Being an industrial mechanic by trade I can say this maching is designed, made and works well. So does its electronic controller. I am bigger and stronger than the average Joe, and still get a great work-out. The only downside is the screen. I agree with all the other reviewers. You just can't read it without stopping your work-out!

I purchased this rower 1 month ago. It arrived within a matter of days, unharmed and a bit heavy. Assembly wasn't too difficult. The machine in comfortable, sturdy, and well-built. I am very pleased with that. Like other reviewers have commented, the screen is a bit hard to see unless you are towards the back of the machine but so far it hasn't been an issue for me. One issue that I am having is the lack of information that came with the rower. The instruction manual was a matter of a few pages, mostly focusing on the assembly of the rower. It didn't even say how to turn the machine on. I did find and read through the manual here on Amazon.com, and that helped a little bit, but neither resource has told me how to change from miles to kilometers. If any one knows, please let me know. I am going to get in touch with the company and ask them. Also, and this is no one's issue, but when I bought this rower 1 month ago I paid $599. Now, its $499! Just my bad luck I guess. Happy rowing!

***Update: (10/27/08) I finally was able to talk to someone at Lifecore fitness this afternoon after calling all morning. I spoke to a gentleman named Ron concerning my question about kilometers vs. miles. He told me that there was no way to switch between the two measures of distance. I must say that I am pretty disappointed in this reality. What is even more confusing to me is why when I first starting using the rower, it was reading in kilometers and now it has switched over to miles. Ron could not answer this question for me.

Just received my rower and love it. It is comfortable, solid, easy to use, and very quiet. It has just enough pre-programmed programs to keep it interesting. Other reviews found the display hard to read with all of the numbers looking like 8's. I found this at certain angles but feel this isn't a problem. I can see what I need to see without too much difficulty. I agree that the directions to put it together are poor but it isn't that hard and some of the tips on the other reviews helped. I did have some damage during shipping. Amazon and I were able to work out a solution very quickly and to my satisfaction. I highly recommend their customer service. This is a great machine at a great price. It looks like a new version has been released by Lifecore. Don't know if that means this will be discontinued but I'd scoop it up while the price is so good. One last FYI - the mat that is recommended to go with this machine is a good mat but just barely fits the machine in length. If that could be a concern, I would recommend looking for a slightly longer one. Go ahead now and buy it today. It will give you a great workout!

The rowing machine was easy to assemble, stores nicely, works smoothly and I can get an excellent workout WHEN I can set the exercise paramaters correctly in the programable box.

It's very quiet and a nice machine. Mine was also dropped(probably UPS) but only had a small dent in one of the metal end pieces so with a little tweaking, went together ok.
The display does look like all 8's when your knees are bent, and you are looking down at the display, but you can see the numbers just fine when you are in the extended, seat back position. Don't know what the bid deal is, you can't really expect to look straight down and see clearly with that type of display, so don't let it discourage you from this item.