SereneLife Air & Magnetic Rowing Machine – Measures Time, Distance, Stride, Calories

It was delayed a day after they tried to deliver it. It came and I understand. It is a BIG box and heavy. The box was beat up and scuffed but well packed and survived. The display popped out and was at the bottom of the box. I am 75 and still reasonably strong. but it is heavy and everything kind of taped together, so scissors to cut things apart, and maybe someone to help.

The long bolts are for the foot rests, and there is an extra one. The very first thing I did was drop one of those 6 inch bolts on my toe. And then I kicked one of the steel pieces, so wear shoes. It took about 15 minutes to unpack. Then about 30 minutes to assemble. My biggest problem was reading the cardboard and plastic that holds the nuts bolts washers and such.

I only rowed a bit, I was tired and hot when I got it assembled. Where the front part and the seat part join is a sensor wire and connector. Black and hard to see. A flashlight helped. I happen to have a lighted magnifying glass, that helps even more. Black on black is hard to see but I did get the pieces together. I have no idea what it senses, but the wire is connected. I used chunk of foam from the packing to keep the seat rail part up and close to the front part. That was a good idea, otherwise I have no idea how I would have connected the sensor wire.

CON1: The ribbon material that comes out when you row is 7/8th inch wide and it goes OVER the display. If I was taller it would still be OVER THE DISPLAY and no amount of leaning right or left will let me see the screen while rowing. Maybe a big magnet on top, and an extension to that connector (what is that for?) and I could see. I hate to hack a new device, but that is nearly a show stopper.

CON2: The foot strap velcro does not fit bare feel, or small feet. So I will have to find some way to cut some of the extra non-velcro out or fold it somehow. I have a small apartment and IT IS QUIET, but I do not want to put on shoes (hot) if I break and want to row a while.

CON3: (not in any particular order) The foot rests “FLOP” and hang upside down, until you tilt them up and get your feet in. There are threads there that could take a bolt. Maybe that third bolt was one of 4 and you put those so the foot rests have a place to keep it at an angle. I bought this one whim from Amazon warehouse. Maybe someone bought it and returned it and someone lost one of those 6 inch bolts. I carefully looked. Those bolts were not in the plastic cardboard thingy but loose. I think one of them fell out of the box because the corners were open, even if the device was intact. That is fixable. And I give back some credit for usable foot rests.

CON4: It is fast and it is long. The seat rollers are new so it takes little effort to move. I am not used to it, and have not had an indoor rower/erg for many years. The “long” part goes with my short legs and a rower built to hold someone twice my weight and size. My little apartment I would like to cut it down to my size. I won’t, but I think about it.

CON5: Even if the rowing ribbon (7/8th inch wide) was not covering up the display, the contrast is nearly impossible for me to read. Slightly dark gray on light gray, low contrast. I can row blind, but part of rowing ergs is to follow what your body is doing. That screen is small, even if the ribbon was not there. Part of that is being old and worn out eyes. I will row and see is anything comes to me.

???: Those air louvers are cute, but I do not know what they are doing or how to use them. No calibration or markings that I can see. The tension control is magnetic and I will just have to try the settings. No way to calibrate it in Newtons or pounds force, Joules or foot pounds and length. I think. Maybe there is something.

I wrote this without really using the rower, to give fresh first impressions. I rowed quite a bit on a Concept 2 (actually two of them) for years. Like I say I bought this on a whim because I never tried “magnetic” plus “air”.