[krick]

I don't mean to argue that it's just gimmick and any sane person would just use sand, but to be completely fair, sand is much less dense than steel, so if the coins pack well it does make a better weight.

I do also suspect that there must be some product that must be more cost effective than coins but denser than sand, but cannot think of it right away. I mean, scrap steel is a couple of cents per kg.

[Ao7bei3s]

Olympic weight plates for barbells. They're widely used, so competition has brought the cost down, and they're easily available in useful increments. I currently see 4x 10lbs for <$50 on Amazon. That works out to 2,53 Euro per kg. So cheaper than euro cents. They may not have the exact shape you need.

The scrap steel probably didn't cost cents per kg when it was sold for its original purpose. You are paying for a useful shape.

A professional equivalent of weighted vests are ballistic plate carriers. Real ballistic plates can be fragile and expensive, so options for exercising in (or milsim games in airsoft etc.) include expired (and failed to re-certify) real ballistic plates, made for purpose training plates... or plate shaped sandbags!

[another-dave]

> That works out to 2,53 Euro per kg. So cheaper than euro cents.

The cents are free though, cause they're legal tender — just deposit them instead of having to sell 2nd hand

[yurishimo]

Assuming you live in a sane country. One of the few complaints I have with Dutch society being so "streamlined". Cash is seen as a nusciance here.

[wging]

The cheapest plates can be higher variance than you might expect. I’ve seen reports of 45s that are 10% light.

[raverbashing]

Especially if you hit eBay or similar, you can get it for cheap

[SturgeonsLaw]

Sometimes sand + water is used for ballast. Depends on your use case, if your heavy thing is moving around then the sloshing won't be ideal, but if it's just sitting somewhere static then it can work.

eg; weighing down the corners of a beach tent, pegs won't grip in the sand so instead tie plastic bags onto the guy ropes and fill them with sand and water.