Water vs Air vs Magnetic Rowing Machines

Almost every other question about buying a rowing machine follows from this one. Resistance type sets how loud the machine is, how the stroke feels, roughly what it costs, and how big it is. Get it right and most of the remaining decisions are detail.

There are four mechanisms in production. Three of them are worth considering.

Air: the competition standard

A chain turns a fan. The fan pushes air, and air resists in proportion to how fast you spin it — pull harder, and the machine pushes back harder, with no dial and no ceiling.

That self-regulating property is why every competitive erg test in the world happens on an air machine, and why a Concept2 split time means something to another rower. It is a genuinely better training tool than anything else on this page.

It is also the loud one. A fan is broadband noise, and broadband noise carries through walls and ceilings. Concept2 publishes no decibel figure and neither does any other manufacturer we checked, so we will not give you a number — here is why nobody does. What is certain is the mechanism: it makes noise by design.

Air rowers are also long. The Concept2 is 96 inches and Concept2 recommends 9 ft by 4 ft of floor. The MERACH R50 Pro is 95 inches. You do not get short air rowers, because you need the chain travel.

Magnetic: the sensible default

A magnet moves closer to or further from a metal flywheel. Nothing touches, so nothing wears and nothing makes a sound. The resistance you set at minute one is the resistance you have at minute forty.

This is the right mechanism for most homes, and it is not close. It is silent enough for a flat, it needs no maintenance at all, and it is available from $130 to $2,000.

The limitation is the ceiling. Level 16 is level 16 — pulling harder does not make the machine resist more, it just makes the handle move faster. A fit rower will find the top of a budget magnetic flywheel, and at that point the machine stops being able to challenge you.

Some brands publish the actual force, which is far more useful than a level count. YPOO states 99 lb of achievable resistance; MERACH states 80 lb peak on the R26. Most publish neither.

Water: the one you will not mind having in the room

Paddles turn in a tank. Resistance rises with paddle speed, so like air it is self-regulating and has no ceiling.

The sound is a low-frequency whoosh, roughly a shower running, and most people find it pleasant rather than tolerable. Low frequencies also carry through walls less readily than a fan’s broadband noise, which makes water a more workable apartment choice than air despite not being silent.

The wooden ones — WaterRower’s ash, YOSUDA’s beech — stand on end when you are done, occupying about two square feet. For a machine that has to live in a room you also live in, that is the strongest practical argument in the category.

Costs: water rowers are heavy (a WaterRower Natural is 103.5 lb filled), the good wooden ones are expensive, and the tank needs purification tablets a few times a year.

Hydraulic: the one to skip

Two pistons resist the handle. It exists because it is cheap to build, and it has two real problems.

First, the cylinders warm during use, and warm hydraulic fluid is thinner fluid — the resistance you set at the start drifts as you go, which makes it hard to tell whether you are improving or the machine is getting easier.

Second, the stroke is a pull against a cylinder rather than a drive against a flywheel. It does not much resemble rowing, and it will not teach you to row.

There is one good reason to buy hydraulic: to find out for $130 whether you will use a rowing machine at all. That is a legitimate use and we have picked machines for it. It is not a reason to buy one as your rowing machine.

Side by side

How to choose in one paragraph

If you share a wall or a ceiling with anyone, buy magnetic. If you are training for erg tests or want split times other rowers recognize, buy air. If the machine has to live in your living room and you would like to not resent it, buy a wooden water rower. If you are not sure you will use it at all, buy the $130 hydraulic and find out.