EchelonRow, 30-Day Free Echelon Membership, HIIT, Indoor Rowing Machine, Rower for Home Gym, Live and On-Demand Classes, 32 Resistance Levels, Total Body Workout, Low Impact

First I'll start with you do NOT need the app OR the echelon fitness subscription to use this rower. In fact I never use the app and never subscribed to the fitness classes. The only functionality you lose is the ability to see what resistance you're at (instead just know it always starts at 1 and it's easy to just count the beeps as you increase so you know where you're at) and what your pace and stroke rate is. If you don't need that, don't worry about their app. If you are interested in pace, stroke rate, and resistance, the app itself with NO subscription WILL suffice.Now that said, I really like this rower. It's almost silent, air resistance rowers are probably more realistic but I was worried about lots of noise spreading in my old building. This rower is silent on the flywheel, the only noise is from the movement of the seat and the foot holders squeaking a bit. It's very possible for someone to be rowing and someone else to be watching TV in the same room. It's very solid, not a lot of plastic, and feels great. Assembly was relatively straightforward and not difficult, though I would recommend having two people, it's definitely possible to assemble solo.Circling back to the app, it's a little janky and overall I would rate it as poor. If you don't pay for the subscription the only thing you can do is a "free row" where it tracks your time and pace and the like. If you pay the $40/month you get some classes and the ability to row to a video of someone out on a river. The river rows are a nice background but really I'd rather just watch Netflix or something while I'm rowing instead. I found the classes to be alright, the music was not to my taste and overall production value was mid range at best. I didn't subscribe past the free trial. Now I use Apple Fitness for $8/month which I find much better or just watch Netflix on my iPad mounted to the rower.I did a lot of research and for a beginning rower looking for a good home workout, high quality and not too expensive, I think this is the top pick. The ability to just mount a phone or tablet and put whatever you want on while you row is a step above most with built in screens only accessing their own app. Some will brick without internet or an app, this one works fine without either.Overall highly recommend, all but the most serious rowers looking for a quiet machine won't be disappointed.Update 1 year later:Still love the rower. Would not buy the more expensive Rower S with built in screen. Original review was for their simpler Rower with no screen, just a phone/iPad mount. The machine is slightly louder now as the band moves in and out of what would be the flywheel on an air resistance rower. It's still much quieter than an air resistance rower, but louder than first purchase. This is after over a year of pretty heavy use so not terribly unexpected. If you can find it (looks like Amazon only selling the Rower S now) I'd still have to recommend this machine.

Exactly as advertsied!!!

This is a very high quality machine and it looks like it's going to work great. I'm not using the app so I can't comment on that. One thing though and that's the reason for four stars instead of five stars is a packaging. Whoever package this thing loves loves loves clear tape. It could have been taped a lot less and made unboxing a lot more simple. I know it's a simple thing but simple things add up. I think the packaging is ridiculous.

First of let's talk about the purchase. This is the next step up from an introductory machine and the cost bears that out. What they don't tell you is that the machine is worthless without connecting to their app, which requires giving them your credit card number. While the first month is free, the actual membership is $39 /month. That's over $400 per year...on top of the $600 purchase price. And while you can cancel, that will severely restrict the usability of your machine.Now on to the machine itself. It's heavy, but in a good way. It appears to be fairly well built and, after just over a month of use, the mechanics appear to be good. The both the glide of the seat and the pull are just as smooth and nearly silent as when it was first assembled. It's the electronics that are giving the fits. About 10% of the time the machine will not connected to the app, which requires rebooting both the rower and the tablet controlling it. Further, the buttons on the pull handle that control the tension no longer work.On to the app, this is a complete piece of junk. When you're in Freestyle mode (the only mode available unless you pay), there is no history whatsoever. So you can not track your progress over time. It doesn't even remember your tension settings, which my $200 Sunny did just fine. And the screen is primarily ads for their premium service. The items that you actually care about (row duration, distance, strokes, etc), are in tiny text boxes at the corners of the screen.In summary, don't waste your money with this thing.

Since I haven't tried cheaper models (I paid $699), it's hard to say if the build quality would be much different spending $200-$300 less, but it feels substantial and well-designed.I'm rowing 30 minutes 6x a week. Around three weeks in, the rower is performing well. The tension adjustment buttons were working sporadically, until I pushed in the battery in the handle more firmly, and it's been fine since. I like the folding design, it's not hard to move the rower around the room.Everything was packaged securely, no blemished or damaged components. Assembly wasn't too difficult, a longer wrench with a good handle would have been easier. The device holder works well holding my nude 12.9" iPad Pro (not quite wide enough to fit with the case).No review of the app or membership program, not interested in the subscription!