Mountain Biking - trainers?

I'm looking into getting a trainer for my son... the last one I bought is a cateye 300 something (it has gone off to college!), and it makes a heck of a lot of noise! Are the fluid trainers actaully quieter? What is the difference (if any) between mag resistance and fluid? And, which ones are the best value for the $$ - don't really want to spend $200 ! Thanks!

I have switched over to a fluid after using a mag for a couple of years. It is much quieter but more important I feel that I am getting a much better workout on it. It really does seem a lot more like actually riding the road. However, it does come at a cost. I am using the CycleOps fluid2. It is great. I think that Performance has a fluid trainer that is quite a bit cheaper though. A buddy of mine uses it and seems to be pretty happy with it. He bought the one with the remote resistance but says that feature is really not necessary.

I just got this one a few days ago, and it's worked flawlessly so far...it uses the rim for resistance instead of the tire, so it's still pretty quite with knobbies, which means no need to switch tires. I really like it so far, but it was $200 ;)

http://www.minoura.jp/epm-e.htm

Thanks, guys.... I think I'm headed to e-bay! What ddo you think about the Blachburn Trakstand?

I have switched over to a fluid after using a mag for a couple of years. It is much quieter but more important I feel that I am getting a much better workout on it. It really does seem a lot more like actually riding the road. However, it does come at a cost. I am using the CycleOps fluid2. It is great. I think that Performance has a fluid trainer that is quite a bit cheaper though. A buddy of mine uses it and seems to be pretty happy with it. He bought the one with the remote resistance but says that feature is really not necessary.

+1 on the Fluid2 - I've used them for years and they've been problem-free. The first one broke after several thousand "miles", and the new one has lasted well so far.

I use a road bike on it though, not my MTBs - knobbies deliver a lot of vibration and noise.

Misson accomplished; I picked up a used Cycleops Fluid for @ $100.

One question: What tires do you guys use? He's got his road bike on it (with Bontrager Race Lite Hard Core 700x25 tires), and the folks at Cycleops say that newer tires are made from softer rubber, which is why his tire is "shedding" - little tiny dots of tire all over. Anybody else have this problem, and can you recommend a tire made from harder rubber?