The Aviron Strong Go smart rowing machine gives you the option to bring your own display—in the form of an Apple iPad (running iOS 12 or later)—to shave hundreds of dollars off the purchase price ($1,599, currently reduced to $1,299, plus membership fees) compared with the screen-equipped Aviron Strong ($2,199 plus fees). Even when used with a large, 12.9-inch iPad, it can’t match the seamless, immersive experience of the original Strong and other competitors with a big built-in display, but the Strong Go is a comfortable, well-made machine that gives you access to a plethora of workout games and competitive races via its companion app. It’s a good option if you’re looking to add an interactive rower to your home gym on a budget and already have a compatible peripheral, but the NordicTrack RW900 ($1,999, plus fees) remains our Editors’ Choice winner for its 22-inch touch screen and captivating iFit workouts filmed on waterways around the world.
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Design and Features: Most of the Best of AvironAviron used to offer a variety of models, including the Impact Series ($1,899, plus fees) and the Tough Series ($2,499, plus fees), but has in recent years simplified its lineup and reduced it to two models: the fully featured Aviron Strong and the Aviron Strong Go. The Strong Go is fundamentally the same as the Strong, albeit without the 22-inch display and, consequently, without the Ethernet port found in said display, although for most users, this won’t matter. During my testing, I had no problems with the Wi-Fi connection.Note that the Strong Go’s companion app is only available on iOS. Despite the screen-equipped Strong being powered by Android, the Strong Go does not support Android tablets. You get the same low monorail (10 inches from the floor) and high seat (20 inches from the floor) as the Strong, making the Strong Go just as easy to get onto and off of, even if you have some mobility issues. It also means you get the same smooth, comfortable, and relatively quiet ride on either device.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
The adjustable foot pads of the Strong, which not only accommodate a range of shoe sizes as you’d expect from any rower but also allow for the horizontal space between the foot pads to be adjusted with a small crank, are included. But, as with the Strong, the Strong Go doesn’t include any markings or measurements for the horizontal adjustments, which could prove frustrating if you have multiple family members using the rower who need to make adjustments before each session. Nonetheless, it’s a welcome feature that’s rare on rowing machines, and one that makes it easier to ensure an ergonomic setup that’s adaptable to a wide range of body types.The Strong Go can accommodate users up to 6’8”, and like its more expensive sibling, it supports users up to 507 pounds. The cheaper model has the same sixteen levels of resistance, offering up to a maximum of 100 pounds, achieved through a combination of air and magnetic resistance mechanisms. This means the Strong Go isn’t as quiet as the purely magnetic resistance systems you’ll find on many rival smart rowers, including the latest version of the NordicTrack RW900 (earlier versions of this machine combined both air and magnetic resistance), the Peloton Row ($2,995 plus membership fees), and the Hydrow Wave ($1,695 plus membership fees). That said, the Strong Go is still far from noisy. In our measurements, the machine put out about 70dB of sound (without any other media playing) compared with around 60dB for the Peloton Row. Assembly, Warranty, and AccessoriesAviron delivered my Strong Go review unit fully assembled, but usually, it requires some assembly, a process the company estimates will take around 45 minutes to complete. Looking at videos of the process, it primarily requires connecting a few of the larger components together with screws, nuts, and an Allen key and doesn’t seem too dauntingAviron has a 30-day return policy, but you’ll need to disassemble and repackage the rower before you return it, so don’t throw out the packaging before you’re sure you’re going to hang onto it. Pleasingly, Aviron doesn’t charge a restocking or return fee if you do choose to return it, and it’ll send you the requisite return label.In terms of long-term protection, Aviron offers a one-year limited warranty on parts and a 10-year structural warranty on the frame. It also offers a “lifetime warranty” that covers almost everything, including theft, for as long as you’re an Aviron owner, but this costs an additional $9 a month rather than being a one-time payment.In terms of build quality, the Strong Go feels as high end and hardy as the more expensive Strong. At 105 pounds, it’s sturdy but still easy enough to tip onto its back for vertical storage. A pair of wheels on the front of the rower makes it easy to maneuver alone.Optional extras include a cloud seat with thicker padding ($99), a quick adjust resistance remote ($129) that attaches to the handlebar, and a lumbar support attachment ($129). The unit I tested had the cloud seat and the quick adjust remote, and I enjoyed both, but I’d be reluctant to buy them myself and add nearly $230 to the price of the rower in the process.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
