I was searching for an EZ Curl Bar because my 45 lb straight bar wasn't kind to my wrists or elbows doing reverse curls, tricep presses, etc. I had an "EZ Curl" handle attachment for the low pulley on my squat rack, but it was awkward being attached to a cable and I never really liked it.I certainly looked at the typical chrome-plated EZ's at your big box retailers and sporting good stores. Biggest issue I had with those bars is that there's no bearings in the sleeves and they're simply screwed on by a large hex cap bolt on each end. Eventually they'd squeak and squeal as the metal surfaces wears into each other. As far as I can tell, short of taking it apart, this bar has bearings inside the sleeves, and the snap ring retainers are a lot more "professional" grade than the hex cap bolts are. The sleeves rotate smooth without noise, and I'm pretty sure if they ever do start to squeak I can shoot some white lithium or similar grease in there to help. I do have a snap ring pliers, but I'm not interested in taking them apart if I can help it.I added a picture of this with my setup. It fits perfectly in the catch bars of my squat rack, though if it was fully loaded I wouldn't be able to use the end hooks as displayed here because there's be no sleeve left to catch the hooks. It would work fine fully loaded or not within the rack itself, though.Maybe..MAYBE the only con if I was forced to give one is that the surfaces of the sleeves are SLICK due to the machining and plating, and because it's a short-length bar if you don't use clamps to hold the plates and you're form isn't near perfect you'll find in the middle of your reps suddenly one or both sides are unloading themselves onto the floor. Yep...happened to me during overhead tricep extensions. I don't use clamps on my full bar and didn't think about how this one would react when I first used it. At about midway through the reps a 5 lb. plate on one side had slid itself close enough that as I was lying the bar back down behind my head, the plate came off the rest of the way. Clamps went on after that.As for my original need for it, yes, it helps a lot more keeping my elbows from flairing out and my wrists from feeling pinched when doing reverse movement exercises. Definitely a great buy!