The main principle involved is to provide resistance through the use of a series of paddles which are immersed in a tank of real water. As you row, you turn the paddle system and these push against the water in the tank.

As with the real water experience, the amount of drag from the water on these paddles grows as they turn faster and so you need to work harder and harder to maintain your speed as that speed increases.

The noise produced by these machine obviously involves a lot of water-type special effects. Some people claim that these are not at all distracting, providing a swishing kind of noise which fits well with the act of rowing itself.

The main provider of this kind of machine is WaterRower Inc. a company that has specialized in this variety as their main approach to the market. They have taken a lot of care to provide row machines that are particularly sturdy, usually with a solid wooden frame and as a result tend to be at the top of the price range for row machines.

Since we looked at the main factors in buying a row machine a while back, I just wanted to point out that WaterRower also state that their machines can be stored upright and this may be a strong factor if you are short on space.

I have included a link through to the water rower category below, but you can always find it on the right as well if you are looking for more information.

Water Rower.

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• Price
• Reliability
• Size
• Storage
• Noise
• Flexibility

Now, as with all things, there are trade-offs between the different aspects of any machine.

Price sounds like a trivial discussion point but these machines vary  enormously in just this one sense alone, so you will definitely need to take this into account.

Reliability of any machine is an important factor. I’m going to say that I think that it is even more important in a piece of kit that involves you as a vital component. I’m not talking about slow failure through wear here. I want to know that the cables, the resistance system and the seating track are never going to fail catastrophically while I am rowing. I don’t want any back injuries from something this simple to avoid.

Size may be an issue if you have very long legs or arms. Most machines have a lot of tolerance but you should always check these stats before you buy.

Storage is only important when you have a wife! Joking! If you are going to put your shiny new kit in a purpose-built room or even an unused garage, you should be fine. If, on the other hand, it needs to be stored between sessions, you might want to look at the portability options. Some machines are much better at this than others.

Noise could be an important factor if you want to exercise early or late in the day and you only have thin walls, but actually, raw noise generated by the machine can just be an annoyance in general.

Flexibility is on the list because we all want to do something just a bit different with our row machines. Are you looking for burst timings or is this going to be more of a stamina row machine for you? Either way, does your machine have any way of measuring and displaying your work rate (i.e. in rowing terms, is it a true ergometer?).

Once you have these fixed in your mind, your buying process should be much clearer and at least you shouldn’t end up with a completely unsuitable machine at the end of it all.

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