I’m still using my iPad air 3rd gen with my Tacx Neo 2T via BT. Works well for TR, email, YT and various video watching apps. No need for iPad Pro although yes you will be more than ready for many updates and years to come. New iPad generation I think the 10th gen or iPad Air 5th gen should be sufficient.
Just make sure it is relatively recent and the battery is alright. (Batteries will only last so many charge cycles.)
Not out of the box. There were adapters, but I think those were for old 30-pin iPhone connectors and I have never tried them. IMHO just stick to Bluetooth. Some trainers will aggregate Ant+ and Bluetooth signals, so you might also look into that. In the worst case, get a new heart rate strap. They aren’t too expensive. The current top recommendation is a Polar H10 or Polar H9. I got an H10 recently, and it has been rock solid.
So my setup is pretty similar to what you’re describing.
iPad – 9th gen (think they’re going for $329 these days)
Saris H3
Garmin Cadence Sensor
Polar H10
iPad does everything I need it to do pretty capably, even with split screen and running Spotify, Netflix or YouTube while also running TR. I’ve got no complaints from a performance perspective. As far as older iPads, you’ll have to rely on someone else there.
As others have mentioned, iPad just doesn’t work with ANT+, but I haven’t missed it so far. Been using BT to connect with all the various sensors and the H3.
I use an iPad Air 2 (2014) which runs iOS 15 and Trainerroad works just fine. My Stages power meter and Polar HR connect via Bluetooth. In the app store Trainerroad specs iOS 10 or later.
You don’t want to buy too old of an iPad because battery life will have degraded. Mine is only good for 3 hours or so now.
Let me second the importance of this. My iPad Pro’s battery is getting a bit old since I use it quite a lot at work and I bought it in 2019. TR is built on top of a browser engine essentially (a cross-platform framework), which is quite battery hungry, too.
I think the 9th- or 10th-gen iPad (no extra suffixes) is a great deal at the moment, and should serve you for years. We still have our parents’ old iPad 2, and it still works.
It’s frustrating. The old laptop I used to use died. I’ve got two very powerful BIM spec works laptops sat here which would be ideal, but of course installation of 3rd party apps or software is a no-no, so I’ve been making-do with casting my Pixel phone to an old monitor via Chromecast. It works ok, but not ideal…