By Paul Kendrick, Cardio & Endurance Editor · Updated 29 October 2026
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The JLL Folding Magnetic Rowing Machine is a good, quiet home rower with one feature most rivals at £299 don't have: footplates at the front that let you stand and do upper-body rows on the same resistance. Buy it if you want low-impact cardio plus a bit of back and arm work in a small space. Skip it if you train to numbers, because the monitor leaves out distance and split, and the light flywheel gives the stroke a slightly choppy feel next to heavier machines.
JLL is a Birmingham company that has sold home gym kit since 2012, and this machine sits above its older budget R200 in the range. It costs £298.99 on Amazon at the time of writing, which puts it head to head with JLL's own water rower and above the MERACH magnetic rowers we've already reviewed. That price is the main thing it has to justify.
How we review
We haven't rowed on this unit ourselves. This review is built from the Amazon UK listing, JLL's own product page for the machine, owner feedback and our existing reviews of the rowers it competes with. Where a spec isn't published, we say so rather than guess.
This is a rower for people who want the whole package in one footprint: quiet cardio on the seat, then a few sets of standing rows or curls once the main session is done. It also suits anyone in a flat or a shared house, because magnetic resistance is the quietest type you can buy and the rail folds up so the machine can live beside a sofa. If you're new to indoor rowing and want to check you're using your legs rather than yanking with your arms, our rowing machine technique guide is worth reading before you start.
It's less suitable for tall rowers. JLL doesn't publish a maximum inseam or rail length for this model, and the 205cm overall length is shorter than machines aimed at people over 6ft 2in. If height is your concern, the extended rails in our best rowing machine UK guide are a safer bet.
At £298.99 it's well inside the £200 to £400 band where most decent magnetic rowers sit, and here's the current listing.
Check price on Amazon£298.99Most folding magnetic rowers do one thing. This one has two plates built into the front of the frame, so you can get off the seat, stand facing the flywheel housing and pull the handle upwards or towards your waist against the magnetic brake. JLL pitches it as upright rows for the back and arms; in practice that means upright rows, biceps curls and bent-over rows, all with the same 16 levels you use for rowing.
It's no substitute for a cable machine, and you shouldn't expect heavy loads: a magnetic brake on a belt drive doesn't feel like a weight stack. As a finisher after 20 minutes of steady rowing, though, it fills a gap. The NHS wants adults doing muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week on top of 150 minutes of moderate cardio, and a machine that covers a bit of both in one session makes those targets easier to hit from home.
Rowing itself already works more of the body than people assume. An EMG study of 20 elite rowers found all eight lower-limb muscles it measured were recruited during indoor rowing, at different points of the stroke (Vieira et al., 2020). The standing plates simply add more upper-body time on top. Our guide to rowing machine muscles worked goes through the stroke phase by phase.
Four magnets sit near the flywheel and a tension knob moves them through 16 stepped levels. It's the standard eddy-current setup we explain in our magnetic rowing machine guide, and it has the standard trade-off: each level is a fixed setting rather than something that climbs as you pull harder, so the stroke feels more like a set weight than the bite of an air or water rower.
The detail that matters most here is the flywheel. JLL's product page lists it at 2.91kg, which is on the light side. A light flywheel slows down faster between strokes, so you can feel a small slack spot at the catch at higher stroke rates, and the session feels less smooth than on a machine with more spinning mass. That's the complaint to look for in owner reviews ("jerky" or "uneven"), and it's the main reason I've scored this a notch below the MERACH. For steady rows at 20 to 24 strokes a minute it's a minor point; for fast intervals you'll notice it more.
The 16 levels give more range than the 10 on JLL's R200, so beginners have room to progress. Don't assume level 16 here equals level 16 on another brand, though, because magnet strength and gap differ between makers. Our rowing machine resistance levels guide suggests sensible starting points.
| Resistance | Magnetic, 16 levels via tension knob |
|---|---|
| Drive | Belt drive with volute spring return |
| Flywheel | 2.91 kg (JLL product page) |
| Max user weight | 130 kg (JLL product page; not on Amazon listing) |
| Dimensions | Approx 205 x 58 x 57 cm |
| Machine weight | Approx 24 kg |
| Rail length / max inseam | Not published |
| Monitor | LCD: time, count, calories, total count, scan |
| App | SunnyFit via Bluetooth, free |
| Storage | Rail folds vertically, transport wheels |
| Extras | Standing footplates, device holder, bottle holder |
| Certification | ISO, CE, UKCA, EN957 (listing) |
The seat is large and cushioned, and the pedals are oversized and pivot with your ankles through the stroke, which helps people with stiff calves or ankles sit into the catch without their heels lifting early.
At roughly 24kg it's light for a folding rower, about 11kg less than JLL's water machine, so one person can tip and wheel it without much effort. The steel frame and the 130kg rating suggest it isn't flimsy, but light machines do tend to shift a little on hard floors during sprints. A rubber mat underneath fixes that and cuts the rumble through the floor at the same time.
