JLL Fitness Ventus Air Rower, Commercial Level Home Rowing Machine with LCD Monitor, Suitable for Home Use, Multiple Levels of Air Resistance, Heavy Duty Rower

I've had this for a couple of months now and am very happy with it. It's very similar to the type I used to use down the gym, so feels very familiar. The display is very simple to use and you can either log your distance and time, or use race mode. Race mode has 15 levels and I've rapidly got up to level 12. Level 13 is just out of reach at the moment - all in good time. I started doing 1000 metres on resistance level 1, which was an effort at the time. In two months I've progressed to 2000 metres on resistance level 3. So the machine is going to last me a good long time as I get fitter and stronger. I wasn't bothered about Bluetooth or integrating with apps and smartphones, so the simple setup of the display is fine for my purposes. It shows stroke rate and watts being generated as well. I'd say the display is a bit on the cheap plasticy side, but it does what it's supposed to... The overall build is solid, but be prepared to assemble everything. It's very easy to follow the instructions, but the bigger parts take a bit of wrangling if you're on your own. The only minor quibble is that the bolts which hold the foot rests keep loosening with use. But they're very easy to tighten with the supplied spanners, so I just keep that handy and give it a tweak as necessary. Tons of packaging and polystyrene too, so be prepared for a full wheelie bin or a trip to the tip. They could probably do more to reduce this, especially the polystyrene. It's very easy to fold up and move around out of the way. You just unscrew the locking bolt, tip up the rail and push through the locking bolt. Then you can tip the whole thing up and wheel it along. Overall it's comfortable, easy to use, sufficiently challenging to keep someone who is unfit to moderately fit occupied, and decent build quality. Better than the cheap ones, better because of the air resistance, but maybe not as good as the expensive ones. But just right at this price point.

Firstly, constructing. Just go to youtube and you`ll find a video there to easily put it together. 20 minutes if you take your time. Secondly, I checked out a few youtube pro rowers and what not to go for on budget rowing machines. Rocking footplates......no, footplates to close together, no again. Seat the same height as pedals, no to that also. On that basis this machine checked out good. UK company, so spares should be available. Very good construction, seat comfortable and good monitor that isn`t one of those Chinese rubbish ones (we`ve all had a few of them) Suppled heart rate band you can put around your chest. All those little attention to detail parts make this a good machine. The machine looks and feels like the company made an effort to produce a good rowing machine at a reasonable price. And yes I have been using it for about a month. You have magnetic and fan belt resistance pre-programmed workouts or you can do your own custom resistance program.

This rower sits nicely between entry level 'budget' rowers and (very expensive) professional ones and you definitely feel you have got good value for your money. The JLL staff are extremely helpful and they have a showroom where you can actually see each of their models together which emphasises how close this model is to their top of the range unit. Assembly was straightforward with good written instructions and also an online video showing the major steps (the only thing missing from the video is actually getting the parts out of the box which does take some time as they are extremely well packed and secured with tape). One piece of information not in the manual is the weight of the main unit which is preassembled and is just under 22kg. There were some minor errors in the printed manual that was included in the box but most of these have already been corrected in the downloadable version. There was only one minor manufacturing defect with the unit on the mounting points for the left hand footplate which was easily resolved with the addition of a couple of washers to ensure the mounting bolts tightened fully. In operation, the rowing action is very smooth with the belt system much better than the chain system of my previous rower. The seat is also comfortable with 2 rollers on top of the rail and one below giving a stable motion. The addition of an air vent directing the fan output towards you and helping to keep you cool is very welcome and the tablet mount is also a useful feature. Folding the rail is simple and bprovides a secure arrangement to minimise the footprint when not in use. Positive points - A very sturdy and well designed rower with several features that differentiate it from similarly priced units - Extremely well packaged to ensure safe transportation - Simple and secure folding to reduce space - Fan airflow vent to provide cooling air - Smooth action with easily adjusted magnetic resistance - All necessary assembly tools included - Full A4 printed manual including an exploded diagram of the rower and detailed assembly and operating instructions Negative points - There were some minor errors in the manual included in the box (e.g. only one hex allen key is provided and required but two are listed in the contents) however many of these have already been corrected in the online version of the manual. - There was one minor manufacturing defect on the left hand footplate mounts that needed the addition of a couple of washers. - Changing the batteries on the monitor requires it to be removed from the bracket.

