Rogue Echo Sandbag – Our Review

It’s getting harder and harder to escape from sand.

Nah, we’re not talking about quicksand from some Indiana Jones movie (although I preferred the quicksand in the 1990’s live-action The Jungle Book movie)…

We’re talking about sandbags.

Sandbag exercises. Sandbag workouts, Sandbag friggin’ training.

If you do CrossFit, you’re seeing a lot more sandbag work programmed. If you’re interested in rucking, GORUCK won’t leave you alone with its “train with sand” messaging. If you open up the Rogue homepage, there’s a good chance you’ll be met with a Strongman athlete throwing a heavy sandbag around…

…Rogue…yeah…Rogue…how fortuitious that I’ve mentioned them since their Echo Sandbags are the items under the microscope today!

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Functionality

There may be some kind of weird Streisand Effect going on, but I feel like sandbag training sss

If you’re reading this, you probably know that a sandbag (or sandbags) ain’t the same as a barbell. While the barbell may be lacking in some of the arguably more “practical” areas that sandbags dominate, they also allow for a lot more diversity of loading (assuming, that is, that you don’t want to constantly empty out and fill in sand to your bag) and some more movement options.

The second thing that you’ve probably noticed is that the Rogue Echo Sandbags are the circular, “Strongman” variety as opposed to being the more cylindrical types. If you’re more interested in the latter type of bag, I’d suggest taking a look at the GORUCK Sandbag line-up.

As far as how well the Echo Sandbags work for Strongman training and related exercises (as we saw in the video above, these are getting to be pretty common in a lot of CrossFit workouts) they allow you to do pretty much anything you’d want to do with them.

“Classic” exercises like sandbag to shoulder (more or less a sandbag clean), sandbag over shoulder, sandbag front squat, sandbag back squat, sandbag lunge…you can do them all with these bags.

The sandbags themselves (in many cases, a single sandbag) are even sufficient for entire metabolic conditioning workouts. Take, for example, CrossFit O.G. Dan Bailey’s sandbag variation of the classic CrossFit Hero WOD DT:

Yeah, Bailey is a lot stronger than most trainees, but you could easily do that with a 100-pound, or even a 50-pound sandbag (well…maybe not “easily”, but you get the point).

Of course, you’re going to be stronger in some movements than others so, as alluded to earlier, unless you really want to be screwing around with adding and subtracting sand after each exercise, you’ll usually need at least a few bags to facilitate an entire training session. This isn’t the Echo Sandbags’ fault, per say; it’s just the reality of sandbag training.

To be fair, there are “adjustable” sandbags on the market that are designed to make adjustments a bit easier, but in my experience, instead of simply having 3 or 4 perfectly weighed and measured sandbags, you get 1 bag that is never properly filled and with constantly screwed up proportions. The Echo Sandbags slightly lose out to these in terms of overall functionality, but I can assure you that you’d rather have Rogue’s bags than any of these alternatives.

Functionality: 90

Durability

Every time we talk about sandbag durability, two main areas/items jump to the top of the list of things need to be immediately addressed.

• Does the bag hold up well enough to prevent sand leaking all over the place?
• Will the bag bust, rip, or otherwise “break” after repeated drops/use?

Thankfully, in my experiences with the Rogue Echo Sandbags, neither of these concerns have come to pass and, frankly, these sandbags perform as well, if not better than any other training sandbag I’ve ever gotten my hands on (more like “gotten my arms around, but whatever).

To the first point, the internal filler bag does an excellent job of creating an extra layer between the sand and…the sand escaping. The filler bag’s material isn’t quite as robust as the outside material, but it’s legit enough to prevent the sand from even penetrating this initial layer.

One last thing about the filler bag that should be mentioned is that it is actually split into three separate “sand compartment” areas. There is one larger area in the middle and two smaller ones on either side. I’m pretty sure that doing this adds a bit of extra protection when the bag slams onto the ground, ultimately providing a bit more of “bust-proofing”…and sand leaking.

Considering that there is an entire thicker, extra layer after the filler bag…yeah…nothing is leaking out of this.

