NEO/ SRM/ Power Match feels HARDER than it should

Question… I have been using NEO/SRM with Power Match.

It seems much harder than it actually should doing intervals close to FTP. It seems I am spending more time than I should be above my actual target power. If the intervals are close to FTP… that burns matches quickly.

At the end of the interval… AVG power is spot on, but I’m wondering of others have experienced this.

I’m also getting getting :

  1. Occasional pauses in the workout for no apparent reason.
  2. Occasional spikes way above target power.

Thoughts??

And you are not getting those when using the Neo alone?

In general, are you new to ERG mode? How smooth is your cadence? ERG mode takes some getting used to, especially if your cadence is not smooth.

Are you doing the workouts in your small ring or big ring? While 200W is 200W, you will feel a difference between the small ring (e.g., 36x15) and big ring (e.g., 53x15), especially at or near FTP. Give it a try! 10min at FTP in the small ring. 10min at FTP in the big ring. Both while in ERG mode.

Possible signal issues? Are you Bluetooth or ANT+?
As @Donzo98 asked, if you go NEO only w/out Powermatch, do you still have these same two issues?

I’m on a TACX Neo and I’m always using ERG mode. One issue I’ve noticed at lately is that the trainer road application (windows) ‘drops out of’ ERG mode. The UI component where you choose between ERG mode and resistance goes blank. The Trainer is still in ERG mode per say, but when it happens I run into a wall of resistance for the next 5-10 seconds. I’ve been forced to add an additional 100 watts at times, to get through it. Then it is back to normal.

During endurance rides its no real problem, but when you’re doing over/unders it can ruin your day…
It seems to be more frequent since the last update, I’m currently running 2019.4.0.88906

I have exactly the same issues with Tacx Flux and power match on windows desktop with recommend bled2 and ant USB etc, erg mode drops out randomly or hangs. Have tried with Bluetooth and ANT, TR beta version and normal. Bluetooth works better with vector 3 in beta than in normal where it jumps around a lot. Yesterday I tried running on iOS and iPhone via Bluetooth and worked perfectly! If the desktop version was only as good but love TR and the team!

I’m using ANT + on both SRM and Neo.

When I don’t use Power Match… the avg power of any given interval is a 4-7 watts lower then target power.
Using PM they are spot on +/- 1-2 watts or so for intervals 2 minutes or longer.

I haven’t really tested to see if the other issues are present… but will.

I occasionally see this, but it has not been more frequent with any one release/version. Depending on when the “wall of resistance” occurs, you might consider stopping or back pedaling for a few seconds instead of trying to push through some ridiculous watt wall!

That is very odd. Are you running the latest version of TR? During the interval, does TR/ERG ever get you to target power or does it remain “4-7 watts lower than target power” ?

About a year ago, there was a bug where Powermatch never quite matched the target power. For example, target is 200, but Powermatch only went up to about 190. I opened a ticket w/TR and they confirmed it was a bug. It was fixed in the next release. As a workaround, I would increase the intensity of the workout until I was at target power. Otherwise, ERG mode with or without powermatch has been great.

Can you include a screenshot of TR where you cannot get to target power (i.e., 4-7 watts lower during the interval)?

Hey Donzo!

I’m sorry to hear about the issues you are experiencing with PowerMatch. It does sound like you are experiencing signal issues as @KickrLin mentioned, in which case this article could be of great help:

I have also asked a Support Agent to reach out to the email you have connected to your account to assist you with further troubleshooting, so keep an eye out for an email from us :slight_smile:

The bigger diff occurs when I wasn’t using Powermatch. The avg power is slightly lower than target… but I figured that happens because my Neo may read a little lower than my SRM.

When I disable Powermatch… I’m still displaying power from my SRM.

It sounds when you disable Powermatch, you are still using the Neo as your source of power in TR while viewing your SRM power on your head unit. If this is the case, while this is great for comparison or testing of Neo vs SRM, any differences in power are not TR related. If you want to use your SRM numbers for indoors and outdoors, then you should make it the power source in TR.

It is rare for power meters to line up exactly regardless of what the manufacturers state for % accuracy. A few % diff is reasonable and expected. For example, you said 4-7W difference. If the interval is at 100W and you are reading 93W on your SRM, that is a 6.76% diff which is huge when you consider that the stated accuracy of the Tacx Neo is +/- 1% and that of the SRM is +/- 0.5%. On the other hand, if the interval is 300W and you see 293W, that is only a 2.36% diff. Although 2.36% > 1.5%, I would say anything < 3% is good.

I thought they way I set it up today… with PM disabled… is that I was using the NEO (in ERG mode to control power) and the SRM to record what the NEO “thinks” it is doing.

Looking at my ride today… it’s recording the SRM correct??

I looked at today’s ride. It appears that the power source was your SRM. I also noticed that each interval was 4-5W below target. If Powermatch was disabled, then TR was recording and displaying the SRM power. And if ERG was enabled, the NEO was using its data (power number) to adjust resistance. Thus you could be above or below the target power depending on the NEO vs the SRM power difference. This is totally normal.

I would recommend that you use Powermatch. You will need to pair both your Neo and your SRM. Turn on Powermatch. Why?

  1. TR will use your SRM power numbers to control the resistance of the Neo.
  2. Your indoor and outdoor power numbers will be from the same source (SRM) and thus both consistent and meaningful.
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Yes… well aware of that. I had been using PM… see the other ride I sent. Carson… on 2/23.