I have a two year old kickr snap, with a bike set up permanently for convenience.
Lately I have been toying with the idea of upgrading to a tacx neo and was hoping to hear opinions if it’s worth the extra £700 (when I include the sale of my kickr).
I have zwifted in the past - most recently about a month ago when I did a couple of races. I love erg mode, it’s all I ever use so the zwift races (and their insane sprint starts) are a bit of a shock to my system with the non-erg just really inconsistent due to in-game drafting and perhaps even issues with my smart trainer.
With that said, I do wonder if these non-erg races in zwift would be more enjoyable on the tacx. Obviously the sprint starts will be just as hard but I wonder if the power transfer would be steadier and more enjoyable on the better trainer?
I’m reluctant to risk the outlay just for the experiment to fail, which I suspect it would.
So I’m left wondering if the upgrade would be worth it at all just for trainerroad workouts?
My kickr has started to develop some minor niggles - i need to use the gears even in erg mode to maintain the correct power for some reason. Also it has always been hopeless when it comes to micro intervals to the point where I can’t do them at all.
The latest small issue I am having with it is I now need to calibrate it before every ride otherwise I am getting wildly inaccurate readings. I know some users do this anyway but up until very recently I’ve always felt the accuracy was pretty good, sometimes going a full month between calibrations.
The tacx doesn’t need calibrating, ever, so that to me would be fantastic. Probs not worth the cash for just that though.
I have a snap with a 4iiii left crank and thought about exactly the same upgrade but for different reasons. My take was since I use powermatch it would be a waste to do it. I am riding it out with the snap until it dies which I think will be a long, long time from now.
When I used zwift many moons ago I just had my pm as the power source and my snap for the terrain changes. Worked well for me with difficulty slider about 3/4 the way up.
I think you’d benefit more from working on Zwift racing techniques than the new trainer…especially since your numbers would likely fall a bit on the Neo.
Personally, I don’t enjoy racing on Zwift at all because I assume that almost everyone is cheating (even if they don’t know they are), but that’s a whole different topic.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Neo. My current Neo has now broken for the 2nd time. I train 6 days a week, inside, 95 % of the year. Repairs take a about 6 weeks…
While I may bite the bullet and purchase the new Neo 2T, I would not suggest purchasing the unit if what you have works. The upgrades are not, in my opinion, significant.
Never used a Snap but I’ve got a Neo 2, and had a older KICKR and the CORE among others that are no longer relevant. My opinion is that for just TR I believe the CORE is the best bang for the buck, I know other people have had issues with them but mine worked well.
And while I like my Neo and will continue using it, it’s not perfect and for TR I think the CORE did everything pretty well, the Neo is just a bit easier to use or less finicky for me at times but they both work really well. Granted I’m awaiting a replacement Neo because mine squeaks a lot out of the saddle, but that’s another 3 month long story.
I recently purchased a Tacx neo 2 to replace my kick snap. I wanted a direct drive set up. I only use trainer road and haven’t used Zwift yet on the neo. I am very happy with my purchase as I was tired of some the quirks with the kickr snap. I prefer erg mode on the neo vs the snap. If the dollars are not critical I would switch.
I switched from a Kickr to a Neo 2 this year and in addition to not needing calibration, one thing I love about it is the extra movement I get from side to side. It’s pretty subtle but my butt totally appreciates the fact that I’m more mobile on the saddle and not just locked in to that exact same position.
Sounds like a small thing but has totally changed my experience on rides longer than an hour.
I have both an original Kickr (not Snap) and a Neo. I had to replace the freehub on my Neo last year so used the Kickr again for a number of months before I got around to moving my bike back to the Neo.
The extra movement on the Neo is a real thing and definitely makes things more comfortable comfortable. The other major difference I noticed moving back to the Neo is that it responds quite a bit faster in Power Match mode as compared to my Kickr.
Another option to consider is a Hammer. The H3 is already available at a discount making it a good value compared to Neo, and the H2 is even cheaper.
My Neo 2 is a fine piece of equipment that I don’t use for Zwift. TR works really well on the Tacx and I prefer it to the Kickr Core and Elite Qubo Power Fluid I was using prior to that.
The biggest advantage of the Neo over a Snap is the direct drive. No more spare wheels and fiddling with tire pressure/ contact pressure.
My favourite things about the Neo 2 are similar to the comments above.
Flex. Self powered. No spindown needed.
I’ll add to that the ability to use multiple bikes without needing multiple trainer wheels. Although, any direct drive trainer will sort that out.
Unlikely, based on the fact that they originally implemented it for Garmin pedals, only to remove it some time later. Following comments seem to indicate it will not be added back anytime soon.
Thanks for that Chad, that kinda explains what is happening.
My question now is why would anyone not prefer wahoo’s erg power smoothing mode and why doesn’t my top of the line tacx have the same feature as my budget end wahoo snap?
I’m having a hard time getting my head round the concept.
