Discussion: Paddle One Kayak Erg

With a two-year-old at home we've got limited time to get on the water, so we've been thinking for awhile about getting an erg. I've looked into a few different options (both traditional and kayak) and just saw Paddle One on Team Canada's race report from the Rev3 Epic. The price point on this one is a lot friendlier than some of the other kayak ergs we've seen. Does anyone else have experience with it - good or bad? Other ideas/suggestions?

We have an older kayak erg that works about as well as you could hope to simulate paddling. Some of that simulation is in your hands (and legs and core) since you have to focus on feeling like you're pushing instead of pulling in order to get it right.

When we want a high end paddling product, we get advice from Mike or Dav Fekete of Kayaksport Canada who sold us our erg, surfski, paddles, etc. It looks like PaddleOne is the only erg they sell now and that alone makes me think it must be great. Seriously, they are picky.
http://www.kayaksport.net/products/machine.html

Thanks, Bash!

Interested to hear how you find your new toy?

We assembled it last night. Took it for a very short spin with plans to do a longer session tonight. Initial returns were awesome. Easy to use, easy to adjust, not too hard to fall into a relatively natural rhythm (that was my biggest question). Even after just a few minutes, I felt like I was getting a good paddling workout (I had it set for high resistance). I think it might be my new favorite toy...

Sooo .. you guys in town this weekend? :)

Come on over - party in the basement :)

abiperk and I both paddled a few miles last night on the new machine. Great workout. The general consensus was: it felt measurably harder than real paddling, even when set on lower resistances. Great workout, surprisingly tough. Hopefully this will translate into better performance in races. First test in early June.