Homy Gyms 101

WaterRower Club Rowing Machine in Ash Wood with S4 Monitor

The WaterRower club rowing machine is a striking and effective handcrafted rowing machine by WaterRower, made from solid American ash wood and finished with black and rose stains with a Danish oil finish, giving it an attractive, natural and premium look. The solid ash wood construction doesn’t only make it look better, but more importantly, it absorbs almost all vibration and sound during the workout, giving the user a quiet and ultra-smooth exercise session and making itself as durable as a rowing machine can and should be.

waterrower ash wood s4 monitor 1

It is designed for handling heavy-duty use in commercial gyms and rehabilitation clinics. The rowing machine also has some additional useful features such as styled black rails that reduce scuffing. But as such, it looks great in any setting including a home and it lets even novice users enjoy its features and the workout. This machine can handle a user of maximum 1000 lbs i.e. 454 kg which is awesome and proves its toughness.

How does the WaterRower Club Work - Resistance Type

The WaterRower Club rowing machine is a water-resistance rowing machine. That means this machine creates resistance using the water stored in the water tank. There’s a Water Flywheel suspended in the water tank connected with the puller that user pulls. While pulling the handle of the rower, it makes the flywheel spin in the tank and the water around it tries to prevent it from spinning. Thus the resistance is created.

Well, that sums up how a water rower works. But is that useful? Yes, it is. Because the user doesn’t need to set the resistance to a fixed level while he might not know what resistance will be good for him? User just rows and the resistance will be set depending on his level of rowing. It’s automatic. If the user rows slowly he will feel lower resistance and while rowing hard, he will feel harder resistance. Simplifying it, the harder the user rows, the more resistance he feels.

If the user knows about rowers, he knows that the mechanism sounds similar to how an air rower works. So, which rower is better - Water or Air? Certainly, WaterRower is better, as air rower is loud while water rower is very silent and the strokes it provides are much smoother than an air rower. The reason the WaterRower is silent and smooth is that it uses the belt driven system whereas the air rowers usually use chain drive system.

Salient Features

- WaterRower Club is equipped with patented Water Flywheel that imitates the physical dynamics of the action of rowing and thereby gives real-looking and consistent rowing strokes.
- Extremely durable frame handcrafted with solid Ash wood with Danish oil finish and Urethane.

- Extra comfort and stability provided by ergonomic seat and footrests.

- Practically unbreakable polycarbonate water tank

- A wowing maximum user weight of 1000 lbs!

waterrower ash wood s4 monitor 2Plus Points of WaterRower Club

Build Quality

The WaterRower Club is a solid built handcrafted rowing machine with ash wood just like the other WaterRower models. Ash, the wood used in it, is a premium hardwood with incredible longevity and dimensional stability. The frame built with this material is rock solid and extremely durable and the other parts are this much durable as well. Coming to the water tank, it’s made from one of the most durable plastics on the earth, which is poly-carbonate. So a user does not need to worry about any breakage; it’s virtually indestructible. The machine will need a minor maintenance and that is, to keep the water clean. Users need to add chlorine tablets to the water. These tablets are included.

Comfort

The WaterRower has an ergonomically designed seat that comes with enough padding, making every stroke feel comfortable even if a user has a pretty long workout session. It features 8 bearings giving itself a great stability.

The handle is overall comfortable with its oblong shape. It’s covered with soft materials making it comfortable to hold while rowing and the user doesn’t have to use any additional soft grip or rowing glowes.

And the machine will provide a very fluid rowing which is one of the major reasons of its being comfortable. The seat glides up and down smooth and easily while the clutch prevents jerkiness. Users will feel a smooth seat gliding while performing a stroke.

Performance Monitor

The WaterRower Club rowing machine comes with a decent series 4 performance monitor.

The S4 monitor tracks workout intensity, stroke rate, heart rate, distance, duration and much more. It displays rowing speed in different languages such as miles per hour, meters per sec, time per 2km as well as time per 500 meters.

With Zone and ZoneBar features, users can set their stroke rate, intensity and heart rate zones. Users can set up to 9 workout intervals with the help of interval workout option. The intervals can be separated by rest durations and at the end of intervals users get alarms and statistics.

The advanced settings of the monitor enable users to:

- Store additional 9 workout settings apart from the AutoStore

- Estimated settings to view anticipated distance and duration during the workouts

- Sophisticated heart rate analysis to view maximum rates and time spent beyond, below and within users’ heart rate zone

The monitor is powered by 4 AA batteries which are included and is multi-functional. Users can adjust its settings through navigation menu. It also can be connected to the computer for analyzing their workout data more effectively.

