I will continue to play around and see if I can get someone reasonable. The problem is of using Stages is that I would like a semi-permanent set up with the Vortex with one of my bikes that I don’t use much, and the Stages is not on that bike. I have a pretty good idea on what normally my power output is, and Vortex was making me feel like superman 
Ah yes, the 3rd approach is to use the Vortex #'s and crush all of our Zwift dreams!
Not sure what your semi-permanent bike is, but it might be worth your while to change the crank to a less expensive 105 or Tiagra crank on it (can likely get it for <$100 from the UK websites) on your frame.
Have fun.
Just realized an additional quirk of the Vortex. While controlling it through the Tacx Training app on my iPhone, if I pull up another app for more than a few seconds, it stops providing resistance I’ve dialed in on the Training app. Even a calendar alert popping up on the iPhone screen will cause this to happen. Pretty annoying to be doing a hard interval, 11:50 am comes along and my calendar gives me a 10 minute heads up about a noon event, and suddenly my trainer stops providing resistance. Of course, if you have a dedicated tablet or computer to control the trainer, this isn’t an issue, and I’m guessing it’s not an issue with TrainerRoad, Zwift, and the like either.
If your Vortex is reading high (higher than the stages), my first suggestion would be to add more contact pressure between the tire and the roller.
Sorry, I am really not following that logic. Exactly how is increasing the roller tension which in turn increases rolling resistance between the tire and roller supposed to bring down the predicted power readings from the Vortex? Used to be that the calibration routines returned simple numeric values and a range between 9 & 14 for the original Bushido was was considered good and anything below or above equated to too little or too much tension between tire and roller.
With the release of the Smart Trainers and the Smartphone/tablet apps, Tacx (AIM) simplified the process by introducing the colored calibration scale, but the problem with this is that most of us automatically assume that the ideal value is dead center of the green zone. For stronger riders that is just fine but for many others, that is simply to much roller resistance, and realistically, unless the roller is slipping on the tire during high wattage efforts, anywhere in the green zone should be considered a good calibration.
Typically, the best way to achieve closer parity with an external powermeter is to use a series of ERG mode (Watt-Time training sessions from the Tacx Cycling app) in concert with the Tacx Utility where after a few minutes of riding, perform a spin down and adjust roller tension until average watts during the ERG mode segment matches your external powermeter. Sure it is an hour or so out your day but once it is done, you have a baseline.
Is anyone using BT via Samsung Galaxy S6 to try and control the trainer thru the Tacx app? I can’t seem to get it to hold a connection or give an input to the trainer to adjust power
If your Vortex is reading high (higher than the stages), my first suggestion would be to add more contact pressure between the tire and the roller.
Sorry, I am really not following that logic. Exactly how is increasing the roller tension which in turn increases rolling resistance between the tire and roller supposed to bring down the predicted power readings from the Vortex?
Typically, the best way to achieve closer parity with an external powermeter is to use a series of ERG mode (Watt-Time training sessions from the Tacx Cycling app) in concert with the Tacx Utility where after a few minutes of riding, perform a spin down and adjust roller tension until average watts during the ERG mode segment matches your external powermeter. Sure it is an hour or so out your day but once it is done, you have a baseline.
Not sure where the confusion is. Adding resistance to the roller will slow down the trainer. In turn, the predicted watts from the Vortex will decrease.
You then go on to effectively elaborate on the same procedure in your last paragraph (“adjust roller tension until average watts during the ERG mode segment matches your external pwoermeter”.). The only difference is that I told him in which ‘direction’ to adjust tension that will likely get him closer to matching the Stages output.
The trainer only transmits data, its up to the connecting device to record data. I have no problem at all with this, the connecting device resumes when starting pedaling again.
Unless I do a 5min warm up on the vortex and then recalibrate then my vortex and powermeter (Vector S) are away out, about 20%. But after the 5mins warm up and recalibrate, its usually sub 5% difference. Which I deem acceptable as its left pedal only (possible left/right imbalance) and its also measuring power at a different point (possible drive train losses).
I’m using the app and vector 2 as well on a Samsung phone via BT. The power numbers are almost identical between my vortex and Garmin Vector 2 pedals. That said, my vectors read about 25w lower than my Quarq did for reference to others seeing low numbers relative to their Quarq.
