JOROTO Rowing Machines for Home Use, Foldable Rower Machine with Bluetooth Monitor, Tablet Holder Water Rowing Machine

I bought this after trying to score a US-made one on Craigslist, where they wanted $500-1500 used. This machine at under $300 (coupon applied) is real hardwood, with quality hardware. Assembled in five minutes; filled in five minutes (I used a simple siphon hose, not the wanky supplied pump), exercising in fifteen minutes from box delivery, which in classic Amazon fashion was delivered unannounced a day early. Folks saying how hard it was to get it out of the box simply needed to turn the box over and slide it out easily. No leaks, looks great. fold up and stores easily. Resistance is not Olympic caliber, but is smooth, quiet and adequate to get a rhythmic workout. I filled the water to the MAX line and it is adequate resistance. Great value.

This rower is made of well finished, solid wood. The plastic and metal bits seem well made and assembled. The handle is a good size and nicely padded and allows good reach. Good, adjustable footplates and straps, very similar to Concept2 plates. Water tank didn't leak and seems well made. The line pulls and returns smoothly. It folds easily and doesn’t take up much space when folded.The resistance at max recommended water level seems a bit low to me, but I am not an experienced rower. Filling to the max line takes about 2.75 gallons, which may be why the resistance seems low as I notice other machines take up to 5 gallons.The machine is substantial, but not too heavy. About 75lbs when filled with water. This is a benefit for moving the unit, but does mean it can shift on the floor depending on how heavy the user is, how vigorously they move, and the type of floor surface. This can be addressed with a floor mat if needed. The wheels are positioned so it is great for folding, but a bit awkward for rolling it around once folded. There is a narrow window you need to tilt it to in order to roll it around smoothly. I am considering replacing the rubber stops that it rests on when folded with caster wheels to make it easier to move.It comes very near fully assembled. The entire assembly process is basically two steps: Put the seat on the rails and then install the ends tops with two bolts ( hint: The angled end faces the seat). Then you put in the supplied batteries and add water and you are done. It comes with an included water pump. It’s very cheap but works. TIP: The bellow part screws into the body, mine leaked a little until I twisted it down to tighten the connection. The fill hole is also easy to access with a funnel if you prefer to do that.It’s likely too small for taller people. I have a 30in inseam and at full extension the seat comes within an inch or two from the end stop. I think a 34” inseam person would have trouble, let alone the claimed 39. It also has some of the drawbacks inherent in this type of rower design: Narrow footplates, low seated position, and resistance cannot be adjusted easily.Instructions are not great. They are fairly well written but lacking in information. For example, it doesn’t say how much water you’ll need or the kind of water to use. There is no mention of the included chlorine tablets at all, how to use them or how/what to buy when they run out.The manual gives some basic info about the monitor, but literally the only line about the included heart rate chest strap is in the description of the “Pulse” section of the monitor that says to “prepare and wear the included chest strap monitor.” and then a disclaimer that it is not a medical device. There are no instructions on how to wear the strap, and the strap itself is almost entirely unmarked, which makes looking for instructions online difficult. So far I’ve found the strap to be very unreliable, perhaps because I am not using it properly.The monitor itself is basic. It gives the basic info you need, strokes, time, distance, 500 splits. I think you can set time, distance, stroke goals as well but haven’t played with it much. It is a bit clunky to use and will take some time to figure out, but it also has bluetooth connectivity so you can avoid using it and instead use fitness apps.The instructions also tell how to connect the monitor to the Kinomap app and that worked well. Unfortunately this is a subscription service and there is no information on using the monitor with any other app or service. The marketing material on amazon says it is an FTMS compatible system so that may help in finding other apps that work.The monitor itself acts as a phone holder (and the device display shuts off when paired with an app, so you lose nothing by covering it). But the location makes it unsuitable for holding larger devices like a tablet. This is a tradeoff for making it more compact when folded.Overall I am very happy with this purchase. I ordered it when there were no reviews on the site and I could find almost nothing about the model online. But I have a Joroto spin bike that is well made and the specs seemed good so I took a chance. It also helped that I ordered it around black friday and there was a $150 off coupon on the site so my final price was only three hundred dollars.

