Infiniti R100 Rowing Machine Review

Product Description

The Infinity R100 Rowing Machine is by Bodymax, one of the leaders in health and fitness equipment, and a company you can trust. It’s a well built, large machine, making it sturdy enough for even large users, and its long glide rail makes it perfect for even the tallest of users.

It comes with 42 workout programmes, uses a hybrid air / magnetic resistance system, and is almost silent as a result. It’s a serious competitor to some of the best commercial rowers on the market, but for a very affordable price.

Our Review

If you’re looking for a strong competitor to the industry standard Concept 2, the Infinity R100 rowing machine is certainly one to seriously think about.

This is a air/magnetic combination resistance rowing machine, rather than a simple air resistance machine. Basically, it has the usual fan, which gives a fixed load, then the adjustable magnetic load. The magnetic resistance results in a smooth and quiet rowing action, and the fact it still includes a fan has the added advantage that you can point the vents towards you, cooling you as you cycle.

The R100 has a fantastic build quality. It’s a large unit, and pretty heavy, weighing in at around 60kg, so may not be the best for squeezing into small spaces, but it’s a solid unit that will last you years. Plus it does fold up, so if you’re tight on space then you can store the glide rail vertically and tuck it away.

The larger size also means a larger seat, meaning larger users will be right at home on this machine,and smaller users will still be perfectly comfortable Its long glide rail also means it’s ideal for taller users, so if you’re 6ft 2 and built, you’ll be just fine.

This thing was built with commercial use in mind, which is why it’s a serious competitor to the Concept 2. As I said, it has a very smooth and quiet rowing action – seriously, this thing is very quiet!

Additional heart rate monitor – and once this is installed you can get the machine to automatically adjust resistance to keep you within your target heart rate. It comes with 16 levels of resistance, and you can create your own programmes to tailor your workouts to exactly how you want. It can also store programmes for up to 4 users, so ideal for fitness-conscious households or friends who want to share a rower. There are 42 built-in workout programmes, so if you want to start off with one of their built in workouts, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

When it came to putting the unit together, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s easy to assemble, and it only took me about 20 minutes to get this thing up and running. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks as my regular rower and can say that it’s up there with the best – especially considering it doesn’t come with a commercial price tag! It was selling for £649.99 at last check, meaning it’s affordable for serious rowers as well as gyms.

So what could this rower benefit from? Well, the on board computer does not store past workout data, making it trickier to tell if your fitness is improving over time. You also can’t export data from the computer to workout tracking software, so you’ll have enter the data manually. However, the screen is very easy to read as you’re rowing, which is an advantage.

You’ll also need to buy a separate heart rate monitor to make the Infiniti R100 keep track of your heart rate, but they only cost about £20-25, and are a worthwhile investment. The final comment is that we’ve heard the foot straps can sometimes come a bit loose during use, and may need tightening up from time to time to keep them sturdy. However, this hasn’t affected my workout at all, but just keep a spanner under the sink ready for a little bit of tightening every couple of months.

Overall, a 5* rower for a fantastic price, the Infiniti R100 Rowing Machine is a strong, well built machine with all the features you could need. Sure, you’ll have to enter your workout data into your favourite tracker manually, but that’s a small price to pay for the rowing machine’s great price!