NordicTrack RW500 Rower - Black

Excellent product! I got it on sale for 799.99 but it also included a 200$ Best buy gift card so basically made it 599.99 and it was definitely money well spent. Setup was simple but I wouldn’t say easy. It takes time and focus. Might be somewhat challenging for someone who isn't used to building things. Other than that the machine is amazing it works perfectly and folds away easily. My purchase came with a free 1 year I fit membership and im loving it. Trainers are motivating and there Re plenty of classes. The free tablet that comes with it isn't great and was very sluggish at first. My solution to this which I recommend to everyone is to force stop and disable all the apps installed on it except for the iFit app. If you are in the market for a rower this is a great choice.

We just got it and we have been using it almost everyday. 1 Year ifit membership was a great bonus. I didn’t purchase any warranty with it but I hope I will have no issues with it. So far so good.

Love this.. beginner rower and so far so good. Fit included and trainers are great. Worth the money and no need to get fancy version, this one does the job.

Fantastic machine. Lots of videos online on how to use it to best benefit your goals. Smooth operation and little noise.

Excellent product. Easily foldable, and don't use a lot of space

I purchased this after returning the ProForm 750R rower due to a faulty flywheel, and so far so good with this machine. First off, I really enjoy shopping with BestBuy. And I appreciate their price match guarantee. This was more expensive than the price I paid for the ProForm 750R, but I hope it ensures it holds up better than the ProForm did. The tablet that comes with the machine is actually handy and can be used as a tool for non-bike related activities as well! You do need to download the iFit app onto it, which is simple enough but seemed odd. I assumed it would be pre-loaded. The iFit 1yr subscription came with. The tablet can sit on the ledge of the control panel or fit into the holder above the control panel. The clip that holds the tablet above the control panel is removable, which is nice if you store the rower folded up. BIGGEST COMPLAINT: To allow for the tablet’s audio to play through the control panel speakers, you HAVE to hard wire it with your own Aux cord. Plus, the Aux input into the control panel gets blocked by the tablet of it’s sitting on the ledge (as opposed to in the holder above the control panel). Also, even with the tablet on fill volume and the control panel on full volume, it is still not loud enough to overcome any surrounding noise. I recommend plugging the tablet into a separate speaker if you want to hear the trainers from any iFit rowing class. You’ll want one that can really provide some good volume output to hear anything, especially if it’s a class on the water which tend to make it even harder to hear. The tablet speaker is pretty useless on its own. It seems worse than most cell phones in terms of volume capability. However, it’s a very solid machine. The fold-up feature is great, the initial set-up is fairly easy (although somewhat heavy and awkward getting out of the box). Once you get past the design flaw of the speaker issues, it’s a great/cheaper option to the RW900. Bottom line....it’s not 100% perfect design-wise, but I do highly recommend!

Very good rower so far. It came with a tablet and access to iFit. I like that I can use iFit for structured workouts or I can just row and not worry about having to get logged on. I like the dual resistance options via the manual lever and the resistance that can be controlled by the iFit workout. The ability to fold this in half for more compact storage is a nice benefit. The location of the electrical plug does not get pinched by the folding action but the display with the tablet cradle does need to be moved from my preferred position to be folded up. With all of the above being said I got this rower on sale for a good price, not sure if I would have paid full MSRP for this.

So I just got this and set it up. Did a quick workout on it and here are my initial observations: 1. When I ordered, it was called RW500. The site is calling it the RW850 now. It’s the same unit. I received the RW500 box and my receipt says RW850 but it is definitely the same unit. 2. It’s very heavy. Assembly was easy but you need your own wrenches and a philips head screwdriver. Metric or adjustable for the 13mm. 3. The strap is flat nylon and feels sturdy. The seat slides smoothly and the foot straps are robust. The actual rowing action is superb. Similar to the expensive gym stuff and the wheel blows air on you. 4. The console is a pain to figure out so I just ran it in manual mode. It came with a basic tablet that runs the iFit app. 5. One of my huge cons is that the beam that holds the console on was welded crookedly so the display is tilted counterclockwise at a quite noticeable angle. That’s extremely poor because if it was welded in a factory with a jig, everything should be at right angles. It looks like someone just tack welded it by hand. Heavily reduces the perceived quality of the somewhat expensive unit. 6. Also, my machine was packed very well and seemed new but had a few random white paint scuffs on black portions and scratches all over the logo. Not sure if it was refurbished to new at the factory and repackaged or damaged while packaging. Not the end of the world. Those are my quick impressions. Outside of the slanted mount for the console and the fact that I would have forgone all of the iFit and tablet stuff for a lower price (although the next model down is “only” $200 cheaper, I was worried about the rowing quality being lower), I can tell by the quality of the actual rowing that this will be my machine for a very long time.