Hi - long time TR user here. I recently - this year, got an external crank power meter. Up until then i had been using ERG mode and power via my Tacx Vortex. And very happy i was too with this setup, no issues and the trainer tracked and changed power quite happily.
Now since i’ve gone to powermatch with my external power meter i find the trainer takes an age to catch up sometime shooting me over the target power by up to 50 Watts and takes ages to come down - i could accept it with short 15s intervals but with 3 minute V02 max sessions when the target power is 50W over for up to a minute it takes it’s toll! I’ve tried all the usual - small chainring, firmware updates, calibration etc and nothing seems to help. The frustrating thing is sometimes it works fine but that’s only around 40% of the time.
So i’m thinking of going back to using the trainer for power and accepting that the trainer is up around 20W (i tested it vs my power meter) and just living with it.
Anyone else done or found the same?
I suppose another option would be forking our a shedload of cash for an expensive wheel off trainer in the hope it’ll work better? (sounds good - not very realistic )
I use my kickr snap with a 4iiii left crank with powermatch. Prior to the 4iiii I just used the snap and was fine. I dont get lag like you do but had to turn up the smoothing to around 20 to get what I had at 3 smoothing with just the snap.
I realize power is not smooth but for me the jumping around while I am on the trainer with the 4iiii compared to the snap is annoying.
The smoothing is just for the display on the screen and I dont think it will fix your lag. I have no problem seeing the actual power after the workout with the spikes, just not during even though it technically is all over the place.
Yeah that would be an option - i had considered it but like the less-faff of ERG mode and the “just pedal” simplicity of it. i might give it a go actually - it’s been a while - ERG was such a revelation.
I don’t use ERG mode at all. I use my powermeter for consistency on the trainer and on the road. I don’t like the little lags for the trainer to catch up when the target power changes.
I had exactly the same problem as you, I persisted with the PM power for ~3 months with TR over my Kickr snap power, I found it was the recovery intervals or lack thereof, due to the trainer not adjusting fast enough that killed me.
I contacted TR & Wahoo to see if there was a solution. To sum up, I have given up with the PM and now just use the Snap power and accept power reported is a little higher.
One other point, I find if the room is cold and I don’t warm up the snap & spin down before a session, the work out can feel a lot easier using the snap power, i.e I think in the cold, the snap reported power is a long way off the PM power
Lots of issues already discussed and I’m not fond of the lag.
I keep an eye on my P1S vs KickR reading and just adjust the workout intensity so I hit the target watts with my PM. Give or take a few watts I’m not bothered.
Have the Assioma duo and an elite Direto. Tracks fairly well.
Have chosen to use the numbers from Direto with TrainerRoad and Zwift and to log the numbers from the Assioma with my Fenix to TrainingPeaks.
Only real downside is a small difference in ftp. Can live with that and not have to worry about powermatch.
I have a 4iiii left sided pm and a Tacx Flux. Powermatch is useless. The resistance will chop and change even though your cadence remains the same. I have resorted to turning it off when using Erg mode so the Flux controls the resistance instead of the pm. This means that intervals are at a lower wattage so I get around this by increasing the intensity of the workout by 3%. The only downside is that it never looks like I’m meeting the target power on the graph or in the stats shown after the workout. Wish TR would leave the original target as it is for the graph and stats instead of increasing it when the intensity is changed.
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