Is anyone using the app via BT on a Samsung tab 4? I really don’t want to buy anew ANT+ dongle.
Doesn’t the Tab 4 have ANT+ built in?
I am in the process of trying to get my vortex, trainer road and stages to be more consistent. At the very least make sure trainer road and vortex stay consistent. I used the Tacx utility to calibrate but have now learned it really is not a calibration but just a tension guide. I think I need to do the TR spindown test before every ride and then work on calibrating to my stages. Is there an easy way to calibrate to my stages? I am trying to ride a different bike on my trainer than my stages race bike. Thoughts?
Just posted this
https://twitter.com/P90Puma/status/687109110022717440
Started having massive ANT+ dropouts (every 2s - 30s) to both trainerroad and my edge 810, it’s what I get for getting off the bike for a few weeks and not training…
Clueless to what the low power (error?) shows in tacx utility.
Anyone else see this on theirs?
There seems to be a 0.2.7 firmware out somewhere but the app reports mine is current?
On their website it says they ship with DHL… will i get hit with a big duty charge? (i live in canada)
On their website it says they ship with DHL… will i get hit with a big duty charge? (i live in canada)
I posted my experience, YMMV.
DHL sucks for duty ALWAYS.
They didn’t use DHL for me…
On their website it says they ship with DHL… will i get hit with a big duty charge? (i live in canada)
I posted my experience, YMMV.
DHL sucks for duty ALWAYS.
They didn’t use DHL for me…
Well I pulled the trigger and got the Tacx bushido from bike-discount. I’ll update how much it cost for duty to Canada. So far it saved me almost 400 bucks buying from Germany then Canada.
I’ve noticed two quirky things with my new Vortex Smart, which I currently control through the Tacx Training app running on my iPhone 5.
First, I’ve noticed that occasionally the trainer and iphone will lose the connection to each other. And if I am doing a Heart Rate or Slope workout in the app, and I go to Devices to check whether the connection has been lost and reestablish it if needed, then whether I click on Heart Rate or Slope to try to return to my workout, the app goes to Power instead. So I have to shut the app off entirely, and restart it, to be able to get back to either Slope or Heart Rate mode. I’m guessing this is a software bug which will hopefully be fixed in a future update.
Second, using the Tacx Training app, if I switch to another program on the iPhone, or even if a calendar alert pops up on the screen, after a few seconds the Tacx Training app stops controlling the trainer and the trainer stops providing any resistance. So I have to be very careful to keep the Training app up on the screen of my iPhone. Other apps don’t have this issue, e.g. I can keep playing Pandora music while I switch over to my email, for example. Again, seems like a software issue that can hopefully be fixed down the line.
I will say that otherwise, I’m quite happy with my new trainer.
Thanks to all who’ve posted in this thread. I’m very interested in the Vortex Smart as a way to start training with power. I do not have another power meter. From reading the posts here, it looks like people have had mixed experiences with the power measurement compared to other power meters. If my top priority is to find a way to train and measure power reliably, I wonder if I’d be better off with another trainer or a dedicated power meter plus the Vortex Smart?
Curious if people find the power measurement to be off in a consistent way or does it vary a lot every time you set up the system?
Thanks!
I have both, get the power meter first.
The Vortex is fun and does some cool stuff but if you want reliable training, I’d go for the PM.
Also, see my Vortex comments from another thread:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=5833393#5833393
I’ve finally managed to get my Bushido smart working reliably !
I had loads of issues with it not working in erg mode - Trainer Road workouts would not work.
I figured out eventually (I think) that this was because I was using the Tacx Utility first to calibrate the Bushido. It seems that when I connected to Trainer Road afterwards TR didn’t regain control.
I know only use TR and the TR spindown and it’s working perfectly. Plus it makes preparing to do a ride quicker.
I did spend a bit of time adjusting the roller tension and always pump the tyre up to the same pressure before every ride. My readings are now reliable and the erg function works great.
Hope that helps someone.
LG
I have the vortex smart and a powertap. I run the trainer through perfpro which allows me to display power from both but set the resistance based on the pt. The trainer generally tracks close…most of the time 5-10 watts low, but seems repeatable. Accurate enough for repeatable training, but probably not accurate enough to give you numbers to use on the road if you took a bike with a pm for a ride.