By Paul Kendrick, Cardio & Endurance Editor · Updated 5 November 2026
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The GymSets Essential Ski Erg costs £424.99 on Amazon and gives you a flywheel ski machine with a monitor and its own base, which makes it the cheapest freestanding ski erg we've reviewed by a long way. That's the whole appeal. A Concept2 SkiErg with its floor stand costs roughly double, and even the stand-included Half Human Air Ski sits at £699. The catch is that GymSets is a much smaller name, its published specs are thin, and we couldn't find a stated warranty on the Amazon listing.
My view: it's a reasonable punt if a ski erg is a nice-to-have for conditioning and your budget is fixed, but if you're going to train on it four times a week for years, the extra money for a Concept2 buys you certainty that this machine can't yet offer.
How we review
This review is based on the GymSets Amazon UK listing, the product details on GymSets' own UK site, Concept2's official SkiErg specifications and our existing reviews of the Concept2 SkiErg and Half Human Air Ski. We haven't physically tested this machine. It's new to Amazon with very little owner feedback, so where a spec isn't published we've said so rather than guessing.
This machine makes sense for a fairly narrow buyer: someone kitting out a garage or spare room on a budget who wants standing, upper-body-heavy cardio to sit alongside a bike or a rower. If you do CrossFit-style conditioning at home and want ski intervals without spending £800 or more, it's the obvious place to look. Runners and cyclists who want cardio that works the lats and triceps rather than the legs again will get that from any ski erg, this one included.
Skip it if you race on Concept2's online logbook, if resale value matters (cheap kit from smaller brands rarely sells on well), or if your ceiling is under about 2.3m. And if you weigh well over 100kg, be aware that GymSets doesn't publish a maximum user weight on the listing; the Half Human quotes 150kg, so you at least know where you stand with that one.
GymSets sells the Essential as a freestanding unit with the base in the box, and that's the main reason it looks cheap next to Concept2. Concept2 designs the SkiErg to bolt to a wall and sells the floor stand separately; on its official spec page the floor-stand version measures 60 x 127 x 216cm and the machine itself weighs 18.6kg, with the stand adding another 16kg (Concept2 SkiErg specifications).
The Amazon listing gives the GymSets as roughly 60cm wide, 55cm deep and 220cm tall. That depth is much shorter than either the Concept2 floor stand or the 120cm Half Human platform, which saves floor space but raises an obvious question about stability when you pull down hard. We can't answer it without seeing one in use. The listing also gives an item weight of about 68kg, which would make it nearly twice as heavy as a Concept2 on its stand; that figure may include packaging, so treat it as a delivery-day warning rather than a guarantee of a planted frame.
Height is the spec to take seriously. At around 220cm it's slightly taller than the Concept2, and you need clearance above the handle tops for your hands at full reach. Measure your ceiling, and in a garage check for beams, roller-door tracks and light fittings, before ordering.
| Resistance | Flywheel with adjustable damper (number of settings not listed) |
|---|---|
| Monitor | Pace, distance, calories, stroke rate |
| Watts display | Not listed |
| Connectivity | Not listed |
| Dimensions | Approx 60 x 55 x 220cm (W x D x H, Amazon listing) |
| Item weight | Approx 68 kg (Amazon listing, may include packaging) |
| Max user weight | Not listed |
| Base / floor stand | Included |
| Power | Not listed |
| Warranty | Not listed on Amazon; ask the seller |
| Price | £424.99 on Amazon at the time of writing |
Like the Concept2 and the Half Human, the GymSets uses a spinning flywheel, so resistance rises with how hard and fast you pull. The damper changes how much air the fan catches: low settings feel light and quick, high settings feel heavy and slow. Neither makes the session harder on its own, because your effort decides the workload. GymSets' product page says the Essential uses the same flywheel technology as its own RowErgs and BikeErgs, which is reassuring only to the extent that you trust those machines.
The workout itself is where a cheap ski erg and an expensive one converge. You stand, reach up, and drive both handles down by hingeing at the hips and pulling through with your lats and triceps, so it's an upper-body-dominant cardio session with your trunk and legs helping. That upper-body bias has a physiological ceiling worth knowing about. In a 2021 study of 20 national and international level cross-country skiers, peak oxygen uptake during upper-body poling on a Concept2 ski ergometer reached only about 72 to 73% of what the same athletes hit running uphill on a treadmill, because the arms and trunk recruit less muscle mass than the legs (Hansen et al., Frontiers in Sports and Active Living). Those skiers were strapped to a bench to limit leg drive, which you won't be, but the takeaway still holds: a ski erg is a superb complement to leg-based cardio rather than a replacement for it.
