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One of my favorite pieces of cardio equipment is certainly the rower. I understand that doing cardio can often feel like a chore (believe me, as a powerlifter, cardio is something I frequently avoid), but the rower stands out among cardio machines.
Particularly when purchasing equipment for a home gym, the rower offers far more value for your money. Compared to other forms of cardio, rowing is considerably more of a full-body workout, and a rower usually doesn’t take up much room if it can be folded or disassembled.
| Image | Product Name | Editor's Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Echelon Smart rower | Check Price | |
 | Sunny SF-RW5801 | Check Price | |
 | Sunny SF-RW5713 | Check Price | |
 | Concept2 RowErg | Check Price | |
 | Niceday Rowing Machine | Check Price |
Best Budget Rowing Machine Reviews
Anyone looking to engage in a full-body exercise inside, from novices to seasoned athletes, should try out rowing machines. Although many people are familiar with pricey versions like the Ergatta or Hydrow, there are several inexpensive rowing machines available for those who are on a tight budget.
We highlight the top inexpensive home rowing machines with various levels of resistance in our review of the best budget rowing machines.
Although rowers can be pricey, there are several solutions available that won’t break the budget. This list of the top inexpensive rowing machines includes models that won’t break the bank.
1. Echelon Smart rower
Rowing is becoming more and more well-liked as a technique to accomplish many significant goals in a single action, from building up your back and legs to fortifying your heart. The only significant negative is that, in contrast to a trail run or spin class, it sometimes results in a dull, alone exercise.
In order to join live or on-demand lessons, access a music library with over 20 million songs, or even paddle your way along beautiful paddle routes across the world, the Echelon Fit Connected rower solves this issue by partnering with your own phone or tablet.
One is in noise—or lack of it. This rower is among the quietest available, so it could be used without worrying about waking up anyone in the house.
Contrary to some rowing machines that seem to think you live in a large CrossFit gym, this one is not only well-built but also incredibly simple to construct and store. One additional major benefit: you don’t have to awkwardly reach all the way down to the flywheel by your feet to adjust resistance; instead, you can do it with your thumbs on the handlebar!
2. Sunny SF-RW5801
Looking for a basic rowing machine to see if you like rowing as a form of exercise? I endorse the Sunny Health and Fitness SF-RW5801, which I examined at our testing facility in Springfield, Missouri.
I wasn’t surprised by this because Sunny Health & training is known for producing high-quality inexpensive training equipment. (Many of their treadmills and elliptical trainers are favorites among our team of product testers.)
Despite being little, this rower is quite powerful. Despite having fairly good rowing endurance and stamina, I felt I could get a nice workout at the higher end of its 16 degrees of magnetic resistance. The RW-5801 rower’s resistance is more than adequate for someone who is just beginning out.
Although this rowing machine is comfortable enough for extended workouts thanks to the large padded seat and angled handles, I do wish to draw attention to the fact that the slide rail is just 43 inches long.
For those who are taller, this could be a problem. For comparison, a slide rail that is between 50 and 56 inches long is regarded as full-sized, and the Concept2 rower has one that is 54 inches long. Even longer slide rails are available on some premium smart rowers.
The 285-pound weight capacity of this rowing machine is impressive given its size and cost. It also has a convenient device holder so you may stream your preferred fitness apps or YouTube routines, despite the lack of pre-programmed workouts.
3. Sunny SF-RW5713
The Sunny Health & Fitness Obsidian Surge 500 is a water rowing machine, not like the bulky, expensive, and heavy ones you usually see!
We’ve tested a lot of Sunny Health & Fitness rowers (and other cardio equipment), so even though our product testers haven’t had a chance to use this rowing machine yet, we can confidently recommend the Obsidian Surge 500 as the best inexpensive water rower based on our prior knowledge and analysis.
A 16-blade fan serves as resistance on the Obsidian Surge’s enormous water tank. Similar to a genuine paddle boat, water rowers use your rate of movement to determine the resistance; the faster you row, the tougher it gets.
