Non-concept2 home rower

[Machinerow8]

I recently bought a rower for at home use. I have previously used the concept2 at the gym and the display panel on my at home machine is much less advanced. My panel only tracks calories, speed, distance and time. It was bought used and didn't include a manual so without the advanced panel of the concept, I am having trouble interpreting the distance measurement. Here are my readings:
9/29/14: 15.0 (?) in 30:00 mins
9/30/14: 30.0 (?) in 60:00 mins
9/31/14: 32.0 (?) in 67:00 mins

I haven't been logging my calories because I am convinced its severely inaccurate when compared to what it would say on a concept. I have a Fitness Quest 3000 Air Rower. Any help?

[Citroen]

There are lots of threads on here for BrandX machines. They usually have a very poor performance monitor and make an assumption that all strokes are the same length. Comparing results on those machines is close to comparing apples with oranges.

[Machinerow8]

It has a stroke per minute reading too but what I am trying to determine is the unit of measurement for distance. When I row for 60minutes, my distance is around 30.0. But, my question is, 30.0 what? Meters? Miles? Kilometers?

[RoidbotPR]

For real on the water rowing, I don't think you would be covering 30 miles or 30 meters in an hour. I would say possibly 30 kilometers, but then you would have to be rowing at 500 meters a minute, covering 2k in 4 minutes, which is faster than any Olympic time. To possibly convert 30 over 1 hour to a realistic world unit, would be to divide that distance by 2 to get number of kilo's rowed in an hour, since 15k is a 2 minute split time, which sounds about right. Although from my own experience I can only cover about 13k in an hour at about 2:20 pace.

[Machinerow8]

My theory was that it was measuring by 500m lap.. so every 1.0=500m. Meaning if I row 30x500m, it would equate to 15000m or 15k. Which could be possible considering that when I used to row on the concept2 at the YMCA, I would get to around 11k in 50minutes, and that was usually done after an hour long cardio dance class. I've also noticed that I exery myself WAY more at home than I ever did at the YMCA.

[jamesg]

If the readouts are meaningless, it's best to follow heart rate alone. Exercise lifts HR, which is what gets us and keeps us fit. 130 - 140 will be plenty. Using HR also offers automatic progress.

Failing that, we can strike a balance between sweat and time aboard: plenty of both. A liter of sweat is worth 500 kCal according to steam tables and should take 30-40 minutes. You could calibrate the calorie readout using your sweat/weight loss.

As for how to do it, plenty of length with lowish forces (so low drag) is the best way to work without risking injury.

The weightloss programs here also get us fit and can be used with HR alone:
http://indoorsportservices.co.uk/weightloss/interactive

[Machinerow8]

I only wish I had a HR monitor! I think that will be my next fitness investment!