If that is the version with the programmable software from Cycleops you will be paying for it for as long as you use the trainer.

It is a subscription service so the $1000 you spend gets you the hardware and not the software.

Now I do know you can control it from a Joule without the software but then why bother with that kind of trainer.

Which is another advantage of the CT - whether RacerMate intended or not, the CT is well-supported by just about every piece of 3rd-party software on the market - Golden Cheetah, Tour de Giro, Zwift, TrainerRoad, PerfPro, etc all support CTs, and probably will forever. As a developer and a rider, I _love_ the wired connection. It's so much easier to reliably have software talk to a CompuTrainer compared to any of the wireless devices.

Also, ANT+ connections inevitably lead to the painful pre-ride debugging of "why can't <software> talk to my trainer?", which means killing garmin (express/ant agent), or unplugging/replugging the ANT+ dongle, or many other approaches.

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STAC Zero Trainer - Zero noise, zero tire contact, zero moving parts. Suffer in Silence starting fall 2016

Your software is the bomb! :)

jaretj

I've had a Powerbeam Pro for a little over a year and I have been mostly happy with it. It doesn't seem to have as much 3rd party support as the kickr or computrainer, although it does look like trainerroad can now control it. I don't think that was the case when I got it. Either way, I've never used it. I just use Cycleops' Virtual Training app on my phone to control it. I don't pay for their app. I just use the free version that limits the free ride to an hour, which isn't a big deal, you can just restart it when time runs out. It lets you set it to erg mode or slope mode. Personally, I like simplicity. I don't like having to deal with stuff... setting up the bike, software, workouts, etc. I just want to put my bike on the trainer and be riding as quickly as possible. That was one thing that kept me away from the kickr because I would be using a tri bike that I often ride outside and didn't want to have to deal with constantly removing the wheel and getting the bike on the trainer with its horizontal dropouts.

The powerbeam is great for setup. It takes no time to set it up and start riding. The power data seems to be accurate over time. It is only rated to +/- 5% accuracy rather than the 2% that you see from most power meters. It is a bit slow to respond in erg mode (at least compared to a computrainer) and seems like it wouldn't be the best solution for short intervals like 30/30s unless you're just riding in slope mode and shifting gears yourself. I have done that a couple of times. It hasn't been an issue for me. erg mode works great for longer tempo/threshold intervals. I usually ride a powertap wheel on the trainer and they seem to match up well, easily within a couple of percent in most cases. The power profile from erg mode is certainly artificially smooth though. I have also ridden on a computrainer a good bit and the power file that it sends out even when in erg mode still has the peaks and valleys that the trainer has to react to if you don't keep your cadence constant. The Powerbeam seems to assume a much smoother power output from the rider when in erg mode so the profile comes out very smooth, but as I said, it always seems to match up well with the powertap over several minutes.

When I first got the trainer I was using the app on an Android tablet with an Ant+ stick and I would often have communication issues. Since I got the Samsung Galaxy S5 with built in Ant+ last year, I have had no trouble connecting to the trainer to control it with the phone. I think the old tablet was the issue more so than the software, but it's something else to keep in mind.

As for reliability, I've had no problems with it since purchasing in November '13. I try to keep my trainer time down as much as possible so I've probably only used it 40 times or so, but no issues so far.

i have a powerbeam pro and love it. also has best cust service and warranty. I use it with trainer road and virtualtraining and its super easy to use.

erg mode is erg mode

I've had mine for something like 3 1/2 years. It probably has many more features than I'll ever use, since I like to keep things simple and use Spinervals DVDs for at least 80% of my indoor riding. I have a TV/DVD combo in front of my bike in the pain cave so all I do is pick the DVD, stick it in, start spinning slowly for the Joule to read the power then follow the program. I use erg occasionally when it fits with what I'm trying to achieve. The only improvement would be to have the ability to set erg mode at 5 watt increments instead of 10. I don't think the ramp-up (~10 secs) is an issue unless you are doing short intervals.

Reliability. My original Powerbeam croaked a few weeks after the one year warranty expired. Cyclops shipped me a loaner mag trainer and a shipping label for the old Powerbeam then ended up sending me a brand new Powerbeam with all the latest software and do-dads. So I would rate their customer service top notch!! The replacement model has worked flawlessly. I have a dedicated trainer wheel with trainer tire and swap bikes every 3 months or so.

I have had one for going on 3 years and have been very happy with the performance. I am not a techie type guy so bells and whistles are not important to me, so I keep it pretty simple.

I calibrate mine before every ride and it takes 2-3 minutes to do the roll down. It may take another minute or two for the Joule to pick up the power from the trainer but it is not a big deal.

I have also loaded my own "courses" based on the rough bike profiles for the races I do but I rarely ride the courses as most of the time I am doing a set workout either in ERG or set power mode.

I should say that I have had zero problems with it and it is simple to use, which for me is a big plus. I just want to get on and ride.

I have tried Computrainers but do not have a lot of experience with them, but my PERCEPTION is that they are more complicated to use overall, that may or may not be the case depending on who you ask.

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I *heart* weak, dumb ass people...

I've had a Powerbeam Pro for a little over a year. Only used Virtual Training for a little bit but I liked it. Last season I was creating workouts on the computer and syncing them up with the Joule to run in ERG mode. Worked really well.

Been using it with Trainerroad this past winter but I've got a powermeter so don't sync Trainerroad with the ERG mode.

Don't have any experience with any other trainers but I really like it.

I should add I have used the powerbeam with trainerroad using my Garmin ANT stick, worked great.

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I *heart* weak, dumb ass people...

