MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower Review – BUDGET Concept2?

Last updated on October 1st, 2025 at 09:10 am

“That looks JUST like my Concept2 Rower” my neighbor says as he looks into my garage at my new MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower. I’ve owned multiple rowers in the past, all of them from Concept 2. Which makes sense, they are the CrossFit gold standard and most highly touted rowers on the market for the typical gym folk. The problem? They are just shy of $1,000. That is how much I spent on my first home gym set-up. MERACH decided that they could come in, make a comparable rower, but at nearly half the price. The question is, at half the price, is this half the rower? Or is this the cardio deal of the century?

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Transparency Note

MERACH reached out at the end of 2024 and asked if I was interested in taking their rower for a spin. If they had contacted me even a few months earlier I might have said no due to space, but the timing worked out well. They sent the rower over in the middle of January 2025, free of charge, for sake of review. They are also setting me up with access to their app and any paid features for the same reason.

They have also provided an affiliate link and discount code. Using this link gives me a small kick-back and costs you nothing (actually you save money with the code). The funds help manage this website, my YouTube, and the various things I do in the home gym community. I appreciate your support.

MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower Overview

In the past decade I’ve owned several rowers. The reason we eventually got rid of them was because of space. They all had to be stored awkwardly. And after moving a rower 1000 times in a weird manner, I get frustrated and move on. The Concept2 always had a fantastic monitor, worked effortlessly, and looked good to boot. And when I had my rower, I used it religiously on the weekends. And my wife enjoyed it too. So letting go of them was never a decision we enjoyed, it was simply something we felt like we had to do in the name of space.

Our gym is a little different today than it was even last year, and with more people using my gym regularly as well, it made sense to snag a dedicated cardio piece.

So when the team at MERACH offered their newest option, and it broke down for storage, I was pretty excited. My daughter has been doing a workout every week lately, and we just started inviting some of her soccer/basketball friends over as well. The plan is to include more as we go, and a rower is a fantastic piece of cardio that can easily scale for kids.

Bikes struggle because you typically can’t get the seat low enough and there is a lot of adjustment between taller and shorter kids. A rower is also fairly friendly in terms of safety. I can watch a kid use it for a few pulls, and know whether they got it or not. I could even set a random parent to watch as the supervisor without eating up my time.

We set up a little space on the back patio, courtesy of my friends at Living.Fit, dedicated to cardio, and we got to work. I recently borrowed my neighbor’s Concept2 Rower as well for some side-by-side comparisons, so we can see where they manage to shave over $500 from the price tag.

MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower Specs

• Brand: MERACH
• Made In USA: No
• Power Required: Battery powered, no plug in
• Dimensions In Storage Mode: 32.7″D x 28.7″W x 54.3″H
• Dimensions In Use: 95″D x 24″W x 40″H
• Recommended Weight Capacity: 350 Pounds
• Weight: 72 lbs
• Warranty: 2 Years
• Return Window: 30 Days
• Frame Materials: Alloy Steel
• Chain: Nickel-plated steel
• Resistance: 10 Adjustable Settings w/ maximum of 110 pounds of tension
• Resistance Mechanism: Air w/ 32 fan blades
• Assembly: Less than 10 minutes

MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower FAQ

Shipping & Assembly

The MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower was shipped well with no damage and very tightly packed in Styrofoam. Only issue I had was getting it out. They appeared to put the rower in one side of the Styrofoam, then the other, then tape it together, then assemble the box around it. This worked exceptionally well for shipping, but probably would have been helpful to have a small informational piece that told me how to dissemble the packaging as I couldn’t immediately figure it out.

I ended up simply cutting the box apart, pulling the Styrofoam out, destroying it all, and vacuuming up a bunch of stuff afterwards.

Assembly took a couple minutes, just attaching the front and rear support beams. I believe it was a total of 8 nuts and bolts. Then I was up and running… or rowing.

MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower Overview

The team at MERACH claims “The R50 matches the quality of the Concept2, offering comparable performance in all key aspects of air resistance rowing machines—at only half the price of the Concept2.” That is a big claim, a wildly crazy claim if I might say.

The MERACH NovaRow R50 has a Professional-Grade Air Resistance System that includes 32 fan blades and 10 adjustable resistance levels. The adjustments are just flipping the switch up and down, which essentially makes the air more difficult to move around. The more difficult it is to move, the more “resistance” you have with each rep. The other benefit to air rowers, much like air bikes, is that they are increasingly more difficult the harder you work. This is awesome for a number of reasons.