To this end, Aviron offers an optional premium package that includes upgraded foot straps, a mat, the quick adjust remote, and the cloud seat for $296. That’s fairly standard practice in the interactive home fitness equipment market, but nonetheless irksome. The handlebar-mounted quick adjust remote in particular feels like something that should be included on a device where switching up the resistance mid-game or during guided workouts is key to the experience, as doing so using the physical buttons Aviron builds into the base of the rower’s tablet holder inevitably means missing strokes and breaking your rhythm.Relying on an iPadDifferentiating itself from rivals like Hydrow, NordicTrack, and Peloton that primarily offer coached classes on their platforms, Aviron has always focused on games, gamification, and entertainment. The Strong Go’s companion iPad app offers all the same interactive games and features available on the original Strong’s built-in platform, with the exception of video streaming services. In other words, if you want to use Netflix, Spotify, or any other streaming services on your iPad while you row, your rowing won’t be tracked. For some users, that likely won’t matter, but for those who use streaming as an incentive to exercise—like my wife—it might be a deal breaker.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
You also have to rely on the iPad for audio, so you’re either limited to the capabilities of its speakers or need to connect headphones, earbuds, or a speaker via Bluetooth. I like exercising with earbuds in so I can focus on the workout and not my pounding heart, but if I didn’t, I’d likely have connected the iPad to a Bluetooth speaker, because while the Strong Go isn’t exactly loud, it’s far from silent, and even the latest iPad’s speaker volume is limited by the dimensions of the built-in speakers.Another challenge of the iPad-reliant approach Aviron’s taken with the Strong Go is having to not only remember where your iPad is but also make sure it’s sufficiently charged when you want to row. The iPad connects to the Strong Go over Bluetooth, but there’s also a USB-C port on the rower so you can keep it charged during extended sessions. Annoyingly, powering on the Aviron Go and opening the Aviron app on the iPad isn’t enough to get the two connected, even if the iPad is physically tethered to the rower. Instead, you need to reconnect the two every time. Thankfully, there’s a shortcut in the bottom right of the app’s home screen that takes you to the connections menu with a tap, but it’s still not as seamless as it could be.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
Support for Bluetooth means the Aviron also works with most dedicated heart rate monitors like those from Wahoo, Polar, and Garmin. It’s also possible to use an Apple Watch for heart rate tracking, but the process is a little cumbersome. First, you need to have the Aviron app installed on your iPhone, then you have to open it, navigate to heart rate tracking, make sure your rower is connected to your phone, open the Aviron Apple Watch app, and then hit Go on your Watch to start tracking. It’s not a difficult process, but it feels far more complicated than it needs to be and really slows down the process of getting rowing. It’s especially vexing compared with Peloton’s Apple Watch heart rate tracking, which simply requires opening the Peloton Watch app and starting a workout on the device. Perhaps this will be improved with a future firmware update, but for now, it’s extremely clunky.The Rowing Experience: A Smooth, Fun Ride The Aviron Strong Go is an outstanding piece of hardware. The elevated seat is easy to mount and dismount, the adjustable footpads are a cinch to personalize, the foot straps are comfortable, and the handlebar rotates so you maintain a neutral wrist position throughout each stroke. The seat slides back and forth on the monorail smoothly and nearly silently, and there are only three physical buttons on the device: a pair of orange triangles to increase or decrease resistance, and a center button between them to wake the device.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
The bulky front end of the rower and the narrow back of the rail are supported by black, powder-coated steel triangles with soft feet on the bottom. The whole rower feels built for longevity, including—importantly—the nylon strap that connects the handlebar to the resistance mechanism. It’s a delight to use, stroke after stroke.Although the Aviron Strong Go will still track and display your metrics without a subscription, it’s the games and other features of the paid membership ($29 a month, or $290 a year, for unlimited users on the same device) that make the platform truly compelling and separate it from standard rowing machines.If you enjoy games and friendly competition, Aviron is hard to beat. Its catalog of games is extensive and keeps growing via software updates. Two highlights are Row Breaker and Rows to Riches. Row Breaker is an Atari-style game where a moving paddle and bouncing ball remove bricks from the screen as you row, aiming to clear them all. In Row to Riches, you ward off waves of successively more difficult-to-sink pirate ships. Let your stroke rate (number of strokes per minute) drop too low and you’ll start taking damage and eventually run out of lives, but maintain a consistent pace and you can play for ages.
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
In each of the games, power-ups and other factors are determined by your stroke rate, resistance, split time (how long it would take you to row 500 meters), or a combination of all of the above, and some games require you to hit specific metrics for periods of time to unlock bonuses or overcome challenges. If, like me, you love gamification, it’s an easy way to blitz through a 10- to 15-minute workout without even really feeling like you’re working out (or find yourself accidentally racking up an hour), and it’s a compelling reason to return day after day.
