PowerBoostConcept rowing machine

Recently purchased as part of my fledging home gym. It's a very solid rower; none of the moveable parts appear to be cheap and if they are, well, 5 year warranty ought to cover it which is great selling point over other rowers on the market.Resistance setting is a variable dial ranging from 0 to 10. Relative to a Concept 2, this machine's "10" is about the same as C2's "5". Which, for me, is fine and any attempts to go beyond that I can fix with strength and stroke rate.Stores very well; the installed front legs add a point of stability, and the seat+roller is attached to the flywheel with a slot, hook, latch and gravity system which is very secure but also easy to recombine and store in the corner. The backhalf of the machine can be stored vertically and basically tuck into the empty space of the flywheel; effective footprint is approximately 34" x 36" which is great; see pic.Actual rowing is great; full range of motion, no complaints. Noise level is pretty much the same as a C2; having a normal conversation in the same room is going to rough. Being one room over is going to be audible but not disruptive.Monitor could use some major improvements.-It is not backlit, so reading the labels will be difficult midrow, before you learn what the readout on each slot is. The actual readout is visible while rowing. (Basically, I can't see the word "time" but I can see 7:46 has passed).- IT DOES NOT FEATURE 500m SPEED, which is an annoying aspect since that was my primary metric while on a C2.- It does feature "Watts" and "stroke per minute" which is basically the same thing, but on this monitor they share the same window so it's switching between the two numbers at 5 second intervals. They tend to be pretty close (31 watts and 29 SPM, for example) and the fact that the screen isn't backlit and the tiny label font means I can't ever really tell which is which so I'm stuck going with my feeling which is loosely calibrated at best.- Distance measurement is grossly off compared to a C2. At what felt like a 2:00 500m pace, for 2 minutes, this machine clocks in at 260m traveled. Time and stroke count are at least accurate, and distance is still precise/repeatable, so I can work within this system for progression goals, but if you're copy/pasting a workout template, you'll need to adjust to the readout

OK - I promised PowerBoostConcept I would change my review if they sent me the missing part. Three weeks after contacting them using their online chat about an apparent missing part, I was happy to see their response to me on Amazon that I wasn't missing anything; the user guide is out of date. However, if I hadn't come back to their Amazon page I would never have known this and wonder every time I used the rower if it was going to fall apart. I received no personal feedback from them via chat or email except that they sent me email complaining that my original two-star review was hurting their sales, so obviously they have my email address. I am now going on five weeks using the rower and am very satisfied with its operation; it's being used three times a day. I would give it five stars based on its assembly and operation, but I am concerned about their customer service especially with respect to honoring their 5-year warranty. Read on for my initial review...When I opened the box, loose screws, the allen wrench needed to assemble the product, and the user guide just fell out. I looks like they were just thrown in the box. For a $1000 rower, you would think they could afford a baggie to put this stuff into.Also, when attaching the flywheel and monorail sections together, the user guide mentions a framelock that needs to to be rotated around and pushed into the locked position (see photo). There is nothing on my rower that remotely resembles the diagram in the user guide. I did get them connected, but no framelock, so I don't know if it's assembled correctly, but it works. So, either the user guide is wrong or I'm missing a part. It's unclear which. Online chat has been of no help.A video of the rower being assembled would really help.

I’ve been using this rower for about six weeks now. Prior to this, I was using a Concept 2 rower at my gym. I must say I was impressed by how close my experience with this rower compares to the Concept 2. I thought it was easy to assemble. I was rowing in about twenty minutes. It’s a very well-built rower. As mentioned in other posts, I was a bit concerned when bolts and the wrench fell out of the box. I was happy to find out the bolts were extra. You will find the necessary bolts already in the holes. As mentioned in other posts, the monitor is a bit antiquated. As long as I have access to “strokes per minute” and “time”, I can monitor pretty much every other metric from my phone.I was very impressed with the customer support. I had two issues that needed addressed. I used the “live chat” option on the website to get the issues resolved. When I removed the rower from the box, I noticed that a rear foot pad was missing. Through the “chat” feature, I sent a picture of the missing part and they sent me a replacement pad that I received in about five days.After rowing for a few days, I noticed the seat rollers were broken. (They appeared to be broken during shipment.) Again, I contacted customer support using the “live chat” option and sent a picture of the broken rollers. They provided me with an entire seat assembly to replace the defective parts.Overall, I’m very satisfied with this purchase. I feel it was a very good price for a rower of this quality, and it also has a five-year guarantee in the event issues are encountered in the future.

I purchased this rower a few days ago. It was easy to assemble but is missing a part. The manufacturer did not give any phone number to contact so I called Amazon. They gave me a website to go to but again no phone number to call. I have emailed and tried “live chat” with the manufacturer. The live chat feature didn't work but they did email me back and are sending me the part. Would be better if there was a more direct route to reach the manufacturerThe rower is usable while I'm waiting on the piece and it seems to work great! I think it was a good purchase.