The first month after I cancelled my gym membership, I felt guilty every morning. Like I’d given up on something.
Then I did the math.
I’d been paying $52 a month for three years. I averaged maybe one visit a week, sometimes less. That’s about $1,872 spent to walk into a building, look around, and leave 25 minutes later feeling worse than when I arrived.
Turns out I’m not the only one. According to the Health & Fitness Association, Americans waste roughly $1.8 billion every year on gym memberships they never use. The HFA also reports that the average gym member visited just 1.5 times per week in 2024, down from 2.1 in 2019. Half of new members quit within six months.
So I cancelled. And I bought a rowing machine instead. A Merach R15 Pro, specifically. You can check it out here if you want to see what I’m talking about.
I’ll tell you up front what happened, because the rest of this gets into the weeds. I’ve rowed at least four times a week for months now. My resting heart rate dropped from 74 to 61. My jeans fit different. I haven’t missed the gym once.
Contents
Why a Rower and Not Literally Anything Else
I almost bought a treadmill. Then I almost bought a Peloton. Both got vetoed by the same problem.
I rent. My downstairs neighbor works night shifts. A treadmill at 6 a.m. would have ended that friendship by week two.
Rowing kept coming up in my research because of one weird, specific fact. According to a Healthline review of rowing benefits, a single stroke engages about 86 percent of your muscles. Harvard Health data cited in the same piece shows a 125 pound person burns about 255 calories in 30 minutes of vigorous rowing, which is comparable to running but easier on your joints.
Dr. Cameron Nichol, a former British Olympic rower, told BoxLife magazine that rowing activates “approximately nine muscle groups and 85 percent of the body’s musculature through one full stroke.” That’s the closest thing to a full body workout you can do without leaving your living room.
The other thing that sold me was noise. Magnetic and electromagnetic rowers are nearly silent. I could row at 11 p.m. and not wake anyone up. Try that on a Concept2.
Picking Merach Over the Famous Brands
I’m not going to pretend Merach was my first choice. It wasn’t. I almost bought a Hydrow.
Then I looked at the numbers. A Hydrow costs $1,995 minimum, and Hydrow’s own pricing page says the membership runs $50 a month, or $600 a year. Over two years, that’s a $3,195 commitment. The machine basically doesn’t work without the subscription, which is the part nobody mentions in the ads.
A Concept2 RowErg is cheaper at $990 and needs no subscription, but it’s air resistance. Loud. It’s the rower every CrossFit gym uses, which is exactly why I didn’t want it in my apartment.
Merach was the third option. Smaller brand, less hype, much cheaper. Their R15 Pro uses electromagnetic resistance, has 16 levels, peaks at 88 pounds of resistance, and comes with a free companion app. No subscription. No locked features. The 51.2 inch rail fits users up to 6’7″, which mattered because I’m 6’2″ and have hated every short rower I’ve ever tried.
The reviews on Trustpilot skewed positive. I read maybe forty of them before I clicked buy. One UK customer wrote about owning an R15 Pro and being thrilled with it. Another talked about the no-subscription app being the deal closer. That’s the one I related to.
The Box Showed Up Friday
I ordered Tuesday. It arrived Friday. FedEx, free shipping.
The box was bigger than I expected but lighter than I expected, which I now know is because the machine itself only weighs 43 pounds. I dragged it into my living room without help.
The instructions claimed 20 minutes to assemble. They were wrong. It took me 18.
I want to be honest about this part because most reviews lie about it. The machine comes 90 percent built. You attach four things. The front stabilizer, the seat rail support, the pedals, and the monitor. The tools are included. There are extra screws in the bag, which I appreciated because I’m the kind of person who drops one screw and panics.
The first time I sat on it, I had no idea what I was doing.
I Was Bad At This For Two Weeks
Rowing looks easy. It is not easy.
There is an actual technique. Legs first, then back, then arms. Then the opposite on the return. I spent the first three sessions feeling like a confused crab, yanking the handle with my arms because that’s the obvious thing to do, except it’s wrong and gives you no power and makes your forearms scream.
My back hurt in new places. My grip was the limiting factor for the first week, not my legs or my lungs.
What saved me was the free Merach app. I synced it to the machine over Bluetooth and found a beginner program that walked through the stroke in slow motion. I followed it through five sessions, felt slightly less stupid each time, and by day ten I could actually row for 20 minutes without checking the timer every 30 seconds.
By week four, I was looking forward to the workouts. That had never happened to me with a gym.
What I Actually Like, Months In
The silence is real. This was the dealbreaker feature and the one I worried about most because every review claims their product is quiet. The R15 Pro genuinely is. The loudest thing in the room is the seat sliding on the rail, and it’s a soft swoosh. I have rowed at midnight. My partner has slept through entire workouts ten feet away.
16 resistance levels is more than I need, which is the point. I row at level 7 most days. Level 10 makes me sweat through a shirt in 15 minutes. I haven’t touched the top six levels and probably never will, but knowing they’re there means I won’t outgrow the machine.
The app actually works. This is where Merach quietly beats the bigger brands. Hydrow’s app is gorgeous but locked behind $600 a year forever. Merach’s app is free, has guided workouts, scenic rows, a games mode, and real-time stats. There is a premium tier with more advanced classes. I’ve never paid for it and don’t feel like I need to.
Storage is the apartment dweller win. When I’m done, I lift the rail vertical and roll the machine into the corner between my dresser and the wall. Floor footprint when stored is about the size of a side table. Most people who visit don’t notice it.
The build quality surprised me. Hybrid steel and aluminum frame. PU foam seat that doesn’t get uncomfortable on long sessions. 350 pound weight capacity. After four months of near-daily use, nothing has loosened, squeaked, or felt cheap.
What I’d Tell You To Watch Out For
I want to be straight about the negatives, because I hate reviews that act like products are perfect.
The LCD monitor is basic. It shows time, distance, calories, stroke rate, and that’s it. You’re supposed to use your phone or tablet on the device holder for the immersive stuff. This works fine but means juggling two screens during a workout. If you want a giant built-in touchscreen, Hydrow is your machine and you’ll pay for it.
No built-in heart rate monitor. You can pair a Bluetooth chest strap, which I did. Cheap fix. But worth knowing.
The app pairing took me three tries the first time. After that, it connected automatically every session. Minor annoyance, easily forgotten.
The cup holder is on the small side. My 32 ounce water bottle doesn’t fit. I use a regular bottle now. Whatever.
The Money, Honestly
Here’s the comparison that mattered to me, with current 2026 pricing:
- Old gym membership: $52 per month, $624 a year, forever
- Hydrow Pro: $1,995 machine plus $600 annual membership equals $3,195 over two years
- Concept2 RowErg: $990, no subscription, but loud as anything
- Merach R15 Pro: one time purchase, free app, no subscription
The Merach paid for itself against my gym membership in under a year. After that, every workout is free. Compared to Hydrow, the difference over two years was enough to buy a decent vacation.
The 30 day return window and 2 year warranty made it feel low risk. I never used either.
Should You Buy One
If you’re like me, someone who paid for a gym out of guilt and used it out of obligation, the answer is yes. You will use this more than you used the gym. The barrier to entry is gone. It’s in your living room.
If you’re training for actual rowing competitions or you want to compare your splits to people at CrossFit Games, get a Concept2. The standardized data matters for that crowd.
If you absolutely need a celebrity instructor on a giant screen telling you to push harder, Hydrow is built for that. Bring your wallet.
For everyone else, the Merach R15 Pro is the easiest recommendation I’ve made in a long time. It’s the workout machine I actually use, four months in, when the novelty was supposed to have worn off.
It hasn’t.