Circuit Fitness Deluxe Foldable Magnetic Rowing Machine

My winter fitness regimen includes daily cycling on an indoor trainer and weights every other day. In order to mix it up, decrease boredom and get a more rounded whole body workout, I decided to add a rowing machine to my winter training. I investigated all different options, including magnetic, wind resistance and water resistance rowers. The gold standard and highly recommended rower seems to be the Concept 2 Rower. I came across consistently high ratings on the Circuit Fitness Rower, but I couldn't believe that it would be that good, because it seemed to be priced significantly lower than the other units I was looking at. Because it was on sale, I decided to "pull the trigger" and figured even if I didn't like the unit, I could always resell it and not have spent a ton of money on something I didn't like. I was happy to purchase it on sale at Amazon, but even the list price on the Circuit Fitness Rower is a bargain. I couldn't have been more pleased. The unit is constructed of heavy duty steel, overall very solidly constructed, and quite easy to put together. The saddle is very comfortable and the saddle glides very smoothly over the rails. You can set the resistance at different levels, but I found that for me I set it at about 75% difficult level and just leave it there. The computer that comes with the unit is very helpful at recording total workout time, stroke rate, number of strokes, distance, etc. The key thing about this unit is that it is VERY QUIET compared to the wind resistance units like the Concept 2. Another bonus is that the rower has a 2 year warranty. A small plastic part broke after 6 months of use. I contacted customer service and they responded to my email within 24 hours. I was able to order the replacement part which was shipped to me within 4 days at no cost -- Excellent customer service and support for their product. The Concept 2 and the Peloton Rowers are beautiful machines and work well, and if you want to impress your friends and spend a ton of cash on them, then go for it. If you want to get a great workout on a quality machine that feels good and is quiet to use, and still have a ton of cash left in your wallet, then I would highly recommend purchasing the Circuit Fitness rower. I don't think you will be disappointed. This purchase is a "no-brainer".

This rowing machine is great! Purchased at ~$450 I find it to be well worth the money. This has two operation settings: manual and race modes. In manual mode you can set your manual workout by time, distance, or total strokes. The machine displays strokes, SPM, splits, distance, watts, and you can also connect a heart rate monitor but I use my fitbit. I have not used the race mode. But I believe you can set it up based on distance or time. Pros: It was extremely easy to assemble. I did it myself. The metal frame is sturdy. I'm 5'3" and I fit the machine fine. It will also seat my 6'3" husband. The handle is comfortable. The seat is cushioned and comfy. The seat glides smoothly on the rail. The footings do not move like some of the other low costs machine. This is a huge factor. You do NOT want your feet rocking. The foot pedals should be fixed. Another bonus, The footing sizing is adjustable for small feet. I wear a women's 7.5. If your feet are much smaller this may be an issue for you. Cons: I can occasionally slightly feel the resistance technology. Not often but it does happen. This isn't a deal breaker for me with this machine. The price outweighs this concern. Occassionally, my stroke rates jumps before the display settles on a figure. I believe this is due to the resistance technology. Overall: This is my first investment in a fitness rowing machine. I did a tonne of research before buying. I recommend that you do the same. I would definitely RECOMMEND this machine for beginners. You get a lot features and a quality product for the money.

Was looking for a lower to mid level rower for home use and this checked all the boxes. Good packaging, easy to assemble alone if you can lift the unit, all parts included and the instructions were easy to follow. Enough info on the screen for my needs but it would be nice if it were backlit. The range of motion is good except it seems like the seat should go a few inches closer to the footrests. Seat is comfortable enough and resistance levels offer variety. Folds but it’s awkward to roll around if you’re planning to store it and use it in separate areas. My only other experience is a Concept2 at the gym and this is just as smooth and very quiet. The quality and features are great for the price level. I highly recommend for personal use!

I have just subscribed to AppleFitness+ and wanted to add rowing to my range of workouts. The Apple app gives great classes on rowing, and the workout is an excellent way to address several muscle groups at once, combined with a steady aerobic rhythm. So, I started shopping for machines - you can easily spend $1,500 or more on what are considered "gold standard" equipment. But, do you really need a whiz of a computer, Tibetan wood finish, or a machine that can stand up to 24/7 use at a club? Probably not. The Circuit Fitness does everything you need in a well built frame, solidly made and is pretty easy to put together. Just make sure you connect the wires to the computer carefully, and don't drop any screws into the mechanism (easy to do - don't hold more than one set of screw and washer at a time!!!).

I purchased this rower primarily because it has variable resistance and a 300 lbs max weight limit. Not that I weigh that much but I figured it would be sturdier construction. I was not disappointed. Very well built. Even the few plastic parts are very heavy duty. Took about 1.5 hours to assemble if you take your time. Instructions were clear and easy to follow. No missing or damaged parts. I have a 34 inch inseam and had an extra 8 inches on the rail with legs full extended. Extremely quiet and smooth mechanism. Display was fully functional and easy to read. For heart rate you need to purchase the chest strap. This rower should hold up quite well under normal daily use. Five stars for now.

