Endurance by Body-Solid Air Rower

I purchased the R300 in the November 2024 Black Friday sale & overall I am extremely happy with the machine with one rather unfortunate caveat.

The machine itself is very easy to assemble with all tools required to do so included in the package. The instructions could be a bit clearer - put the steps & diagrams on facing pages instead of having to flip the page between the two - but it’s not a whole lot of assembly & as long as you put the right screws in the right holes & assemble it in order then you’ll be fine. I easily did it on my own.

It’s very sturdy & high quality construction & after a couple months of use I am very happy with the high quality of the rower. Though it’s been a while since I’ve been on one, I would put it on par with a Concept 2 with regards to these aspects.

I find it to be relatively quiet & have it in my spare room/office in my apartment. I’ve not measured the decibels in any way but so far no complaints from the neighbours (though we do have solid concrete between apartments here, not the modern paper-thin walls).

The cell phone holder above the monitor is great - since it’s on an elastic strap it can be positioned to the side a bit which means you can centre a device without power & volume buttons getting mashed down, it’s also stretchable enough that I can comfortably have my 10 inch tablet sitting in it.

The resistance dial is easy to move - maybe a little too easy as when I remove the cover I have on the fly wheel to keep dust out when not in use, it tends catch on the resistance lever & moves it, but that’s easily solved as one of the things I always check before I start rowing. I think it’d also be good to highlight the lever & the numbers a bit better - they’re the same colour as the flywheel cover & in certain lighting conditions can be very hard to see. White paint or stickers would solve that very minor issue.

I can’t speak to portability too much or storage requirements as mine is permanently out & in position, but based on putting it together & moving it within the same room this should be quite easy to roll around & separate into two parts for storage.

THE CAVEAT: the console/monitor.

Don’t get me wrong, it displays all the things you’d want it to - time, distance, watts, stroke rate, etc - & has a good selection of modes to choose from, but it is rather let down by zero memory retention & almost no external connectivity.

1. The monitor does not record anything you do on it. After a workout, I have to take a quick photo of the screen before moving into my cooldown. There is no internal memory on the monitor & there is no way to change how long the screen stays powered on for. Once it powers off, any & all data from a session is lost. The screen goes dark initially after about 5 seconds & I believe completely powers off after 30 seconds (I haven’t timed the full power off) but if you hit ENTER when it just goes dark but isn’t powered off it will show up again. If you accidentally hit other buttons to wake it up then the data is lost as they change the state the monitor is in. It stays on for longer in certain modes (manual says 2 minutes), but not the main ones I use which are free-rowing & distance.

Once the monitor powers off completely, all data is lost. This is even with 2 x size C batteries installed. It doesn’t even keep a historical track of how many strokes or metres the system has been used during its lifetime. The manual suggests the cable/bungee cord for the handle may stretch after 250,000 strokes, but how would you know if it doesn’t keep track? I guess just go by feel.

2. The only connectivity to the unit is to a heart rate monitor like the Polar H10. There is NO other connectivity. You can not connect it via bluetooth to any device or app, so if you want to keep track of your workouts, you have to keep a manual record from the aforementioned photos. Interestingly when I started using a Fitbit the pulse sections starts flashing between P & bt which would seem to indicate there is a bluetooth chip built into the machine but it just hasn’t been implemented, I could be totally wrong there but I did not notice the bt flashing before I got a Fitbit.

The R300 is in no way advertised that it can connect to anything other than a chest-strap HRM, I made the assumption it could at the very least save my data internally & at best connect to an app to record my data. It’s an aspect of the rower I wish I’d more thoroughly researched & understood, but I guess that’s on me.

Overall I am VERY satisfied with the machine itself & am happily rowing on it almost daily. So far recording data isn’t a major issue as I’m just starting out, but if I decide to get serious & wish to keep better track of my stats or even subscribe to a gamified rowing app, then I will sell this very capable rower & buy a Concept 2.

If data retention isn’t an issue, then I highly recommend this machine, I am not disappointed in that aspect in the least & ...

Great rower, went together easily (just follow the instructions, no shortcuts) solid parts well made, and feels like a good strong-quality rower. Best Fitness kept me up to date with tracking and when it arrived.

I have not received it yet, am still waiting

My order has not been received yet after placing it more than two weeks ago. An update on my delivery would be very much appreciated.

High quality sturdy machine.