Note: Groove Life sent us the Groove Belt to review free of charge, but we were not paid for the review. All opinions in this review are our own. 

Belts are an important part of life for many people, but if you happen to be on the smaller side they are an absolute necessity. That’s because when you are skinny it can be hard to find pants and shorts that actually fit you and so having a belt is actually crucial to keeping your pants up. This means that I have been wearing a belt virtually every day since I was a teenager, even during the pandemic.

Meagan will tell you that I can be pretty hard on belts, I think this opinion dates back to the time I destroyed a belt wiping out on ripstik on my way to her apartment while we were dating. But I digress. The issue is that buying belts for me is also fairly difficult because once again I am small, and most of the world we live in doesn’t sell small belts. So when Groove Life reached out about reviewing their new belt, she jumped at it.

We had worked with Groove Life before when Meagan reviewed their silicon ring. We love their commitment to providing products for an active lifestyle and that they stand behind these products with a life time warranty.

What is the Groove Belt

The Groove Belt is a modern take on the belt. Instead of leather which almost all my belts have been made out of, it is made out of a webbed material that they call stiff-tech. This material has some stretch to it so that it fits snuggly even if your sizes changes a little bit over the course of wearing it.

It is important that there is some give in this belt because it doesn’t have adjustable holes like a regular belt. Instead you adjust it your size the first time you use it by pulling the webbed belt through the front side of the buckle. The excess belt slides along the inside of the belt instead of the outside like a regular belt. This keep you from dealing with a flap. There is a small loop that secures the extra in place.

The buckle uses magnets to snap in place. You don’t have to do any adjusting after that first time. The snapping is pretty fun, and the buckle looks classy.

Wearing the Groove Belt

I’ve been wearing the Groove Belt daily for almost a month now. I was hoping to be able to take it on a real trip to test it out more from a travel perspective, but that just wasn’t possible for holiday season 2020. We took a small trip over Christmas about an hour away, but I haven’t done any hiking, climbing, or other outdoor activities with the belt on.

Instead I can give you more of a work from home perspective on this belt, which is pretty classic pandemic at this point. It is a very nice belt. I have found it to be very convenient and comfortable. It is easy to put on, and comfortable to wear.

I was a bit concerned at first about the lack of adjustment options. I think slender people vary more, and I often have adjust my belt during the day. I thought the adjust once option on this belt wouldn’t really work for me, but it turns out once I got it set it has worked out quite well. I’ve made a couple tweaks over a few weeks but it’s basically fit great. The webbed material really does have just the right amount of give.

Price of the Groove Belt

I have the gun metal black Groove Belt (in small) which is priced at 49.95 on their website. I’m sure the price range on belts is quite large. I’ve generally always been a cheaper guy, buying belts at Walmart and thrift stores. So I wouldn’t normally spend $50 on a belt, but in this case I probably would (remember though they sent it to me, so take this for what it is worth).

There are two reasons I think the price is justified in this case. The first is that the build quality seems to be very good. I’m starting to get more into quality products that will last as I get older and I’m sure I will be wearing this belt all over the world for years to come.

The second reason is that the belt comes with a lifetime warranty. Basically the only reason you would need to buy another belt is if you wanted a different color (of which they have several). I love to see a company stand by their product like that. For $50 you are getting something that you could potentially use everyday for the rest of your life. That is something I can get behind.

Sum Up

So is the Groove Belt good for travel? It’s hard to say at this point, but I will definitely be finding out in the future. I’ve worn it in the car plenty of times and it is comfortable. I have not worn it on an airplane yet which I think will be the real test of comfort.

It is definitely built for activity, so I expect it to be great as I get out and do more hiking and climbing in this coming year.