I actually purchased this item twice. The first was a gift for my parents on April 9th and the second for myself on Jun 8th. The rower itself is not bad, it's smooth, good resistance for all levels of workout expirience, comfortable seat, quiet and easy to assemble. A piece on the handle did break in less than 1 month with moderate use in early May. Fortunately it was not a critical break but considering the machine was new this was concerning. I reached out to the customer service for the replacement part. They sent me one the following week but it was the wrong part which was very annoying as I sent a detailed discription that included pictures. I reached out to them again, was able to confirm the part with them. They said they would send me the part but never did. After weeks of waiting I reached out to them again and they finally told me the specific part was on back order and I would get an email once it shipped. Well I finally received it a few days ago. This was most annoying as again I purchased this is April, reported the problem in May and it was relieved in June. The second one I bought did not come with all the necessary parts and hardware so I email customer support. Again they never got back to me so I called them. They told me they would ship me need hardware and that I would receive it in 5-7 business days. I waited a week without hearing anything. I called them again today and now they are telling me that the hardware is on back order and that it would be 6 weeks before I hear anything. I asked if they could just send me the parts from a different rower. They said no. It's a decent rower but the customer service is pretty bad. I am not satisfied with product at all. My advice, buy a rower from a different company.

I was moving up from a simple hydraulic rower but didn’t want to spend a lot. Saw this was on sale for $235 and bought. When arrived packaged well and no damage. The hardware was shrinked to cardboard with shadow of hardware and description so it was annoying when two different hardwares were empty. Fortunately I had spares in metric. The assembly instructions were fairly clear. Two things to make it simpler Lee is to note the metal shipping piece on front is to be removed. It was obvious to me but doesn’t state it and may impact less mechanical people. Second item that could be clearer as I was reading through instructions before starting #6 were in verbiage of instructions but not on material list or hardware packages. I dug through all packaging with no luck. I checked monitor and found them there. After that assembly went well. So I’ve used it for about 5 days now, so about 5000 reps. It works smoothly with no mechanical issues. Someone mentioned the monitor could be better, comparing it to a machine the would have cost me $1700 more, but for basic exercise it works fine. I do not use the ‘race’ mode, just manual. I set timer, strokes and calorie counter and go at it. Quality of hardware seems good. I used Loctite on fasteners so I haven’t had issue with anything loosening. Overall I feel it’s a good machine for working out. Would have given 5 stars except as other gentleman said, the monitor could be better- it doesn’t have constant display of current activity- it goes between current count and average, as well as grand total of strokes, and the missing hardware. That could have been extremely frustrating for someone who doesn’t have hardware on hand like I do Update after about 6 weeks, 35,000 strokes: the plastic trim on handle that covers strap is self destructing.

I just bought this and assembled it with ease, in a short time, with the tools provided. It worked perfectly on the first try and is SO QUIET. I watch TV while I row and I don't even have to turn it up. It offers a good range of resistance and has a smooth pull. The screen has better options than others at this price point, including distance rowed, which is not on others and so important. The seat and handle are much more comfortable than the concept2 rowers. I'm only a few miles in, but it feels like a great rower. Very happy customer so far.

