I think with rowing machines you get what you pay for. I bought a York rower and although it may have been my superhuman strength it broke quite quickly and was not fixable. I then forked out and bought a Bodymax InfinitiR100. I'd never heard of Bodymax before but after reading a lot of reviews got it and have been happy with it since. Nothing has gone wrong and it feels almost gym quality. Basically it weighs a ton.
I doubt you can get it anymore but it probably has an equivalent predecessor.