Fitness
Home gym equipment that holds up to daily abuse.
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Buying guides
Best Rowing Machines
Every rowing machine decision eventually arrives at the same fork: a no-frills erg you own outright, or a connected rower whose classes arrive with a monthly bill. Rowing itself is settled science, a full-body, low-impact workout, so our research went into the machines instead: expert reviews, owner-reported reliability, and true cost of ownership with subscriptions counted honestly. Our top pick is a rowing machine without a subscription that outlasts everything else in the category. The connected rowers then sort themselves by how they motivate you: instructor classes, live form coaching, competitive games, or simply the most screen for the money.
3 picksBest Premium Treadmills
Three treadmills survived our research for this guide, and they win on different axes: the NordicTrack Commercial 1750 as the most complete connected package (now commonly retailing at $1,799 to $1,999), the Sole F80 as the best treadmill without a subscription, and the Peloton Tread for runners whose motivation lives inside its classes. We weighed expert reviews, owner-reported reliability, and true cost of ownership, and one finding shaped everything: the subscriptions, not the stickers, are where the real price differences hide.
3 picksBest Premium Exercise Bikes
Premium exercise bikes are ecosystem purchases first and hardware second, so our research weighed classes, subscription costs, and owner-reported reliability alongside ride feel. The field has shifted since we started: the NordicTrack S22i, long the incline-training alternative, is now discontinued, which leaves the Peloton Bike+ (ideally refurbished) as the clear default and the Bowflex VeloCore as the wildcard for lean-mode core training. The S22i still appears below, reframed as a used-market option with eyes-open caveats.
Reviews
Best for ClassesHydrow
Hydrow Wave
Do the membership math before you fall for the footage. Hydrow's instructor-led classes, filmed on real rivers and lakes, are the best reason this machine exists, and they cost $50 a month (raised in January 2026) for as long as you own it, because without the membership you lose resistance control and coaching. The Wave itself is an easy machine to like: quiet magnetic resistance, a compact, light frame that suits apartments, and the lowest price of entry into Hydrow's lineup at about $1,695. But the 12-month parts warranty is short, out-of-warranty repairs on sealed components can run hundreds of dollars, and the hardware is, at bottom, a delivery device for the subscription. The classes are genuinely motivating. Just sign up knowing you are subscribing, not merely buying.
Best for FormPeloton
Peloton Row
'The roughly $3,295 price tag is excessive.' That is Amanda Capritto of Garage Gym Reviews, and the number is the first thing to know about the Peloton Row. The second is what the money buys: Form Assist, a genuinely unique system of sensors that watches your stroke in real time and flags mistakes on-screen as you make them, which makes this the most beginner-friendly connected rower and the fastest way to learn to row properly. Add Peloton's best-in-class instructors and a 24" swivel screen and the coaching case is strong. Against it: the mandatory membership now runs $49.99 a month after the October 2025 increase, the parts-and-labor warranty is a short 12 months, everything is locked to Peloton's ecosystem, and the company's customer-support problems are documented and acknowledged by its own leadership.
Best Value InteractiveNordicTrack
NordicTrack RW900
Buy it on sale or not at all. The RW900 lists around $2,299 but streets closer to $1,799 in NordicTrack's near-constant promotions, and at that lower number it is the value play among big-screen rowers: a 22" HD swivel touchscreen, dual magnetic-and-air resistance, and iFit's enormous cross-training library for meaningfully less than a Hydrow or a Peloton Row. The caveats are just as consistent. The machine barely functions without the $39-a-month iFit Pro subscription, NordicTrack's support record is genuinely poor (a software update once bricked thousands of consoles, settled by class action), the 250 lb weight capacity is the lowest in this guide, and it neither folds nor stores upright. Strong deal, known risks, eyes open.
Best for Gamified WorkoutsErgatta
Ergatta Rower
What if the problem was never your discipline, but the format? Ergatta's bet is that plenty of people who hate being coached will happily race, and it built an entire platform on that idea: no instructors at all, just gamified regattas, head-to-head multiplayer, and adaptive training programs, running on a handsome solid-cherry water rower that stores upright and sounds like a river. The bet mostly pays off. For competitive, self-directed people the games genuinely pull you back onto the machine, and at $39 a month (an effective $27 if you prepay five years) the membership undercuts Hydrow's $50 and Peloton's $49.99. The asks are real: about $2,199 up front, a subscription that holds all the content, and zero instructor-led classes, ever, by design.
Best OverallConcept2
Concept2 RowErg
Somewhere in a school gym right now, a Concept2 erg built in the 1980s is still logging meters. That fact does most of the selling. The RowErg is the machine every competitive rowing program, CrossFit box, and indoor race standardizes on, it costs $990, and it never charges a monthly fee. Commercial-grade durability, the most accurate performance data in the category from its PM5 monitor, and the best resale value in home fitness earn it our Editor's Choice. The honest trade: the PM5 is a small utilitarian display, not a big touchscreen with instructor-led classes, so if on-screen coaching is the only thing that gets you rowing, a connected rower will serve you better. Everyone else is looking at the rare fitness purchase that never needs replacing.
Best for Core EngagementBowflex
Bowflex VeloCore
Every other bike here stays bolted upright; the VeloCore tilts. Its lean mode lets the frame rock side to side so your core and stabilizers work the way they would on a real road bike, and no major rival offers anything like it. At $1,499 with JRNY at $19.99 a month, it also carries the cheapest subscription in this group. Now the part our research cannot soften: Bowflex went bankrupt in 2024 and operates under new owner Johnson Health Tech with intermittent stock, the electronics warranty lasts one year on a screen that costs about $1,100 to replace, and JRNY has no live classes.
