is the Amazon basics foam roller firm enough to be worth it?

Rolling on a tightly rolled up yoga mat was my plan for about two years, which works roughly as well as it sounds. The Amazon EPPSP-18-1 foam roller is the 18 inch high density one in blue speckled, and it replaced that nonsense for less than I spend on lunch. Firmness was the part I wasnt sure about, since cheap rollers either squash flat within a month or feel like a scaffold pole, and this one lands nearer the pole end without being unusable.

eighteen inches turned out to be the right call for me. it spans my back so I can lie across it and work the whole thing rather than chasing one shoulder blade at a time, and it does that crack down the spine business people buy these for. quads and IT band work fine as well. mine arrived with a raised seam down one side, a little ridge of foam left over from the mould, and it caught on me every single pass until I trimmed it off with nail clippers. two minutes of work, but it shouldnt have needed doing at all and going by the reviews its common rather than a one off.

Denting is the usual death of a cheap roller and this one has kept its shape so far, no flat spot where my back sits and no soft patch. Comfort is another matter. High density means high density, and anyone new to foam rolling is going to hate this thing for a fortnight, my hamstrings certainly did, so a softer roller would be the smarter first buy. I borrowed a Chirp wheel for a week before this and found it awkward and wobbly to balance on, where the plain cylinder just gets on with it. cost wise its right at the bottom of the shelf and nothing about the build feels cut back to get there, apart from that seam nobody bothered to shave off at the factory.