New Indoor Rower - From Lewis Hamiltons Dad

[EveRower]

So a new kid on the block (maybe) for indoor rowers?!

http://www.floatrower.com/

The screen for the rower looks like a tablet, so maybe what the PM5 should have been?! It seems to come with RowPro/LiveRowing and ErgData/PainSled functions as standard.

Will be interesting what the build quality of the machine is like, home gym or rowing club / public gym bomb proof?!

There was a advert for it in R&R magazine so maybe prices and launch dates sometime soon?

Video of its PR photo shoot here, you can see Anthony Hamilton feature a few times - http://www.bjpphotography.co.uk/float-rower-video/

Anyone seen it in action yet?

[1xsculler]

WOW! Developing a product like that has got to cost very big bucks. I wish them well. It looks pretty cool and functional.

[EveRower]

It may be a premium price then

Looking at the promo video non-rowers seemed to really struggle with the tilting, so again may add even more of a premium if only OTW rowers are its market. If we see it in gyms there could be a new generation of bad erg techniques to enjoy

C2 Model D - £860
Water Rower - £949 (From £749)
C2 Dynamic - £1190
Oartec DX - $1895 USD (Pre-Order $1695 USD)
Rowperfect RP3 - £2150
Coffey SimulatOar - $2450

FloatRower - £???? I wonder where it will fit in!

I didn't realise that the RP3 uses a tablet for the display, a little unclear if it is included or not.

[KitD]

I think the tilting can be locked out, but even so, it does look like it's aimed squarely at the serious rowing market.

[mightyquinn]

It may be a premium price then

Looking at the promo video non-rowers seemed to really struggle with the tilting, so again may add even more of a premium if only OTW rowers are its market. If we see it in gyms there could be a new generation of bad erg techniques to enjoy

C2 Model D - £860
Water Rower - £949 (From £749)
C2 Dynamic - £1190
Oartec DX - $1895 USD (Pre-Order $1695 USD)
Rowperfect RP3 - £2150

FloatRower - £???? I wonder where it will fit in!

I didn't realise that the RP3 uses a tablet for the display, a little unclear if it is included or not.

The Coffey Simulatoar probably deserves to be on this list for machines aimed at serious OTW rowers: http://www.coffeycorporation.com/SimulatOar.php; $2,450 for the machine itself; $375 for the "Floats" (like C2 slides with springs underneath the machine's feet) or $135 for spring boards to be used with C2 slides. Monitor is your NK Speed Coach. An expensive package, but looks great. Never tried one, but thinking of demoing one up at Dreher in New Hampshire.

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p69gHTUIYfQ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2jSH8Ne0X0.

If you just wanted to upgrade a C2 to "float", you could easily add Coffey floats to C2 slides and you could even add the Articulating Rowing Seat Enhancer (A.R.S.E.) (formerly known as Core Perform).

[1xsculler]

Or, the DIY C2 dynamic erg, Youtube, onexsculler, for the cost of the cheapest model C or D you can find, or even parts thereof, plus a little of your time. Could be done for $200 - $300 and you'll have a very smooth, quiet, extremely durable dynamic erg with a C2 PM3, or?

[EveRower]

The Coffey Simulatoar probably deserves to be on this list for machines aimed at serious OTW rowers:

I have added it. I had not seen the Coffey one before, how does it determine pace / watts?

[Rowcoach]

Separate handles could be interesting. Maybe a single handle linked to the 2 chains for sweep?

Generally the machining and build look good. Hopefully theyve had some decent rowers provide input and it will be a good product

Those separate handles are going to make life interesting in the gyms...bring on youtube clips!!

[KitD]

It just looks too complex for a public gym IMO. A static C2 is a very basic machine. There's very little that can go wrong and the variables are all known and understood by rowers and non-rowers, staff and members. I can't see public gyms willing to take on this machine, especially with the tilting mechanism.

[EveRower]

Separate handles could be interesting. Maybe a single handle linked to the 2 chains for sweep?

The single handles do link together. Not sure if its an attachment or that they can link by something at either end. It says they do connect though.

It just looks too complex for a public gym IMO. A static C2 is a very basic machine. There's very little that can go wrong and the variables are all known and understood by rowers and non-rowers, staff and members. I can't see public gyms willing to take on this machine, especially with the tilting mechanism.

