Hydrow Wave Rower review: the ultimate indoor rowing machine
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FANCY a rowing workout without having to leave your home?
Check out our Hydrow Wave Rower review to see if it’s the right piece of workout equipment for you.
When the weather outside turns wintery, it’s nice to have the option to get some exercise in without having to battle the elements outdoors.
And while exercise bikes are great, they don’t offer much in the way of full-body workouts.
We gave the Hydrow Wave Rower a test over a few weeks to see how we liked it.
Overall rating: 4/5
- Hydrow Wave Rower, from £1,595 - buy here
Pros
- Compact
- Smooth
- Lots of workouts
- Stores upright
Cons
- Expensive
- Requires more space than an exercise bike
- Slow to load when turning on
Hydrow Wave Rower review: first impressions
The Hydrow is a smart piece of kit and we found it easy to get to grips with.
The setup is a pretty simple process; enter a few contact details and a short bio and you’re away, ready to choose from a wide variety of workouts.
Annoyingly, every time we plugged the Hydrow into the mains, there was a fairly long wait while we attempted to get it connected to the internet again (it forgot our password every time it was unplugged).
Because the Hydrow isn’t much use when it isn’t connected to the internet, we wouldn’t recommend unplugging it in-between uses unless you want to twiddle your thumbs for five minutes before you get going. However, once connected, the Hydrow is easy to get your head around and start using.
There’s a solid introductory video to get you familiar with the rowing machine if you haven’t used one before. And, once that’s completed, there are hundreds of on-demand videos to choose from where instructors will guide you through the basics and talk you through a given workout.
Hydrow Wave Rower review: workouts and instructors
We were impressed with the range of workouts on offer from Hydrow which varied from quick 10-15 minute bursts to longer workouts that’ll have your quads burning.
So whether you want to work a steady, relaxing workout while viewing some beautiful scenery, or you want something intense that’ll work up a sweat, the Hydrow Wave Rower has got you covered.
As you might expect from an internet-connected device, you can view leaderboards throughout your workout that allow you to ‘compete’ (you’re not necessarily rowing at the same time) with someone else’s score from the same programme.
I don’t know why I care that I’m beating Travis from Austin, Texas, but I definitely put in some extra effort towards the end of my row to ensure I won a race no one but me realised they were taking part in.
One of the highlights of reviewing the Hydrow Wave Rower was the instructors. They’ve snapped up some highly qualified rowers, including a handful of former Olympians to coach you through your workouts, so you know you’re in good hands.
Hydrow Wave Rower review: features
But what about the actual rowing? We’re happy to report the Hydrow Wave Rower’s mechanism is excellent and a lot less disruptive than the Concept 2 rower you’ve probably used down the gym.
Having a massive fan to provide resistance in a small room would get tiresome very quickly, so we appreciated the electromagnetic mechanism the Hydrow Wave used to generate resistance.
It means that, no matter how hard you’re working, the machine remains quiet and smooth and made workouts a lot more pleasant than you’d expect with a cheaper rower.
The high-res screen is great quality, too, which is nice, because Hydrow has really gone out of its way to get the most scenic videos possible for its workouts; there are jaunts through city waterways, rows across forest lakes and even a trip or two by an Alaskan glacier.
The Hydrow Wave rower is a more compact rowing machine than Hydrow’s regular model, measuring 204cm in length and 67cm wide. We squeezed ours into the end of our relatively small study and it didn’t feel too obtrusive.
Plus, it stands on end to save even more space and can be wheeled around relatively easily, so if you have some vertical storage space, you can probably fit it in. But, for such a small machine, it doesn’t feel limiting or cramped when you’re using the rower.
Hydrow Wave Rower review: The verdict
We really couldn’t find much to fault with the Hydrow Wave Rower.
The time it took the machine to connect to the internet when first turning it on was a bit of a drag, but, besides that, everything worked perfectly.
The workouts were varied and fun and you could definitely keep motivated by switching up the type of challenges you complete, the instructors you use and the scenery you see in the background.
The mechanism was smooth and quiet, which meant we didn’t think we were being inconsiderate to people in the next room while using the machine.
As an added perk, the machine is available in a range of colours, so you can easily pair it with the decor of the room you plan to house it in. It's a good looking piece of kit, so you might want it on display!
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Obviously, the Hydrow Wave Rower is expensive and not in everyone’s price range.
But, if you do have the money handy, we’d heartily recommend this rower and we’d love to have it around (especially when the weather turns bleak outside!).