I’m about to pull the trigger on a Kinetic Road Machine and am trying to understand the benefits of going with the new “Smart” model.
If you have Garmin sensors on your bike, is there additional benefit to the Kinetic Smart component (for Trainer Road, Zwift, etc.)?
It’s only $50 more to upgrade at the time of purchase vs. $100+ when you do so after market, but would love to understand the difference from users. Thanks.
I think the benefit is it’s more accurate than the estimated curve’s used in Trainer Road, etc because it’s taking a direct reading from the trainer itself rather than an estimation off of wheel speed and relying on the same set up every time - DC Rainmaker did a review of the new trainer lineup and there are some comments in there indicating as much. I personally bought the inRide sensor a few months ago to add to the Rock N Roll I already had and am happy with it. It reads VERY close to my Power 2 Max, which is key for me as I ride my road bike most of the time on the trainer which does not have a power meter. If I had to buy a new trainer, I’d get a KK “smart” one, for less than $100 extra, it’s a no brainer.
As for the inRide itself, I have no complaints at all other than the battery life is very short. I think all of the complaints about signal drop outs, etc were when KK first introduced the inRide several years ago and are bugs that have been worked out.
Get it if you plan on using an iPad or iPhone for your training. These devices do not have ANT+ built in and require a dongle to get the functionality. Apart from being cumbersome they are not all created equally (garmin vs wahoo) and most have the old non-lightening connector which means you’ll also have to purchase a converter.
This simply give you a good Bluetooth signal from the trainer to provide you with virtual power within your training apps (Trainer Road, CycleOps Virtual Training, Zwift (if your PC has bluetooth)