Rowing machine

I have a Concept 2, which (I believe) is neither of those options.
We bought it mainly for my BF, but I find it helpful for crosstraining (variation from running frequently).

Another Concept 2 user. I love it. It's a great complement to the running I do, and a great substitute when I'm injured or it's just too hot to run.

I also have a Concept 2.

I don't use it to help me lose/maintain weight...just more for fitness and to be able to get a workout in without leaving the house. I love it.

Another C2 user here. I don't use it much for about 5-6 months of the year as I spend most of that energy outside running and bike riding.

However for the rest of the year, I use it quite a bit and have been for about 9 years. It's a great machine for general fitness but as already stated, a machine unto itself doesn't ensure weight loss (that's calorie deficit).

Exercise for fitness and not to directly lose weight. The majority of people who gain weight that were leaner before is usually because they reduced their physical activity but didn't change their eating habits.
\
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

So, @Lightfoot_R: Do you have a rowing machine? Considering purchasing one?

If you've read that they give a good workout, but haven't tried it, I'd suggest you try to find a place where you can try one out (not necessarily the brand you'd buy, but any of Concept 2, Water Rower, and some others are reasonable machines found in gyms or clubs). Try it a few times, see if you actually like it, before you buy.

A thing to know is that rowing isn't is as intuitive a motion as something like a treadmill, elliptical, bike, or stair climber. It's surprisingly technical! (One of the pretty-athletic participants in a learn-to-row class I help teach recently compared it to golf, in how much technical details matter. That's true for machine as well as on-water.)

I'm not trying to discourage you. A normal person can for sure do it correctly, but some attention to technique at first can improve odds that you'll get a good workout in the longer term, and avoid injury. At first, go slowly, and work on technique. There are good videos and such we could recommend if you go in the rowing direction.

Among other issues, the most common types of rowing machines don't have a resistance setting (despite some levers that look like they'd be that!). Instead, the more energy you put into one stroke, the harder the next stroke will be . . . so the harder you go, the harder the workout gets. The issue is that sub-ideal technique limits how much energy you can put into the mechanism (flywheel, water, whatever), so limits how intense a workout you can get as you get fitter.

Probably obvious from the above, but I love rowing, could talk about it all day long way past the point of boring any normal audience. If you have questions, please ask. I've been rowing for around 20 years, took rowing coaching certification classes (to level 2 of 3) from USRowing, have attended a dozen or so well-coached rowing camps or coaching seminars. I'm not selling anything, except maybe trying to sell people on the idea that rowing is really fun.

One thing I really love about rowing for cardio is that I can get my heart rate way up doing sprint intervals in a low impact way. For whatever reason, adding sprints to my runs often leads to injury (OK, I know the reason—going too fast, too soon—but I have a hard time ramping things up slowly). It’s been a great low impact / high intensity addition to my routine. (I also enjoy low intensity rows—but I can get low intensity through walking or slow runs as well.)

I’m just getting into rowing. I found good intro videos on YouTube from Darkhorse rowing. I like them because 1. The guy gives good instruction and focuses on form 2. He makes 30 minutes fly by. 3. There are a variety of videos from 10, 20, or 30 minutes so I don’t have an excuse not to row.

I tried rowing without the videos and burned out in 10 min because I was doing it all wrong (imagine wanting to run a mile but sprinting the first 100 meters, that was me but on a rower)

I have a water rower. The noise is meditative and it looks like something a Hobbit might build because mine is wooden. I don't row on the water (yet).