight Vest.

Here are some of the highlights of Decathlon Weight Vest:

• Affordable price tag (S$70 at the time of writing),
• Adjustable weight from 6kg up to 10kg.
• High portability to compress and bring around.
• Excellent after-sale support from Decathlon. Refund/exchange without time limit.

Grav Weight Vest is the premium option for those who are ready to invest in a weighted vest that will last a lifetime.

Highlights of Grav Weight Vest:

• Exceptional durability.
• Adjustable weight from 1kg up to 16kg.
• Adapt to wide range of body sizes.
• Compact design for best flexibility in action.
• Lifetime warranty & 30 days refund policy.
• Exclusive workout tips and content based on the exact same weight vest.