We purhased this product when our magnetic resistance rower broke. For the money this is a great rowing machine for the average person's workout. As far as resistance goes, we are very happy with it. With a water resistance rower you can make it harder by just increasing how hard you push with your legs and pull with your arms. My husband used to have the magnetic rower on the highest setting but we only filled the tank to level 4 and we are both getting a good workout. Overall, the machine is well made, very easy to set up and quiet in operation - the only sound is the water moving around in the tank. My only criticism is that your feet are very close together - not a problem for us but if you are on the bigger side, it could be uncomfortable. Some comments mention the size of the foot straps - I have very small feet and use the smallest fit which works just fine.

Great war rower very sturdy. Very quiet comes with all the directions very easy to set up with little to know construction needed.

People saying it doesn't have as much resistance as other machines and it's a nice starter machine is what seems to me, their polite way of saying "If you just had shoulder surgery, are under 12 years old, or over 70 years old, then this machine is for you!". As a male, that has spent the last 20 years in front of a computer with little to no extra exercise, and is about to turn 50, I was able to do close to a thousand rows on this machine, in a half hour, the first time using it, and I did some of that with one hand to see if maybe that was a way this machine could actually offer some sort of exercise.at the end of it all, I had broken a sweat. I really did! It was a joke compared to what I get in 10 minutes on a treadmill. I would equate the overall workout to what I get doing a couple of pushups, a dozen situps, and a set of curls with a 10lb dumbell. All of this takes about 5-10 minutes vs. the 30 i wasted.I don't feel like i could "row" any "Faster", for a higher "resistance", as I was already moving almost as fast as the machine could pull back the handle, the majority of the time.At 6 foot, I felt i needed a couple more inches on both my legs and the back pull. I was maxing out both and felt like my body still had room to go a bit further for a full workout.The foot holders are so tight on the width, my shoes barely fit into them and have to be pried out (i have the most common shoe size for a male in America.. unless its changed since I last worked at a shoe store). My feet came out of my shoes when trying to pull them out of the stirrups, to be fully clear of what I mean, and are still there.. going to get them out when i go to box this up for the return.The app they show in their website is a 3rd party program, that requires you to set up an account that you will need to login to, to actually use it. I didn't go far enough to see if you have to pay for it on a monthly or yearly basis.When taking it back apart for return shipping, the pump that comes with it, is unable to remove all the water, leaving water behind in the machine, so that is something to be aware of. I could not find a bottom drain plug (only the top fill plug with a pump), to fully ensure you can empty this in any way... once filled with water, other than evaporation I dont see how you'll ever fully empty it. To be clear, the pump gets most of it out, but once there's about an inch left it gets to much air in it to move the water any longer.There are no side mechanisms on it, to lock the two halves together when its folded up. so, I could see a pet knocking into this the wrong way, it coming unfolded, and the animal getting hurt or killed. Or even a child! They use zip ties when shipping it, to achieve that purpose, indicating that it is a concern, but apparently not of enough of one past them getting it to you, by including a minor latch on the machine itself.it does not use a power cord but is battery operated, and the batteries go in the back of the control box... where you have to lay flat on the floor, behind the machine, on your stomach, to be able to see as your trying to put them in the battery box. the control panel does not tilt up far enough or rotate far enough so that you can have easy clear visual access to the battery compartment.the iphone/phone holder on the machine, causes you to cover up the control panel and LCD screen with your device and is not made in such a way as to actually be able to hold a large device (my iPad 2, was to large to sit there, it just tipped sideways and hit the floor due to not having enough support).to me, this machine would make an excellent movie or theater prop, for a rich look, due to the wood finishes. If you are somewhat disabled either by age, injury, or disability then it is probably going to be a good workout for you, with room to grow. For a normal healthy human, it seems more like a toy than actual exercise equipment, to me.