Sunny Health & Fitness Water Rowing Machine With Real-Time Resistance

I was in the market for a water rower after wearing out a previous magnet-friction rower and not being able to find the parts. I did my research and landed on this model. I would not recommend this unit if you’re doing hardcore serious training and require a full-function and accurate distance meter. The meter is good, but not perfect, and I don’t use the smart functionality. If you’re a regular person looking for a water-based rower workout and want a sturdy unit at an excellent price point, then this model is for you. By the stroke count on the meter, I’ve put in about 60,000 strokes over the past eight months. I typically do 45-minute workouts and can easily get my heart rate up above 135 bpm if I go hard. I’ve had no issues with the foot holder and my foot slipping out. Not sure what the trick is but I imagine it has to do with good form. Like most gym equipment right? The unit stores vertically if space is a consideration. I use the holder on top of the meter to hold my iPad so I can watch a show during my workout. The machine is quiet when in use. Solid, simple construction. I would buy it again. Highly recommended!

Let’s be clear: I have never, in my life, rowed a boat competitively. The closest I’ve ever gotten was being woken up by a cockswain yelling the cadence to rowers when I was in college. Poor guys were on the water by 6 AM.

I have no idea what those folks would think of this machine. For me, though, it’s excellent.

Set-up:
The machine is relatively easy to assemble, and it comes with (very basic versions of) all the tools you’d need to do so. Sunny provided all the hardware on one vacu-sealed, labeled card. Between the manual and that card, every piece is numbered, and the illustrations in the manual make it very easy to tell what goes where. My only complaint about the illustrations is that it isn’t entirely clear which end of the long support goes to the front and which way to mount the seat. Looking at an actual photo of the machine tells you the stickers go toward the back and the leg depressions go forward, so from there, everything was good to go. Using my own electric screwdriver (and otherwise using the provided tools), the time between opening the box and rowing my first stroke was about 90 minutes.

I really appreciated that Sunny included both a funnel and a simple transfer pump for adding and removing water. I over-filled it at first, and the pump made it really easy to get it down to the level I wanted.

Operation
The machine works great. The mechanics are very smooth, and it’s very quiet while in use. The water makes a light “woosh” noise that’s actually really pleasant. I set this up downstairs, away from our baby’s room, but I would be comfortable using it in the room next to his without fearing that it would wake him up.

I filled the bubble to level 3. A review on another site said that 6 felt like rowing in real water “with a little extra,” and that’s not what I was going for. At level 3, I can keep a nice slow-ish pace and build up my heart rate, or I can push harder or do intervals to really get going.

The monitor is the real reason I chose this model over the cheaper magnetic model, also from Sunny. This version counts strokes per minute, and that was important to me. Online training videos use strokes per minute as a reference point, and I wanted to be able to follow along with those.

Weak Points
Only a couple of weak points on this machine:
1. No place to stand a phone/tablet up. There’s a depression in the front unit where you can *store* a phone (iPhone 8 Plus with an Otterbox-style case fits with room to spare), but it’s horizontal so you can’t watch the screen. If you plan to watch workout videos or your favorite TV show while using this, you’ll have to find a way to stand your device up independent from this machine.
2. The LED monitor picked up a pulse reading from somewhere even though I don’t use a heart monitor. I imagine this is an issue with the heart monitor radio standard itself – interference from something else in my house. And it isn’t consistent, just something clocking in at 70-ish beats per minute every now and then. No idea what it is, but not an issue for me. If you plan to use a heart monitor band that connects wirelessly to the machine, you might run into a similar issue, but I can’t say that for certain.

Overall
I’d recommend this for anyone looking to establish/maintain a general level of fitness with an indoor machine. It’s quiet, it’s an efficient workout, and the price is almost unbelievable for the quality of machine that you get.

El producto llego a los dos días. Fue fácil de armar. Es bastante estable aun cuando lo usas con mucha intensidad. Me sorprendió lo silencioso que es y a diferencia de los equipos magnéticos el sonido de las aspas en el agua es muy agradable. Yo tengo un rodillo para bicicleta y cuando entreno no puedo oír la TV mientras estoy usándolo, en cambio con la remadora la experiencia es muy diferente, el sonido es casi relajante.
El asiento es muy cómodo y al estar alto, no es necesario agacharse para sentarse y pararse. El display digital muestra la información relevante del ejercicio, pero solo he usado el modo manual. Por otro lado, la única desventaja son las bases para los pies las cuales son muy grandes y aunque tienen una banda ajustable no son cómodos para personas con pie pequeño.
Finalmente, el equipo se puede colocar en forma vertical para que ocupe menos espacio al guardarlo, pero a diferencia de otros modelos, no tiene una bisagra que permita doblarlo. En lo personal no es un detalle mayor.

Tolles Gerat , Computer leider nicht auf deutsch , sonst alles super an dem Gerät