Stamina ATS Air Rower

I bought this model rowing machine a year ago for $280. Our local fitness club costs $240 per year, so with transportation there and back plus savings on showers three times/week, I figured the machine would pay for itself in six months, as it did. It gave me another five months "free membership" without need for maintenance. At the 11-month mark, the spring box, a $25 part, went. I'm not at all put off by that as I expected the need for some maintenance on any machine when using it as much as I do the rower. Happily, I had bought a Squaretrade warranty for it (just a little over $10), so it's been no problem getting that part, which is easy to replace. The machine was relatively easy to put together (mostly just attaching the pedals, monitor, etc.). It seems like a substantial piece of equipment, maybe not quite as heavy duty as you'd find at the gym, but certainly many, many grades above the cheap mechanical rowers on the home market. The action is smooth and the monitor is easily visible and helpful. Rowing on this machine is as easy or hard as you make it. I find the stats very useful and track workouts by time, distance, stroke count, and calories. The calories, of course, are not necessarily the calories I actually burned, but some kind of calculation the machine makes based on the average population. That's OK, it still gives me a good way to measure progress. Of course, the better you get at rowing and the more fit you are, the more time it takes to burn the same number of calories even when you up the difficulty. If you're new to rowing, be sure you look up videos on proper form and focus getting that right for the first week or two. After that, there are many workouts online if you like or make up your own. Don't attack yourself with the hardest to start. You will build strength and stamina (sorry) over time. I've found intervals work well, whether they're 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 or whatever full row:legs or 60:30:30 full steady row:sprint:rest or legs, etc. Starting as an overweight, older woman, over the first year, my own workouts went from 30-sec 1:1 intervals about 1.5 miles in 30 minutes to 2.5:0.5 rowing 3.5+ miles in about 40-45 minutes. I've been very pleased to be able to hike and shovel the recent heavy snow so much more comfortably this year than last. Overall, if you're looking for a good rowing workout at home, I highly recommend the Stamina 35-1402 ATS rowing machine.