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In Depth Product Reviews
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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First! Speaking of the Wahoo lawsuit against Zwift, it was recently settled out of court. Of course I’m curious to know the details, hoping Ray can find out what happened :)
All I can say at the moment is hang tight…
Elite have also rolled out some new features to the Direto XR and Suito. I think they were features on the Justo like the easy start feature in erg mode. I’ve installed the update on my Direto XR and will test out soon.
Those manufacturers have excess stock. That explains the price reduction.
While they might have some (I’m too lazy to look up the freight shipping stuff right now), this is a long-term permanent price reduction. That’s very different than the near-constant sale prices that have been in effect. And even then, Wahoo only once hit that low of a price – which they state was actually an REI deal, and not a Wahoo deal. Otherwise, it was never near there.
Interesting times, so a wahoo kickr core for 600, and my local bike shop offers the tacx neo 2 (not 2t) at 799.
Honestly can’t decide which one to go for. I was super close to buying the neo 2.
Any advice for a triatlete who is sick of his tacx bushido slipping and being loud?
None of my friends have Elite, so it doesn’t register on my radar.
If only someone, somewhere, would gather all these trainers up and do in depth testing of them. Maybe they could be independent and even offer some sort of comparison chart …..
That’s a tough call to be honest.
But, when in doubt between Wahoo & Tacx trainers, the first question you need to answer yourself is: Do you plan to buy (nor or whenever), the Wahoo KICKR CLIMB accessory? If the answer to that is yes, then go Wahoo. If it’s hard no, then go Tacx. If it’s maybe, then probably go Wahoo.
Spec-wise, the NEO 2 outranks the CORE, no doubt. But practically speaking, you don’t really want to ride at 20% gradient, or higher. Nobody does, really.
Setting that aside, each have more minor pros and cons. Wahoo has multichannel Bluetooth, Tacx doesn’t. Tacx has road simulation and forward drive (e.g. going downhills), Wahoo doesn’t in CORE.
Realistically, either is a solid trainer. Tacx has better specs on paper, but in practice I’m not really sure the extra $200 is worth it ride-wise.
I remember that at one point the tacx neo 2 had some sort of limitations when sprinting that you could experience slippage and that the neo 2t fixed that.
Is it still a possibility or are the new tacx neo 2 fix?
I’m in a pickle on what to trainer to purchase..I don’t plan on buying the climber…but I’m undecided between the KICKR core and the Elite direto XR?
I would really value your advice on which one?
Thanks
Dave
Also, the Wahoo Rival is now available for 130 dollar/euro/pounds. See link to the5krunner.com
Yeah, it’s a good day in some lights, and kinda meh in others. In a vacuum, it’s admittedly hard to see anything else in the market that’s even close to competitive at $130.
But I’d counter-argue with, is that the features you want in a watch, regardless of the price point. It’s tough. On one hand, incredible deal. But it’s sorta like those Black Friday deals where you’re like “That’s amazing, but do I really need that slow cooker?”
So whatever happened to the Saris H4? Got my H3 after some big discounts from the H4 announcement. But seems the sale of Saris caused a stop to production?
Since Saris was bought out by a company with little to no experience in the trainer market, it’s unlikely that an H4 will ever materialize.
I’d agree with David. Or at least, anytime soon. I literally haven’t heard from them since the day the old guard left. I know a few people were planning on sticking around, but most of the engineering staff left, unfortunately.
That said, I have gotten plenty of generic marketing e-mails since then (just normal consumer mailing list), including today. I’m eager to see them succeed and launch something cool/competitive, but, I feel like that ship is slowly passing.
Small typo
intertie instead of inertia?
One might say that initial word spelling lacked the proper inertia to get over the line correctly.
Google tells me inertie is the Dutch for inertia, is this the start of something happening?
At that price I may get a spare Kickr Core as mine has gone bazillion km. I doubt Wahoo will swap out again as they have before…
Hi! I am on the precipice of buying my first smart trainer. I am pretty settled on the Zwift Hub for all the reasons well-stated in your reviews (cassette included, market-beating specs for price) but these new price drops and the fact the Hub has been out for a year are giving me pause. Do you think the entry/mid-level smart trainer options will be meaningfully different come October 1st? November 1st? Just don’t want to pull the trigger only to miss out on some inevitable deal or new product launch. Thank you!
Also worth noting that Decathlon recently released 2 home trainers in the European market, including the d500 at a 450e price point. Ray do you plan to review these?
I notice that Kinetic seems to have quietly dropped the R1. Any news on an R2, or are they abandoning their efforts in that space?
Not that I’m likely to make a move; the Kickr Core I have is working quite nicely, and I don’t see any particular reason to get a new trainer any time soon. I’m just morbidly curious.
Kinetic got bought out by Magene and seems to be dropping the majority of the original Kinetic trainers in favor of Kinetic badged versions of their own Magene trainers. They did a pretty hard push on FB at least when the transition happened a long time ago. But I have not seen much in the recent months. I wouldn’t expect much in the way of “old style” Kinetic trainers unless Magene decides to make a push up market, which seems unlikely to me.
Ah, that makes sense. A pity; Kinetic’s attempt at the R1 was a fair departure from the typical smart trainer, and I would have liked to see them continue evolving that design – having something with a genuine differentiator from the rest of the market (rather than marketing fluff) was nice, and it’s a shame to see that disappear.
Thank you.
Actual market prices for today in Europe (PL)
Direto: approx 600€
Suito: approx 490€
And i expect to further drop even more as the trainers season will begin.
Terrible customer service. Our kicker broke after about 50 miles. Contacted Wahoo sent a video of the problem and have heard nothing back.
I too am looking for advice on a new trainer. I’ve decided to get an Elite Rizer (don’t judge). I’ve got a Tacx Flux S w 4K Zwift miles. It’s my understanding that my trainer is not compatible with the Rizer. So I’ll sell my Tacx and buy what? Thanks to all for your input!
Check back here tomorrow (Sept 12th). Wahoo is teasing a new release that appears to be a KICKR with rocker-type motion and I’m hoping Ray will have a review ready to drop post-embargo.
link to instagram.com
Let’s hope so, but Ray may be a little busy tomorrow. September 12 at 10 PDT is Apple’s big event. I’m not sure whether they’ve laid out what they’re talking about, but typically it’s the new iPhone and new Apple Watch (along with iOS and WatchOS) announcement.
Sure, but if he had an advance unit for a planned release upon a dropped embargo, he may already have the review article & video all set for automatic release. Not saying he has one, but it’s not like he has to necessarily be sitting around and waiting to hit the “publish” button.
Seems to be available already now on EU Wahoo store.
Kickr move smart trainer, price 1599,99€ (shocked emoji here)
is the direto XR a better buy now with these updates than the core considering with these price drops? looks like directo has more features but core has better build quality? tnx.
REI has the kickr core back on sale for $479.99! Sale ends November 20th.
Oh yes, and it seems on amazon.com as well! Nice find. I wonder if they want to clear out inventory because they are going to introduce a new version of this trainer soon? Or it’s just a start of season/black friday sale?