BigPoser

My training has officially started and in the next week or two I'll be getting a new trainer and upgrading to a direct drive unit. I've seen several videos on each of these, but I want to know what people think that actually own them.

So, what do you own, and why did you buy it and not one of the others? What makes the Hammer and Kickr $300 more than the Direto? Is that extra coin worth it? They all seem very similar to me when looking at their respective features.

I have the ability to get good deals on all, but the price differences between all will remain about the same.

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

Brandon

BigPoser

I put this in the training forum as well, and thought I'd get more responses by putting it here as well.

My training has officially started and in the next week or two I'll be getting a new trainer and upgrading to a direct drive unit. I've seen several videos on each of these, but I want to know what people think that actually own them.

So, what do you own, and why did you buy it and not one of the others? What makes the Hammer and Kickr $300 more than the Direto? Is that extra coin worth it? They all seem very similar to me when looking at their respective features.

I have the ability to get good deals on all, but the price differences between all will remain about the same.

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

Brandon

cb400bill

Duplicate threads merged.

Please do not crosspost.

Noonievut

If I could have gotten the Kickr for only $300 more than my Direto I would have done so at the time. I got my Direto for about $700 less, so I chose this instead. Pleased with the purchase after around 20 hours of use.

Grasschopper

Not used the Hammer or Direto...have KICKR and just got my girlfriend a Flux. At this point I'm seriously considering returning the Flux as it does NOT do an adequate job (in my opinion) of holding low power in ERG mode for her workouts. In fact it's not much better than the Elite Qubo that it was to replace (even though it cost 2x as much).

My KICKR on the other hand is flawless and IMO worth every penny. Just didn't want to spend 30,000 extra pennies...lol

Grasschopper

Question on your Direto: do you find that you have to do ANY shifting to hit wattage targets in ERG mode? Specifically lower wattages? On my girlfriend's Flux she has to be in 34-28 in order to hit 70 watts at any reasonable cadence. Any chance you'd be willing to test that for me on the Direto? Throw it in ERG mode with 70 watts and see if it will hit that number in gears other than VERY low or with low cadence with higher gears.

For instance we were doing a workout last night and she was supposed to do 85 rpm and hit 75 watts...but the Flux wouldn't get below 90 watts in the gear she was in.

BigPoser

Thank you. What is it about the Kickr that makes it worth paying the extra $300 if you hadn't had such a big difference price?

I'm kind of in the same boat, where I'll be able to get a Direct for a lot less than it is, but the Kickr will still be more.

Noonievut

Just because the Direto was/is new and I would have paid the extra $300 at the time, for a more established product. But I’m happy in the end

Noonievut

Not yet. Used TrainerRoad about 8 times and didn’t have this issue. I’m almost always in 34/20ish (middle of a 12-27). I’ll try this next time though and will post here. You could also skim the FB site for Direto users...lots of good posts there and this may have been discussed.

Grasschopper

Thanks, I in fact just joined that group and have been looking through the posts. Was thinking I'd post something there with this same question.

kcjc

Why are you comparing top of the line to midrange Direto? Drivo is comparable unit. Wahoo Kicker Snap, CycleOp Magnus, and Elite Direto are more or less in the same lineup. You get more with Direto. Wahoo Kicker2 (now 3), CycleOp Hammer, Elite Drivo, and Tacx Neo are in the same lineup. Why the price break, mainly accuracy and repeatably of the power reading and how much power it can handle.

I have a Drivo and at the time of purchase, it was either CompuTrainer, Kicker2, or Elite Drivo. I got the Drivo instead of the Kickr because of the power accuracy and repeatably, it's hassle free (no constant firmware upgrade or calibration), the price (got $200 off), and I'm not in the orb of iOS (think Android was release before that, purchase was almost a year ago, but rather not risk borrowing an iPhone especially from DW to make adjustments and to calibrate it). CompuTrainer was gold plated and platform limited.

If I were to start over today, it would be between the Neo and Drivo. Neo would probably would win out (if DW is not checking else Direto if she is).

Noonievut

Smart. You’ll get s response from sure. Elite may respond too.

BigPoser

For me the Neo is out of the ball park because of the price. Agreed that the Drivo is very close, however the Direto has all of the same features as the Drivo, Wahoo, and Hammer yet is $300 less than all of them. The power accuracy is extremely close (better than advertised in fact) to all of them. Why not get something that has everything you're looking for and pay less for it?

Snap and the Magnus are out because they are wheel-on trainers, not a direct drive.

PaddleFoot

Hello Grasschopper,

I found this in the Zwift manual. It might be an answer to your question.

----------------

A Note on Gearing // Avoiding the Resistance Floor

Depending on your trainer, you may need to adjust your gearing (from your big ring to your little ring) to hit your wattage targets. If your power target is below the wattage at which your trainer can apply resistance, you hit the "resistance floor" (also referred to as the “wattage" or "power" floor) and you won't feel resistance changes.
For example, if your workout wattage target is 60w, and you only feel your trainer apply resistance at 65w and higher, 65w is the resistance floor.

The resistance floor varies from trainer to trainer, so we can't tell you if you're going to hit this based on your workout or FTP. An easy way to identify it is if you notice your power isn’t being held down to the power target. In this case, change into that easier gearing ratio to try and reduce the amount of resistance needed to bring your power down.

In short, if you don't see your power decreasing while using ERG mode, try a smaller gear ratio.

Grasschopper

I know what it is...I also know the KICKR doesn't have one. I'm wondering specifically if the Direto owner experiences one.

PaddleFoot

I see. I am still trying to learn about this so...

Does downshifting not fix the issue?