Power through smart trainer or power meter?

[mcneese.chad]

@ctaylor33

Any idea which is more accurate?

• Not a chance we can answer that without at least a 3rd power meter in the mix.

@ctaylor33

Any idea which I should be using?

• Depends on your goals. If you are using the power meter for outside rides and races, using that same “tape measure” via the PowerMatch feature is best. This makes sure you use the same device in all your use cases.

@ctaylor33

Also, sorry if there are already threads discussing this exact issue but I couldn’t find any recent ones and I think TR recently upgraded their Powermatch feature.

• PowerMatch changed, but it was well over a year ago IIRC. Regardless of the improvements made, it does not significantly change the core issue here… power devices often report different data.

@ctaylor33

I then set up TR to run using the Powermatch feature and while the difference was less, the workout was much easier than when I was doing it with just the Suito power meter.

• Keep in mind, if all you are doing is “eye balling” the delta by quickly looking between two screens, this is far from conclusive. It is impacted by the smoothing setting in place in each app at the very least. Even if those are “matched”, the sampling and data presentation between them is not guaranteed to be “comparable”.

• If you really want to head down the comparison rabbit hole, you need to take more steps.

  • [FAQ] Power Meter and Smart Trainer Comparison Tools

• With respect to the feeling you have, that is a direct result of changing from “tape measure 1” to “tape measure 2” within TR. You effectively shifted the data point that sets the resistance, and as such, will alter your experience. It’s totally expected based on the apparent delta from your rough comparison.