Successful and very frustrating ramp test!

Seems like you had a bad experience with the Kickr Snap, possibly an older model, a firmware issue or your power meter was off. DC Rainmaker says otherwise and the Kickr Snap followed his other power meters quite well.
(Wahoo’s New 2017 KICKR SNAP Trainer: Hands-on | DC Rainmaker)

Santa supposed to bring me a Quarq XX1 so I guess I’ll find out if my Kickr Snap has been giving me false readings.

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I think most of the Kickr stuff is related to the original versions of each of their trainers.

I had an original Kickr for two years that consistently read higher than every other power meter I threw against it. My FTP on it was well north of 400 - whereas I would test in the mid to high 300’s elsewhere. Part of why I use power match and recommend it for everyone else

Kickrs are much better now, as are their competitors. So…my default reaction to anyone using anything other than a strain gauge based power meter as their power source is to add a large grain of salt to the number. It isn’t necessarily fair, particularly for more recent models of many of these trainers, but that is the history of this space and many others will bring the same bias to power numbers of this type

Yeah I had one of the early model Snaps. I did countless advanced spindowns, tried Beta firmware to no avail. Wahoo support were useless and said my power meter was the problem and wouldn’t accept that their product could be at fault. It was a 4iii crank based meter. This agrees within the margin of error with my Hammer and matches almost watt for watt with my newer Assioma Duo power meter pedals.

@hugo1 yeah, I’ve had a ramp test done on my coaches trainer with power meter as well. His said I was 20 watts higher than mine, if anything this is low :wink:

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@MI-XC I’ve have great luck with mine. Make sure you have the same tire pressure and knob turns each ride. I also calibrate before every ride, and then 10 min in once it is warmed up.

I feel as though it is consistent for me, which is what matters most :slight_smile:

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hope you retested couple days later to grab that 1w… LoL… thats serious power well done…

What do you do with your fitness? Your w/kg is getting close to 5 (4.8ish, similar to mine) and I’m curious if you are racing and if so what kind of races you find suit you best?

pushed so hard i have no motivation to do that until the next one in 7 weeks haha. it’ll give me good motivation in the mean time

UPDATE
I’m wrapping up my Kickr Snap versus Quarq PM comparison. My results so far are that the Kickr is quite accurate (within 1-2%). On Taylor -2 today the Kickr and the Quarq were statistically identical:

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Those graphs are so crazily close that it almost looks like the same power source, just with different sampling. My Favero and Neo are never anywhere near that close!

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I’ve noticed, still doing more testing, that higher cadences track closer between the two PMs :man_shrugging:. This workout was 100+ rpms on a 32 x 18.

Amazing, thanks for sharing this! I’m happy to see this information. Hope your happy with your quarq! I’ve heard great things!

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I agree with graytham. Looks like the same power source. Sorry, I’m not buying that a Kickr Snap can be this close to a power meter.

Ummm, ok, lol. I guess I’m a liar :lying_face:. I removed the smoothing from the DCR Analysis Tool and added the fit files. Maybe this will help with your “buy in”? :crossed_fingers:

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It’s ok! some people just don’t want to believe other people have big power numbers, or that other people can properly record power data. Thanks a lot for all the info!

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My comments were based upon the data you posted in the first graph. You should have posted the actual data not the Wahoo artificially smoothed as my comments would have been a bit different. Not calling anyone a liar. Having had 2 dud Kickr Snaps and coming across many other people with similar accuracy problems it’s very hard for me to believe a Kickr Snap can be so close to a power meter. You’re fricken lucky to have got one that works as it should. Make the most of it. I’m very glad to have got a refund on my replacement Snap and bought something else.

BTW your Snap is more accurate than my Hammer trainer but it’s close enough. I use power match anyway for workouts.

I don’t think that anyone thinks that you’re lying! It’s just that I would be surprised by any two power meters tracking that closely. The best Snap in the world is still going to be a little bit affected by the differences between how it does things and how e.g. a Quarq does. If I got a graph like that from any pair of my power sources, the first thing that I’d think was “I’ve somehow accidentally recorded the same source twice”. But if you’re sure that you haven’t, then great - you’ve got an awesome Snap!

I didn’t post/use any smoothing from Wahoo. The DCR analysis tool allows you to apply smoothing to compare power files. To discover abnormalities when comparing these files it is recommended to use some smoothing (ie: 10 secs) so differences don’t get lost in the numerous data points. If you remove smoothing it’s difficult for comparison. The point is to ensure both PM track consistently, not that every 1 second sample is precisely the same, since the PMs may sample and report at different moments.

It’s near impossible to “accidentally” recorded the same power. TR is using the Kickr’s Erg and the Quarq is reporting to the Wahoo Bolt. The Kickr and TR doesn’t know the Quarq or the Bolt exists. The Quarq doesn’t know the Kickr or TR exists. Then you simply download each .fit file from the Kickr and the Quarq and load it into the DCR analysis tool.

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I was careful to phrase my point correctly (“the first thing that I’d think”). Please don’t be defensive (maybe you’re not, can be tricky to tell in text). It’s only near impossible to accidentally record the same power if you know how you’re doing that, and you hadn’t said (unless I missed it) how you were recording that previously. I have done similar things all kinds of ways, including using TR (connected to a particular trainer or source, but with past knowledge (i.e. pairing info) for others, certainly), and also multiple head units connected to multiple power meters, where those head units each know about multiple power broadcasters including the trainer itself. I do take care to disable the ones that I don’t want to record, and do pay attention to the data files (which record IDs of the sources), so it is indeed absolutely possible to be sure of what you’re looking at, but it’s also (based on the information you had given us) nowhere near impossible for someone to accidentally record the same power in some circumstances.