I’ve got:
- Kickr 2017 direct drive / wheel off
- Stages power meters, started with left-only, now left-right
Have played with all combinations and decided on “one source of truth” which ended up being TR PowerMatch. Some of the advantages:
- reliable as I found “Wahoo ANT+ power match” was not 100% and some workouts the Kickr didn’t connect to my power meter (you can tell almost immediately, “ultra smooth power” feels unnatural
- in large chainring it feels like I’m riding outside, so thats what I use after testing small vs large
- appears that I have the same FTP inside and outside
- all rides/workouts are recorded using same power source
Regarding accuracy, power on the trainer is a LOT smoother than outside. I’m not aware of any trainer company or researcher publishing data that having “perfect power compliance” on intervals results in better training results. The pursuit of perfect power compliance is like chasing rainbows IMHO. Don’t let that influence your choice of chainring or type of power matching. Do what feels right.
Regarding response time on short intervals, on sprints as low as 20 seconds there is some skill involved when using Erg mode: Kickr Core Users, using resistance mode to sprint question - #18 by bbarrera and I’m very happy.
You may find something else works better for you. Hope that helps.