The Live Outdoor Reality RowerHydrow’s innovative Live Outdoor Reality™ (LOR) technology not only delivers world-class rowing instruction in real time, but does so while leveraging state-of-the-art features that bring the sights, sounds and physical experience of rowing on the water — making Hydrow the closest you can get to an on-river experience without actually leaving your home.Shop Now
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Is Hydrow legit?
Hydrow (hydrow.com) has a 4.1 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 200 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Sports and its reputation is good. 77% of reviews are 4 stars or higher and 13% are 1 star; The business has replied to 97% of negative reviews; 26 of them were added in the last 12 months. Last updated 2026-08-12.
Love, love, love this rower and the classes offered! Only downfall compared to other companies, like Peloton, equipment was left in my garage vs in my house. Peloton sets up equipment and takes packaging materials. Not the end of the world but was not aware of this when I ordered, still, no regrets.
Reply from Hydrow2025-09-16
Hi Julie - Thank you so much for your kind words — we’re thrilled to hear how much you’re loving your Hydrow and the classes! We appreciate your honest feedback about the delivery and setup process. While our standard service does not include in-home setup or packaging removal, we know how helpful that can be and are always looking at ways to improve the experience. We’re so glad to have you as part of the Hydrow community — and even happier to hear you have no regrets!
I've never rowed before, but did a lot of research on the rowers. Hydrow had what I was looking for: high quality, instructional videos, pertinent metrics and motivational encouragement. I lost 30 pounds in the first 3 months and love the meditational value it provides. 60 year old couch potato....not anymore.
Reply from Hydrow2025-09-16
Thank you for your review, we’re thrilled to hear Hydrow has supported such a powerful transformation and that you're enjoying both the physical and meditational benefits of rowing!
A wonderful machine with encouraging coaches. The variety of locations and rowing paces keeps me engaged.
Reply from Hydrow2025-09-08
Hi Kevin - Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We’re thrilled to hear you’re enjoying your Hydrow and finding motivation from our Athletes. It’s great to know that the variety of workouts and locations help keep your experience fresh and engaging. See you on the water!
The Hydrow machine is great. 5 stars. But you have to pay an additional CDN$70 per month after you've paid $3300 for the rowing machine. Hydrow should give you at least one video with your purchase. Or have tiered subscription models. Currently, they have one subscription and it is $70 per month. Way too high. If you don't pay the subscription, the screen is blank except for a few stats. No videos of open water, nothing.
Reply from Hydrow2025-09-04
Hi Peter - Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your experience with Hydrow — we’re so glad to hear you’re enjoying the machine itself, and we completely understand your concern about the limited membership options. While we do believe the All-Access Membership offers the most comprehensive experience, rowers without a paid membership will still have access to features like meters rowed, time spent, and the ability to adjust the drag. We truly appreciate your suggestions about offering tiered models or including content with purchase — feedback like this is invaluable and helps us continue to improve.
The Hydrow wave is a fantastic rowing machine. It is easy to use, rows smoothly and when you add workout membership it makes it even better. I find the instructors to be excellent and workouts are great.
Reply from Hydrow2025-09-02
Hi Tom -- Thank you for sharing your review! We’re thrilled to hear you’re enjoying your Hydrow Wave and the membership experience. It’s great to know our instructors and workouts are helping make your experience even better and we can't wait to see you on the water.
They’ve removed all features and adjustments for rowing without a membership. You can’t adjust the drag or see how far you have rowed, your split time, nothing.
Reply from Hydrow2025-08-26
Hi Lisa - Thank you for sharing your review. We’re sorry to hear about your experience, as what you’ve described should not be happening. While we believe the paid Hydrow Membership provides the full Hydrow experience, we designed the rower so that users without a membership can still customize their workouts. In Just Row Mode, you should be able to adjust settings like drag before starting a workout and view basic metrics such as distance, split time, and other workout stats during your rows. If you are experiencing difficulties, please feel free to reach out to our support team at [email protected] - We would be happy to help
Hi Charles - We love, love, love hearing this! We’re so glad you’re enjoying your time with Hydrow, and we can’t wait to keep bringing you workouts you enjoy.