For the most part, this is a great rower. In past years I had purchased the JLL running machine too and had been happy with it. The rower was easy to order. Easy to assemble and great to use except for the tablet holder. On my 2nd use, I thought I would put my tablet in the holder and play some tunes. There is no adjuster to secure your phone or tablet, as you would have in a car. Sadly, as I grabbed the rowing baton to start rowing, I realised that its cradle and the tablet holder are on the same piece of metal, and as the baton cradle moved, the tablet holder lurched towards me and the tablet fell. This resulted in my tablet bouncing off the rower frame and onto the floor. Unfortunately, the glass had cracked with the fall. Interestingly, looking at other models of rowers, they utilise the solidity of the frame for a tablet holder! I sent a message to JLL. My message is below and their response is below that. Their answer is to return the rower, if I wanted to! =================== Hello, just wanted to contact you about the rowing machine I had delivered yesterday. The machine arrived as promised with the call and all was good. When I had time later in the day, I unpacked and started to assemble. Again, all was good and screws, nuts and bolts fitted where they should go. I used it briefly last night and again everything was great. Earlier today, I thought I would have a short session on the rowing machine. I placed my tablet on the holder and selected some music. As I grabbed the bar and pulled, the tablet toppled towards me and tumbled onto the frame of the rowing machine and onto the floor. I was amazed at how precarious the holder was and in hindsight, I should have been more wary . Looking at my tablet, I thought it had a tiny crack to the bottom of the glass, but looking in the sunlight I can see fine cracks right across the glass. I would suggest either change the design of the rower or remove the tablet holder or position it elsewhere. To have the hook part of the tablet holder is not a great place. I certainly won't use the tablet in the tablet holder. As mentioned above, I was really happy with the ordering, the transport and the assembly and the majority of how it functions except for the tablet holder. ======================= Hi, Thank you for your email - We understand this is a very unfortunate situation with your damaged tablet. We do appreciate the time you have taken to provide this feedback for us. We have not come across an issue with the tablet holder with the item itself, and we have had some great feedback from customers about how they've managed to continue there workouts using the phone/tablet on the holder. We understand if you are not happy with the item and wish to return it we can provide these return details and have the item back for a refund. Kind Regards, Jamie JLL Fitness

This is my first rowing machine, so it was a bit of a stab in the dark, the Ventus 2 felt like a good starting point for someone like me: physically fit with a well established exercise regimine - looking to branch out and incorporate rowing into the mix. My expectations were met and exceeded - particularly by way of customer support (from helpful assembly videos to help when I accidentally bent a crucial component of the machine!). The machine itself is sturdy, well built but practical. The footprint was important to me, with limited space. The process of folding up and moving the machine is very, very simple and its size, once folded, suprisingly small. As made clear in the description - the display / software here isn't going to connect to fitness watches or anything like that - being a simple LCD display. However, the programming and readouts are extremely intuitive with all key metrics clearly tracked and the whole display does a great job of telling you everything you need to know - at a glance. The holder for a tablet is a great addition. The build quality is top notch, as is absolutely necessary for a machine designed to take an adult's full weight during rigorous exercise. The belt resistance feels good too and all points of contact sturdy, reliable and comfortable. Aside from a few hiccups with assembly (which were easily rectified by finding the build walkthrough on Youtube) - I cannot find fault in this great, strudy and compact machine.

If you don't want to pay mega bucks for a home rower I can recommend this piece of kit. A good mid range rower, delivered on time, which is saying something during the Covid-19 crisis. The rower is self assembly and is well packaged, watch out for the weight as it's about 40kgs. The rower comes with its own tool pack but would recommend you use your own sockets or spanners. The assembly instructions were ok but 4 small parts attaching the railway to the fan assemble were not mentioned, took me a few minutes to find out where these went. It took about 50 minutes to assemble, some parts are a bit fiddly and you may want another pair of hands to help. Once assembled the rower is sturdy and feels like the real deal when you get on it. The ride is smooth and the resistance levels are ok. Obviously this is not up there with the 'Concept 2' or commercial kit you get at your local gym but for home use it is about the best you can get without paying over the odds. My family and I have been using it every day since we took delivery and it has held up well. No problems thus far. A good aerobic workout. Worth the money.

Took about an hour to put together, used the youtube video for assembly, decent machine, connected first time to the kinomap app, chest heart rate monitor stopped working after 3rd or 4th use, the display is big and clear to read when not connected to an app, you get the noise of the fan which is expected and not really that loud. I like all of the pre programmed programs on the machine, the electromagnetic resistance changes as you work through the program as you would expect from a more expensive machine in the gym and you have the added bonus of the flywheel that gives you extra resistance if you want to challenge yourself. Only 2 issues i have found so far, one is the tablet holder, if you have a thick case and jam the phone or tablet in then it's all good otherwise your phone or tablet will move while in use, I've had to stop and move it over a few times before my phone falls out, a simple fix would be to have an adjustable holder like you get in cars to keep the phone or tablet in place. The second issue I have is the noise of the seat while in use, it creeks and makes a lot of noise when it is going up and down the rails, if you use headphones or in ear then you can't hear it but still very annoying for others in the vicinity. Overall if you can ignore the noise of the seat and the badly designed tablet/phone holder then this machine is really good.

Ok so this is the second rowing machine I've bought this year. The first one was another brand and was a complete disaster. This one however was definitely designed by a German engineer. It works perfectly. It's smooth. The display and functions are great. Resistance across the board is strong. It's a guaranteed win if you can spend this amount of money. However as we all know some engineers are not so good with people and this really shows in the instruction manual. First you'll need a microscope to see the diagrams and second you'll need a degree in mechanical engineering to put this together using the assembly guide. It's a bit pants. I won't lie though, full assembly took me about an hour and that was with a lot of guess work. It went together well and is extremely sturdy. NB There is no YouTube assembly Video for this machine even though they say there is on the box. Naughty JLL NB2 The machine doesn't fold. Still....very happy so far.