Just depends on preference really no right or wrong answer. I switched from a Kickr Snap to the Kickr V2 this past Thanksgiving due to a couple of reasons. It was that I had a separate rim cassette tube and tire just for the Snap which wore down heated up and caused inaccurate readings compared to the last time if the psi wasn't the same. So those extra worries helped me make the switch. I can't say that it feels any different as far as road feel but it is smoother and easier to calibrate and more accurate than the Snap. It does have a coasting feel to it for short breaks to switch positions if need be that a tire mounted trainer would just slow down rapidly.

They are smooth, quite, more stable, and you don't need to worry about having a dedicated wheel/tire/skewer combo. If the cost isn't a huge obstacle, then they are great.

My question would be why you need a trainer with an integrated power meter if cost is a big factor? Just use your power meter on a 100$ dumb trainer, which is what I do. Intervals are just wattage and time, so I set a lap timer, 3 second power, and average lap power on my Garmin and have at it. It is a miserable way to spend an hour compared to the 3 or 4 times a year I use a Kickr at a training studio, but it gets the job done.

Essentially this. I played around with some smart trainers. And I use a Kickr when I go to a training studio. But after dicking around for a while with these things, and fighting the trainers sometimes, I discovered that all the expensive trainer was doing was "shifting" for me. I wondered why I had spent all this money to essentially avoid having to shift my bike manually for the intervals. I already have a power meter on the bike, and I figured I could just as easily pay attention to the interval timing and shift the bike myself. I returned the smart trainer and just went back to my old setup of dumb trainer + power meter. That also eliminated all the headache I had over correlating my power meter's reported data vs the smart trainer's reported data.

I don't find it miserable though. I learned that I just prefer to do this all manually. I also find the Kickr to be a bit too cruel in how fast it clamps you down when you slightly fall off the prescribed power. I don't find that feature very useful.

I agree as well, I still have a KICKR which I bought before I got my PowerTap P1 pedals. I love the KICKR and it definitely makes training indoors more enjoyable if you add Zwift or TrainerRoad but nowadays, unless I am doing a long ride, I generally just snap onto the $100 trainer that we have and use that with my pedals and the Garmin. In retrospect I should have just got the P1's ages ago and stuck with the cheap trainer I have.

And as far as the whole having a different wheel / tire for trainer use goes, I think this is a non-issue. I just use my regular wheels, compared to the rest of the equipment we're talking about here tires are practically free and any wear on the cassette would happen if you were outside anyway.

Direct drive trainers are definitely substantially quieter though so if that's a big concern then definitely consider getting the KICKR/Neo or whatever.

I am still on an old KK trainer with my powertap PM. I think I would be more interested in getting a direct drive or power based trainer if I knew it was accurate. I have read that some are hit or miss so I would much rather keep my cheap trainer and use the power meter I have than buy an expensive trainer that might read the same as my power meter.

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