Should You Buy a WaterRower? PROS & CONS

I thought a good review of the Water Rower, been a long time user. I take issue with two statements. Changing amount of water in the tank does not change the resistance of the row. It effectively changes the "weight" of the boat you are in. This is specified in the doc that comes with the rower (read this stuff do you?). This rower was developed by a competitive rower. This is one of the easiest products I have ever assembled. Came in two boxes, tank assembly and rails. They provide everything you need to assemble unit. Took about 25 minutes. I truly like this rower...

Hi Austin, I’m also fairly tall at 6’ 7” with a 38” inseam. I recently purchased the water rower club model with leg extensions so it’s easier to mount. I did have a slight problem with my knees coming up a little higher than what I like, however a friend suggested getting the memory foam padded seat available on Amazon and this raised my butt about two inches when the seat pad was compressed. Now, I get a full, smooth stroke with no knee issues whatsoever. I really enjoy the water rower because of the sound, smooth glide of the stroke, solid feel of the machine, and feeling like I’ve had a great workout after about 45 minutes of rowing. This was an outstanding purchase and I recommend it to all of my friends. Thank you for the very fair review of the machine! ~Mark

I've had mine for a year now. I highly recommend it if you're in the market. I also got the ergatta computer for it. Easy to install and VERY helpful.

On comparing performance on a WaterRower (or magnetic rower) vs. the competitive standard Concept2: the distance figures may not be commensurable, but the watts should be. For example, to row a 6 minute 2000m on the Concept2 (1:30/500m split), the rower must maintain an average power of 480 watts (wow...). For a 7 minute 2000m row (1:45/500m split), the average power is around 302 watts. The different brands of rower may define what they mean by a "meter rowed" differently, but watts should be watts everywhere, assuming the different machines are competently engineered (yes, that's a big assumption). An engineer can determine the power required to spin a rotor at a given RPM quite accurately by driving the rotor with an electric motor. There should be no question about the watts, but the "distance" is not a direct measurement because the ergometer itself isn't actually moving like a boat through water. Thus to get the "same" workout on two different rowing ergometers, you're probably better off rowing at the same power output for the same time, rather than rowing the same "distance" according to the different vendors' interpretations of distance. Relying on watts also lets a person get the "same" workout on a completely different type of machine, such as an exercise bike, where the distance interpretations wil be completely different. (Real bicycles are much more efficient than real boats, so a cyclist goes faster at a given power output than a rower.) The Concept2 Web site has a page with a calculator to convert both ways between average watts and 500m split time. As the power in watts goes up with the cube of speed (similar for other fluid-drag sports such as cycling), to go twice as fast (or to cut one's time in half for a given distance) requires eight times the power. Relying on watts eliminates the guesswork of "Which type of exercise machine gives the best workout?" because rowing at 300 watts is about the same aerobic workout as bicycling or stair climbing at 300 watts. The exact muscles being worked are different, but the cardiorespiratory system is moving close to the same amount of oxygen to fuel the 300 watts output no matter what machine a trainer uses. Also the well-trained athlete can use heart rate as a proxy for watts, since the athlete's heart rate should stabilize at a given number of beats per minute after a few minutes of continuous effort for a given power output in watts. Thus for example you could measure your heart rate during a 2000m row on the Concept2, and then generate the same heart rate curve for the same duration on a WaterRower to get the same workout, no matter what the WaterRower thinks the distance is.

I love my Waterrower. Mine is a bout 20 years old. I did have to replace the tank after about 15 years.

Thank you. This is one of the videos I watched a year ago to make my decision to buy the Waterrower and have not regretted it. The factors was the quietness of this opposed to a fan style and I am not training for "real" rowing or I would have gone with the Concept 2, which was my other choice. The final deciding factor for me was storage footprint, which is slightly smaller with the Waterrower vs the Concept. This is a great workout when using an interval timer app to perform high and low intensity intervals and still watch TV or a movie to occupy my mind.