It is a beautiful machine. Compact with many functions. I love the work out and motivation it gives!
Reply from Hydrow2025-08-13
Hi Alexander - We’re so happy to hear you’re enjoying your Hydrow! It’s great to know you’re finding both the workouts and the motivation you need, and that the machine’s design works well for your space. We can’t wait to keep rowing with you and helping you reach your goals.
Bad customer service and not responsive.
Everything is lagging
Reply from Hydrow2025-08-14
Hi James -- We’re truly sorry to hear about your experience and that our service hasn’t met your expectations. Your feedback is important to us, and we want to make things right. If you’re willing, please reach out to our Member Services team at [email protected] or give us a call, and we’ll prioritize resolving your concerns as quickly as possible. We’re committed to improving both our communication and your overall experience with Hydrow.
I just wrote a previous review below but was unable to respond to the hydrow support answer.
Before I send a private email to the support group I wanted to ask one question in response. Is your idea of an “issue resolution” forcing your customers to pay $200 every few months for specialized repair services? This is a design defect, this is not from misuse. This exact issue of the “broken handle spool assembly” has affected me twice this year and many other members per the reviews. Do you expect us to pay $200 every time this breaks?
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-30
Hi Cameron -- We’re always happy to be flexible and approach each situation on an individual basis. Repeated part failures are truly a rare occurrence, and it’s never our intention—or expectation—for our members to face ongoing repair costs. Hydrow is built with longevity in mind, and while we certainly don’t expect the same part to fail year over year, we completely understand your frustration in having to deal with a second repair. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to find a solution that not only gets you back on the water, but does so in a way that’s fair and cost-effective. We see that you’re already in communication with our team, and we encourage you to continue that conversation. We’re here and happy to help however we can
The Hydrow Pro has a severe design flaw that makes it unsafe to use. The screen has a glass surface that is not laminated, meaning any crack is liable to spew shards of broken glass, which has no place in any type of gym equipment. Furthermore, the handle does not have any guard on it, meaning a user could lose their grip on it and send it flying at the screen. This happened to me during regular use, leaving my home gym covered in glass shards and the touchscreen completely inoperable. Without even getting into their predatory, terribly expensive, and essentially mandatory subscription service, this is straight up an unsafe piece of equipment that is liable to hurt you. Their support is horrible and does not offer replacement parts besides a $450 replacement monitor, so good luck maintaining this incredibly expensive piece of equipment for long. I cannot recommend buying a Concept2 or literally any other rowing machine enough—it is a terrible product.
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-25
Hi Brent, Thank you for taking the time to write us - we're truly sorry to hear about the issue you had with your cracked screen. The Hydrow Pro's screen was designed with durability and longevity in mind, and incidents like the one you've encountered are extremely rare. While we do offer replacement parts and service for other components on the Hydrow, we do not sell internal components of the touchscreen for replacement or self-service. For accidental screen damage not covered by our manufacturer's warranty, a replacement screen would be required to resolve the damage you described to us. With that said, your safety and concerns are important to us, and your feedback has been shared directly with our product/engineering team for review. We appreciate you raising these, as we are constantly looking to improve member experience. Please reach out to us again at [email protected] if you encounter any new or further issues.
I love the Hydrow rowing machine! It is the best decision I have made in a long time. From the purchase, to delivery, to help setting up my rower, to using it (which is amazing!), my whole experience has been top notch. I love the training videos that have helped correct my posture, breathing, use of legs - well everything - and the work out videos that push me to do more than I thought I could. Overall - just great!
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-22
Hi Jacqui -- Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re thrilled to hear that every step of your Hydrow experience—from purchase to workouts—has been top-notch. It’s wonderful to know our training videos are helping you grow and push past your limits. Keep up the amazing work—we’re proud to have you in the Hydrow community!
