Echanfit Foldable Indoor Rower Review

When looking for the best rowing machine for a small apartment, people often have the same few criteria. The machine must be comfortable, fairly practical in its dimensions, well-priced, and above all – quiet. The noise that rowing machines produce is often overlooked but people living in smaller spaces really know how difficult it is to keep your neighbors happy. In this review, I will introduce you to the Echanfit Foldable Indoor Rower with all of its features, ups, and downs. Later on, we will also compare it to other rowers in this mid-price bracket and see how it holds its ground. Now, let’s start with a quick overview of the model…

Overview & Features

Design and Build Quality

While the design of this magnetic rower is fairly typical to most other home rowers, it doesn’t have quite the spectacular built quality. Everything is well-thought-out, the seat and handle are comfortable, the footrests are at a good location but the actual assembly and build quality just doesn’t hold up too well, especially when you push the rower to its limits. That is perhaps one of its biggest downsides and it isn’t even that serious if you are planning on using it moderately. Even if you decide to go all-in on a workout and damage any of the components, everything here is covered by a warranty for the first year. The issue I have with all that is that typically rowers start becoming slightly better-built at this price and continue progressing towards that premium quality as the price goes higher and higher. One good example of that is the Concept2 Model D indoor rowing machine which is quite expensive but is superbly well-put-together.

Dimensions

In terms of its dimensions, this rower is rather practical and compact. When fully assembled, it measures 75 inches in length, 19 inches in width, and 33 inches tall at its tallest point. The sliding rail is 46 inches long which is enough to accommodate most heights. The seat is at around 9 inches of height which makes the rower comfortable for people with longer legs. The folding process is really easy and consists of adjusting one knob only. Once folded, the rower is around 46 inches tall and no longer than 30 inches, making it quite practical for small spaces or closets in your apartment.

Resistance settings

There are 16 levels of tension here and they are all controlled by the knob right below your handle. The knob is quite tactile and easy to use even when your hands are sweaty and slippery. As with all other magnetic rowers, the tensions change rather smoothly from one level to another and have good progression to them if you want to gradually increase the efforts in your workout.

Weight capacity

The weight capacity of the Echanfit rower is another of its weaknesses and it actually is a testament of its build quality. Typically, well-built rowers have weight capacities of over 350lbs, while this model has a capacity of only 265 lbs. While this will be enough for most people, it really doesn’t help the rower look sturdy or anything. This is why I wouldn’t really recommend this magnetic rowing machine for anyone around or over 250 lbs.

Computer

The computer of this rower is fairly decent with a large enough LCD display that you can see from distance. It has all the basic functions plus a scan feature that some other on-board computers don’t have at this price. You have time settings (stopwatch, timer, etc), live RPMs, distance traveled, calories burned, and a few other useful features that you can toggle between with the buttons below the screen. These