Hi everyone, I'm new to this group.

Anyway, I'm thinking of buying my boyfriend a rowing machine for Christmas, and I wa shoping you guys could help me out with picking out a good one. We dont have a lot of money, so I really cant afford to spend $1,000 on a machine. He was on crew throughout highschool and half of college and he's 6'4" so that makes it that much harder for me to just buy him the first one I see.

Thanks for your time!

If you can find a second hand concept two rower they are great. In my opinion (im no expert on rowers) they are by far the best.

I'm with NBS 4life on the " Concept 2 ".

I'd try and track down even a ' used ' Concept 2 rower if you could ( I happen to own one btw ......and been using a C2 for years now ).

It's a ' gym quality ' machine and the most common brand of rower used for dry land training by most rowing teams.

Yeah and if you get one of the newer ones it has an awesome as fish game on it!

Thanks for the advice, now atleast I know what I'm looking for.

you definitely want a concept2. you can find some pretty affordable ones on ebay. Don't worry about the model (though you probably at least want the Model B). The only real difference in the models is the look and the monitors have cooler things on them as you get more expensive. Any concept2 should do.

Like grees4, I too am looking for a relatively inexpensive rower. But looking at the concept 2s on eBay, they appear to be going for about 1k or a little less. (Some of these auctions are well on their way to 1k.) I don't have anywhere near 1k to spend. I would maybe spend as much as $500, but even then, I would need good reason to spend that much. Is there anything in the sub-$500 range that at least does the job? I don't need anything that tells me how many calories I burn or that keeps me entertained or anything like that. The money isn't there to get something awesome; it's really between getting something cheap or not getting anything at all. I want a good cardio outlet until the snow melts and the days get longer so I can go running again.

I am totally open to used equipment. I don't care if it looks beat up as long as it isn't about to fall apart in ways that matter.

The thing is, Concept 2 rowers are very well made - in fact they're considered ' gym quality ' machines - so you seldom see a " beat up " one. As a result, they may still command a relatively high price .....used.

That said, if it were me, I would still do all I could to try and rustle up a used Concept 2 someway, somehow - the Concept 2 is that good IMO.

As pkington touched on, one thing you might try and do is look for a Concept 2 Model " B " on the used market - it's a great Concept rower. It's an earlier generation model that Concept stopped making in the early 90's. It was superseded by Models " C " and most recently Models " D " & " E ". I just looked at at Buy/Sell of Rowing Canada and found someone selling a Concept 2 Model " B " for $ 350. As for a Concept Model " C ", I have seen them for sale used for as low as $700 - but not often and almost never less than that. So, while I realize your budget is $500, if $700 was somehow doable - with some patience and luck - you might still might be able to nab a Concept 2 Model " C ".

Again, along with e-bay, I'd scour Craiglist for rower listings ( and post a " rower wanted " ad there as well ) as well as your local paper's on-line and paper edition ' buy & sell ' listings ( placing an ad as well ) in order to scoop a Concept 2. Check out local rowing club sites for their classifieds as well.

Thanks Wrangell, and for your response in the other thread too.

No problem.

Best of luck tracking down a Concept 2 - hope you find one soon !

I've got one and love it.

Hmm, well, it seems all the normal places (eBay, Craigslist) of buying a used one don't have a lot of used Concept 2s for sale, and there seem to be plenty of people looking to buy used ones. On Craigslist for my area, there are people asking if someone is selling one and no one is listing one for sale. Sort of like a low mileage Toyota, it seems buying a used one is almost as expensive as buying a brand new one. So, I'm starting to wonder if I should just go ahead and buy a D directly from Concept 2 for $850; it would be $890 with shipping. Another seller sells refurbished D models for $850 with free shipping. It would seem to me worth the extra $40 and get a completely brand new one.

I am thinking, though, that getting an E or even just a D with the PM4 monitor (instead of the PM3 monitor) would not be worth the extra money.

I think the relatively low supply and high demand for used Concept 2 machines pretty much speaks for itself.

Given it's a gym quality machine and should easily last you 15+ years, a Concept 2 is a great value for the $ IMO.

I'm with you - I'd opt for the Model " D " - it should easily meet your needs.

Keep in mind, $850 is a fair bit of money. If you've never rowed consistently before, a piece of home exercise equipment like a rower may eventually end up just collecting dust because the ' novelty ' soon wears off. I'd rowed on a Concept 2 for years at the gym before I got one for home. Just something to keep in mind.

Then again, if you do buy one and find out you don't use it as often as you thought you might - and end up selling it - there's a ready market for used Concept 2's out there !

Just checked ebay Germany, it's closer to where I live.
There are a couple of model C's and the price is already over 550 euros and there still are 4-5 days to go.

I know COncept 2's are great machines, but could anyone suggest another model that is up to 500 euros a new piece and is worth buying?

I did go ahead and get the Concept 2 model D directly from Concept 2. It was $850 plus another $40 for shipping. Perhaps I could have saved a little bit buying one from another source, but since there seems to be little price difference between a brand new Concept 2 and a used one, I figured buying one directly from the manufacturer would be the safest, simplest way to go.

I love my new rower. I don't imagine I'll get tired of it (and hopefully by the time I'm ready to take a break from it, the weather will be better for running outside). It definitely feels very solid and smooth. I can highly recommend Concept 2 to anyone else and can understand why their resale value is so high.

There are only two things I would change about the rower. The first is for a more comfortable seat. The seat isn't particularly comfortable after rowing for several minutes. It's still tolerable, but the comfort level leaves something to be desired, especially given that I have very little of my own padding in that area; my fat is pretty much all concentrated in my belly. However, I'm hopeful that the accessory seat pad Concept 2 sells will be a simple fix. (Is anyone familar with the seat pad they sell?)

The second thing I would change is to be able to increase the resistance even more. I prefer to row with the dampers at 10 (max resistance). While I really like that level of resistance right now, I can imagine I will want more resistance as I get stronger. Hmm, maybe I'm looking for the rower to be too much of a strength booster as opposed to a cardio booster/fat burner. For what it's worth, I've been rowing at just over 800 Cal/hr until I get to 400 Cal (i.e., for about 30 minutes), and I'm about 190 lbs. I'm interested in increasing both my leg muscle endurance as well as my jumping ability. (My vertical is like 1 inch. Okay, maybe that's exaggerating, but it's pretty pathetic. I feel like my present leg strength should get me a lot higher than I can jump.) Oh yeah, I want to burn belly fat too. How can I best use the rower to help me with any of those goals?

Mermoz, good luck finding a good rower. I can certainly understand wanting to keep yourself to a budget. The Concept 2 certainly seems to be worth the money but was nevertheless more than I wanted to spend. I hope someone else can give you some good advice on how to find something a bit cheaper that is still reasonably decent.

Thanks for the information, subdude