First, it means they are automatically scalable. If my daughter hops on, or I do, and we simply “work hard”, the rower is going to accommodate that.

Second, because I tend to max out “normal people” home gym equipment, the rower can fight back against me much harder, making my life more and more miserable.

And last, is that it adjusts as you get tired. If you crank it out the gate it’ll fight back a little more than when you get tired. So you aren’t getting entirely destroyed the whole way. The downside here is that it can be difficult to manage a consistent workout, which is where a quality monitor comes into play.

If you have ever used a Concept2 Rower before, you are well accustom to this concept because… Ding Ding Ding… it is the exact same thing.

Monitor

Read just about any review of a Concept2 product and you’ll see that their monitor is the BEST IN CLASS. It is not only feature rich, it is intuitive and easy to use. If you simply want to hop on and row without thinking about it, it works. If you want to get creative, it does that too. It tracks all metrics you’d ever want, and probably quite a bit more. It is friendly for beginners and legit professionals.

The MERACH monitor is on an adjustable height arm that also has rotation options. This is helpful for storage, as it folds down so you don’t damage it. And also helpful as you can get it in the right position for all sized athletes to monitor their workouts. It measures Calories Burned, Distance, Heart Rate, Speed, Stroke Count, and Time. I’ve been told by some people that they were able to connect their watch to the rower for the sake of measuring Heart Rate via Bluetooth. So that is a nice win if it is something you want to target.

We’ll dig into the monitor a bit more later in this review.

Ergonomics

The majority of gym equipment that enters my gym, needs to be capable of working with me at 6ft and 240lbs, my wife at 5ft 6in and 150lbs, and my daughter at her current 7 years of age. The feet pedals have two adjustments to accommodate different sized athletes. First is the length of the shoe. You adjust this with the tabs seen in the picture.

Second are the straps, which lock you onto the foot plates. The footplate also moves as the bottom so you can get more power from your feet. These work well, and get the job done. I might give the edge to the Concept2 here, but it is a REALLY small edge. If you have multiple athletes, you’ll be fine with either rower.

The Ergonomic Handles have a vented design which keeps them light and efficient. Over 6 months of regular use, we saw no break down in any part of the grips. I was concerned the rubber might start falling apart or rotate in the hands, but nothing. This is as good as the Concept2 handle in every way.

The Seat

The team claims that “The seat size, shape, and material of both the Concept2 and the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower are the same, but the firmness differs. The R50 seat is softer than the C2, ensuring long-lasting comfort even during extended workout sessions.” I actually 100% agree with this claim. It was noticeable in a few different areas. The Concept2 seat was firmer, and also had less contouring. Meaning that it wasn’t really booty shaped. The MERACH NovaRow R50 seat had quite a bit more give to it, and had more pronounced booty divots that seemed to keep you on the rower better.

I noticed this immediately, and even my buddy who came over and used the MERACH one week and the C2 the next week, commented on it. “This feels different, in a bad way”. The C2 seat isn’t bad, mind you. If you didn’t have them side by side you wouldn’t notice. But the edge definitely goes to the MERACH NovaRow R50.

I will add one more thing here to the seat discussion. I wouldn’t make my decision solely on this. Because on Amazon you can find a huge list of retofit seat options. So whatever your butt enjoys, you can make it happen.

Vertical Storage & Mobility

As mentioned, the reason I sold my earlier versions of the Concept2 Rower, were because of storage. The newer rower versions break in half and can store much easier, and the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower can as well. Merach says not to store theirs vertically, but we did that for 4 months straight with no issues, so you have a few options here.

My only complaints for storage mode, are that the seat is free floating. Meaning that when you separate them, the seat keeps rolling around. More than once the seat managed to smack my fingers in transit, and I wished it had some form of locking mechanism. As you can see in the picture above, the two pieces basically stack together, so you eat up MUCH less space than you would otherwise.

MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower Performance

A quick glance side by side of the MERACH NovaRow R50 and the Concept2 Rower and we’ll see that they are physically nearly identical. Same length, same width, same nickel-plated steel chain, same rail for the seat. Both have steel legs and an aluminum frame that is rated for over 300lbs. Both of these rowers break in half in the exact same way for storage purposes. Both are easily adjustable for multiple athletes. Whether we are talking about the dampener on the fan, or maybe looking at the ergonomic handle, or even the adjustable foot straps.

