Concept2 Forum

Hi all,

I’ve read quite lot of things over the last month or so and looking to get a rower for my home gym. Looking at a Concept 2 or WaterRower Club.

I’m based in Australia and quite a large guy, 192cm and 160kgs+ after a bad knee injury. So I’d also need to find a place close to Sydney that has stock.

But have finally setup a home gym and want to get a rower to finish it off.

Obviously I need it to handle the weight which both seem to do. The Model E over the D appear a bit higher, the WaterRower looks nice however I’ve read that the monitors are night and day on the Concept 2 compared to the water.

I’m after any and all advice, thank you in advance

This forum is owned & run by Concept2 USA. Do you really expect to get non-biased opinions on Brand-X rowing machines on here?

I don't have hands on experience with the waterrowers but i do know they give much more generous time readings which trick you into thinking you're faster than you actually are. They can also have issues with the water systems which makes them a lot less reliable than C2 machines.

Concept 2 rowers have far more appealing aspects in general! From the online user community to how accurate the PM numbers are and how reliable and robust the machines are.

I think C2's are cheaper too.

Every time, without fail, a Concept 2 rower over a water rower. Far far better

I own both a WaterRower and a Concept 2 Model D.
I find the WaterRower quite a bit more enjoyable to use, but I get a better workout from the Model D. The PM5 monitor is light years ahead of WaterRower's best, although WaterRower's SmartRow upgrade is a huge improvement. The SmartRow is probably even more accurate than Concept 2's ergometer system (it's laboratory-grade), but the data are not presented as well, and too few WaterRower owners have it.
I wouldn't be concerned about the strength or ruggedness of the WaterRower.
If I could only have one rower, I'd keep my Model D. The community of rowers, the PM5 (and its integration with Ergdata with its simple logbook sync), and its consistency of metrics, allowing comparisons with thousands of other rowers, makes the difference for me.

Thank you,

I do realise this is a concept 2 forum, however I still feel that people can add valuable input.

Thank you for the replies, i have done a lot of reading and will be getting the Concept 2. Mainly because of the PM5.

All C2 rowers are very well built and will work well for you, but the model E is the most robust. At your size it may be worth considering a model E if you can afford the premium over the D, and live with the fixed monitor arm.

The air-braked fan system on the C2 erg allows accurate power measurement using basic engineering and dynamics. This means we know what we are doing in real physical terms, so need no proxies such as sweat, heart rate and so on.

With other systems this may not be guaranteed, but in any case if you get on and pull long hard and often you'll get fit. As you would afloat too, if you manage to stay dry. But you won't have real numbers in front of you, except maybe the rating (strokes per minute).

The Watt and Rating information that C2 provides also offers a quality estimate for your stroke, so potentially a critique of style.

MPx wrote: ↑

December 12th, 2019, 7:56 pm

All C2 rowers are very well built and will work well for you, but the model E is the most robust. At your size it may be worth considering a model E if you can afford the premium over the D, and live with the fixed monitor arm.

The maximum user weight of a Model D is 500 lb / 227 kg. Even if you weigh 160 kg+, it should be strong enough to support you. The advantage of the Model E is that the seat is six inches higher off the ground than the Model D. That should make it easier to get on and off the rower.