that may well be true. it could be that his entire post is exactly accurate. or not. it's immaterial. it just can't be the first post. when we start judging first posts by their accuracy, then we lose our prohibition on trial-by-internet. my main interest isn't wahoo, or garmin, or the fidelity of heart rate monitors. it's the health of the community. it's like spam. about half of all new user accounts here are spam. i catch most of them. if i don't catch them at the point of new account registration, i hope to catch them when they post. but you occasionally see them. should i allow all the spammers, because occasionally there's a spam you might find useful? we can either judge the fidelity of the each new first post on its merits, or we can just say: no spammers; and no setting up an account to exercise scratch your trial-by-internet itch.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Hijacking this thread a little bit. I have a Neo2 (not T). And my biggest problem is that one of the bikes I'd like to use on it, essentially doesn't fit because of clearance issues. It's a 58cm Cervelo NP3, and the left chain stay contacts the trainer body. Just barely, but enough to squeak when I ride - I'm just not going to use it on that trainer. Also, I'm getting the annoying slippage at high wattage, particularly at low cadence, and I'm a low cadence type.

Does the Kickr have any such clearance issues?

I totally agree, but if that’s what you took from that poster’s point—or Dan’s response—you were missing the point. He wasn’t just pointing out the problem of poor HR straps that we likely have all experienced. He was suggesting the overall demise of an entire brand based on the opinion of a (likely) disgruntled employee in his first, or one of his first posts. Even against that backdrop, At first, I thought Dan’s response was a bit strong, but completely appreciate his perspective in having to deal with this crap/“protecting” us from all the behind the scenes stuff about which we are blissfully ignorant but allow this forum to function at a high level. For that, we owe him our gratitude.

I own a Neo 2 (not a 2T). I have to say, that video resonates. I'll grant you, he's a bit over-the-top with the "Time Bomb" thing but the entirety of that video is at least enough to convince me to not to dare upgrading my Neo 2 firmware for a while.

Part of the reason I bought my Neo 2 is that I really had an impression of TACX as a top-notch quality company. After 16+ years of using Garmin products, I've long had an impression of them as... significantly less than that. I did not even realize that Garmin had bought TACX.

Whatever you think about the guy in this video, he knows his stuff.

To update my earlier post, it appears Garmin has yanked the anticipated Neo 2T sale at least until the end of the year. I’ll be curious to see how much, if at all, trainers get discounted for BF. On the one hand, people have come to expect it. On the other, there’s a clear shortage and big demand worldwide. So, if they want to take advantage of that situation, the market would probably allow them to do so, although there may be other reputations repercussions for doing that.


As to the video, like I said, it’s information to consider. I did give the video some thought, as well as other reviews out there. EVery brand has some issues. After considering all the pros/cons, availability and pricing, I ended up buying a Neo 2T. Like every purchase like this, at this point, all I can do is cross my fingers and hope it works out for me. The cycleops fluid trainer I am coming from had years of use and countless miles and worked as well at the end as when I purchased at a price of maybe $200ish. I do wonder, or at least hope, that in 2-3 years I still feel like I upgraded with my $1000+ purchase.

are you saying the NEO 2T has been pulled from the market, and is not for sale? because i tallked to garmin yesterday and they said that they're selling it right now.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Oh geeez, no, sorry if my post came across that way! In fact, I just received mine yesterday!! I was referring to a holiday "sale" like a promotion or discount that was anticipated to be forthcoming and was recently told by Garmin that it will no longer be offering that promotion at least through the end of the year. Maybe, promotions will still be available through retailers. I don't know. I just know that demand is way up and supply is down. So, personally, I just decided to buy mine now rather than hope (1) for a holiday discount and (2) the product remains available when I try to take advantage of the discount.

okay. thx. i traded a number of emails with garmin yesterday. i expressed to them what appears to me a janky way that information about tacx gets information out. it seems we're all getting it from drew (tacx faqx), but thru the prism of garmin disgruntlement. drew is very ass-chapped about the sale to garmin, and he complains of the garmin "wall of silence" when from my perspective it's always been the tacx wall of silence. but this is, i presume, because i have a relationship with garmin and never could generate one with tacx, as hard as i tried, and drew has a relationship with tacx and never developed one with garmin. but i don't know. what i do know is that there ought to be a more transparent understanding of how to successfully own a product.

that said, i just this morning was given an unsolicited recitation from a dear colleague on a transaction involving a 2017 kickr that sounds like you couldn't switched the name to NEO. bearings. out of warranty. unable to change. crash replacement price on a new kickr. so, this appears just the state of things, and i think we probably need to recognize both the failings, and the successes, of our big industry players, rather than deciding to champion one brand to the exclusion of the other.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Garmin_HRMs_easily_breaks_P7348177/?search_string=garmin%20hrm#p7348177


It's the version(s) with the electronics permanently built into the strap, as opposed to the one where the electronics pod was connected with press-studs. To change the battery of the ones that quite a few people (not all) have struggled with you take off the rubber oval (red, yellow, blue) and then unscrew.


Anyway, back to the (semi) OP. I've 2 of the original NEOs, one used heavily for last 3 years, the other less so (one mine, one my wife's no judgement ;-) ) No issues (touch wood).


Historically I've suffered from the Tacx 'support' as I was the owner of an original Tacx I-magic. More calories lost swearing at trying to get the software to talk to the trainer than I ever expended riding around the velodrome or RLV courses.

Equally, in NZ and with support from Garmin AU then mostly I've found it very frustrating (2.5 months for a warranty HRM-run strap, 4 months to refund a double charge for $300 of spare strap and the initial HRM-run). However, to be fair, then on one occasion they did go to a good place when they posted the replacement FR935 due to the very common broken altimeter and cracked optical HR on receipt of the tracking number of the one I posted back. Ie I was only without a watch for a single overnight.


As said, pretty much all manufacturers have products with systematic flaws, or one off device issues. The key is the customer service when you need to call on it. Quarq is an example of that. Lots of people had issues, especially when they've dropped a chain onto inside of the chainring, in past waterproof issues on the early models. But boy did they put it right in a reassuring way. And I LOVE that they have a phone number, an email address and reply with a name that means you can follow up with that individual.


So both trainers will get you fitter. Both have added features on the fringe. Neither is 'best'.

I can't speak for garmin but Wahoo have outstanding customer service. I've had three issues, two with a kickr during the infamous Vietnam handover and once with a Tickr, each time they replaced the products with brand new ones without hesitation or any back and forth, two of which were technicaly outside of warranty.

And for this reason I will continue to buy Wahoo products. I HATE when you have to get aggressive with companies to get them to do the right thing by their customers, when you have a company that shows they actually care and replace items without the normal back and forth agro it makes a HUGE difference.

Is Wahoo Climb compatible with Tacx Neo?

No it is not. The climb needs to connect directly to the kickr unit itself to work unfortunately

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Strava