In aesthetics and in use, these rowers are nearly identical. If you stripped the decals from the rowers, removed the monitors, and gave them the same seats, you’d have an identical rower in almost every aspect. I am 240lbs at 6ft tall, and if I get going on a rower it GETS GOING. When my wife starts putting in work you can hear it on the opposite side of our house. My daughter went after it. And I had a few friends hit it as well.

We didn’t go light on the MERACH NovaRow R50. And it handled everything we had for it. I see no signs of wear and tear after the 6 months of use. Nothing that would tell me that they cheaped out on the plastic parts, chose worse steel, or made any structural integrity choices that would lead to issues down the road years and years after purchase.

But there is one area where it struggled. And it might be enough for you to NOT buy it. And that is the monitor.

PM5 vs MERACH Monitors

The Concept 2 has their PM5, which is easy to use and navigate whether it is your first time or 500th time rowing. Whether you simply want to row and have it track your basic metrics, you want to tackle a simple workout, or you want it to give you some more competitive details to push your rowing to the next level, the PM5 has got it.

It is exactly what I want in a monitor.

Everything I just said about the PM5 is the exact opposite for the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower monitor. It somehow makes the easiest of tasks difficult. You have three buttons… Set, Mode, and Reset.

You start off by hitting Set to select the Manual option. You then press Mode which gives you Manual, Interval, or Target, which you scroll through by pressing the Set button. To select the mode you want, you hit Mode. You keep repeating this cycle of Set to scroll through things and Mode to select things until you get to your workout. If you accidentally pick the wrong thing you can hit Reset to go back a step or hold reset to start over from the beginning.

The PM5 takes a button click or two to get you where you want. And it is SO straight forward that anyone could get where they need to be and get to work. On the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower the button layout and their associated actions are so confusing that week to week I forget what buttons to press in what order to do the workout I want.

It Gets Worse

On top of that, a number of the modes are really poorly executed. A good example being the Time Target option. If I select 2 minutes, it starts counting down right away. Before I start rowing or the handle is even in my hands. The same goes for Manual. It starts counting up as soon as you hit the button. You also don’t have any control on the monitor changing displays while rowing, which it seems to do every 5 seconds. So, if you are trying to nail a certain time or distance and are using this in manual mode, good luck.

AND you have no adjustments to the contrast or brightness of the monitor screen. So if you happen to be in a dark lit room, or lots of shadows, this is going to be difficult to see.

The crazy part is, I really only want the basics in my monitor. I would probably use something as simple as a 500m row where I can see my strokes and time for the vast majority of my workouts. With the PM5 that is easy. With the MERACH it is not.

MERACH would honestly be better off selling this rower with NO monitor and saving everyone some extra money. I’ve decided that when using the it, I either just go hard until I need a break, or I use my phone as a timer, and abandon the monitor entirely.

And a real quick note… people asked about connecting the PM5 to the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower, but it seems like they aren’t calibrated the same. So while you might be able to make it happen, the flywheels are just different enough that your calculations will be off.

The MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower App

The rower comes compatible with a few apps. The MERACH App offers a wide variety of options, including workouts, 2D and 3D map rowing, gaming modes, scenic rows, challenges, and classes. It also supports Zwift and Kinomap for an enhanced rowing experience.

I got some great feedback over on r/HomeGym from others that grabbed this rower. You can use the built in WiFi to connect to a few other apps like KinoMap and track your heart rate information, but you are going to struggle to use other apps like Peloton as the rower doesn’t seem to communicate well.

Once you get logged in, you can see that the app will track your metrics and gives you some options much similar to the baked in options for the PM5. You can pick from some basic scenery rowing options, or choose to row in certain locations like Pearl Harbor, across the Golden Gate bridge, and a number of other well-known destinations.

Unfortunately, the views on the app are these crummy 3d models that are really glitchy and not at all what it would be like if you were actually rowing in one of those locations. On top of that, staring at my phone while rowing hard and heavy and trying to get a real immersive experience with the scenery is a little difficult to do. You can cast the app to a larger screen, like a TV, but now I gotta have the rower in front of the TV which is an extra piece to the process.

It is pretty clear that Merach wants you to use their app, and essentially skip the monitor entirely. But a lot of us don’t want to use an app to do our workouts. I struggled a number of times to get logged in, reset passwords, and then get the rower to connect via Bluetooth.

