I have both Powertap P1 pedals on my bike and a Tacx Neo (with PM built-in).

If I could do it again I probably wouldn't have bothered with the P1s... a power meter isn't as important in a race as I had expected (at least not at my skill level or yours). I rarely monitor my power during a race because of all the different variables mentioned above. The trainer however has led to huge gains... and it will be a lot cheaper than buying a separate PM which will allow you to buy a better trainer.

If you're starting out invest in a decent smart trainer (with PM) to build up your power and then in a few years once you've started plateauing you can revisit a PM for your bike.

I have a direct drive smart trainer, wheel on dumb trainer and vector 3 power meters and I have messed around on a Wahoo kickr Snap. The Kickr Snap is the only bad option but a something like the Kickr Core would work.

My experience is that the power meter plus dumb trainer gets you ~90% of the way to a direct drive smart trainer. The ability to race with power often more than makes up for this gap but its a bit personal as to how you race. Something like the Snap only gets you like 80% of the way to a direct drive trainer. Yeah it may have erg mode but the power readings are poor which limits the whole purpose of a smart trainer. Either spend the extra money to get something like the Kickr Core or buy a PM.

That was my guess. Curious on the math for $700. I'm in the market for something other than powertap wheels and pedals seem to be the best option for me.

Have a buddy that works for Garmin and I am able to use his employee discount (it is substantial) and had a used Cycleops fluid power pro dumb trainer lined up, total cost was just under $700

That's great!

There has been some great advice in this thread that had me considering things that I hadn't thought of but I ended up going with the Elite Direto smart trainer and I feel it will be a game changer. It came down to enjoying the time in the saddle and last year I did a few rides on Zwift with a dumb trainer and came away wondering what all the fuss was about. Doing it with the Direto a couple times now has made me look forward to riding in the pain cave (crazy I know). After learning to ride with power over the winter I will decide if it will benefit me enough to buy some pedals

Great to hear it

Thanks for the update

Makes me think more about it

Have you thought about testing trainer road to compare to Zwift?

I have not done TR but plan to look into it. My buddy that rides his bike outside only when he races has both Zwift and TR and mainly rides Zwift where he imports most of his workouts to