Echelon Row-S vs Hydrow Wave

Both of these are connected rowers built around a screen and a class library, both use near-silent magnetic resistance, and both cost you a monthly membership on top of the hardware. The Echelon Row-S has a 22-inch rotating screen and handlebar resistance controls; the Hydrow Wave has a 16-inch screen, a narrower body, and the polish of the brand that popularized the category. Where they diverge is price — both the sticker and the monthly.

Screen, controls and feel

The Echelon’s headline features are a larger 22-inch screen that rotates for off-rower classes and resistance controls on the handlebar, so you change load mid-stroke rather than reaching for a dial. The Hydrow Wave’s screen is smaller at 16 inches, but Hydrow’s real-water class production is the category benchmark and the reason people pay its premium. Both are magnetic and near-silent, a genuinely different noise profile from any air rower.

Footprint

The Hydrow Wave is the narrowest serious connected rower at 19 inches wide and 80 long, and it folds upright — it genuinely fits rooms a wider machine does not. The Echelon Row-S is 20.5 inches wide and also folds. Neither is small, but the Wave’s narrow body is a real advantage in a tight space, and upright storage is what makes either one liveable in a flat.

The membership is the real cost

This is where the comparison is won or lost, because on both machines the membership is the product. Echelon’s Premier runs $39.99 a month; Hydrow’s is $50 a month, or about $38 on an annual prepay. Over five years that difference compounds into real money — and on both machines, cancelling leaves you with a heavy rower and a dark screen. The subscription comparison lays every plan side by side, and it is the page to read before you buy either of these.

Which to buy

If footprint and class quality matter most and you will use the membership, the Hydrow Wave is the machine — narrow, near-silent, and the best classes in the category, at the higher monthly. If you want the bigger rotating screen, handlebar controls and a lower price on both the hardware and the membership, the Echelon Row-S is the value play. The Echelon review is here and the Hydrow review is here. And if you resent the monthly fee at all, remember a Concept2 costs thousands less over five years and rows the same stroke.