Reviews

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This is the best indoor rower ever!! I row 10k meters every day on my Coffey Sculling SimulatOar™- it keeps me fit and allows me to maintain and improve my technique. I like the specificity of the SimulatOar™- it facilitates the opening of the hands at the catch, directing the energy from the drive into the 'lats' and core to a greater degree than other machines. The length traveled, actually moving through the pin, gives the athlete a great understanding of the true length necessary in the drive. It is also ideal for instruction, rehearsing hand movement essential to sculling. Excellent for both training and coaching, the SimulatOar™  is an outstanding indoor rower - solid design, built to last and fun to row. I recommend it to everyone who loves rowing or who wants to love rowing.   

Before training on my Coffey Sculling SimulatOar™, I had only rowed sweep on the water. After training all winter on the Sculling SimulatOar™, I was asked to stroke a quadruple scull - I stepped into the shell and sculled away flawlessly.  What a great indoor trainer!! 

Every erg manufacturer says their machine feels like you are rowing in a boat. The difference between a Sculling SimulatOar™ and straight pull ergs is huge. With a SimulatOar™ you can feather the handle as in a sculling boat.  With the counterbalanced 'oars' you can learn to un-weight the handle to simulate a catch without missing water.  With the handle and shoe adjustments you can simulate the geometry of your single. Using mirrors, you can watch the different parts of your stroke and learn to self-coach your technique to simulate sculling a boat. Perhaps the most significant innovation that the SimulatOar™ offers is the 'Floats,' the dynamic undercarriage that the machine sits on. The Coffey Floats give you the feel of suspension you get from accelerating your drive. You feel the power release quickly in your feet and in your seat. With this feel you can learn to time your finish to release the stored energy in your 'oars' before you feather the handles and find your recovery oar handle height...just like in a single.  

I immediately felt a difference transitioning to the water - I was faster.  The SimulatOar™ certainly was helpful, especially in gaining power. I finally found a good coach.... I had developed bad habits to compensate for bad technique. Sometimes it isn't so easy to correct these bad habits on the water. However, thanks to the SimulatOar™, I can go home and practice my new technique, and it is easier the next time out. I would be willing to have anyone interested in the SimulatOar™ try mine out.  I certainly would share with them the benefit that I have experienced.  

The machine is brilliant...smooth like a Lexus transmission. 

My SimulatOar™ duplicates sculling better than any ergometer I’ve ever seen duplicate a sport - and I’ve seen a lot of them.  You not only train muscles in exactly the same planes of movement, speeds, and force patterns used in the event, you can even work on your technique. Every boathouse should have one. 

It's really too bad that there aren't more places where scullers can test the machines side-by-side. The SimulatOar™ has the closest feel to sculling that I have seen.......Just getting on Cal's machine and sculling it is convincing....I think that by comparing a body's motion on the C2 (or other one-handle machines) vs the SimulatOar™, anyone can see the advantage that the SimulatOar™ gives.  

As an amateur ‘sculling obsessive’, I am always trying to find ways to improve my technique, whilst keeping fit at the same time.

This being the case I scoured the internet looking for a machine that could help me with this, at an affordable price.

I came across the SimulatOar, and immediately I could see that this was a machine that could help me with all aspects of my sculling, particularly ‘the catch’, which is one of my weaknesses.

I spoke to Margaret Coffey, who could not have been more helpful. Living in the UK, my concerns about buying a machine from America were immediately put at ease. Margaret helped me with all aspects of the purchase, including what to expect with UK Customs, shipping and delivery dates, etc.

When I got the machine, it was relatively easy to assemble and my sculling has improved to no end! Indeed, my coach has commented on how my blade depth, catch and core stability have all improved - this is all due to use of the SimulatOar. The machine has also been a godsend during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the gyms have been closed. Without it, both my fitness and sculling technique would have undoubtedly declined.

I have kept in touch with Margaret and Calvin, and any questions or issues have been dealt with promptly and fairly. Indeed, I would class them as ‘my new friends across the pond’! This is good old-fashioned service, and even if they lived on the same street as me in the UK, it could not have been any better.

I would commend this machine to anyone, be they an amateur or professional rower or sculler. It helps you to develop the correct technique. I just wish I had known about it 16 years ago - my sculling might not be so bad! This is also a view probably shared by most of my crewmates over the years!

The SimulatOar™ is excellent for teaching technique as it so accurately simulates the feeling of rowing, down to the way the oar and riggers are designed. You feel the click in the turn-up and feather, you can see what the blade is doing as you turn-up and lift the handle into the catch. With the Coffey SimulatOar™, sliding on a spring-loaded foundation (Floats - dynamic undercarriage), both the coach and the rower can see if the weight-shift occurs before the blade is set. 

Calvin Coffey, designer of the SimulatOar™, told me that you can go from the SimulatOar™ to the water and be sculling successfully immediately. I tried this with my grandson who had never rowed before. I gave him six lessons on the SimulatOar™. I then took him to the boathouse and put him on Casey Baker’s sculling unit affixed to a paddle board - in no time, he was sculling around the harbor with no check. What surprised me the most was how he could grasp the ‘catch’ concept on the SimulatOar™ and apply it on the water his first time out. 

The SimulatOar™ works best re improving technique when you use it one-on-one. Unlike the Concept II ergometer which is great for team conditioning, the SimulatOar™ is pricier but cost effective when used in a one or two unit combinations. The floating platform with springs is a must for teaching technique. To use this machine for your sweep program, you should consider two complete sweep riggers and oar combinations for quick changes from port to starboard rowers. You can also purchase sculling riggers, which is the way I got started. 

If you question whether investing in a machine to improve the check in a boat is worth it, spend part of a practice watching the stern end of the shells you coach, and I think the answer will come to you.