I'm also curious on this...

I'm considering going from a Computrainer to a new Direct Drive Trainer. The CT works fine and has been an absolute tank since...2004 (damn I'm old).

My biggest concern is having it break after 2 years of use.

I just tried to see the end price and the 20% off code wouldn't work on the trainer.

Just logged into REI website and coupon they sent me works fine, took 20 percent off wahoo core.

Sorry I thought you meant an additional 20% off the Saris. Scanning instead of reading....

I put the Saris H3 at the top of my trainer list.

this could tip the balance and make me invest in a direct drive trainer.

can't decide if i dislike indoor training because my wheel-on trainer smart-trainer sucks the fun out of it, or i will dislike it no matter what set-up i have.

I have the original Hammer and it still runs like new after exclusively training on it for IMs for the past 2 years. It's a tank and I expect most units will last far longer than 2 years even with serious riding mileage

Bump because I'd be interested in this as well. Seems like DC Rainmaker considers the Saris H3 in a higher "tier" of trainers than the core (competing against the Kickr and Neo), so it's interesting that it's only $30 more with the ongoing sales than the Core.

I don't anticipate myself ever purchasing the Climb, so does anybody know if there's any other advantage the Core has over the H3?

The H3 is $600 @ clever training with vip membership.

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“Read the transcript.”

Looks like they fixed their mistake. I have vip and can’t get price lower than $750

Just wondering, does the H3 still have issues with power accuracy at higher flywheel speeds? Or has this been fixed with a firmware update? If it still has the issue, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a nice big flywheel?

Is my name dcrainmaker?

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“Read the transcript.”

Do you see your name in my reply? Open your eyes.

At least from DCR's review, accuracy was very good for H3 across the board. I think it was earlier versions of this unit that had that problem. He did find problems with cadence, the latest firmware claims cadence improvement but I've not verified it.

my h3....power seems to vary depending on cadence and power level vs the quarq I compare it to. most noticeable when grade shifts and then get a rather high power number momentarily. seems at lower end of my power range(low 200s) the h3 seems to read high vs at 270+ where it seems to read a tad low(as expected with drivetrain losses) in general, good enough for my use. I am on unit #2 as first one started to sound like a hammer after 3rd ride. not sure why I always manage to find the bad one no matter what I buy

If you're ok with a reconditioned Kickr Core, they're going for $550 on Wahoo's site for Black Friday. Might sway your decision that way.

https://www.wahoofitness.com/...r-reconditioned-euuk

Thanks. I'm actually returning a Core, and just ordered the H3 at a decent discount. Fingers crossed it works well.

SBRcanuck wrote:

Just wondering, does the H3 still have issues with power accuracy at higher flywheel speeds? Or has this been fixed with a firmware update? If it still has the issue, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a nice big flywheel?

Lama Lab Test results as at Nov 8th 2019.

Data: https://analyze.dcrainmaker.com/...77-651c-29c53cf17fa2


Observations:
AssiomaDUO | QuarqDZero | H3 (all latest firmware)

Notes:
1. H3 ~10W low in simulated gradient efforts. 7:50-9:50, 42:50 - 43:23.
2. ERG Flywheel tests at 225W 90rpm (stepping through gears) indicates issues with the H3 at flywheel speeds >50km/h. 48:10-48:45
3. Still major issues with cadence in SIM mode with frequent gradient changes.

In short, the issues I encountered with power/accuracy of the H3 still exist as of the latest public firmware on Nov 8th.

There is a beta firmware that's said to improve power at higher flywheel speeds and the cadence issue. If they can address those then it'll go a long way in making this trainer a good buy. I'll perform another test with this fw when I have the chance.

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Our Zwift team, Indoor Specialist, is working closely with Saris utilizing a ton of different power meters (our team has just about every type of PM to compare to). Largely focused on racing and sim-mode on the Saris H3. I think you'll find the most recent firmware update to be better than your Nov 8th testing as far power over 50km/h flywheel speeds goes. However, we're still seeing ~3% over-reading on big-gear sprints.
My most recent comparison file: SRM / Powertap P1 / Saris H3 comparison

Considering the history of the Hammer (version 1 early firmware especially), the H3's accuracy is nearing the pointy end for high-end smart trainers at a significantly lower price than competitors. Hopefully the cadence issues in Sim mode and the over-reading in sprints will improve with some more refinement this winter. We'll be working closely with Saris to make sure that happens!

Just bought an H3 at 20% off black friday sale. My first smart trainer.
Was really put off by all the horror stories about Kickr reliability.

A big selling point for me on the H3 was being able to use the trainer in headless mode.
Turn it on and it's a smart "dumb" trainer power curve. Sometimes you just wanna get on and go.

I did a somewhat informal comparison between my relatively new Quarq Dzero and my new H3 on the Zwift Sand & Sequoias course. The H3 was calibrated after 10 minutes of riding using the Saris app, and it's been updated with the latest firmware. Overall, power accuracy of the H3 was significantly better than I expected. I was just doing the workout I planned and didn't do any sprints, or try to determine accuracy at structured high intensity intervals.

Average power was exactly the same. Power for all various intervals from 1 hour to 15 seconds was exactly the same for almost all of them, except for a couple of 1-2 watt differences. Only large difference for all the time intervals was for one second, where the H3 read 23 watts lower on my very low max of 331 on this ride. However, I don't put a lot of stake in 1 second power captured in two different ways. The mean max power curve looked extremely close until some divergence at 3 seconds but again I don't think intervals that short are meaningful.

My only concern from scanning a comparison of the power traces in Golden Cheetah was a handful of one second power dropouts on the H3 on the Titan's grove rollers, but they weren't numerous enough to have much of any effect on the data.

Cadence is still imperfect, but appears to have improved somewhat from DCR's review. Average cadence was 2 rpm lower on the H3, but there were quite a few cadence dropouts on the Titan's grove rollers. Personally, I don't pay much attention to cadence but if it's important to you I'd use a cadence sensor.

We also have a Computrainer and a Kickr Snap, both wheel-on trainers. The Computrainer isn't too bad, but the H3 is considerably more accurate. The Snap needs careful calibration or it generates very inaccurate numbers, 10-20% off. Even with good calibration it's the least accurate of the three, so we always use a power meter as the power source with the Snap.

I expect I'll still use the Quarq as my power source but it's nice to know that if I don't use it I'd still be getting good data out of the H3. Given I got the really low price on this unit, I'm happy.

LOL...I think Saris has missed the marketing boat on this one.

So they have a trainer that over-reports power on sprints but is pretty accurate for most common solo training situations?

And they are trying to sell this trainer to Zwift users?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! :)

Well...I have a core from last year and super happy with it. Was also very happy wahoo gave it cadence with a firmware update; I was just about to spend time figuring out how to attach my garmin cadence sensor to my trainer bike after I stopped using those kinds of sensors when I got a power meter.

Dude, I hate to break it to you but in DCR's review the Core overshot the sprints as well, and by more than the rather minimal 3% cited above.

The good news is that all of these smart trainers are gradually getting more accurate as time goes on. Hopefully Saris will continue to improve this unit through firmware updates.

We'll see how the H3 holds up. Our Computrainer is still going strong after a decade or so. Our Snap didn't make it 6 months before being replaced and certainly sounds like Wahoo had a dumpster fire going last year with returns. I'm hoping this makes it through many years of training.

Not exactly the comparison you looked for, but Taren published this video that may help

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