By Paul Kendrick, Cardio & Endurance Editor · Updated 18 September 2026
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Most rowing machines under £100 on Amazon UK use hydraulic pistons. The Panana is one of the few with a proper flywheel, belt drive and magnetic brake, and it folds in half when you're done, all for around £99. That's a good starting point.
The listing is confusing in places, though. It sells the machine as a "2-in-1" rower with pedals, a claim none of its photos back up, and the rail is shorter than on most rowers, which rules out a lot of taller adults before we even get to the stroke. With around 45 ratings, there isn't much owner history to lean on either.
How we review
This review draws on Panana's Amazon UK listing, including its dimension diagrams and photos, which we checked against the written bullets, and on how folding magnetic rowers at this price tend to perform. We haven't rowed this machine ourselves. Where the listing's claims don't match its own images, we point it out.
Buy it if you're under about 5ft 9in, your budget is capped at £100 and you want a quiet machine for 20 to 30 minute cardio sessions that folds away afterwards. It's a better rowing experience than the lever-arm hydraulic machines at the same price, including the Jupgod hydraulic rower.
Look elsewhere if you're tall, want to pace sessions by 500m split, or plan hard intervals several times a week. The Superun 32-level rower costs about £70 more and fixes most of those problems.
| Resistance | Magnetic, 8-level tension dial |
|---|---|
| Drive | Belt |
| Noise | Under 15dB (manufacturer claim, unverified) |
| Monitor | LCD: scan, time, count, speed, distance, odometer, calories |
| Connectivity | None |
| Rail length | 101cm |
| Inseam range | 44cm to 76cm (17.3in to 30in) |
| User weight | 136kg (300lb) |
| Dimensions | 144 x 40 x 63.5cm |
| Folded | About 79.5 x 40 x 77cm |
| Extras | Tablet holder, adjustable seat, strapped footrests |
Open the listing's cutaway image and you'll see what separates this from the £60 rowers: a flywheel, driven by a belt, slowed by magnets you adjust with a dial marked 1 to 8. Because the flywheel keeps spinning between strokes, the handle picks up smoothly at the catch instead of starting from nothing, so the stroke sequence you learn here (legs, then body, then arms) carries over to a gym rower. Our rowing machine technique guide shows how that sequence should feel.
Eight levels is on the low side. Panana labels them as leisure (1), physical training (2 to 3), sculpting (4 to 6) and fitness (7 to 8), which is marketing, but it does suggest the spread from bottom to top isn't huge. Fitter rowers may run out of resistance within a couple of months. As with any magnetic rower, the drag stays the same no matter how hard you pull, so the machine won't reward a stronger drive the way an air rower does.
Panana's under 15dB figure would be quieter than a whisper, so take it as a claim. A magnetic belt drive is still about as quiet as rowing gets.
Panana is unusually open about fit: a dimension diagram gives a 101cm rail and an inseam range of 44cm to 76cm. That upper limit is short. A 76cm (30in) inside leg belongs to someone around 5ft 8in or 5ft 9in, depending on build, whereas many full-size rowers accommodate inseams well above 85cm.
Why it matters: if your legs are longer than the rail allows, the seat hits the end stop before your knees straighten, so every stroke finishes short and you lose the strongest part of the leg drive. Most people make up for it by leaning back further or yanking harder with the arms, which moves work onto the lower back. A 2023 study of competitive rowers found that those with low back pain showed higher erector spinae and lat activity during hard ergometer efforts than rowers without pain (Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2023). That study doesn't prove a short rail causes back pain, but you shouldn't give your lower back extra work.
Measure your inside leg against a wall before ordering. Under 76cm, it'll fit you.
The title calls it a "2-in-1 Magnetic Rowing Machine, Foldable Rower with Pedals", and the first bullet talks about coordinating the pull handle with the pedals to combine upper and lower body movement. The seat bullet even mentions your "riding and rowing position". Yet all nine images show a conventional sliding-seat rower with strapped footrests, and in several places the listing uses "pedals" for those footrests. We found nothing that shows a separate pedalling or cycling mode.
Our reading is that it's a rower, and the 2-in-1 wording oversells it. If a pedalling option is why you're interested, message the seller before you buy, or look at a proper mini exercise bike instead.
The LCD shows scan, time, stroke count, speed, distance, odometer and calories, and a tablet holder sits above it for music or video. Speed and distance on a budget magnetic rower are estimates, and there's no 500m split, so pacing plans written for a Concept2 won't translate directly. You'll have to work from time and stroke count.
The seat slides along an aluminium rail, and a knob at the rear lets you raise or lower the back leg, which Panana presents as seat height adjustment. It helps get on and off more easily. Folding is simple: the rail hinges up over the flywheel housing, leaving a footprint of roughly 79.5 x 40cm, and front wheels let you roll it away. That's small enough for a hallway cupboard.
For most beginners, yes. Rowing works your legs, trunk and arms in one movement, and 30 minutes at a moderate effort five days a week meets the NHS guideline of 150 minutes of moderate activity. Eight magnetic levels will handle that comfortably. They're more likely to hold you back once you start doing hard intervals.
Check the Panana price on Amazonaround £99Yes. It uses a belt-driven flywheel with magnetic resistance, set by an eight-position tension dial on the side of the housing. That's a genuine step up from the hydraulic piston rowers you'll find at a similar price, because the flywheel keeps spinning between strokes and the pull feels much more like real rowing.
The title and the first bullet describe a row-and-pedal 2-in-1 design, but none of the nine listing photos show a pedalling mode. Every image shows a normal sliding-seat rower with strapped footrests, which the listing also calls pedals. Buy it as a rower, and ask the seller if the second mode matters to you.
Panana publishes a slide rail inseam range of 44cm to 76cm (17.3in to 30in) and a 101cm rail. A 76cm inseam roughly matches someone around 5ft 8in to 5ft 9in, depending on proportions. Measure your inside leg before ordering if you're taller than that.
Yes. The rail folds up over the flywheel housing, taking the machine from 144cm long to about 79.5 x 40 x 77cm, and there are wheels on the front stabiliser so you can roll it into a cupboard or corner.
136kg, which Panana also gives as 300lb. That's a reasonable figure for a sub-£100 folding rower, though the light folding rail means heavier users will feel more flex than on a solid single-beam machine.
Our Jupgod rowing machine review covers the £60 hydraulic lever rower: how the 12-level cylinder feels, why the listing contradicts itself on levels and weight limit, and who should buy it.
An honest MERACH rowing machine review of the 16-level magnetic rower: its quiet resistance, dual rails, app, folding frame, weight limit and who this home rower suits.
An honest Superun rowing machine review: what 32 magnetic resistance levels give you, the PitPat app, the 136kg and 190cm limits, upright storage and the UK support claims.
An honest Dripex magnetic rowing machine review: 16 resistance levels, a 124cm dual steel rail, a 159kg limit and a basic LCD, plus who should buy it at around £150.
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