One thing that made me cautious: JLL's own product page for this machine reuses copy from its Aqua 1 water rower in one paragraph. It doesn't change the hardware, but it's a reminder to check specs against the Amazon listing and ask JLL directly if a number matters to you. The app is SunnyFit, which belongs to Sunny Health and Fitness, and several JLL rowers appear to share frames with Sunny models. JLL's UK support is the reason to buy the JLL-branded version.
The LCD shows time, stroke count, calories, total count and a scan mode that cycles through them. That's thin. There's no distance figure, no strokes per minute and no 500m split, which are the numbers most rowers use to pace themselves. JLL's own Smart Magnetic Rowing Machine at the same £299.99 on its website does show split, SPM and distance, so this is a choice JLL made for this model rather than a limit of the price.
The SunnyFit app fills some of that gap. It connects over Bluetooth, needs no subscription, and the listing claims more than 2,300 trainer-led workouts and over 10,000 scenic tours. Put your phone in the device holder and you get a more useful display than the LCD offers. If you'd rather not row with a phone in front of you, though, you'll be training on time and calories alone.
Against JLL's water rowing machine, the trade is clear. The water rower costs about the same, but gives you a 130cm rail, a 150kg rating and the fuller catch of a tank, at the cost of noise and a 35kg frame that tilts upright rather than folding. This folding magnetic model is the better choice for a flat; the water rower is better for tall or heavy users.
Against the MERACH 16-level magnetic rower, this JLL is the harder sell on paper. The MERACH has a dual-rail slide, a roughly 158kg rating and a manual version that was around £192 when we last checked. What the JLL gives you in return is the standing mode and pivoting pedals. If you won't use those, the MERACH is the better value.
The older JLL R200 was showing as unavailable on Amazon UK when we last checked it. If you were after one, this machine is the obvious step up within JLL's range: 16 levels instead of 10 and 130kg instead of 100kg.
| JLL folding magnetic | JLL water | MERACH 16-level | JLL R200 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resistance | Magnetic, 16 levels | Water plus 16 magnetic | Magnetic, 16 levels | Magnetic, 10 levels |
| Max user | 130 kg | 150 kg | Approx 158 kg | Approx 100 kg |
| Storage | Folds vertically | Tilts upright | Folds upright | Folds at centre |
| Standing mode | Yes | No | No | No |
| Noise | Quiet | Loud | Quiet | Quiet |
Is it worth £298.99? For the right buyer, yes. If you'll actually use the standing footplates two or three times a week, you're getting a rower and a basic upper-body pulling station for the price of a plain mid-range rower, and nothing else in our rowing reviews offers that combination. Rowing also pulls its weight as cardio: in a lab comparison of short all-out sprint intervals, the rowing ergometer produced higher oxygen uptake and energy expenditure during exercise than the cycle ergometer (Clausen and Astorino, 2024), although the bike gave a larger after-burn.
If all you want is a quiet rower that folds, the case weakens. The MERACH is cheaper with a higher weight rating, and our best foldable rowing machines guide has other options under £300. The full range sits in our rowing machines hub.
For buyers who've decided the standing mode is worth paying for, the listing is here.
Check price on Amazon£298.99For home fitness, yes. It's quiet, it folds upright to roughly half its length, and the 16 magnetic levels cover easy rows through to hard intervals. The standing footplates for upper-body rows are a real extra rather than a gimmick. The weak points are a light flywheel, which makes the stroke feel less carried than heavier rowers, and a monitor that doesn't show distance or a 500m split.
JLL's own product page for this machine rates it to 130kg. The Amazon listing doesn't state a figure, so check the listing or ask JLL if you're near that limit. 130kg is comfortably above the 100kg of JLL's older R200, but below the 150kg of JLL's water rower and the roughly 158kg of the MERACH 16-level magnetic rower.
They let you step off the seat, stand on two plates at the front of the frame and pull the handle for upright rows, curls and other upper-body moves against the same magnetic resistance. It turns the rower into a basic cable station for back and arm work, which is handy for short strength finishers after a row.
The listing gives approximately 205 x 58 x 57cm set up, and around 24kg. The slide rail folds vertically, which JLL says halves the footprint for storage, and transport wheels at the front let one person roll it away. Measure for a little over two metres of floor length when you're rowing.
No. It connects over Bluetooth to the free SunnyFit app, which has trainer-led workouts and scenic routes. You can also ignore the app completely and row using the built-in LCD, which shows time, stroke count, calories and total count.
Buy the folding magnetic rower if noise and storage matter most, for example in a flat with neighbours below. Buy the JLL water rower if you're tall or heavy, because its 130cm rail and 150kg rating are better, and you don't mind the louder swoosh of a water tank. Both cost around £300.
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What a magnetic rowing machine is, how eddy-current resistance works, the real pros and cons versus air and water, and what to check before you buy one.
Our MERACH 60kg Magnetic Rowing Machine review: what the 60kg claim really means, the 16 handlebar levels, app, wood frame, noise and who it suits.
Our YOSUDA R2 air rowing machine review covers the 32-blade fan, 10-level damper, self-powered monitor, 158kg limit and how it compares with a Concept2.
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