To that exterior layer, it helps that it is constructed of 1000D Cordura. If you’re familiar with most of the “standard” GORUCK bags, this is the same tough materials as though are. This material, which we’ll discuss in further detail later on, is objectively stronger and more resilient than the more common thick polyester common in other sandbags.

Between the zippered and velcroed securing system, nothing is leaking out and with that Cordura exterior, nothing is busting.

At the end of the day…well…I know these aren’t the Rogue Echo Sandbags, but if these bags can handle this kind of abuse, I’m gonna say they’ll be just fine for just about any type of training:

Durability: 100

Load Capacity

Rogue has always been categorized as a “strength” brand. Of course, they have, like, everything you’d ever want (particularly if you’re a CrossFit athlete) but they have always veered more towards pure strength more than any other fitness attribute.

With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Rogue Echo Sandbags can accommodate up to a staggering 400 pounds! This is comparable to Rogue’s other sandbags and is higher than just about anything you’re going to find, outside of really niche sellers.

One thing that should be noted, especially if you’ve been familiar with Rogue bags in the past, but haven’t checked in in the last few years is that the company now offers Echo Sandbags with as low as a 25-pound capacity. Previously, Rogue Sandbags started at 100 pounds which, for anyone, especially those not used to sandbag training, is nothing to sneeze at.

With the total line of bags ranging from 25 pounds to 400 pounds, the Rogue Echo Sandbags are truly accessible to all comers.

Load Capacity: 100

Materials & Construction

If you’ve ever thrown a sandbag around before, you’re aware that they’re the kinds of things you can’t really cheap out on, specifically when it comes to materials. Crappy materials and/or missing filler bags and you’re gonna turn your basement into a kid’s sandbox.

The Echo Sandbags’ double-stitched seams aren’t as robust as some other companies’ offerings (triple-stitched seams aren’t that hard to find) but the 1000D Cordura is more than tough enough to deal with the kinds of abuse that most people are likely to put it through.

The rather common “zipper and hook-loop closure” adequately secures all of the sand just fine and I have not experienced any sand leakage whatsoever.

Materials: 90

Price

It’s not too difficult to find sandbags, particularly strongman sandbags, that are less expensive than the Rogue Echo Sandbags.

However, one thing that they do have going for them is that they’re less expensive than the “standard”/”OG” Rogue Sandbags. Depending on the size of the bag, the Echo Sandbags are roughly 20 to 40 percent less expensive than the other Rogue sandbags.

Looking at competitor bags, some of these are going to be close to the same quality as Rogue’s bags are, but most are going to lack either the additional filler bag (believe it or not) or the more robust materials (1000D Cordura or something similar). You pay extra for these things…and for the “Rogue Fitness” name on your gear.

One last thing I’ll mention is that the really strong guys really benefit from being as strong as they are. The heaviest Rogue Echo Sandbag (400-pound capacity) is less than 3 times the price of the smallest bag (25-pound capacity) despite having 16 times the capacity!

…add that to the ever-growing list of benefits for being strong!

Price: 85

Customer Reviews

It’s pretty much a “good news, bad news” situation with the Rogue Echo Sandbags.

The good news is, they currently sport a 4.7 out of 5 cumulative rating with, more or less, completely positive ratings.

The bad news is, there are only 6 total ratings for the bags so far…not really anywhere enough to make any legit inferences from. Of course, you’d rather see a few positive reviews than a few negative reviews, but still, take this score (based off of a handful of reviews) for what it’s worth.

One important thing to note is that in one third of the reviews (for the non-Math majors out there, this amounts to 2 reviews), customers mentioned the whole “can’t get enough sand to fit into the bag” thing that I mentioned above. Hopefully this is more of a “user issue” than it is a bag issue, but these do “echo” (ha!) some of my bag-filling experiences.

Customer Reviews: 94

Customer Service

Despite being one of the largest fitness gear companies out there at the moment, my (albeit, relatively few) experiences with Rogue have all been positive. In some cases, shipping hasn’t been the fastest, but I can’t fault the actual, humans (or at least AI that seems like human) that I’ve interacted with.

