I thought I would giving rowing machines a go, booked a personal trainer to check my form and made sure I rowed correctly (legs then pull, etc) but still managed to hurt my piriformis, giving me sciatica type pains and lots of treatment until I figured out what it really was.
So check the rowing before committing to buying a machine – maybe it was my bony arse that wasn’t compatible!
Also the water rowers are suppossed to be safer as they catch earlier and are more like real rowing, plus some people say the water movement/sound is very calming.
otoh the concepts allow you to compete with other people round the world, so might be better for goals-based training.
The best thing I tried was an exercise bike which used a bike air fan as the front wheel to give resistence, with the handlebars as seperate bars that hinged down to the pedals, so they moved a bit like a cross trainer and as they were linked to the pedals you would work them as well. Bloody excellent cv workout but I don’t see them around anymore.
12months membership £400 – plenty left for that TV…
depends where you live…