I own two PowerBeams and have been using them for 1.5 years. I originally bought the trainer with the Virtual Training software which I use occasionally when I deiced to ride a virtual route. I bought a second PowerBeam that included the Joule 3 but ended up selling the Joule because I didn't like the way it worked. It was a little difficult to use. I have been using my PowerBeam with Peripedal software since it was in Beta and I was originally using it with a Fluid2 trainer. Once Peripedal was able to control the PowerBeam I bought my first one. I also have used TrainerRoad with my PowerBeam, but prefer Peripedal.

I'm not sure if TrainerRoad and calibrate the PowerBeam but you can do that with the Joule. Overall I've been very happy with my PowerBeams. You can also use PerfPro and I'm sure there are others.

Extremely happy w/the PBP. Brand new w/Joule GPS can be had for around $800 at some stores who give a 20% discount off of the first order, which is what I did. Never a problem with slope or erg mode (I mostly ride in ERG mode anyway).

Perhaps the only weird thing I've experienced with it is when TrainerRoad calibrates it. After a 2 min roll down it will not tell me to stop pedaling, it will just keep resetting to an extremely high number of seconds. I have to deliberately stop pedaling at 0 seconds (not a huge deal, but sometimes I wonder if it calibrated correctly...so from that point on I calibrate it via the Joule GPS). I emailed the guys at TR and they said they were working with Saris on a fix for it.

As for customer service, Saris ranks up there at the top in the tri/cycling related companies (along with Polar).

Thanks for the feedback all, really appreciated.

To any of you using the Joule GPS, how does it stack up? DCRainmaker didn't think much of the way the menu operates, I've also heard it's difficult to control the Powerbeam from? Has this been improved with Firmware upgrades?

Cheers,
Stu

I have the pbp for about 1 year now. I initially used virtual training software with it but that got boring after a while. I exclusively use TrainerRoad with it in ERG mode with my laptop.

There isn't quite as much 3rd party software support. I would like to use TrainerRoad's iPhone app but that doesn't have capabilities to control the PBP yet :(

I have a PBP that I use with the big Joule 3.0, I usually just use erg mode and do specific intervals, with this terrible winter we have been having I have been forced to do some of my longer endurance rides on the trainer as well, and I have used the Virtual Training for that and I find that it's a pretty fun and effective way to get through a long non interval based trainer ride.
As for using the Joule GPS to control the PBP, I messed with one for a couple of weeks last year, the menu is very non intuitive and a bit of a pain, but it can be done.

To the poster above that said you use Zwift, how do you do that? I have been waiting for a Zwift invite for a while now, actually emailed them last week and they told me that they haven't gotten Zwift to work with the PowerBeam yet.

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http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

I have had the PBP for a while (without the Joule) now and love it (I upgraded from a FluidOps 2 I had for about 10 years). I have tried the Virtual trainer software, but really just use TrainerRoad, as I find it to be better training. I have never had a problem with dropping a signal, and the calibration through TrainerRoad is just a quick 2 min spin, great for warm-up. Really love it, and would recommend it to anyone.

Zwift (beta) is working with the Powerbeam Pro now. It's 'slope' mode but doesn't feel even close to what I think the incline % should feel like.

If you take advantage of the Backcountry.com 20% off code through April 13th. you will drop the price from $1,000 to $800, receive a $100 store credit and get a free 11 speed Force/1170 cassette shipped to your door free in two days. Active Junky members will see a ~$100 check coming their way too. Now is the time to buy a Powerbeam Pro!

Nice! I've been waiting for that. My PBP's been great -- I use it with TR in erg mode, set it and forget it. Looking forward to getting on Zwift!

Freaking awesome trainers. No complaints. I work at a store that has a fleet of Tacx trainers-which are constantly breaking off plastic pieces. been riding mine Powerbeam two years and never had a single problem in any way. Highly recommend!

Returned my 2nd replacement Kickr (chronic issues with power readings even after manual belt tension fixes, dropped bluetooth connections...) and thinking of giving this thing a go. Found some complaints about the bluetooth version - seems like ANT+ works just fine for folks? I'll be using it with TrainerRoad in ERG, and Bluetooth would be nice to be able to use with the phone as well as with the laptop, but I'd rather get one that works well and just use the laptop if I have to:)

So I had (technically still "have" since I never sold it) the bluetooth version. When it worked, it worked wonderfully. My residence is a wireless black hole though (WiFi, Verizon, basically nothing works). What I ended up doing was getting an 8' usb cable and a usb bluetooth smart dongle (you can email saris for what they recommend) and putting the dongle right next to the trainer. I still got dropouts at home but it was rock solid while on the road (I spend a fair amount of time traveling fwiw).

Ended up shelling out for a Computrainer which I'm very happy with :)

I can't comment on the Bluetooth but I
have used it without issue at all with ant+
connected to my laptop. I use virtual training
but I'm sure it would work just as
Well with trainer road etc..

I have the PBP ant+ model. It's worked flawlessly for 1.5 years already. I use it with trainerroad, virtual training, and now with zwift.

If it broke on me I would get another one without hesitation. Though I would consider the Bluetooth version instead. I think that's the new standard.

Also, you can get a PBP for $800 on sake.

Like I said in post #3

You'll be paying for the software through a subscription service as long as you are using that trainer.

If you are OK with spending $1K and not being able to use it unless you continue paying then maybe it's for you.

jaretj

I actually do the bulk of my training in erg mode using the joule.
and while I would agree with you that computrainer includes a nice
amount of free software, but at the same time it's also almost double the price.