One of the more memorable encounters I had with Rogue’s people was back in late 2023. I had put in a relatively large order, but, a day or so after ordering, realized that I could get some of the gear cheaper (ordering directly from GORUCK) and that there were a few items that I simply didn’t want the exact specifications for (ex. my wife wanted a different Bella Bar coating).

I was a bit worried that it would be too late to change the order, thinking that it would have already shipped. However, the Rogue rep I messaged got back to me really quickly, informed me that he was able to halt the shipment, and explained my options (either adjusting the order or cancelling it all and refunding me). I chose the latter option and my credit card was refunded within a few days.

I’ve read about others’ somewhat less-than-stellar Rogue customer service experiences, but as far as my limited experiences go, everything has gone better than expected.

Customer Service: 100

Who are Rogue Echo Sandbags really for?

All sandbags aren’t created equally…and everybody shouldn’t be lined up to tangle with the same types of sandbags. Let’s take a look at who the Echo Sandbags are and aren’t best for:

CrossFitters

Bet you didn’t see this one coming…but you should have!

If you’ve been paying attention so far, you would have noticed that a number of clips posted throughout this review have involved Rogue Sandbags being used in CrossFit competitions. Of course, these are very high-level comps, but the writing is on the wall at this point.

I have sandbags programmed into my training at least once every week or two…and it seems to grow more and more frequent with time. If you do CrossFit, you’ve probably noticed this, as well so…ya know…it’s time to quit scaling and get some bags.

Those who want a minimalist training alternative

We all know about calisthenics enthusiasts who get results with little-to-no equipment. For many athletes, a dip bar, a pull-up bar, and maybe some rings are all they need to get seriously ripped (and in some cases, pretty jacked, as well).

It’ll cost you a little bit more to get a set of bags and some sand (unless you’re a hobo and live on the beach…lucky!), but once you have these, you’re pretty well set to do a lot of different exercises covering a surprisingly wide array of modalities.

Also, I know that there are some calisthenics beasts, but you’re more likely to get yoked via Strongman sandbag training than you are by doing a bunch of pull-ups.

Fight me!

Not for athletes who want to grip their bags

Strongman sandbags are very different than barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and any other piece of equipment that is easily gripped and held onto in the hands. They’re even different than the likes of the Rogue Feed Sacks that are thicker and more cube-like than most cylindrical sandbags, but have handles on the top in order to easily grip them.

If you’re not too keen on getting used to literally bear hugging your sandbags and would rather do sand work with a bag you can grip in your hands, the Echo sandbags aren’t the bags for you.

How we reviewed the Rogue Echo Sandbags

For quite some time, my CrossFit programming has included a good amount of sandbag training. However, for the first…while, I only had GORUCK sandbags. These are great for certain types of movements, but most of my workouts called for Strongman style movements.

After getting ahold of my Echo Sandbag at the beginning of the year, I’ve used it for all types of sandbag movements in a variety of workouts. However, to be honest, most of these movements have been pretty, for the lack of a better term, “vanilla”. 150 pounds is a lot for me (for now!) so I’ve mainly done cleans, carries, and holds with mine.

Thankfully, this has included throwing it around on a variety of surfaces (gym mats, turf, grass, concrete slabs, to name a few) and I’m happy to report that it has definitely held up!

Echo Sandbag Alternatives

We mentioned before that sandbag training has gotten to be pretty popular. As a result of this, it really isn’t hard to find alternative sandbag options. Let’s take a look at 3 of the best:

Frequently Asked Questions

Need to know a little more before getting started with sand? Ask away!

Echo Sandbags…”Good and Cheap” Rogue Gear…?

Think about something for a second:

Have you ever heard a piece of Rogue equipment described as being good and cheap (in this context, “cheap” = “inexpensive”)?

You’ve probably heard of “good” Rogue gear. Maybe you’ve heard of something referred to as “cheap” once or twice.

…but both?

Well…today is that day as the Rogue Echo Sandbags are low-priced, functional, and durable pieces of training gear. They may not be all that enjoyable to throw around, but given how effective they are and how little you have to pay to get a few, they’ve become one of the highest-rated products we’ve ever reviewed.