Maybe the screen will have a demo running of how to use the thing. Just like arcade machines used to play the game over and over. The display could run videos of how to row on the thing. Would eventually improve gym rowers technique actually seeing how it should be done on the screen in front of you. Something a 'tablet' like display has a huge advantage over a specific device like the C2 PM's its a whole lot smarter and can constantly be updated. C2 still haven't added SPM to 0.1 to the annoyance of some during rate capped pieces.

[EveRower]

Ok tracked down an approx price on this rowingmachine review blog - http://www.rowingmachine-guide.com/blog

£3000 is indicated.

[Steven M-M]

The Floatrower seems WAY more complicated than useful. I don’t see any erg as a “rowing simulator” but as a training tool. I like dynamic ergs but only as a way to minimize forces on lumbar. I’ve never tried a RowPerfect, but have rowed most other types and none feel like a 1x, which is OK. You balance a shell primarily at the pin, not the seat, so using your hips to keep the Floatrower trim does not simulate boat balance. I would worry about taking lots of strokes with the hips constantly moving side to side.

Ergs, static or dynamic, are great for working rowing muscles, paying attention to posture, teaching discipline, and providing an objective measure of potential performance. But even with all these gizmos they can ingrain bad habits.

Off season, I think rowers are better off focusing on fitness and body balance. Running, biking, XC skiing; maybe 4-8 weeks of progressive heavy lifting; and a few erg sessions are way more productive than hours on the erg day-after-day.

I would invest in a set of kettlebells long before a Floatrower or any of the new “rowing simulators.”

[mightyquinn]

The Coffey Simulatoar probably deserves to be on this list for machines aimed at serious OTW rowers:

I have added it. I had not seen the Coffey one before, how does it determine pace / watts?

The Coffey uses an NK Speed Coach as its monitor. I assume it must deliver flywheel data as input to the Speed Coach in a form which the Speed Coach recognizes or interprets as impeller Speed input. I don't think it would give you watts. FWIW, I believe the C2 PM monitors are just giving watts by translating 500m split pace into watts by applying a conversion formula.

[Nosmo]

FWIW, I believe the C2 PM monitors are just giving watts by translating 500m split pace into watts by applying a conversion formula.

Technically it measures time and number of pulses. The rate the flywheel decreases on the recovery is used to calculate drag, With the drag, with the number of pulses give you distance, adding time gets speed and power. Power is actually the more basic measurement, in that it is the acutal power dissipated by the spinning flywheel. The formula to get distance and speed is based on assumptions, and was designed to equal the speed of a 100Kg average 4-.

Seems to me that since the whole machine rolls, the Floatrower is different from the Coreperform seat. The Core perform requires some core strength to keep balance, but I think the Floatrower provides good feedback about leaning to one side or the other. Since you can load courses and "steer" around turns, it would encourage learning to keep the boat level during turns rather than dragging the inside blade as many people do.

Still it is awfully expensive for what it is. I like onexsculler's home made dynamic erg the best.

[Steven M-M]

Just to comment on my own comment and to support the view that an erg is an excellent cross-training tool, not a rowing simulator, and that a simple, plain vanilla C2 serves that purpose well. (On Sat, I'm going to "test drive" a Coffey sculling erg on floats/slides; may have to recant.)

“The RP [Row Perfect] machine quite accurately simulates negative acceleration of the boat shell at the catch. However, during the drive, acceleration of the single scull was significantly (20–30 per cent) higher than acceleration of the mobile RP unit. The latter exceeded the boat acceleration during recovery phase. This difference significantly affects rower’s vestibular sensations.
The main value of ergometers is very accurate feedback on rowing intensity, which allows precise training of physiology. Rowing on an erg could be useful for teaching and improvement of basic rowing skills, such as the sequence of body segments, consistency of the force curve, posture, and so on. Ergs with a mobile stretcher allow the practice of more boat-specific skills, such as catch ‘through the stretcher’ and even synchronization in a crew, when a number of mobile ergs are connected together. However, the biomechanical differences affect rowers’ motor control pattern and rowing technique, which cannot be directly transferred from an erg to a boat. Very common technical faults appeared after extensive training using a stationary erg; ergs are ‘opening’ the trunk too early at catch at slower leg drive and ‘soft’ catch with late peak force.”

Excerpt From: Valery Kleshnev. “Biomechanics of Rowing.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/DcC3cb.l

And check out Bob K's thoughts: http://www.coachkaehler.com/new/content-rowing/