Where it really earns its place is intervals. You can go from easy to flat-out in a couple of strokes and the flywheel responds instantly, so 20 to 40 second efforts with short rests suit it well. Our rowing machine HIIT workout and air bike workout both translate to a ski erg with little more than a change of machine.
Check price on AmazonThe listing promises real-time pace, distance, calories and stroke rate. That's enough to repeat a session and see whether you're getting fitter, which is what most home users need. What isn't listed is a watts readout, programme modes, Bluetooth, app support or heart rate pairing, and we'd rather tell you that than assume they're there. If any of those matter to you, check with the seller first.
Don't expect the numbers to match a PM5. Concept2's monitor is the reference standard for erg data, and a 1,000m ski time posted online is almost always a PM5 figure. The GymSets monitor will give you numbers that are consistent with themselves, and that's all.
We rated the Concept2 SkiErg 4.6 out of 5. It costs about £815 on Amazon in its wall-mount form, the floor stand is extra, and in return you get the PM5, Bluetooth and ANT+, a 2 and 5 year warranty and a machine that reliably outlasts the gyms it's installed in. Used SkiErgs sell for most of their original price, so even if you lose interest the real cost is smaller than the sticker.
The Half Human Air Ski, which we gave 4.2, sits in the middle at £699 with its stand included. It publishes far more than GymSets does: 10 resistance levels, a console with watts, eight programmes, Bluetooth for D-fit and Kinomap, and a 150kg user limit. Its 1 year Amazon warranty is short, but at least it's stated.
So the GymSets saves you about £275 against the Half Human and more than double that against a Concept2 on a stand. What that saving costs you is information. Every spec gap in the table above is a question you'd have to answer yourself, and on a machine you plan to thrash with intervals, the warranty and user-weight gaps are the ones I'd want filled before handing over the money. If your budget genuinely can't stretch past £450, the GymSets is a fair way in; if it can stretch to £699, I'd take the Half Human for the published spec sheet alone.
This is where the low price has to be weighed against risk. Ski ergs have few moving parts, and the pull cords are the usual wear item on any of them, so ask the seller whether replacement cords and handles are available before you buy. A machine you can't get parts for is a machine you'll be throwing out in two years.
Resale is the other quiet cost. A Concept2 holds its value because buyers trust the brand; a GymSets is unlikely to fetch much second hand, so assume the £424.99 is gone once it's in your garage.
If you've measured your ceiling and the seller can confirm the warranty, check today's Amazon price before you decide.
Check price on AmazonOn paper it covers the basics: a flywheel with an adjustable damper, a monitor showing pace, distance, calories and stroke rate, and a base so it stands on its own. At £424.99 it's roughly half the price of a Concept2 SkiErg once you add Concept2's floor stand. What we can't tell you is how it holds up after a year of hard intervals, because GymSets publishes few specs and there's little long-term owner feedback yet.
Buy the Concept2 if you want PM5 data that matches gym leaderboards, a 2 and 5 year warranty and strong resale value. Buy the GymSets if your budget tops out around £425, you'll only compare your numbers against yourself, and you accept the risk of a less established brand. The motion is the same double-pole pull on both.
The Amazon listing puts the machine at about 220cm tall, a little taller than the 216cm Concept2 SkiErg. Allow at least 230cm of clear ceiling so the handles and your hands have room at the top of the reach, and more if you're tall. Standard UK rooms of around 240cm usually work, but garages with low beams and loft rooms often don't.
The listed dimensions are roughly 60cm wide by 55cm deep and 220cm tall. That's a smaller floor footprint than the Half Human Air Ski, which needs about 120cm by 59cm. Leave clear space behind you, too, because you hinge back at the hips at the end of every pull.
The Amazon listing we checked doesn't state a warranty length. Ask the seller before you buy and keep the answer in writing, because a ski erg used for regular intervals puts steady wear on the cords and bearings. Concept2 offers 2 and 5 year cover on the SkiErg, so this is one area where the cheaper machine looks weaker.
Half Human Air Ski Machine review: 10 air resistance levels, floor stand included, Bluetooth apps and a 150kg limit for £699, compared with the Concept2 SkiErg.
Orisyn water rowing machine review: FSC oak frame, a 180kg limit, Bluetooth stats, upright storage for about £297, plus the catches of a lesser-known brand.
Honest rowing machine before and after results: what really changes at 30, 60 and 90 days, a 12-week plan, how to measure progress and the mistakes that stall it.
An honest JLL folding magnetic rowing machine review: 16 magnetic levels, standing footplates, SunnyFit app, 130kg limit, light flywheel and who it suits.
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