Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers Review – 2024
Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 09:52 am
The Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers are touted as the BEST rack attached mono option on the market. But are they? Can they hang both aesthetically AND functionally? Is their premium price tag worth it?
Key Notes
The Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers are FIRE. There are a few things they could fix/address, but these are a staple in my gym.
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Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers Review – YouTube
Overview On The Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers
The Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers are a rack attached monolift jcup with a roller in the mono arm itself. The Snap Back name comes from the design with the springs, when you unrack your bar, they SNAP BACK into the housing.
They come in 2×3 or 3×3 options, as well as 5/8 and 1 inch, both metric and imperial. So as long as you have a rack that conforms to the basic standards of most these days, you are good. Rep, Rogue, Monster, Monster Lite, or Infinity, doesn’t matter. They do this with a customized sized pin for your rack, but they add extra UHMW to make up the space on a 2×3 compared to a 3x
First question you might be asking… Why mono hooks?
Monos give you the ability to have an easier lift off. Squats means no walk out, bench means no need for a lift off. The arms come OUT and only require a slight lift up to unrack and get to work. For bench especially, this can mean more pounds on the bar and healthier shoulders.
Second question… Who Needs a Roller J-Cup?
Using a standard jcup, I personally find that once you get above 500lbs, things get more and more difficult to center. You end up moving the UHMW and its a pretty big effort to get it centered in general. With the roller, I’ve got 1000lbs loaded and it rolls smoothly. So, if you are a heavy lifter this can be a big benefit for you. Better set up, more consistent set up, means a bigger lift. If 500lbs is a never gonna happen number for you, the roller might just be a nifty gadget that really doesn’t serve much purpose.
And the real question… how do these perform?
The roller itself is made of a very dense composite plastic material. The nice thing here is that your bar won’t get beat up much like racking in a UHMW lined jcup. If you read my Edge Fitness Mono review, you know the lack of UHMW was a bit of a bummer for me.
The Snap Backs are missing one piece though, the front lip UHMW. Rogue just added this to the redesigned Ghost Rollers, so hopefully Chris can implement something similar. You can see on mine I’ve came in a little low on some reracks and scuffed the front lip. When we are talking about a piece of gym equipment that is so aesthetically pleasing, you’d like to keep it looking good for as long as possible.
Maneuverability
A really ingenious piece to the puzzle of the Snap Backs, is their maneuverability. My Edge Monos were a hazard to move, free swinging metal pieces as you tried to lock it into a rack hole, bolt on, with a screw lock. The Snap Backs, because while unloaded they sit inside the housing, are basically one clean piece to move.
The pin, which is stainless steel so it doesn’t chip, is fully welded in place, and the unit fits snuggly onto the rack with the extra security of the magnet rack pin. This by itself is enough to sell me on the Snap Backs vs my old Edge monos. For how heavy these are, this is just a really nice feature. My wife doesn’t struggle moving them either.
They also have a piece installed on the inside to absorb some of the shock from when they snap back, which reduces the noise during lifting, which is nice whether you have kids sleeping near bye or just don’t enjoy the sound of metal crashing near your head.
The aesthetics, well, I mean, just look at them. Custom color options for the housing, the mono arm, and a couple options for the uhmw. Other than Irwin Fitness, I don’t know anyone making custom colors for monos. So, if you have a color aesthetic, this is one of your few available options. I REALLY like the housing, and you can see I went the extra mile and dropped some DIY lettering behind the MM logo.
Function
One of the key comments and complaints about Monos on the market, is that they work better for bench than they do squats. The reason for this is that in the bench you only need a few inches from the rack and you are solid. But with the squat most people feel the need to have some extra room in case you lean forward a bit. With the Snap Backs I’ve done bench and squats both, trying every bar I own. What I can say is that bench feels extremely natural.
The set up, unrack, and rerack are infinitely better on these than on a traditional jcup, and better than my Edge monos. I feel like anyone could get accustomed to this pretty quickly and easily and prefer their use over a standard j-cup.
Squats
Squats on the other hand are mixed. I can definitely unrack it, stay put, and squat. But I’ve been walking out my squat for over a decade. So the idea of getting perfectly set under the bar in the rack without a walk out isn’t exactly normal. There is also an odd feeling of re-racking the bar of a heavy squat and not being able to physically see and feel that it is 100% racked. When you rack against a J-Cup, you know you made it.
On the monos, because you have to trust that you are IN and it’ll slide down into place, it is a bit of a hold your breath and pray moment. I’ve missed once or twice and it was less than ideal. You can squat out of them AND walk your squat out. No issues there at all. But after a few months I’ve decided they just aren’t my favorite for squats. There are people who 100% use monos for squats, regularly, in a home gym setting. I’m just not one of those people. So when looking at monos in general, not just the Snap Backs, think about your use.
The Snap Backs also have the ability to lock in place, i.e. remove the mono swing action and perform like a traditional jcup. If you have a half rack or a larger 40″ rack, i think this is an awesome option. You can now pick and choose exercises to use the snap back or just the roller function, so now we are back to squats being a little more normal and leveraging the function of the rollers.
Small Rack Woes
For me in a smaller rack, the monos take up too much room, so I can’t use the jcup function inside the rack. I used it outside of the rack for rows, but that was awkward as you normally rack the bar from above with rows. So, the Snap Backs can function like a jcup roller, but I don’t see most people ONLY owning the Snap Backs and using them on every lift. You could, but I personally won’t. They function well for lifts where you are more UNDER the J-Cup and rack UP, opposed to above the j-cups and rack DOWN.
I’ve been asked about the springs. So far I haven’t noticed any tension loss, and I don’t expect to see anything anytime soon. Remember that the springs are only stretching when loaded, so you are talking minutes at a time for a fairly short cumulative amount of time throughout a workout. Worst case scenario, MM has replacements for sale for cheap.
Ok, let’s wrap up.
Like with most items in the garage gym, the Snap Backs aren’t perfect. Rack attached monos are a creation that takes some inspiration from a HUGE squat monolift. This takes up tons of space, costs a fortune, and requires multiple athletes to operate. You drop that into a rack attached j-cup and attempt to recreate the experience. That is just the reality of mono-hooks, they aren’t the real deal. That said…
The Snap Backs will be my go to bench set up for years to come, especially lifting primarily by myself. The unracking without a spotter here is ON POINT. The rollers make moving the bar easy, keep my bars looking nice, and just work exceptionally well.
For squats I’ll be moving back to j-cups. The same for most accessory work like rows, curls, and other rack related items.
Best On The Market
They absolutely dominate every other option aesthetically, are 100% on par or better performance wise than everything else, AND they have the only combo roller and mono available. There are a couple of pieces I think could be enhanced. But they are pretty minor in the grand scheme.
Chris at Mutant Metals has made a truly unique product offering that stands at the top of the pile of options in the market. The price can be difficult to swallow, but if we compare to let’s say the Ghost Rollers. Even now from Rogue, if you snag a custom color and the stainless pin, you are just shy of the Snap Backs without the functionality of the monos.
In a simple sentence… The Mutant Metals Snap Backs are awesome, not perfect, but REALLY awesome.
If you are a bargain shopper. Mutant Metals isn’t for you anyway. If you want the best, or simply want a mono and a roller combo, this is 100% what you need.
Additional References and Notes
Mutant Metals will be redesigning their Snap Back Rollers for a V2 design. When? Maybe end of 2023.
I also reviewed the Mutant Metals Ultimate Dip Attachment.
If you want to add the colored lettering like I did, check out this video:
💲Want a pair of Snap Back Rollers for your own home gym? Use this link.
Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
