The speed bag is an essential piece of boxing equipment, and a common sight in any well-equipped gym. While there are many different punching bags that can help you improve your technique and raw power – the speed bag is the best tool to improve precision, reflexes and coordination.
In this review, we reveal which speed bags deliver the best value and quality.
Our Top 5 Best Speed Bags
The best performers in our review are TITLE Boxing Gyro, the Everlast Elite Speed Bag, and TITLE Classic. Here’s more information on choosing the best speed bag, along with a detailed review for each product we chose.
Construction
Every speed bag has three key parts that affect it’s durability: the loop, the bladder, and the shell. The loop suspends the bag from the swivel, and is usually the most sensitive part of the whole bag – once the loop tears, little can be done to make the bag usable. The rubber bladder is usually filled with air, and fitted within the shell. While the bladder will always have to be re-inflated every once in a while, a good bladder should deflate as little as possible.
Balance & Rebound
Contrary to what the name suggests, the speed bag isn’t meant to help improve raw speed as much as hand-eye coordination, reflexes and precision. To allow this, the bag has to be well-balanced and it needs to rebound smoothly and predictably. While a speed bag’s motion is often decided by the speed bag swivel, a poorly balanced bag won’t provide good rebound, even if you’ve attached it to the best swivel in the world.
1. TITLE Boxing Gyro Balanced Speed Bag
While speed bags don’t have to deal with hard punches like standard heavy bags, the TITLE Gyro Balanced Speed Bag was still constructed to take a relentless beating.
We consider it to be sturdier than most competitors – the quality leather shell construction is triple-reinforced at the seams for more durability, while the lacing is tight and firm.
The rebound action and speed of Title’s Boxing Gyro are excellent. It’s butyl rubber bladder is internally balanced, ensuring a predictable line of motion. The whole body bounces back-and-forth rapidly at a smooth, constant pace.
While the fast action is somewhat unforgiving towards amateurs, we believe that it’s accuracy is great for someone who is just learning how to hit the speed bag.
2. Everlast Elite Leather Speed Bag
A definite improvement to other Everlast speed bags we’ve tried, and our best value choice. Made in the USA, this speed bag is reliable, sturdy, and accurate – with a fair price to boot.
Similarly to the Title Boxing Gyro, it’s covered with a top-grade, sturdy leather shell. The seams, which are the weak spot of many punching bags, are reinforced for better durability. The whole bag is well-balanced, and we found it easy to maintain a nice, constant rhythm during speed bag practice.
The only thing keeping the Everlast Elite from being ranked as our number one best speed bag is the bladder. We discovered that it tends to deflate a bit too fast for our liking. You can, of course, inflate it again – but this gets tedious after a while.
The speed bag swivel is not included with this product.
3. TITLE Classic Speed Bag
A light but exceptionally durable piece of boxing equipment, with a classical look for fans of old school boxing.
The biggest weak spot of many speed bags is the loop – and we’re glad to say that TITLE’s Classic doesn’t suffer from this issue. The loop is additionally reinforced, ensuring better durability and less wear.
We found that the rest of this speed bag is impressively tough as well. The triple-stitched, rugged leather construction is reinforced with leather welted seams. The extended-life rubber bladder does a great job at keeping the air in.
The Title Classic appears to be slightly smaller than most speed bags in this review. Even at a medium size, it’s small enough to give a beginner a hard time.
4. Cleto Reyes Speed Bag
Cleto Reyes has a reputation as the manufacturer of some of the best boxing gear in the world. Their speed bag lives up to their reputation – hand made in Mexico from tough leather and reinforced with durable nylon lining, it offers more durability than most bags we’ve come across.
We can see that a lot of care went into this product – the precision that went into it’s crafting is reflected on it’s balance and smooth movements. The stitching looks very solid, and we found this boxing bag to be fast enough to offer an experienced boxer a challenging workout.
Unfortunately, a big downside to this speed bag is the loop – it looks too tight and thick, and requires the right swivel to ensure fast and good rebound. Some standard swivels will cause friction, resulting in slow and unpredictable movement.
5. Everlast Everhide Speed Bag
We love a fast speed bag, and it’s a pity that Everlast Everhide doesn’t have much more to boast about. While it has impressive rebound, we consider it to be the least durable boxing bag in this review.
The main culprit behind this seems to be it’s Carbon Fiber construction. The Everhide shell is extremely light, allowing excellent rebound speed – but it also doesn’t appear to be as sturdy as Everlast Elite’s leather cover. We found that it doesn’t take too many intense workouts to put a hole in this bag.
With this in mind, we believe that the Everlast Everhide is fairly priced. It’s inexpensive, well-balanced, and doesn’t seem to produce much noise when struck. Of course, this doesn’t mean much if it tears, but it makes it a great speed bag for beginner boxers and younger fighters that don’t plan to put it through heavy use.
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