Pros
- Big 22" HD swivel touchscreen: among the largest here, and it pivots for off-rower floor workouts
- Dual magnetic-and-air resistance with iFit SmartAdjust that auto-controls resistance mid-class
- Huge iFit library (10,000+ classes: rowing, strength, yoga, HIIT) offers more cross-training than Hydrow or Peloton
- Undercuts Hydrow and Peloton Row on price, especially on NordicTrack’s frequent sales
Cons
- Near-total iFit lock-in: the machine can’t start a workout without an active subscription
- Documented NordicTrack/iFit reliability and support issues: a software update once bricked thousands of consoles (class-action settled), and customer service draws frequent complaints
- Lowest weight capacity here (250 lb), and it doesn’t fold or store vertically
- Full retail price (~$2,299) is inflated: you essentially have to buy it on sale for the value to hold
Specifications
- Resistance
- Dual: 26-level silent magnetic + air damper
- Screen
- 22" HD touchscreen, 360° swivel for off-rower workouts
- Content
- iFit SmartAdjust auto-resistance; 10,000+ trainer-led classes (~$39/mo)
- Weight capacity
- 250 lb (lowest in this group)
- Storage
- Does not fold; needs a permanent ~7' × 2' footprint
- Drive
- Inertia-enhanced flywheel, belt drive (smooth, quiet)
- Machine weight
- 163 lb
- Warranty
- 10-yr frame / 2-yr parts / 1-yr labor
Performance
Twenty-six levels of quiet magnetic resistance layered with an air damper give the RW900 a smooth, dynamic stroke, and iFit's SmartAdjust changes the resistance for you mid-class to match the trainer, which keeps guided sessions engaging. Sara Hendricks of Reviewed.com flagged the hardware's real ceiling, though: "I was surprised when I saw the RW900's weight limit—just 250 pounds. This feels exclusionary to a considerable number of people." That capacity is the lowest here by a wide margin. The screen is the other headline: 22 inches, sharp, on a quiet belt drive, and it swivels for floor workouts, feeding an iFit catalog of more than 10,000 classes that ranges far wider than Hydrow's or Peloton's rowing-first libraries. The dependency cuts the other way too; like its rivals, almost none of it works without the subscription.
Build Quality
One incident tells you most of what you need to weigh: between 2022 and 2023, a NordicTrack software update bricked touchscreen consoles across thousands of machines, and it took a class-action settlement to resolve. Our research weights that heavily, because the RW900 is console-dependent; if the screen dies, the whole rower does. The frame itself is solid for the money and carries a generous 10-year warranty, but parts are covered for 2 years and labor for just 1, and complaints about long support waits, backordered parts, and inconsistent warranty handling are widespread. This is not a machine our research would call fragile. It is a machine whose failure mode is total, from a brand whose service record says do not count on a rescue.
Value Assessment
The whole case rests on the sale price. Around $1,799, the RW900 hands you a bigger screen and a broader content library than a Hydrow Wave or a Peloton Row for less money, and the $39 iFit Pro membership undercuts both of their subscriptions. At the $2,299 list price, walk away; the discount is the real price. Even caught on sale, the value depends on years of the console surviving and NordicTrack's support behaving, which the record makes a genuine wager. Call it what it is: the most screen and content per dollar in the category, held as a calculated bet rather than a safe hold. The safe hold is the no-subscription Concept2.
What Owners Say
“The whole machine just feels really good to row on.”
Verbatim owner and reviewer comments gathered during our research, linked to where we found them. They are not our words, which is the point.
Who Should Buy It
Bargain hunters with patience. If you will wait for one of NordicTrack's frequent sales, weigh under 250 lb, want trainer-led classes plus the widest cross-training library for the least money, and accept the support record as part of the deal, the RW900 is the sharpest price-to-screen ratio going.
Who Should Skip It
The list is specific: anyone over the 250 lb capacity, anyone who needs the machine to fold or stand upright between workouts, anyone unwilling to gamble on NordicTrack's service history, and anyone who wants the most polished class experience, which still belongs to Peloton and Hydrow. The subscription-averse already have their answer in the Concept2.
Final Recommendation
Our Best Value Interactive pick comes with an instruction manual for buying it: never pay list, budget the $39 monthly iFit fee into the real price, and treat the console as the component your money is riding on. Follow that and the RW900 is a lot of connected rower for the money. If what you actually want is a machine you never have to think about again, that is a different purchase, and its name is Concept2.