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
Aviron also tracks usage streaks and weekly/monthly/all-time metrics, lets you level up after you’ve achieved various cumulative milestones (like the total number of strokes recorded), offers weekly and monthly challenges and leaderboards, and gives you a virtual coin for each minute of activity on the platform (that can be used for in-app purchases). There’s also an incredibly active, vibrant, and supportive Facebook community that makes finding other Aviron users to connect or compete with easy, even if none of your friends or family have one. The community will welcome you sharing your milestones, with or without a sweaty, post-workout selfie.
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
As fun as the games are, there are also plenty of options for those looking to improve their form or fitness. Although not as comprehensive as the on-demand catalogs available from the likes of iFit (available on NordicTrack machines) or Peloton (which expands daily, thanks to its roster of live classes that get added to the archive), Aviron nevertheless offers a sizable selection of guided workouts, some of which include supplementary exercises like push-ups that occur alongside the rower (the screen mount rotates to make this easier).
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
There are also a number of structured programs aimed at building strength, endurance, or a combination of the two, which range from two to 12 weeks in duration. Aviron updates these regularly, so you’re unlikely to run out of content. That said, the production value is a far cry from iFit or Peloton. Most coached workouts rely on a single camera angle, the audio quality can vary enormously, and the menus for accessing them are far from intuitive. Often part three of a five-part series will show up ahead of part one, or vice versa, and getting back to a program you’ve started can require some menu diving.
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
Like many of its rivals, Aviron offers a range of scenic workouts where you can row through iconic harbors or lakes at your own pace. These didn’t feel particularly synchronized with my pace, but the bigger problem was that they just weren’t as immersive as I’d like, on account of the limited screen real estate of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro . This was even more acute when using a smaller 11-inch iPad. Similarly, in some of the games, I had a hard time reading the on-screen instructions or statistics because of the diminutive font size, which really made me long for the 22-inch display of the Aviron Strong.If you’re interested in scenic indoor rowing workouts that virtually transport you to bodies of water around the world, iFit and Hydrow are the best options. Both platforms offer immersive scenic workouts with guided instruction from expert trainers.
(Credit: Craig Wilson)
Of course, because the Strong Go supports iOS, you can even use it with an iPhone, but then the aforementioned screen woes are even worse. However, it’s a good backup to have if you ever lose your iPad, forget to charge it, or it stops working just when you’ve planned to work out.Other notable workout formats include Pros vs. Joes, where you can compete against a prerecorded session completed by a professional athlete—not all of them rowers—over a predetermined distance, and the less intimidating (and less humbling) Time Machine mode, where you can compete against yourself courtesy of recordings of your previous sessions.
(Credit: Aviron/PCMag)
For some users, however, the most appealing and motivating format might be competing against other people. A group workout lobby makes it possible to compete against other Aviron owners on the fly, or you can create your own room and invite your friends to join using a code. The group workout lobby is especially helpful in the early days of Aviron ownership when you might not yet be connected to any other users—it’s a great way to change that and grow your Aviron friends list.Verdict: An Attractive Interactive Rower for iPad OwnersIf you already own an iPad, the Aviron Strong Go is a compelling budget-friendly alternative to the all-in-one Aviron Strong. Besides a built-in screen and streaming service integration, it offers all the perks of its more expensive sibling, including a high seat, adjustable foot width support, and a sturdy, durable build that should hold up over time. Aviron’s iPad app offers plenty of engaging content to keep you motivated and entertained, along with a selection of coached workouts to help you improve your technique. If you don’t have an iPad, you’re better off with the screen-equipped Aviron Strong, which offers a more immersive experience and gives you the ability to simultaneously watch Netflix and track your metrics as you row. In the smart rowing machine category, the NordicTrack RW900 remains our Editors’ Choice for its fantastic scenic content and overall value, while the Peloton Row is our top premium pick for its live classes and form feedback. But if you’re more into interactive games and racing competitions than trainer-led workouts, Aviron’s rowing machines are unmatched.
Pros
Reasonably priced
Excellent build quality
High, comfortable seat
Smooth ride
Easy vertical storage
Robust companion app
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Cons
Doesn’t support Android tablets
Somewhat cumbersome Bluetooth device pairing
Lacks video streaming service integration
No live classes
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The Bottom Line
The Aviron Strong Go is a high-quality Bluetooth-connected rowing machine that offers interactive workout games and races on your own iPad instead of a built-in display.
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