Bladez Fitness Transom Rower

on Feb 20th (note the order date), after researching a lot of rowers, I for some reason decided to save $200 and go with this rower instead of bucking up for the Concept 2. Word of advice, if you're willing to spend $800 for this rower ($0 tax and $0 shipping), spend the extra $200 ($100 price difference + $100 for shipping and sales tax) for the concept 2.But, I digress,... onto the rower and the company behind it, BH North America (BHNA), the parent company behind Bladez Fitness. So the rower arrived in two packages, in a reasonable amount of time (no issues there), assembly was a little cumbersome but not all that difficult. I also have never assembled a rower before, so I really can't compare it to other experiences, but assembly took about 30-40 minutes.Now, I'm all excited and ready to break in my new addition to the home gym! Plug the machine in, go through the opening screens of the computer module and decide to just do a manual program to get started and check out the functionality. Right off the bat, an issue, the computer module seemed to be working fine, the time works, it's calculating how many strokes and strokes/ minute I'm rowing, after a few minutes it picks up my heart rate from the HR monitor,... the big problem... it's not calculating how far i'm rowing nor time per 500m. Which really limits the full functionality of the rower.So I contact support, they said they're going to send me a new computer module because maybe that's the issue. They were very helpful this time, quick with their responses, and got the new computer out to me fairly quickly. Once received, I installed the new computer module but experienced the same issue.Contacted support again, so this time they sent out a technician to look at the problem. The technician was very nice and empathetic, their tech's are subcontracted out so he didn't work directly for BH North America, so really can't get mad at this guy, he's just doing his job. He checked the connection of the computer module I installed and witnessed the same issue that I described so we opened up the machine. He checked all the connections of the other wires inside the rower (all housed in the grey plastic shroud). We look everything over and notice that there is a flywheel that spins with 3 metal discs evenly spaced apart on the outer portion of the face of the flywheel. There is a sensor then that these metal disc's pass by and there was a sizable gap between the sensor and the discs so we move the sensor closer to the discs and test out the machine.We start to get reading then and everything looks promising! However, the readings are inaccurate, the distance rowed basically matches the amount of strokes I perform and the time per 500m is reading around 6-7 minutes at best (using other rowers in the past I'm generally around the 2 minute mark for time per 500m). Upon further inspection, we notice the flywheel itself is not mounted flush and there is a wobble where the 2nd disc that passes the sensor is a hair away from hitting the sensor and the other two discs have about an 1/8" gap or so. The technician calls this issue in and is on a 3 way call with support from his company as well as someone from BHNA, the BHNA tech says that this wobble is "normal and supposed to be there" (which doesn't really make sense to either of us being that we were getting no reading before, moved the sensor closer and got some reading, but not an accurate one and doing the math on the time per 500m, it seems that it's only reading one sensor) but hey, let's not bring common sense into the mix! So BHNA says that the sensor must be broken and they'll ship a new one out.So now, I have to wait again, and take time out of my day again to have the technician come back during the week and install the new sensor when it arrives. I tried telling BHNA not to send the sensor and instead just take the rower back because I feel that I shouldn't pay $800 for a rower then have to take multiple steps to get it working properly. This should have been caught by quality control and the rower should have never left the production facility. It happens, I understand that, it's not a perfect world, but at this point, take back my rower and issue me a refund. All of these requests were blatantly ignored and BHNA just responded with an email saying the sensor has been shipped. Followed by the technician's company contacting me to schedule when he can come back.So now it's April 14th (two months after I ordered the rower) and the tech comes back out, same guy as before, very nice as before, no complaints about him. We open the rower again and go to replace the sensor, however, the wire for the sensor they sent out is about 4-5" shorter than the one installed in the rower and we need to reroute the wiring just to get the sensor to reach where it's supposed to be. (Good job on that one BHNA). So we get the sensor installed and give the rower a test run... same problem (shocked, I know). So the tech calls it in saying we're experiencing the same problem and the rep from his company has us go through a whole ordeal to adjust the distance the magnets are from the larger flywheel that changes the resistance, first we make them closer, same problem, he has us adjust them closer, same problem... it's evident they're just taking stabs in the dark as to how to fix the issue. Finally it's determined that this isn't going to fix the problem and that the sensor wasn't the issue, so right when the tech and I think they're going to say "okay, we'll take the rower back" as any normal upstanding company would do,... they tell him to tell me they're going to ship out a whole new assembly and that the tech will have to come out and put together a whole set of the inner workings of the machine. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! Neither of us want to waste our time with this, it's evident I got a dud, okay, BHNA, you sent me a lemon, now take it back and refund me!!!This is where I'm at now, I'm going to start the battle with BHNA today and update my review as I go, I will also post this review directly to their website and any other website that sells these machines.It happens, sometimes the machines aren't assembled properly but what I'm most mad at and reviewing on this machine with a one-star rating is the company themselves. To just willfully ignore their customers and waste their time they have drawn out this process much longer than it should have been.As for the rower, I'd probably give it a 3-star rating, it's nothing special, I feel the materials used could have been better for $800. The plastic housing is really cheap feeling, and the handle is connected by a strap instead of a chain.. I feel at this price point neither of those should be issues. The seat didn't glide as smooth as it should have out of the box, but some WD-40 fixed that, so no biggie. I can't comment on the other uses of the machine since most of them don't work. I'd definitely go with the Concept 2 at this price point or save a few more hundred dollars and go with a more reputable machine in the lower price range.

For a few more dollars, buy the Concept 2 rower. This is nice, but the calibration is off and it doesn't display your performance very well. Big bar grip seems a little dorky. Heart-rate monitor didn't work. Strap instead of chain also seemed a little bit weak. Super quiet though!Sold it 3 weeks after getting it and am loving my Concept 2 now.

I echo other reviews - calibration extremely inaccurate, not very practical display set up, seat does not slide smoothly. I also had issues with the power coming on and the heart rate monitor. This machine might be worth $200-300, certainly not more than that. DO NOT BUY!