I got my Favorit about 5 days after I ordered it and when I went to put it together I realized that a piece was missing (the bar to hold the foot pedals on). So I called customer service and they sent me one free of charge the next day. I was a little disappointed because I was excited to use it but couldn't without something to put my feet on. So I waited another 5 or so days and I got that part.
After using it I realized the right shock absorber wasn't working correctly, and it started losing more pressure within a few day to where it was unusable. I emailed customer service this time and they sent me a new shock right away.
Since then I haven't had any problems, the machine works great and I've been using it about 3 weeks daily with the new shock. The customer service was really great, which is why I decided not to take off a star. I think I might have gotten a returned machine. It was obviously a dud either way, everything else about the experience was so high quality it's hard to believe this sort of thing would happen regularly.
I wanted to respond to the other review about the resistance adjustment too (because I was worried about this when I was reading them). When I was talking to the customer service lady on the phone the first time, I told her that I had gotten two of the wrong bolts. There are a set of bolts for putting the arms on with tooth that goes all the way up the bolt (this is also used for the resistance knobs), and another set for the arms that only has tooth about a third of the way up. I hadn't gotten any of the second type, but I had two extra of the first type. She said that they replaced those because people were accidentally using the the bolts without the full tooth on the resistance adjustment, which wouldn't work because you can't screw it down all the way. So the people who were complaining about the resistance just didn't follow the instructions.
Also, people seemed to make a big deal out of the instructions but they're very clear with good pictures, diagrams of the bolts you need to use, etc. Seems to me they must never have had to partially assemble anything. All you have to do was bolt the arms, legs, and foot pedals on. It's mostly assembled when you get it. Be careful to put the arms on the correct way, though, the bend should face forward like in the picture.
Overall I'm very glad I bought this machine. I read a lot of reviews on a lot of the cheaper ($100 - $200) piston rowing machines and they were all complaining about their machines degrading within a week of two of getting it, like broken wheels on the seats and shocks leaking oil and loud squeaks and that's why I decided to pay a bit more. The Favorit is really quiet, and obviously build to last. The resistance is good too, at its lowest setting it's pretty easy, so you can do an aerobic workout, and on it's highest setting I can hardly pull it back. I have it set around the middle right now so it's like a weight machine. You can even sit on it backwards and do a bench press. And if you have problems with it, you'll have a really great support center to work with.
Click to>>>>Arm Machines Exercise
