The Best Indoor Rowing Machines

Air resistance never caps out, so a sprint actually feels like a sprint. The flywheel spins faster the harder you pull, and the resistance rises with it. There's no top level to bump into. That's why interval work translates so well here — you can bury yourself on a 250-meter piece and the machine keeps up. The damper lever from 1 to 10 changes airflow and stroke feel, not your ceiling on power.

The PM5 monitor is the closest thing rowing has to a common language. It reads out your 500-meter split, watts, stroke rate and calories in real time, and it's the standard used at World Rowing events and the CrossFit Games. A 2:00 split on your RowErg means the same thing as a 2:00 split on one in another gym. If you ever want to compare yourself to anyone else, this is the machine that lets you.

It plays nicely with whatever app you already use. Bluetooth and ANT+ let it talk to more than 40 apps and to heart rate straps, and the built-in holder keeps your phone or tablet propped where you can see it. So you can stream a coached row, log to a training app, or ignore all of it and just use the free Concept2 logbook. Nothing here is locked behind a paywall.

Nothing on it depends on a company's servers staying online. The monitor runs on two D batteries and tops itself up from the spinning flywheel. Concept2 backs the frame for five years and has kept parts flowing for decades. Connected rowers are only as good as the platform behind them, and platforms shut down. This one will row exactly the same a decade from now.

It fits taller rowers better than most. The monorail gives you the full slide length you need to reach the catch without folding yourself in half, and the 14-inch seat height makes getting on and off easy. Adjustable footrests with heel cups handle a wide range of shoe sizes. The listed user capacity is 500 pounds, the highest here by a wide margin.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The seat is thin, and you'll feel it. Owners consistently mention numbness on anything past the 30-minute mark. A gel pad fixes it, but that's an extra thing to buy and a small annoyance on a machine at this price. If most of your sessions are long steady-state rows, budget for the pad up front.

There's no screen, so classes mean bringing your own device. The holder is nice, but you're still supplying a tablet and paying for whatever app you want to follow. If a big built-in display is what would get you rowing, look at the Hydrow Wave or the NordicTrack instead.

It's loud and it looks like gym equipment. Air rowers make a whooshing sound you can hear through a wall, which matters if someone's asleep nearby. And it splits into two pieces for storage rather than standing upright, so it needs more parked floor space than the WaterRower.

The RowErg comes with a five-year frame warranty.

It's the quietest machine here, full stop. Electromagnetic drag produces almost no mechanical noise during the stroke — no fan whoosh, no water slosh. If you row at 5:30 a.m. in an apartment, or in a room next to a sleeping kid, that difference is the whole ballgame. Reviewers who focus on shared living spaces have singled the Wave out for exactly this reason.

The classes are the product, and they're good at keeping you consistent. Instructors row actual open waterways, and at rowing pace the 16-inch screen fills enough of your view to feel like you're out there with them. The library covers strength, yoga and off-rower work too. If your problem is showing up rather than pulling hard, structured programming solves a real thing that a bare monitor won't.

HydroMetrics gives you something to chase besides distance. It scores your precision, endurance and power each session, so you can see whether your stroke is getting cleaner and not just faster. The machine also suggests workouts based on your goals and past rows. For an intermediate rower without a coach, that progression is genuinely useful.

The 375-pound capacity is the highest of the connected rowers here. Rowing is one of the best options for anyone who wants hard cardio without pounding their joints, and heavier users often get squeezed out by equipment limits. The Wave doesn't do that. Its frame is also shorter than the original Hydrow, so it fits rooms that couldn't take the full-size version.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Skip the membership and you've bought an expensive rower with a dark screen. The monthly fee isn't optional in any practical sense — the classes, the metrics and the recommendations all live behind it. Add three years of that to the machine and this becomes the priciest way to row on this list by a wide margin.

Electromagnetic resistance feels flat compared with air or water. It's smooth and controllable, but you don't get the surge off the catch when you drive hard. Anyone who's rowed on water, or spent time on a Concept2, will notice within a few strokes. It's not a bad stroke; it's a tamer one.

The 16-inch screen shrinks fast once you step off the rower. For yoga or floor work viewed from a mat a few feet away, it's small. The NordicTrack's 24-inch pivoting display handles cross-training much better. Upright storage also requires a kit that's sold separately.

The water tank gets closest to what rowing on a lake feels like. Resistance rises and falls with your stroke speed, so there's no dial to fuss with and no level to pick. You just pull, and the drum answers. If you've rowed a shell, this is the home machine that won't feel like a compromise on stroke quality.

Solid hardwood soaks up sound and shake. Beech is dense, and the frame absorbs vibration that a steel-and-plastic rower would send straight into your floor. What you hear is a rhythmic splash, quieter and easier to live with than the whoosh of an air rower. Plenty of owners say the sound is the part that keeps them coming back.

It stores upright, which is the most useful trick in this whole guide. Stand it on end and it occupies roughly 21 inches of floor. Every other full-length rower here either splits apart or folds flat and still eats a corner of the room. If your rower has to share space with a sofa, this is the one that disappears.

It's the only one you'd leave out on purpose. Handcrafted wood, visible grain, no screen bolted to the front. That sounds like a soft reason to spend real money, but a rower you're not embarrassed by is a rower that stays in the main room — and one in the main room gets used more than one in the basement.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Water resistance has a ceiling that air doesn't. The drum can only push back so hard, so peak sprint efforts top out sooner than on the RowErg. For steady rowing you'll never notice. For all-out 500-meter pieces, you will.

The S4 monitor is basic and doesn't do Bluetooth. You get pace, watts, stroke rate, distance and heart rate, which covers the fundamentals, but syncing to apps is limited compared with the PM5. If your training lives in Strava or Garmin, that's friction you'll feel every session.

The tank needs occasional attention. You'll top it off from time to time and treat the water to keep it clear. It's a few minutes a couple of times a year, not a chore — but it's upkeep no other rower here asks for.

It's a genuine rowing stroke, not a toy. Sixteen magnetic levels adjusted by a dual induction sensor give you enough range to work hard, and the elastic rope rebound keeps the return smooth. Legs, core, back and arms all fire the way they should. For learning technique and building a habit, this does the job the expensive machines do.

Nothing here costs you money every month. The SunnyFit app is free with the machine and includes over 1,000 trainer-led workouts plus scenic virtual routes. Compare that with the connected rowers, where the classes are the recurring bill. If you're not sure rowing will stick, paying nothing to find out is the right call.

The covered stainless rail keeps it quiet. The seat runs on a hardened enclosed rail rather than an exposed track, which cuts down on rattle and grit. Magnetic resistance is already near-silent, so the rail is most of what you'd hear. It's a reasonable pick for an apartment if you can't stretch to the Hydrow.

It's the easiest one to fit in a normal room. At about 75 inches long and 21 wide it's shorter than the full-size machines, and it stores upright. If you're rowing in a bedroom corner or a converted office, the smaller footprint is what makes it possible at all.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The display is a basic LCD, and there's no app connectivity. You get the essentials on screen, but no watts you can trust for progressive overload and no Bluetooth to log workouts anywhere. Serious training gets hard to track. If numbers motivate you, this will frustrate you within a few months.

Build quality tracks the price. Owners report more flex and more plastic than on premium frames, and squeaks and creaks show up over time. It'll hold up to regular use, but it won't feel like the Concept2 in three years.

Magnetic resistance flattens out at the top end. Level 16 is the ceiling, and once you're strong enough to bump into it, harder pulling doesn't get you more. That's the moment most people start shopping for an air rower. The seat also gets uncomfortable past about 20 minutes without a pad.