The product is a little pricey, but all the reviews all the topics. Everything about this rowing machine lives up to its name and I’m glad that I have it.
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-22
Hi Tracie -- Thank you for sharing your feedback! We’re thrilled to hear that your Hydrow has met your expectations and that you’re happy with your purchase. Welcome to the Hydrow community — we’re excited to support your fitness journey!
No intermitent training choices, Cant make custom sessions. The fact that you pay 40GBP a month for videos of rowing is..... a joke. No wants them on Ebay shows what they are really worth. Avoid, Go for others.
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-15
Hi Calvin -- Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that your Hydrow experience hasn’t met your expectations. Our goal is to offer an immersive rowing experience with world-class instructors and a variety of workouts designed for all fitness levels. We understand that features like custom sessions are important to some members, and we’re continually working to expand and improve our offerings based on feedback like yours. If you’d like to share more about what would make Hydrow a better fit for you, we’d love to hear from you at support.hydrow.com.
After dealing with Hydrow customer service I changed my review to one star from three. Reasons follow in the Customer service paragraphs.
We purchased the Hydrow with only the Peloton row as competition. We like the online classes vs the gamified experience of others.
There are a couple of areas where Hydrow shines over the Peloton (we have the Peloton bike and about 4 years of experience). First, there is a place where we live that will work on the rower if something happens. Our experiences with Peloton customer service is probably the worst of any company I have ever worked with. We were once unable to use our bike for about 4 months. They also refused to even sell us a rower. We live in an "unsupported" area even though they support the bike here. They did not even care if we arranged for shipping. We did find a way around it and almost bought anyway. Just a horrible company in our experience. Hydrow has a local retailer that has a good reputation.
Hydrow also has a larger library of workouts.
The Hydrow rower has a great reputation for sturdiness and longevity. Peloton now has a list of "acceptable" sounds the machine makes. Evidently it is very quite when new but many people report loud noises and the list on the Peloton site has some irritating "acceptable" sounds.
The Hydrow is heavier and feels stout even to me as a strong 220lb rower.
The Peloton online and app experience is far superior to Hydrow. I cannot even get on the Hydrow app. It keeps telling me I have the wrong password, I change it, and it repeats the message. I even changed it to a super simple old password I have used so I knew I did not put it in wrong. I finally did get the app to come up but it did not connect to my account. In my short experience it is terrible.
It turns out it did connect to my account. It just made me try to reenter all my data again. Hydrow got back to me on my issues. They make customer reenter all their information to make it a better customer experience according to them. Huh? One has to reenter their date of birth. There is no option to simply type in that date. Instead, the arrow going back month to month has to be clicked in order to enter a birthdate. That's over 720 clicks for me.
They also just sent me a reply that said I did not have to reenter my data to use the app. When I open the app I am given no options other than to enter my data. One button option one several screens (I did not go beyond the screen requiring me to click over 720 times). Im not sure customer service has ever used their own app. I guess I have the option of putting my birthdate as today.
There is no online list of Hydrow classes. The app has to be used and evidently that is not something available to me. Peloton allows me to make a list of classes I want to take in a session online, or the app, then the list shows up on the machine. For us, on the Hydrow we have to get on the machine and do the search for what class we want. No ability to create a list that goes from desired class to desired class. I much prefer planning a workout ahead of time and then doing the workout (with warm ups, cool downs, and stretching included). The Peloton experience is far superior in this regard.
Peloton classes allow me to skip the intros. Hydrow does not or at least we have not found out how to do it. I rarely find the intros necessary or helpful and would prefer not to sit and wait for a minute or more.
A warning is in order. I have ben on Peloton for years and have become comfortable with the experience. That may too come to pass for Hydrow. For now I prefer Peloton in this regard.
Overall we chose the Hydrow due to Peloton's nightmare customer service and seemingly better long term rower. The cost was another monthly fee. Seems worth it so far.