Best for Incline TrainingNordicTrack
NordicTrack Commercial S22i
Is the S22i discontinued? Yes, confirmed: the product page 404s and the bike is gone from NordicTrack's lineup, so this is now a review of a discontinued model you can still find used or at discount retailers. The hardware case that made it popular stands: a motorized -10% to +20% incline and decline range Peloton never matched, a 22" rotating screen, a 32 lb flywheel, and iFit at $39 a month, on a bike that sold for about $1,999. The caveats have been promoted to the main story: a documented touchscreen-failure pattern, $425+ replacement consoles, and a parts and support future that just got murkier.
Best Overall BikePeloton
Peloton Bike+
Auto-Follow is the feature that sells the Bike+: the resistance turns itself to match the instructor, so the ride stays hands-free in a way no rival replicates. Add a 23.8-inch screen that rotates a full 360 degrees for floor workouts and the best class library in the business, and this is still the benchmark premium bike. The full price of admission: $2,695 new (a refurbished unit runs about $1,395), a $49.99 monthly All-Access membership that is effectively required, a short 12-month component warranty, and a closed Peloton ecosystem you commit to.
Best ValueSole
Sole F80
A treadmill without a subscription is a rare thing at the premium level, and that is the entire Sole F80 argument. About $1,799 buys a 3.5 CHP motor, a cushioned 22" × 60" deck, and a 10.1" Android screen that runs Netflix, YouTube, and even the Peloton app on your own accounts, with no membership required to unlock anything. The warranty is the other headline: lifetime on frame and motor, 3 years on deck and parts, 1 year on labor. What you give up: a small fixed screen, no decline, and a DC motor that likes a cooldown after long, hard runs.
Best for ClassesPeloton
Peloton Tread
Would you pay $1,000 extra for instructors? That is the real Peloton Tread question, because the hardware alone cannot justify $3,295: a 3.0 CHP motor and 59" deck trail treadmills that cost far less, there is no decline, the warranty runs a short 12 months or so, and the $49.99 monthly All-Access membership is effectively part of the price. What the money actually buys is the best instructor-led running content, music, and community in connected fitness. Our research says that trade works for exactly one kind of buyer.
Best Overall TreadmillNordicTrack
NordicTrack Commercial 1750
Forget the old $2,499 sticker. NordicTrack now frames the Commercial 1750 at about $2,299 comparable value, and it commonly retails between $1,799 and $1,999, so anyone waiting on a NordicTrack 1750 price drop rarely waits long. That money buys a 4.25 CHP motor, a 22" × 60" deck, a -3% to +12% incline and decline range that is rare at this price, and a 14" to 16" pivoting touchscreen running iFit plus Netflix. The catches have not moved: iFit costs $39 a month and gates the smart features, and incline-motor faults and screen freezes are the best-documented complaints.
Comparisons
Games or classes, that is the whole matchup. The Ergatta takes it for competitive self-starters, the Hydrow for anyone who rows for the coach and the community.
See the breakdownPeloton wins the coaching contest outright, thanks to real-time Form Assist that nothing else offers. Hydrow wins the receipt, delivering most of the class experience for about half the hardware price.
See the breakdownThe Concept2 wins for nearly everyone on durability, accuracy, and lifetime cost. The Hydrow takes it only if instructor-led classes are the thing that actually gets you rowing.
See the breakdownHardware, warranty, and price all point to the NordicTrack 1750. The Peloton Tread wins only if its classes are the thing that will actually get you running, and you should know that going in.
See the breakdownThis matchup now has a default: the Peloton Bike+ is the only one of the two still in production. The S22i's incline hardware remains unmatched, but it is a used-market buy with used-market risks.
See the breakdownIs it worth it?
Is the Hydrow Worth It?
Whether the Hydrow is worth it long term comes down to attendance. The instructor-led, on-water classes and live community are the entire value proposition, because they are what make people row consistently, and consistency is what makes any home machine pay off. But the $50 monthly membership (raised in January 2026) is effectively required; without it the machine loses resistance control and coaching. So this is a commitment to an ongoing cost, not a one-time buy. If classes are what will get you on the rower several times a week, yes, it is worth it. If you are self-motivated or fee-averse, a no-subscription Concept2 is the better machine to own.
Worth ItAre Rowing Machines Worth It?
Yes, with one condition: you have to actually row. A rowing machine works roughly 85% of your muscles in a single low-impact motion, delivers cardio and strength together, and is far easier on the joints than running, so for anyone using it a few times a week it is among the best home-fitness purchases available. The money question is less about the category and more about the model: a rowing machine without a subscription that you own outright (the Concept2), or a connected rower whose classes carry a monthly fee. The two honest ways to waste money here are overspending on a subscription machine you will not use, and underspending on a cheap rower that rows badly.
Worth It for SomeIs a Peloton Bike Worth It?
It hinges on one behavior: will you actually take the classes several times a week? If yes, a Peloton bike is worth it, because the instructors, production, and Auto-Follow ride create the consistency that makes any home bike pay off, and buying refurbished sharpens the deal considerably. If you are self-motivated or allergic to a $49.99 monthly membership, a cheaper bike running third-party apps captures most of the fitness at a fraction of the commitment.
Worth It for SomeIs the Peloton Tread Worth It?
Short answer: worth it for class-driven runners, not for spec shoppers. The Peloton Tread's instructors, production, and community are the best in connected fitness, and if that content is what will actually get you running, the premium buys a consistency no cheaper treadmill delivers. But at $3,295 plus $49.99 a month, the hardware trails machines costing $1,000 less, so buying it for the treadmill rather than the classes is buying the wrong product.