I recently bought a water rower and I am very happy with it. The main points of style, low noise, smoothness are spot on in your review. A very solid workout every time! The ergonomic issue you pointed does not affect me. I am 6ft tall and fit perfectly on its design. I agree that being too low and narrow may affect confort for some, but it was designed to emulate a rowing boat! Related to the ERG differences when compared to Concept 2, I assume some simplistic software calibration or data correction should solve it. No big deal for me anyways. What is REALLY annoying is the ecosystem limitation. Regardless of what version you buy and even if you include the Bluetooth add-on ($ 250 cost!), you will not be able to sync your workouts with any fitness app such as garmin, strava, training peaks, etc. This is absurd given the world we live today. Hope some light soon illuminate the minds of the dinosaurs leading product dept @ Water rower. A minor coding project can build an online download interface in case they do not want to pay royalties to the platforms....

Just clicked "place order" on a new WaterRower Natural. It's my first rower, first cardio machine I've ever bought in fact--I'm very excited! I didn't think I was gonna spend quite so much at first, but I think the combination of looks, build quality and a decent computer is why I decided this is the rower for me. I considered a Concept2 but an air damper is just too loud for my needs, I think this is going to be perfect. Thanks for the information, great video!

pretty happy with my water rower. looked at the C2 and since i was wanting to use it in the lounge room decide the water rower was a better way to go given the noise.

Having just watched some videos on maintaining a Concept 2, I am so glad I got a water rower. I just drop a pill in it every six months.

A fair and balanced review. You are significantly taller than I, so the foot placement would not be a problem for me. Thanks.

Mad respect. I was waiting for the Cons part to see what you would say. I rented on if these and ended up sending it back because of the track. I found it to be a bit more narrow that normal and the foot area seemed too high. Seat was smaller as well. I wish they would redesign the machine for better comfort. The wheels on the seat also broke on mine. I love looking and listening to the device, but not a fan of actually using it.

There’s a model with a lower footbed in WaterRower’s website, designed with the feedback of an Olympic rower, his signature written on the sides of the machine. A different Olympic rower, from the U.K., spoke about why he prefers to train on WaterRowers: the way they mimic actually rowing in water, with its soothing sound, and also because the harder you pull, the more the resistance increases, just as happens when rowing in water. The noise air rowers make is a deal breaker for me. I don’t always want to use my noise-canceling headphones 🎧

Bought mine 6y ago and love it. No other rowing machine comes as close to the real thing. The position is close to the real thing, the resistance is like in a real boat-very soft when rowing slowly and building up very fast when you accelerate. Like real water. The sound adds to the "i´m really rowing" feeling. On top its just good loooking when not in use and doesnt use much place. Tried several other rowing machines incl C2 and didnt like any of it. Far too loud, the resistance far away from the real thing. Great for winter when its a bit too cold and rainy for a real boat.

WaterRower is manufactured close by to where I live and I think they're selling a TON of these machines - especially since Rob Gronkowski started promoting them as apart of his workout routine! That said, I believe WaterRower's niche is really more for the home fitness market than for the serious or competitive rower. The WaterRower models with the wooden frames are beautifully finished and look more like a piece of furniture than exercise equipment - i.e. they look great in your house. Still, I personally prefer the Concept 2 as it is the standard for gauging training performance against other rowers or for competitive rowing. On another subject, Austin... - Have you considered possibly doing a video looking at incorporating heart rate zone training? Would love to learn more about this!

I never hear the whoosh because I have music blasting in my ears. Cant do cardio without music for some reason

I just bought a Water Rower and ordered the Smart Rower attachment. We are so happy with our rower. It’s beautiful. It tucks away in the corner of our living room and doesn’t look out of place. I like having it in the living room. The water sounds soothing and it’s so smooth! I’m a 5’8 woman and my husband is 6’2. We both fit it easily. Love it!

Thank you for the water rower review, we’ve been waiting patiently! Once I get my form perfected with my little magnetic BodyCraft I’m looking forward to a water rower.

I've had a Waterower for years now and love it. The only thing that bothers me is there isn't a light on the monitor.

I like WR because I live in a flat so storage it's easy. Also the water noise it's relaxing...