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53 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 Not meant to actually be used Mar 05, 2010
By T. J. Stewart
I loved this rower at first, although if you have small feet, it's difficult to keep them from pulling out of the pedals while rowing. 6 broken straps, several emails to Lifespan (they did replace them for me), a change to a different type of shoe, and that problem was finally fixed. Then the pulleys started to break. Ordered a new set and replaced those (those I had to buy). Now the flywheel will not recoil. Took it apart...I would have to replace the magnetic wheel assembly. It's time to give up, it just wasn't made to be used. I used this rower for 2 1/2 years. My last rower was a cheap old piston type, it lasted 12 years. I finally broke the frame. I used the rower 4 times a week, this one just couldn't hold up. And, no, I'm not some 350 pound body builder...I barely make it over 5 feet and am under 135 pounds. I don't think I should be killing rowing machines.
29 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Good rower, not the best May 12, 2010
By James D. Strawn
"Problem Finder"
I bought my LifeSpan rower about a year ago and have used it a lot with no major problems. It does the job and seems to be a good value for the money, but it definately is not a performance rower.
PROS:
Cheap
Compact
Folds Easily
Simple Digital Display lasts a very long time one one battery
CONS:
No chain, the pull mechanism is a strap of fabric.
Plastic wheels support the seat and pull movement. Mine have note worn out yet but they're not that smooth and they do feel as if they have worn down significantly during the year that I have used my rower.
The pull movement creates no momentum as with a fan or water resisting model, so you really cant build up much inertia and each pull feels like you're starting from a stp, which is not mych like real rowing.
All in all it's a good unit but if you're looking for something that will really take a beating and last a long time and also emulate the feel of rowing much better, get a concept 2 model D or E. I wish i had spent the extra $400 at the time, because now I have to sell my current rower first. Interested?
31 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Great Product; be careful with shipping! Dec 13, 2009
By T. Nolle
"NetTraveler"
We ordered this product to help in a revamping of our exercise program, and it is absolutely great in that mission. The device assembles very easily and quickly; 15 minutes or less if you lay the parts out. There are two major assemblies, and you just attach the seat and put the two pieces together. In action, the device is smooth and quiet, and it can give you a very good workout in a relatively short period of time. The electronics package is good; the only issue some may have is that changing rowing resistance doesn't appear to change the calorie count.
The only problem we had was with Amazon in shipping. This is shipped in two boxes but for some reason Amazon seems to lose sight of that fact on its own tracking. If the two boxes become separated (which ours did) and only one is delivered, they show status as "delivered". I called customer service to try to get them to help with the other box and they continually insisted that the order was one box and was complete. Finally they gave me the UPS premier shipping contact but didn't tell me I would need their shipper number to use it! The other box finally arrived after about five emails to them, two calls to UPS and one call to Amazon. It's worth the wait, though. This is a really great rowing machine!
UPDATE:
We've used the rower for over a month now and so I have some notions of how it works. First, it's deceptive when you start rowing for the first time because the effort level seems light so you tend to crank it up to 4 or 5 (the top). Don't do that unless you're in decent shape or you'll bonk pretty quickly. What seems to work best is to start off rowing for about 10 minutes at about 25 or so strokes per minute according to the timer, at a 1 or 2 level. When you see how you'll do, you can then increase time, stroke count, and effort level. In terms of subjective effort, every jump of one in effort level seems to give you the equivalent of about a 10% increase in stroke count. When I go up in effort level, I'll drop my stroke count 10% until I'm used to the new one. If you're not a young athlete (which I'm surely not) then you will probably find 15-25 minutes of rowing at a pace of about 27 strokes per minute a good workout at level 2 or 3.
This machine undoubtedly gives the most concentrated workout of anything I've used. In 20 minutes I'm sweating big time!
18 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Great Exercise Machine ! Dec 07, 2008
By jk
Shipped quickly from amazon, good price. My 10 yr old son set it up in a few minutes and I love it ! Use it everyday for strength training (arms/legs) and cardio (takes a little work to work up a sweat but easy on the joints). Doesn't take up too much room, easy to read monitor. Low impact - easy on my feet, knees, back. Would recommend highly.
15 of 18 found the following review helpful:
nice Mar 23, 2009
By Charles E. Hartmann
sturdy, good price, could use a little more tension but good enough for the casual user - 40-60 min. a week. time will tell how long the rollers last but you still have to keep the track clean with wd40.
See all 22 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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