Originally Posted by
rfreese888
Having contacted the product engineer in Feedback Sports and Trainer Road Support - I understand more now the difference in power curves between my Cycleops Fluid 2 and the Feedback Omnium. Essentially the Fluid 2 has a much more [wait for it] fluid curve and you get more virtual watts per kmh of wheel speed, whereas the Omnium has a flatter curve and fewer virtual watts per kmh.
When I did a sub threshold workout on the Omnium yesterday holding around 85-90% of my lactate threshold heart rate (145 bpm), I was getting around 100 watts of virtual power. This is practically inverse to what I get on the Fluid 2 where 141 bpm will get me around 225 watts of virtual power.
I am not an engineer but I wish the training software could account for these differences so virtual power would be the same regardless of which trainer I am on, AND they would all match a power meter being run in parallel.
Moral of the story is I need a proper power meter to know what my actual power is. I am thinking Powertap Pedals to take with me with my Omnium when I am not on the Fluid 2 at home.
You have discovered the difference between a Fluid and a Magnetic trainer.
Also, all of those "X Speed = Y Power" charts should be taken with a whole shaker of salt. I'm pretty sure they were all
very begrudgingly created by engineers under the orders of someone in the marketing department.