This exercise machine collects a lot of data for a low-cost item, including calories burned, time, distance traveled, strokes per minute, total strokes, and split times over 500 meters. However, seasoned rowers claim in customer evaluations that the erg does not precisely track meters.
The erg only counts meters while the nylon strap is being pulled, not when the flywheel is still spinning, according to one review. This is analogous to supposing that a canoe comes to a complete halt in between strokes of the paddle, which is plainly not the case. This is not a problem if your only goal is low-impact workout and you don’t care about your numbers.
It connects through Bluetooth to the SunnyFit app, which offers supervised exercise routines. The smart version can also be connected to a heart rate monitor.
With a sturdy structure and a water-based rowing experience, the Sunny Health & Fitness Obsidian Surge 500 Water Rowing Machine is a great deal.
h3>4. Concept2 RowErg
The Concept2 RowErg (sometimes referred to as the Concept2 Model D Rower) is the best rowing machine available. Not only is this the best rowing machine our product testers have ever used, but it’s also unquestionably one of the best pieces of cardio equipment overall.
You’ll quickly see that Concept2 doesn’t care about flashy design or cutting-edge technology (although the erg does look nice, too) when you use one of their rowing machines. Making durable, high-quality hardware is important to them. In actuality, several members of our community of home gym enthusiasts still use Concept2 ergs from the 1990s and the early 2000s. These are long-lasting items.
With 10 damper settings and a strong flywheel with wind resistance, the RowErg offers nearly infinite resistance. The PM5 monitor, which links to several fitness apps and is Bluetooth-enabled, is a feature of the more recent model. The PM5 counts meters rowed, calories burned, time passed, split times for 500 meters, intervals, and watts even without being connected to an app. There are five basic built-in workouts available on the PM5.
The Concept2 RowErg is renowned for offering excellent workouts. After used RowErgs for years for CrossFit workouts and general fitness, I can vouch for this along with many other members of our team of product testers.
Although I have nothing terrible to say about this rowing machine, I would like to draw attention to the fact that it has a sizable footprint. It is 96 inches long, doesn’t fold, and takes up a lot of floor area. However, you can prop it up upright thanks to the big transport wheels that are positioned on the front. Alternatively, you can separate it into two pieces.
Even compared to far more expensive rowing machines like the WaterRower, the Concept 2 Model D Rower is the greatest rowing machine we’ve tested and reviewed. There’s a reason Concept 2 items can be found in almost all gyms across the globe, including CrossFit Boxes and home gyms. We have had the Model D for more than two years, and we are still happy with it now.
5. Niceday Rowing Machine
This is the first of the “home gym” rowers on this list, which indicates that the rower was not created commercially, and I recommend it to customers who are just starting out rowing and want to row at home but aren’t able to. Despite this, this is a terrific magnetic rower that is perfect for beginners or those looking for alternative at-home cardio training methods.
Particularly in the setting of a home gym, magnetic rowers are becoming much more prevalent. Magnetic rowers employ a system of magnets to oppose the flywheel of the rower rather than using air as resistance.
The sound is one of the main advantages of magnetic rowers. They are often almost silent. The noise level produced by the Niceday rower is only about 10 dB, or about as loud as breathing. Because of this function, you can use it as a home gym without worrying about upsetting your neighbors.
I would advise anyone wishing to exercise in the convenience of their own home to start with this rower. This rower is more quieter than other rowers and will undoubtedly do the job for a lot less money.
When compared to other magnetic rowers available on the market, the pricing is also difficult to beat.
Final Verdict
Our product testing team has tested rowing machines for hundreds of hours, from the most opulent models to the bare-bones models. We have decades of combined expertise on rowing machines and have performed a wide variety of workouts on them.
- (Obviously) Price
- Construction Robustness Footprint Mobility
- Comfort Ergonomics
- Programming for exercise Technologies
- Value of delivery and setup
- customer feedback
- Returns and warranties
When testing the items on this list, we kept meticulous notes and put several of them through head-to-head comparisons.