So thought I would update on my experience with power match and wahoo kickr. Did the 20 min FTP test today power measured by kickr on TR and by Vector 2s on my fenix5x. Results
Wahoo kickr - 20 min ave 324 watts FTP 307
Vector 2s - 20 min ave 300 watts FTP 285
So looking at the kickr being very generous by about 20 watts. Having been using power match since mid December, I don’t think I would go back to getting power from the kickr. The vectors are what I am racing at the moment so will keep that figure for training.
One thing I was wondering, without the benefit or dual side measurement, if my left leg was slightly weaker than my right, would that account for the difference or only part of it? Has anyone else had experience with single vs dual side power?
I’d recommend the powermatch too, if nothing else but to gather non-smoothed power metrics and keep things consistent across your year’s data with the pm you’ll presumably be using outdoors.
@justinm Similar setup here as you. I use Stages L PM with a Kickr18, TrainerRoad Windows PC App and also run Zwift at the same time on the PC using a second ANT+ dongle. I found a few quirks with this setup, like Zwift wanting to grab hold of the Kickr as @bbarrera mentions, but I’ve found a process to follow that works ok for me.
Boot PC with both ANT+ dongles connected.
Once booted turn on the Kickr.
Load TR.
Load Zwift.
On the Zwift pairing screen you get 5 seconds before it automatically continues. At this point before the 5 seconds passes uncheck your Stages as the cadence source. After a few seconds Zwift automatically detects and adds the Kickr as the controllable trainer. Remove it and re-add the Stages as the cadence source.
Continue into Zwift and load up whichever ride you’re going to do in Zwift.
Start riding and TR will automatically start.
I think what was happening is that Zwift was automatically adding the Kickr as the controllable trainer just before the 5 second window finished, or just after it had disappeared, but either way I never saw this on the Zwift pairing screen during the countdown and it was happening silently. By stopping the 5 second timer in Zwift through removing one of your already paired devices it gives you the chance to see the Kickr being added and allows you to remove it. I’ve never seen it randomly be re-added in Zwift during the ride if dealt with on the Zwift pairing screen.
As far as PowerMatch goes I always use this set to auto in TR and it’s generally ok. As others have found the wattage can take a while to settle down and varying your cadence or pedal smoothness makes this worse. I used to have a Kickr17 and one thing I have found is that my Kickr18 seems slower to respond to power changes than the Kickr17 did.
I did Mary Austin today with it and I was seriously impressed with how good it felt. It felt identical to how my kickr felt before I got a power meter and started using power match. Power transitions were quick, smooth, and consistent. I never had a moment in the ride where I thought “Is power match working? Why is it taking so long to ramp up resistance?". I just pedaled and didn’t think about it.
Your experience with PowerMatch sounds quite similar to mine and I gave up on it. Early results with the beta sounds encouraging and I will see about downloading it and giving it a try .
@Nate_Pearson loaded Mac beta and used it last night, was hitting jump to 140% usually within 3 seconds. Seemed better although you can see some overshooting/undershooting (“ringing”) on the first three of this set:
So Im looking for advice. I can either get a 4iiii’s 105 power meter on sale for 370 Canadian and use powermatch with my tacx vortex smart and buy other cycling toys… Or I can buy either a wahoo kickr core or a tacx flux 2 or a cycleops hammer.
What to you think is the best course to take?
Trying to get away from the vortex power meter shortcomomg
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