All of these add friction to an activity that I already have to get excited for. And if I wanted to share the rower with my wife, my daughter, a neighbor… or maybe you wanted to put this in a private studio or CrossFit box? Well you would need app access for all of them, or a dedicated phone or tablet to share just for that activity. Not exactly conducive to a multiple athlete environment.

I took a quick glance at the Data Policy for Merach, and they claim they aren’t collecting or selling any of your personal data. So at least we aren’t getting a deal on a rower and taken advantage of on the back end. Overall, while the App might technically be better than the monitor, I didn’t find it worth the time and investment to log into consistently.

Other Rowers On The Market

Obviously this isn’t the only Rower on the market. Ther are Water Rowers, Air Rowers, and other options. Lets take a look at a few of the air rowers available.

Concept2 RowerErg

The most well known option, so much so that MERACH calls it out in their marketing materials. If you are a CrossFit athlete or simply want THE BEST, this might still be the gold standard. Check out the Concept2.

Rogue Echo Rower

Rogue sold the Concept2 and nothing else for over a decade. Then this last year dropped the Rogue Echo Rower. This thing has overbuilt wheels, and a ton of features that make it a BEAST of a rower. Clocking in at a little cheaper than the Concept2, assuming you don’t NEED the Concept2, this might be the most premium alternative available. Check out the Rogue Echo Rower.

Blitz Air Rower from Bells of Steel

Bells of Steel has started getting into the cardio and conditioning realms in recent years. Their Blitz Air Rower is a good example. You can see from the pictures that it has a VERY similar design, with the same handles, seat, monitor arm, and more. On sale it comes in around $200 cheaper than the Rogue, but is quite a bit more expensive than the NovaRow R50 when we include discount codes. Check out the Blitz Air Rower.

AssaultRower

Makers of the Assault Bike, the AssaultRower comes in Pro and Elite options. Aesthetically, this is the most unique rower included in this list. From the lack of angle in the front body, to the curved edges, and even the placement of the monitor. It clocks in right around the Rogue price. Check out the AssaultRower.

Amazon Offerings

There are a TON more offerings out there. So I can’t list them all, but even Amazon has over 100 listed. They range in price GREATLY, so as always, YMMV.

Should You Buy the MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower?

Ok, so I still haven’t exactly answered the original question… Is the MERACH NovaRow R50 good enough at half the price of the Concept2?

This is going to boil down to one thing… Do you care about the monitor, at all?

If you use a rower without touching the monitor, don’t care about distance, tracking, metrics, or features…
The MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower is physically almost identical to the Concept 2. If you put on a blindfold and rowed on them back and forth you’d have a real hard time telling the difference between the two. Whether I have gone for longer distances or gone REALLY hard, both rowers seem to match up equally well.

Just don’t touch the monitor.

If you care about the monitor at all, and I mean AT ALL, even just the basics…

The monitor on the MERACH NovaRow R50 was so frustrating that it made me not want to use it as often as I had it programmed. I really had to force myself to use it for the sake of this review. And if I had the choice of a C2 or the MERACH side by side, I’m going C2 all day.

Concept2 is a small US company… They make fantastic equipment, that lasts, and is supported for years and years. Their rowers have stood the test of time, and they make a rower with a monitor I would actually want to use.

Wrap Up

If you find yourself in need of a rower, I would first hit up your local marketplace. I have consistently seen Concept 2s in my area for only a little more than the MERACH, and I think it is a much better investment overall. If at some point you decide you don’t want the rower anymore, it’ll probably sell for whatever you paid for it.

If you don’t have that option, if you really want a rower and only see yourself using it very rarely, don’t care about measurements or stats at all, and just want to row… MERACH is constantly running sales, I’ve got that discount code for ya as well, and you can snag this thing for well under $500.

The way I’m looking at it for our gym is… The MERACH is getting the job done, but the C2 is our end game rower. My wife was using the MERACH fairly consistently when it first showed up, but after we got back from vacation, I think she forgot how the monitor worked and gave up on it. Every time I get frustrated with the monitor, I’ll get that itch, that idea that something better is out there, waiting for us, we just need to go for it.

Or I can just forget to return my neighbors C2 and see what happens

💲Want to snag The MERACH NovaRow R50 Rower? Make sure to check their official website and use Code: Gray to save, or you can compare to the Amazon price.