Here's my argument, so bear with me.

Go with a USED CompuTrainer. Here's why...

The CompuTrainer is a robust, if obsolete design, but it WORKS. Ignore the OEM software, and get a copy of PerfPro or SufferFest or even Golden Cheetah, and start training. The RM1 Real Course Videos are HUMONGOUS, and are NOT that great. Furthermore, the companion software for them is hard to read, clunky, and you still end up believing that your speed can be duplicated out in the real world. It can't. In fact, you'll probably be faster out in the real world, for reasons I can explain separately.

But the system is NOT worth $1600. Get a used one - they haven't really, truly been updated since the 90's, and honestly, the firmware works well enough that you can use them with ErgVideo, PerfPro, et al, and ignore the OEM stuff. The money you save, you can invest in better videos or coaching.

MY #1 problem with Kickr is this - the ramp up to load for shorter intervals takes WAY TOO LONG, like 15-25 seconds. On a CT, if you're doing load-based intervals, the response time is 2-3 seconds. For this reason and this reason alone, a USED CT is worth the investment.

Good luck no matter what your decision, but this is my $.02, and I say this having had over 20 years of frustration with RacerMate management and owners.

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Richard Wharton, USAC L1 since 1997.
Technology, Application, Attention, Success
http://www.onlinebikecoach.com, http://www.cyclingcenterdallas.com
#whareagle, #leavewithnothingleft, #knowyournumbers, #numbersdontlie

Computrainer: bulletproof; easy to set up; works like a charm with the ever evolving Trainerroad.

Seems odd since I don't need a PM for my Kickr. Best part is I just jump on and ride and don't have to worry about playing around to get it to work.

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Twitter@Forsey37

My kickr works great and only cost me $900 Canadian. I use mine all the time and works fine with TrainerRoad. The only difference is when using it with the iPad it won't give you the 3 second count down when the next interval is starting. Although they are planning adding this feature soon. I also watch ITU TriathlonLIVE with TrainerRoad. The only thing I haven't been able to do with it is have Zwift and TrainerRoad on the same screen. So I Zwift on my monitor and TrainerRoad on the iPad.

I also have a Kurt Kinetic that works great as well.

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Twitter@Forsey37

seems odd since I don't need a PM for my CT. Best part is I jump on and ride and don't have to worry about about playing around to get it to work.

oh yeah, I forgot about the 20 seconds I lose having to calibrate the CT which I have set for the 9 min mark.

Kickr or CT, all good either way

I've got a CT which I love.... I dislike all the extra cables, and I popped a tube the other day on it, but otherwise, it's been really good.

If I travel somewhere (inlaws for xmas, for instance) and wanted to bring it along, it'd be a nightmare to pack up all the wires, etc... So that could be a consideration for some.

There is not much love for the PowerBeam Pro on here.. seems CT or Kickr and that's it. Any thoughts as to why? Good compromise between the two systems, $100 less than a Kickr and a head unit that is pretty slick.

The wires are a mess to travel with, I'll concede that as I've been traveling a lot with my CT lately. I genuinely don't know why the PowerBeam Pro doesn't get more love. The bonus of that trainer is that you can take it with you to a TT to warmup as it functions like a normal fluid/mag trainer when you don't have power.

I didn't realize that... cool feature! I think DCRainmaker said that the accuacy was about 5%.... versus 1-3% for the other two... perhaps that's a reason?

I didn't realize it was that inaccurate. That would be a good reason but, honestly, that seems suspiciously inaccurate.

Whareagle wrote:

MY #1 problem with Kickr is this - the ramp up to load for shorter intervals takes WAY TOO LONG, like 15-25 seconds. On a CT, if you're doing load-based intervals, the response time is 2-3 seconds. For this reason and this reason alone, a USED CT is worth the investment.

15-25 seconds? Is that your experience? Mine takes about 3 seconds to hit full power for a short interval. Look at my file from Tuesday, and zoom in on the three short sprints during the warmup. You'll see that it takes about 3 seconds to go from 150W to 525W.

https://www.strava.com/activities/312492321/overview

2% for the Kickr, 2.5% for the CT and 5% for the PBP

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/...=4311,4312,4314,4315

You can say what you want to... but my KICKR was WAY OFF.

People who train with power know what 225 (or any given power) watts FEELS like ROUGHLY. On my KICKR it was way too easy.

I used my SRM and the Garmin to confirm the discrepancy. Yes... my SRM might be off a bit, but I recalculated my slope to confirm accuracy.

I now use PerfPro to control my SRM to control my KICKR... and the numbers are dead on in terms of interval average power.

The KICKR alone was easily 30-40 watts off. If someone can't tell the difference between 225 and 185... they have a problem.

Quote:

If you don't already have a PM, get one and then get a trainer and subscribe.

+1

Yup... and I also think that those people without a PM probably wouldn't care anyway. It's just the psychos like me (and maybe you)... who make a big deal about it.

I have a friend I ride with... a pretty strong guy (with no external PM)... called him a few months ago to tell him my KICKR was way off and that his might be too. He said "So what... Im still riding hard and improving." :)

I agree with this. I did structured workouts throughout the winter on my kickr, and it would ramp from one wattage to another within a couple seconds (though sometimes it seemed to miss the "change wattage" command). I think I've heard that the new "slave to a separate ANT+ PM" feature might be a bit slow though. One crazy option in this case might be to try moving your kickr closer to your PC or tablet that is sending the commands, in case they're getting missed.

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

Perhaps they've fixed it with a recent firmware update, but IMHO, I've had about six clients globally who owned them, and we all ended up switching back to CT's because the Kickr's could not keep up with short-intervals, Tabata's being the sort of prime example. The Kickr's basically allowed them to 'cheat' the workout, at speed and cadence values that were unrealistic. We made the folks in Georgia aware of this, they acknowledged it, but they deferred on the time for possible updates or fixes.

We also had several that were NOT accurate. We tested against P2M's, Quarqs, and Vectors, and it was painfully obvious that the Kickr's needed a better calibration system, and suffered watt-drift over the hour.

The CompuTrainer is no beauty. I hate the stand, the controller is hard to read and painfully obsolete, but the load generator just plain works, and they DO have a decent recalibration/refurb system at RacerMate.

Finally, if you have a CT that you're convinced just isn't reading right, IM or email me off-list, and I'll show you the manual potentiometer you can tweak to get the slope adjusted for your personal accuracy or goals.

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Richard Wharton, USAC L1 since 1997.
Technology, Application, Attention, Success
http://www.onlinebikecoach.com, http://www.cyclingcenterdallas.com
#whareagle, #leavewithnothingleft, #knowyournumbers, #numbersdontlie