Warranty

WaterRower Club offers a pretty decent warranty, in the form of:

- 3 year warranty for the frame
- 1 year warranty for components

Besides, these warranties can be extended to 5 years and 3 years respectively by filling out a registration form.

Storage

The machine has a fairly large footprint while in use but it cuts down its size a big time while storing. In upright storage mode, it’ll take the space of a dining room chair, which is great to save floor space. To store, users will just have to stand it upright. That’s it. Although the machine is fairly heavy it doesn’t take that much effort to stand it up as it seems to.

Note: these are large and heavy units, and when stored upwards they are more or less stable. However, don't allow kids and pets to play around the elevated rowers, since they can be pushed and when they fall down, they can damage something, they can get damaged, or they can even hurt somebody!

Assembly

Assembling a WaterRower Club Rowing Machine is very simple. Even an inexperienced person will be able to assemble it pretty effortlessly as the instructions given to assemble it are detailed, step by step and includes pictures. Assembling it should not take more than 30 minutes and it can be done with the provided screws and wrench.

Maintenance

The WaterRower is a very low maintenance machine. Wipe the machine daily after use with clean damp cloth. Add purification tablet provided with the unit, in the tank every 6 months. Also, replace the batteries when required to run the console efficiently.

waterrower ash 1

Minus Points of WaterRower Club

As such WaterRower Club is excellent workout equipment; however, there are a few issues.

Large Size

Though while storing it takes a small space, while exercising, WaterRower Club occupies a large space because it’s extraordinarily long – 82.25”!

Price

Price may be another issue for those who have seen typical indoor rowing machines costing less than this high quality model.

Hard-to-Read Display

Some users face some issues with the backlighting of the S4 display of WaterRower Club. The issue is that the digital monitor cannot be easily read in a darkened space. This can be resolved by switching the lights on.

Noise

WaterRower Company claims that the machine is quiet; but some users find it a little noisy. Well, all resistance rowers make noise to some extent whether they contain a waterwheel, air flywheel or magnetic resistance. On the other hand, some users find the sound of water paddles motivating!

Realistically, the WaterRower Club offers low impact workout which avoids risk of injuries and can actually increase endurance, build muscles, strengthen the core and burn fat and burning more calories than a stationary bike or treadmill making it one of the best total body workouts and it is the great addition to a commercial gym or home.

For more reviews and recommendations, check WaterRower Club Rowing Machine in Ash Wood with S4 Monitor Amazon link (link opens in the new window).


For those who like these high-quality wooden water rowers, there are few more wood options:

WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine in Ash Wood with S4 Monitor

waterrower natural 1

This unit is made using solid ash and stained honey oak, having strong construction which absorbs sounds and vibrations.

It comes with standard S4 monitor, water tank, 1000 pound maximum user weight, upward storage etc.

And it also comes with very nice price tag :)

For the best offers, check the price on Amazon (link opens in the new window).

 WaterRower Classic Rowing Machine in Black Walnut with S4 Monitor

waterrower black walnut 1

This unit is made using solid black walnut wood and it is hand finished in Danish oil. Again, construction is strong and sturdy with 'standard' 1000 pounds maximum user weight limit and all other features being practically the same with other models.

For more reviews and recommendations, check WaterRower Classic Rowing Machine in Black Walnut with S4 Monitor Amazon link (link opens in the new window).

WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine w/ S4 Monitor & Hi Rise Attachment

waterrower rise attachment

For people having issues with using exercise equipment with low seats, this model comes with elevated seat - actually, whole unit is raised some 6 inches (~15.2 cm) off the ground.

This is very important for people having issues with knees, lower back problems and similar - rowing as exercise can help them in recovery, but it must be under supervision of trained personnel.

But, other people can benefit from this 6 inch height difference, too - it is simpler and easier to get up from the raised rower after exercise when your body is tired - been there, done that :)

This model is slightly more expensive than 'Ash' model due to additional parts - check its price on Amazon (link opens in the new window).


Long Story Short - these are high-end, massive and expensive rowers. If you casual athlete and like to row from time to time, forget these rowers. But, if you like rowers and you have need for strong, stable and durable unit, consider one of these units. They do their job and they look great, regardless if they are positioned in the living areas or in the home gym.




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