Rowing Machines Compatible with Zwift in the Future

General Discussion
#1

I’m trying to compile a list of rowing machines that can be purchased now that would hopefully work with Zwift if rowing is ever added to the game.

I’m trying to reach the Zwift support team for their response, and for now would speculate that the Concept2 rowing machine is one that would work with a future Zwift rowing feature.

My question is whether any rowing machine with bluetooth or ANT+ built-in would probably eventually work with Zwift’s future rowing feature. There are several rowing machines on Amazon in the $300 - $400 range that have magnetic resistance and bluetooth built-in. I’m asking for your opinions or factual input on whether it makes sense to buy one of these $300 - $400 machines now in the hopes that Zwift eventually supports it. Thanks.

#2

I would wait, Zwift has delayed rowing for now, no one knows if and when it will actually be released. Eric Min recently said that he wants the core cycling experience to be easier for beginners to start using. I read this to mean new UI and a Zwift branded smart bike before rowing ever gets considered again.

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#3

There are supposedly ANT+ standards for transferring power data from a rower, but it seems rather unsupported. Concept2 is using their own proprietary Bluetooth communications method:

Which is why you need painsled to translate the C2 Bluetooth stream into one that works on Zwift. If C2 has the biggest market share, then it doesn’t matter what the correct standard is. C2 would be the de-facto standard, but then you’d be looking for rowing machines that duplicate the C2 interface.

#4

https://imgur.com/r/Zwift/r7UCNKL Have you tried North Pole engineering CABLE dongle. It’s fantastic and converts all of concept2 data cleanly so you get cadence from spm / power (identical to ergmeter) and hr if you use ant+ hrm via pm5 connection. I guess as long as some of these other rowers are compatible with the cable dongle I.e. they transmit both ant+ and ble they should work ?

Row/Ride on …

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#5

Fwiw F6 now can connect to concept 2 pm5 or ant rower that has ant fe-c profile. Had a concept 2 a couple of years ago before I sold it due to not enjoying it.