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-15
Hi Shawn -- Thank you for sharing such thoughtful feedback. We’re so glad you’re enjoying Hydrow’s build quality, class library, and ease of repair from our local partners —it means a lot to us to know we’re helping you stay on the water. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with the app and understand how important a smooth digital experience is. Our team would be happy to help troubleshoot and get you connected—please reach out at support.hydrow.com. We appreciate you being part of the Hydrow community and sharing your perspective, as it helps us continue to grow and improve.
The machine is good but the software isn’t. It forces you to listen to an intro on how to use it every time even if you’ve used it 1000 times. It’s very expensive subscription. I cancelled as I use it infrequently and £600 a year is not justified . Without it the machine is incredibly basic. Do not recommend
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-07
Hi Terry - Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. We’re glad to hear you’re happy with the quality of the Hydrow itself, but we’re sorry the software experience didn’t meet your expectations. We understand the membership is an investment, and we’re continually working to add more value through new features, content, and innovation. While Hydrow still functions as a premium rowing machine without a membership, we believe the subscription—featuring live and on-demand workouts, scenic journeys, and an ever-growing library of content—offers the most engaging and immersive experience. We’re sorry to hear you’ve decided to cancel, but we respect your decision and hope you’ll consider rowing with us again in the future as we continue to enhance our software.
Smooth purchasing process. The instructions for assembling were easy to follow, and the assembly was straightforward. I am relatively new to rowing, and the variety of "getting started" types of videos that instruct you on form, breathing, mindset, etc. have been very helpful. So far, I am enjoying the journey. The only aspect of the program that has been a little annoying (and it may be that I'm not yet understanding the way the system works) is that, if you pick a series (e.g. 1 of 4) and you complete the first one, the second one doesn't automatically appear as the next for you to launch. You have to go find it. Otherwise, it has been a great experience!
Reply from Hydrow2025-07-03
Thank you for your thoughtful review, we’re so glad to hear you’re enjoying the getting started videos and your overall experience with Hydrow. We also appreciate your feedback on program navigation and will be sure to pass it along as we continue improving the platform!
I was looking for a workout that was easier on my knees. I had tried running a few times in the past. I chose a hydrow and LOVE it!! I can’t wait to work out now! Even my husband and two kids have joined in and use it!
Reply from Hydrow2025-06-30
Thank you for your review, we’re so happy to hear Hydrow has become a workout you love and that your whole family is joining in too!
The workout itself has always been a good experience. Just rowed my 2 millionth meter, felt good about it, until Hydrow turned the event into a cash grab: "Here's your free commemorative gift, a hat for the low cost of $14.99! For 'shipping'!" Full cost would purportedly be $45 for an item that probably cost under $2 to manufacture. Tawdry and shameless.
Reply from Hydrow2025-06-30
Hi Paul - Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. We truly appreciate your honest feedback and the hard work you’ve put in with us for over 2 million meters. We understand your concerns and will share this directly with our internal teams. Thank you again for your dedication and for being a valued part of the Hydrow community. We’ll see you on the water!
I am giving Hydrow four stars, primarily due to the shipping. My unit sat two hours away from me almost five days, waiting for a third-party shipper to deliver it. I had to call them every day to get updated shipping information. The package was delivered, and the box was damaged. I told the driver that I needed to inspect the unit before signing the shipping papers. He said it is fine, just sign. He also stated that I needed to check the box that said he had another man to help him, when in fact he did not.
I am enjoying the rower. Used it every day since I got it. I lived in Hawaii as a young man, so I appreciate the sessions in Hawaii. Love to row across Hanalei Bay if you guys can get there.
Reply from Hydrow2025-06-27
Hi Andrew - Thanks so much for your feedback and for taking the time to share your experience. I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying your Hydrow and using it every day!
However, I’m very sorry to hear about the issues you experienced with the shipping process and delivery. This is certainly not the experience we aim to provide, and your feedback helps us greatly in addressing such issues with our third-party partners. I’ll be sure to escalate your concerns to our logistics team to improve our delivery processes.
If there is anything further we can assist you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re always here to help.
Thanks again for choosing Hydrow—see you on the water!
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