This review is based on using this product everyday for a week (40-minute sessions in Manual mode using time target), compared to the gold standard of rowing machines: a Concept 2 with the PM computer. If you want to get straight to my main complaint about this rower, jump to the end, where I detail the product's false advertising that it calculates your average 500-meter time and the computer's inability to even calculate what it says is your 500-meter time. Pros: * Quiet (compared to an air-resistance rower): It is nice being able to use this in my home and not bother people in the next room, especially at 5:30 AM. * Flat handle so you can invert your hands: Because the handle isn't angled, the fact that you can't rotate the handle laterally when you want to do underhanded strokes would be frustrating, but a flat handle allows me to do this without issue. * Velcro straps for the pedals will not loosen for as long as you can row: The Concept 2's tension-based straps loosen a bit throughout a session, so once or twice you need give a quick pull on the straps, but not with these straps. * Computer has large display to show multiple metrics at the same time (but not all the ones you want, see the Cons) * Supports ANT+ HRMs: I have a Polar chest-strap HRM, and the computer automatically picks up the signal to display heart rate. (The instructions do not say it supports ANT+, only a "5.3 KHz chest strap heart rate monitor".) Cons: * Pedals are not in a longitudinally fixed position (they can rotate forward and backward on an axle): You do not want your feet to be able to rotate during a stroke because some of the energy is being used to hold your feet and pedal at the desired angle. You want all of the energy from your legs to go into the drive. It would be one thing to allow the pedals to be locked into different angles, but to require them to always be free on the axle is poor design. * The seat rail is at an incline: I do not understand why the rail is not parallel to the floor. This means on the drive you are fighting gravity. It may not seem like a lot, but after 800-1000 strokes in a single session, it adds up. It also means the seat isn't as comfortable because your rear is pressed down into it more than if the rail were parallel to the floor. My rear is never sore after riding a Concept 2, but after strength training sessions (lower SPM with harder pull) on this rower, ouch. * The computer is the really frustrating part of my experience. All that matters to me (when doing 40-minute sessions of static or interval-based variable SPM) is total time, SPM, current estimated 500-meter split time, and average 500-meter time for the session. This computer can't handle any of that: * Display: With such a large display, you'd think it would be able to show you all the metrics you want at the same time. It is incapable of displaying the session time (or countdown) and your time/500 meters at the same time. It will only alternate between these two values every six seconds or so. What's worse is that you can choose to have the large part of the display at the bottom center show any of the metrics shown in the smaller sections, but if you pick the time section, it too will only alternate between the two times. This is a total waste of screen real estate. If you want it to show the total time in the smaller section and the 500-meter time in the larger area (or vice versa), it will not. Therefore, the larger area will only display the same things that are already being displayed in the smaller areas; it is completely redundant, not additive. * Time: It will not show the total time when you are using countdown; it will only show the countdown time. * SPM: The computer's calculation of SPM is inaccurate and highly unstable. It will jump from 21 to 38, or 41, or 58, sometimes within a single drive and recovery, all the while I am maintaining a consistent pace. As a result, your distance and time/500 meters metrics are unusable as a real metric because they are also based on the calculated SPM. * Time/500 meters: This is the biggest issue for my review. The instructions say this is your "average 500-meter time". This is absolutely wrong. This computer does NOT measure your average time over 500 meters, whether for a split or for the whole session. Instead, using its flawed calculation of your SPM, this is an at-that-moment projection of your time if you were to continue that way for 500 meters. There is no average of any kind ever displayed. Because of the highly unstable SPM calculation, my supposed 500-meter time will bounce around with 2:30, 3:10, 4:30, 5:00. It never shows anything other than what seem to be five or six possible values, let alone anything down to the tenth of a second, which is exactly what you want when you are looking at a split or session average. Further evidence of this not being an average is that whatever your 500-meter time is at the moment you finish your session, it says that is what your average was. If my 500-meter average really was 4:10 like it said when I finished yesterday, it would have been impossible to row the 6000-odd meters it said I rowed in 40 minutes (let alone the 9000 meters I actually row when using a Concept 2). The PM 4 and 5 computers that are found on Concept 2 rowers do this accurately, consistently, and flawlessly. They show the projected 500-meter split time and the average 500-meter time of the entire session, both down to the tenth of a second. A reason I bought this rower is specifically because it said it displays 500-meter average time. Had I known that not only is that absolutely false, and that the computer's calculations are highly inaccurate and unstable, I would not have bought this rower, and I would not buy it again because of this. I shouldn't have to spend $1000 on a rower to get a computer that provides accurate measurements.

Overall it is a decent product for the price. One of the cheapest available that will attempt to calculate your time over distance. First impressions were good, but we'll see if it lives up to expectations. The Good: - Build quality is fantastic! Definitely feels like a solid piece of equipment that'll stand for some heavy use. - Assembly was easy to figure out. 15 minutes solo if you have some ratchet tools with hex bits. - It's really quiet. Doesn't matter for me as it's in my garage, but you could use this puppy next to a sleeping baby and never wake them. Even better if you pop it in front of the TV to get your row on while you binge watch a show. The Bad: - Digital monitor is lackluster. Feels like a very cheap knock off product that was an afterthought once the company built the machine. Plastic felt like some kind of cheap hobby electronic, definitely didn't feel like the same quality as the rest of the product. - Distance/time calculator is wildly inaccurate. On a Concept2 Model D at max resistance, I'd average a 2 minute 500m row, however after my first session on this at max resistance it was "calculating" a 4 min 500m. It's almost like it doesn't account for the momentum you'd build during normal rowing, and will only add distance while you're pulling. You'll have to gauge your workouts differently to account for this. - The magnetic resistance is... Weird. I normally use a concept2 model d at the gym, and going from that to this was a really strange feeling. Not terrible, but just felt awkward at first. If you don't care about a more accurate distance/time tracker, and just want a great deal on a row machine, this is definitely a good option. After owning this equipment for some months, it has not failed me at all. Build quality is solid still, no squeaking or loose ends. The battery in the computer lasted way longer than expected. Not at all disappointed by the purchase, and it has managed to stay a regular part of my workouts rather than becoming some kind of crazy clothes airer.