Rowing Machines?

[caleb]

My wife would like a rowing machine. Come next winter, I may, too.

I know there are some rowers here, and I hope you can fill me in.

It seems that in addition to the classic Erg, there's now a crop of connected rowers out there, including:

Hydrow

Ergatta

And maybe the Peloton rowing machine

Any thoughts or reviews?

[Drew]

I tried Concept2 and Waterrower in person. Concept2, hands down. I've had it for about 18 months and it's great. I have a skierg as well, also great. The Concept2 "ecosystem" goes into Garmin pretty well, and the Concept2 tracking website also is pretty good. It's cool to be able to see how you stack up against others around the globe.

[Mabouya]

I agree with Drew 100% - C2 is the way to go. It really is the gold standard when it comes to rowers. Super-reliable, connectable to ErgData if you want to break your workout down to a stroke by stroke level, or, the PM alone can give you plenty of good feedback by itself. (e.g. the Force Curve display will help diagnose glitches in your technique, which is helpful to newbies, because getting your technique right is probably the single most important thing when one is learning to use the rower) It will give you years and years of use with nothing more than a 15 second wipe-down of the seat rail, and an occasional application of oil on the chain.

The only reason to consider, say, a Waterrower, would be if you value aesthetics far more than functionality, since the wood frame could potentially fit it better in some settings. But for everything else, there's little question that a C2 is the way to go.

One final thing, I find that rowing inside is not nearly as mind-numbingly boring as cycling inside. And 30 minutes will give you a great, full-body workout.

Edit: Wait, wait, that's not all - C2 also has a fairly active forum where you can get lots of helpful advice and suggestions. It's definitely helped me.

[Too Tall]

C2 and done. They are the best hands down. If you want to score one almost new look for regional "Crash B" events ( https://www.crash-b.org/ ) where you can purchase machines used for one weekend.

[Marvinlungwitz]

Concept 2 story: My early 1990s rower’s head unit was ruined by a battery leak. Amazingly, the new head unit is completely compatible with the decades old mount and electronics.

They rock.

[davids]

Concept 2, hands down. Mine is probably 10 or so years old and has been utterly problem-free.