I'm currently testing the Flux. I haven't seen issues so far, but for one reason or another, Tacx seems to have quality control issues in batches. This was evident with the Neo, and I'm starting to see a bit of talk on the Flux.

I'd say the steal for direct drive Smart Trainers right now is the Elite Direto for the average user.

As far as I know, under 1K there's only the Flux and the Elite Direto.
The Direto has got great reviews, and Ray Maker has put it ahead on the "mid-high" category: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...ns.html#mid-high-end

I've a Direto and so far I'm quite pleased with it, now let's see how's the reliability, I think the first batch of the Flux had issues.

Check out DCRainmaker's review: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...er-depth-review.html

At the end of his review, he added an update on manufacturing issues dated January 2017. Supposedly, the issue has been resolved, but you never know.

I got my Flux last week, and so far so good, with a few hours on it thus far. The Quality issues were with the first batches shipped out, those have long since been resolved, so it's unlikely that you'll get a Lemon. The Direto reviews well, and is really the only other DD option at that price point, before shelling out a couple extra hundred bucks to get into the Kickr ballpark. I went with the Flux, because I could get a great deal on it through a sponsor, versus paying full price for a Direto. The flux was incredibly easy to put together and to set up, it is heavy and awkward to carry, so it's not ideal for moving around a lot (that said, I store mine in my Harry Potter closet with the bikes, and then move it into a spare room when I'm riding). It's easy to set-up using the smart phone app (for updating firmware and for calibration). I got the upgrade smart kit as well, since I needed the Ant+ USB dongle, and got the Tacx trainer software which is solid (it's a bit slow to install, since the TTS 4 software was created in 2012, so there are many updates that it has to install, and if you have problems with it accepting your license code, really look at it closely, the font is brutal, and it kept rejecting mine, until I realized that there was a subtle difference in characters, and I was trying to put in some lower case Ls as 1s, once I figured that out, it was fine (I submitted a ticket through their support system, had a response in under 24hrs on the weekend, although I had figured out the problem already, so when they responded they noted that they saw that I was able to resolve it on my own, and would close the request...), and also have been using it on Zwift without any issues. It's very quiet (with a fan going, the fan is louder, and the drivetrain makes for most of the noise) as well, which is nice with others around... I won't bother with Trainerroad, because I'm fine with building my own workouts in the Tacx software.