Marcy Foldable Turbine Rowing Machine Review
Rowing Machine Reviews > Marcy Foldable Turbine Rowing Machine
Reviewed and Compared By BEMH Indoor Rowing Team • Updated: April 20, 2021
Are you considering adding an indoor rowing machine to your home gym? Have you thought about which type of resistance may suit you best? Some users prefer the gentle swish of the water that comes with the water resistance rowers, and some prefer the silent and manually adjustable magnetic rowers. Well, let us introduce you to air resistance rowers which allow you to have full control over the difficulty of your workout while providing a low-impact, total-body exercise with little to no maintenance required. The Marcy Turbine rowing machine comes with a solid steel frame that can support a maximum suggested user weight of 300 lbs, which is fairly standard for all of Marcy’s home rowing machines, regardless of the resistance type. Marcy provides users with a padded seat that gives maximum comfort throughout intense rowing workouts. Adjustable pedals with foot straps and a comfortable foam handle makes working out on the Marcy Turbine rower easy on your entire body. As you can see from the name, the Marcy Turbine rowing machine comes with a foldable frame, which is incredibly handy if you are in a smaller living space. Whether the frame is folded or unfolded, Marcy has also installed convenient transport wheels that make moving the machine from room to room seem like no work at all!
When you purchase an indoor rowing machine, you are signing up to dedicate a good portion of your house to it when it is in use. Even with a foldable frame, the March Turbine air rower has a substantial footprint, and is a good eight inches longer than the Marcy Pro NS 6023RW water rower. The Marcy Turbine measures in at 85″ L x 20.5″ W x 36.25″ H when in use, and is the longest rowing machine that Marcy has to offer. The first time you lay eyes on the Marcy Turbine rower they will be immediately drawn to the giant turbine that sits on the front of the machine. The turbine is much larger than the water tank on the Marcy Pro NS 6023RW, so the extra eight inches in length will need to be accounted for in your workout space. When folded, the Marcy Turbine rower measures out to be a reasonable 46″ L x 20″ W x 59″ H, or basically what equates to a 4 ft by 5 ft cube. The weight of the Marcy Turbine air rower is surprisingly light at 77 lbs, or five pounds lighter than the Marcy Pro water rower before the tank is even filled.
The turbine resistance system on the Marcy Turbine indoor rower comes with 8 levels of fully customizable resistance which is similar to what you get from the Concept 2 rowers. With the manual tension control knob, the user can select how much resistance they want from the air turbine, and can even change this in the middle of a workout if they want to add some variety. Personally, I think this adds so much versatility to the rower, especially compared to water resistance rowing machines which require the user to stop the workout and either fill up or empty the water tank to reach their preferred resistance levels. Now for the elephant in the room when it comes to indoor air rowers: they are loud. It’s not something that can be helped too much since the air turbine creates noise, especially the harder the user rows. It is easily louder than home magnetic rowers and is a different type of noise than the sloshing of water inside the tank for a water rower.
As with most of Marcy’s home rowing machine line, the Marcy Turbine Air rower does not come with any sort of Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity. If technology is something you need in a home rower, then we would suggest looking at the Women’s Health/Men’s Health Bluetooth rowing machine, which is only slightly more expensive than the Marcy turbine rower. The electronic display is small and really only serves the purpose of providing users with the time, speed, distance, calories burned, count, and RPM. It is not compatible with any integrated fitness apps, so if you like to keep detailed track of your workout history, this may not be the machine for you.
Assembly is simple and straightforward and seems to take the average person about 45 minutes to complete according to online reviews. Marcy includes easy to follow instructions and all of the parts and tools you need so building the Marcy Turbine rower is nearly as easy as using it! Marcy does have its own dedicated website and US-based support unlike other brands like Mr. Captain or Housefit, so ordering it directly from the manufacturer is an option but only if you live in the 48 contiguous states. Otherwise, Amazon makes sense as the best place to purchase a Marcy rower as it offers competitive pricing and the fastest free shipping options for most products.
I would say that as far as indoor rowing machines go, the Marcy Turbine home rower is priced fairly against its peers. Considering that this model has very little in the way of features and technology, it is interesting to see that the Marcy Turbine rowing machine is approximately $150 cheaper than the Marcy Pro home water rower at around $599.99. As a general rule of thumb, shipping is generally best done through Amazon because the Marcy website will usually take about 3-7 business days before they even process the order, with delivery times taking up to 14 business days. If I had a choice, I would take the fast shipping and competitive market prices on Amazon when looking at Marcy indoor rowers. Like with its other home rowers, Marcy offers a pretty weak warranty option, with the vague wording only mentioning that it covers the frame for one year.
Marcy Foldable Turbine Rowing Machine Pros
- Competitive price for a trusted brand
- Easy assembly with clear instructions
- Foldable frame is ideal for smaller living spaces
- 300 lb maximum user weight capacity
- No-slip, fully adjustable foot pedals
- Padded foam seat for comfort and durability
- Eight levels of fully adjustable resistance
- Solid steel frame adds support
- Convenient transport wheels makes moving the machine easy
Marcy Foldable Turbine Rowing Machine Cons
- A complete lack of Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity
- The display is basic and only provides readouts of stats
- The air turbine is loud compared to a magnetic or water rower
- The footprint is the largest in the Marcy home rower line
- Shipping and order processing can be slow from the Marcy website
My Final Verdict
Air resistance rowing machines aren’t for everyone, but the Marcy Foldable Turbine rower is definitely at a good price point for users who do not care about connected technology and who do not mind the noise. For some, that will be enough to head for a magnetic or water resistance rower instead. The foldable frame is an added bonus for people who simply do not have space for a rowing machine that measures over eight feet long and is the largest in the Marcy home rower catalog. I love that users get to manually adjust the resistance levels, and given the choice between the Marcy Turbine rower and the Marcy Pro NS 6023RW, I would take the discount with the Foldable Turbine rower, as long as you are okay with a little bit more noise.
Sayed Hamed Hosseiny
Hi, my name is Sayed Hamed Hosseiny. I am a professional health and fitness trainer with nearly 20 years of experience using ellipticals, rowing machines, and spin bikes. I also have my own EU-based Rock Fitness Pro fitness brand where I design, import and sell exercise equipment such as rowing machines and spin bikes. I and writers on my team also often receive fitness equipment to review and evaluate their functionalities and performance from tens of different exercise machines manufacturers. Fitness equipment tips, guides, reviews, and comparisons on this website are my opinion (and opinions of my fitness expert colleagues) based on tens of criteria. I never accept payment to write reviews of products or say positive things about fitness equipment products. If brands are interested to have me review their rowers, ellipticals, or spin bikes, they can get in touch with me via email provided on the contact page and send a sample of their product.
