The mats are Gold's Gym High Impact Flooring Puzzle Mat and they can be found here. They are about $15 for a pack of 6. Now, on to the review!
Quality: ****1/2
I have two sets of these mats, one of which I have had for about 5 years. They have held up very well. Some of the rubber pieces have peeled up from wear over the years, but it is minor. Sometimes the "puzzle" pieces are cut slightly off, so they don't line up exactly. With some adjusting, you can get them to line up, it just may take a little time and effort. Overall, I would say these are high-quality mats and would stand up to just about any activity.
Effectiveness: (Are these good as mats?) ****
These mats are decent thickness, but I wouldn't recommend using just one layer on a concrete floor, such as ours. We have two layers and that is the right amount of thickness, but if it were any thinner, I would imagine you would feel the floor every time you land from a jump or had to go down to the floor for an exercise. The pieces may separate where they join together when you are jumping around, especially if you are doing a sliding or dragging motion. We have solved this problem by putting duct tape on the underside of the seams, as you can see in the picture. This has stopped the movement of the pieces and keeps them together. Yes, these are effective mats, because they provide protection from the hard floor. I took off a star for the fact that they may move around and may not be thick enough if you are on a very hard surface.
Look: ***
I have given "Look" three stars, because they're nothing special to look at. You can see that some of the pieces don't fit evenly and this can give them a "cheap" look. Also, you would have to have these in a place that you could keep them out all the time, because it would be a pain to put them down and then take them apart and put them away whenever you wanted them out of the room. They cannot be easily stored once they are taken apart.
Overall: ****
I would recommend these mats if you are looking for an inexpensive way to cover your workout room floor. They offer additional protection when you are doing movements on the floor or high-intensity movements, such as jumps. They are not too expensive and they do last. With a little preparation (taping the seams) they will last even longer and save you some trouble later when they come apart. I have used these mats both on a carpeted surface and on a concrete floor. They do protect the carpeting from pulling and getting matted. They don't offer a lot of protection from a very hard surface because they are not that thick. You can definitely double them and that works. I have used other mats, such as yoga style mats, and they do not work for the types of exercises I do. They are not thick enough and they damage very easily. If you are looking for mats that will last and you have the space to leave them out all the time, I would recommend these for sure.
Let me know if you check out these mats! They are on sale at Wal-Mart right now. If you have any questions, let me know!
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