The Skandika Nemo Aqua Rower Liquid Rowing Machine is a quality liquid rower without the £1000+ price tag of it’s competitors.
The Nemo arrives in a disassembled state, and given the size you’ll want to be in during delivery. It comes with everything you need to get set up, including a tool kit, you’ll just need to add water to get started.
The instructions are easy to follow and in total it took around 30 to 40 minutes to get this built, it could likely be done much quicker if you have someone to help you.
When assembled the Nemo is a long, but thin. It can be stored upright when not in use (the water doesn’t leak out unless you’ve over filled the tank).
Also included is a small bottle of touch up paint in case you damage the Nemo’s lovely gunmetal grey finish.
Filling the tank was simple using the included transfer pipe. On the right hand side of the water chamber is a calibration line you shouldn’t go over, it would be more useful if this was on the same side as the hole used to fill the chamber as you’ll likely be on that side when filling with water. A small stopper is used to prevent water from splashing out.
There are water treatment tablets included, the manual indicates the four tablets should last you years. They don’t need to be added right away, best to pop one in when you’ve finalised the position of the rower, otherwise you might need to remove the treated water to move the unit.
There is a rower computer with a nice large screen, very easy to see and it automatically turns itself on when it detects motion and off when the rower isn’t in use.
If you’ve used a non liquid rower before you’ll be aware of the noise rowers produce. This does have the same rope moving noise, but there is the lovely addition of the sound of water sloshing around in the main chamber.
Water is perfect for a rower as the harder you try and rower the harder you have to row. The resistance change comes from the amount of water in the chamber and in a smart bit of design work there are actually two compartments the water sits in, the outer one (used for resistance) and an inner chamber (used for water storage).
The resistance is adjusted via the yellow dial on the top of the Nemo’s water chamber, and can be adjusted mid workout. Changing the resistance causes (after numerous strokes) the water to be transferred from the outer to inner or inner to outer chamber depending on if you are increasing or decreasing the resistance level.
It works very well and you’ll find you can feel the workout in your legs and arms.
It might seem like an expensive bit of kit, but you only have to look round at similar equipment from competitors to see this is relatively low cost in comparison.
Available from Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/1QjI7TL, similar water rowers available from Amazon USA: https://amzn.to/1Xahmqb (this model wasn’t listed at the time of review).
