Well I can report on the Snap. Picked one up from REI for a song ($530) and was excited to use it with Zwift. I am on week 5 of their FTP build, previously used a KK Road Machine and have my Quarq for power. I paired the Snap in Zwift and used my Quarq as the power source. The resistance changes are very slow. I still have to shift going from large gapo intervals (130 watts to 215 watts) as I cannot stay in one gear and have the unit apply the correct resistance. Even which shifting gears to get close tot he right wattage, it takes abotu a minute to adjust. Once its there its great about holding the right amount of resistance.

I then tried to see if just using the Snap for wattage. I unpaired the Quarq, used the Kickr app to do a spin down but had my garmin to show my wattage on the Quarq so I could compare. Zwift w/ Kickr wattage was about 40 watts high.

I then tried to see what it would be like on TrainRoad. Using my quarq as the power source, the Snap kept the right resisitence, quicker to adjust in TR than Zwift, but when going from 150 watts to a block of 250 watts the Kickr kept applying resistance until I couldn't turn the pedals anymore. I then tried to use just the Kickr as the power source and that worked ok, but still over reported wattage from the quarq.

At this point I'll give it another ride tomorrow but I think its going back to REI. I was hoping I could stay in one gear and pedal away and the combo of Kickr and Quarq would keep the prescribed wattage but its just not there for me. I might try a Vortex, but most likely stay with the KK and my Quarq.

I should add, Kickr Snap very easy to set up, easy to update the firmware. Its heavy! Almost twice as heavy as the KK and just as quiet.

As much of a bummer as it is, I suppose I am glad that I'm not the only one that is seeing pretty high error on the SNAP. At least I assume your 40W difference is > 10% error for whatever power you were trying to hold.

When it comes to responsiveness I feel like mine is reasonable. I don't know if I did as large of steps as you are mentioning, but I really think that I did.... and felt like I was pretty much on the new resistance within 10 seconds. That's the entire ramp up and looking stable, probably more like 6 seconds to be really close to where it settled.

My experience with the Vortex Smart seems to be a little better than your experience with the SNAP.

Resistance changes in trainerroad are reasonably fast (few seconds), giving some time to ramp up the effort.

Getting the resistance sync'd between your Quarq and Snap just take a little fiddling. If your snap is reading high, you should add contact pressure from the roller to the rear wheel. The accuracy of power readings from these types of trainers are sensitive to this contact pressure.

Zwift is an interesting experience. The resistance adjustment in the Vortex seems to lag a few seconds when starting a climb, but nothing too ridiculous. Trying to get in, and stay in, a draft zone is quite the learning experience (I've heard someone compare the process like docking a shuttle at the international space station. ...and I agree!). The process of drafting is made even more difficult when I have my PM controlling resistance as the power output is nowhere near as smooth as using the output from the trainer.

The Vortex is lighter than the KK, but with no noticeable loss of 'sturdiness'. The vortex is also noticeably quieter than the KK (from my memory). I don't have a direct comparison between the snap and vortex.

One of the big benefits of the Vortex is that you can get it in the ~$300 range if you buy it from the German on-line sellers. While substantially cheaper, the downside is that returns / service would be very costly.

My friend who recently got a Snap is having the same issue. Basically, if you don't immediately attack into the interval, you get stuck into a feedback loop with the resistance. I'm wondering if this is a Snap/TR issue or just a problem with ERG training in general. I like the idea of not having to hunt for gears on the trainer, but the way it's implemented sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Thats what its feeling like for me. I wanted a smart trainer so I could just pick a workout, stay in gear and go, letting the unit adjust resilience using my Quarq are the power source. I think if I didn't have a power meter and know my zones and what 150/ 200/ 250 watts feels like maybe using a Kickr or Tacx would be great, but trying to dial in what I know to be my wattages is seemly more trouble than its worth. I think, for me, smart trainers and the corresponding apps might be a year or so away from being usable.

Rode Zwift today (week 6 FTP Build) and I was able to stay in one gear for the power blocks (130-180watts) Its not perfect be workable. I tried again with TR and it will be ok at a fixed wattage but if there is a big jump (say 150 watt warm up then a jump to a 60 sec 250 watt block) the resistance again will grab and keep grabbing beyond the 250 watts until I can't pedal any longer.

ERG sounds promising and maybe in a year or so the units/ firmware/ apps will all play nice and smooth but again not there yet for my needs.

I will say just riding around Zwift in ERG (non-workout mode) the resistance is pretty quick and engaging hitting the hills and downhills.

anthonypat, davetopia-
I had the same problem when I recently tried a Snap. I could maintain steady watts, but as soon as there was a big jump in power (or I fatigued and slowed cadence) it would get stuck in some resistance loop and lock up. Super annoying. I ended up getting a good deal on a original Kickr and tested it out. Night and Day. The Kickr is awesome. Smooth transitions even to big power intervals. I'm not sure if we got a defective batch of Snaps, or if there is something inherently inferior to the resistance control in the Snaps.

good to hear. I'm in a small apartment so space is an issue, otherwise I would prefer an original Kickr.

I wish I knew if its a problem with the units, the connections to the apps or the apps themselves. In any event I don't have the time to devote troubleshooting other folk's products.

Enjoy your Kickr, I'll be kick(r)ing it old school on the analog trainer.

Thanks for the N+2, guys. My fluid2 got sent off to Saris over the weekend with a leaky seal and I was debating pulling the trigger on a Snap at the new price. Might save my money for a regular Kickr now.

I just got the Snap and experienced the same issue, the surge in resistance. It's extremely annoying. I think it's an issue with TR more than the Snap. I emailed TR support. Let's see what they say.

Just got a Snap last week and having the exact same problems reported here. In TR with the Snap controlling the power its under-reporting by about 40 watts with my P2max (P2Max is 40 watts higher than what the Snap is saying). With the PM controlling the resistance any big jump in power results in a huge lag of up to 90 seconds where the power spikes way up above the interval's level (at 250 watts i was close to 300). After that it seems to adjust and come back down to the right level, but also not what i was expecting from the unit. I've also had a few brick wall scenarios where I have to stop pedaling completely and let it adjust before starting back up. Oh the joys of new products.

I emailed Trainerroad about it last night and haven't heard back from them yet. I've also called Wahoo on it and they had me upgrade the firmware to v.2.0.28. They also said to try it using their wahoo fitness app and see if the Snap "locks up" as well or not in order to rule out the application control (TR) for the actual unit. He said if its the unit, then they will RMA a new one. I'll try it out tonight and see.

Cool, thanks, was that firmware just released? I didnt see it available on Saturday when I used the Fitness app. Is that how you upgrade it?

2.0.28 is latest as of now, but was released a few weeks ago I think (mine installed on first ride roughly 2 weeks ago, so it was out at that time)

Wondering if anyone got any information on this from TR or Wahoo.

Wahoo is sending me a new SNAP. I tried doing the advanced spindown in the Fitness app, but that didnt really seem to change anything. I had a brick wall using the Fitness app after doing the advanced spindown as well.

Sorry. Been busy. Last night I just used the Wahoo fitness app on my ipad and same result. I just got off the phone with Wahoo and they had me go through a bunch of Advanced spindowns via the ipad app. And it seemed to help but the Wattage is still off big time between my power2max PM and the readings from the snap. So at this point, i'm RMAing my unit for another unit. Hopefully that will do the trick. Maybe I just got a bad apple. I'll post again once I get the replacement unit.

Hi, any update? I'm interested in purchasing the snap for rain and cold weather days.

Thank you