Any one here have any experience with this system? I am thinking of pulling the triger on this maybe in the morning. I have researched it best I can and it sounds fun? cool? worth the cost. Any one here have one and can give me a go or no go idea about this system?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A2P97M9VQDMS1X

I ride one at the bike shop I loiter at. The things are, IMHO, awesome, and quite a bit of fun. I have not tried any of the simulated racing, but have set up several courses I like to ride in South Africa and Mallorca.

My wife got me a Tacx Vortex, and I am in the process of adding the pieces to get the full PC driven shot. The videos are expensive, for what its worth.

I've ridden one at a local tri-shop where you can come in an pay to do a ride on them. I did a chairity "hill-climb" up Alp d'huez on it. it was definitely cool, but the thing kept crapping out on my (overheating or something, the shop owner didn't know) and would lock up randomly. A fan on it seemed to help. It didn't really ruin the experience, it was still fun to do, but more a novelty in my opinion. Not sure I'd get the same kick out of riding it a bunch of times and seeing the exact same video over and over.

Also, not sure if you're concerned, but a good friend has owned a couple Tacx trainers and has complained a LOT about their power accuracy. If you've got another Power meter, you can calibrate it, but on it's own very poor measuring power. In my Alp d'Huez ride, it averaged about 30-40 watts higher than my PowerTap (something I conveniently fail to mention when I note my average power and time for that "hill-climb )

I have one...works great and fun way to stay interested in trainer time. That said, read their forums...lots of problems with software. Mine works fine but I have a decent PC and following their specs to the letter.

well the more I looked into it today the software looks to be a real problem.... I would rather not take the chance now. Maybe the will get all the bugs worked out and I will look into it again. I went on a got a Blackburn trainer for now. I hope they can make this not so buggey for most people It looks like it would be so fun.

Is there something from CompuTrainer that's similar?

Not Fortius but here is a rather lengthy review of Tacx Bushido. There is also some useful info in the "comments" section as well.

I have a Bushido with the TTS 3.6, and I like it. Is it perfect? No. Is the software perfect? No. Was it expensive? Yes. Is it fun with the Real Life videos? My answer is no, but I hate riding the trainer. Is it any better/more fun than riding a regular fluid trainer watching videos on TV or my laptop would be? No. I do like being able to ride it anywhere without my computer or a power source, which is why I chose it over the Fortius. I like that power is displayed. I feel it is useful for training, which is basically all the trainer is useful for. It is not fun. I do like being able to change the resistance on the fly and programming routines. Would I buy it over again? Answer is yes.

Silver,

Glad 3.6 works for you. Nothing but problems for me. In the process of putting 3.5 back. Going to have to format my laptop and reinstall TTS & all videos. Good thing is I only run TTS with this laptop. Like what has been mentioned in this thread. Hardware good, software bad.

Cons:
1) expensive
2) Graphics suck and software is buggy. Maybe 4.0 will be a winner?
3) can't use a fluid trainer of your choice
4) not compatible with mac (Really? Come on guys)

Pros:
1) its for sale, right now.
2) the graph mode looks nice and clean

The stuff I wrote for myself at home seems nicer, and I haven't spent *that* much time on it. I'd think TacX could do a bit better so I don't have to write my own stuff.

I honestly think something like TrainerRoad.com is going to make these lamo computerized wannabe power training systems with 80s era software (Computrainer) or dated buggy software (Tacx) outdated. For $30 you can run a USB cadence sensor into your computer and get power for the trainer of your choice, and it's getting nothing but rave reviews.

I joined trainer road yesterday and Have only done 1 ride, a 20min FTP test, but I've gotta say it's pretty awesome. Definitely worth $10 a month in my opinion. Much better than the Tacx software, however, for the Bushido it cannot receive the power reading yet, so it is estimated, and the software cannot control the resistance level on the brake. The estimated power readings were still within 10 W for the most part though. Very very cool.

That sucks, man. I was really worried about all the horror stories when I bought it, but I guess I lucked out. I bought the strongest laptop I could at the time and hoped for the best. Oh well, TTS 4.0 is already on the way!

I have looked into these trainers/virtual reality players twice now for different reasons each time. I don't race, so some of these structure interval plans and such are worthless, suck the joy out of cycling, and boring as hell to me. The reason I started to look into them is because of time issues and because of inability to go out to ride due to my kids and such. I've had a trainer before and can only too well remember how miserable it was to ride anything more than 20 min in them. They are boring as hell. O figured if I could get one of these trainers with the virtual reality videos, at least I could simulate going over the alps, dolomites, etc. It would also help me improve my climbing, which living in flat FL is close to non-existant. For that, they are awesome!!

The real downsides I found with them are the following:

1. Software
Getting much better, but it is not Mac compatible. Lots of people with a Mac will run Windows 7 in them and works very well with it. I know of someone with a Mac Mini and Win7 that runs it flawlessly. I hear the 4.0 version due to come out any time now is much better and has addressed most of the issues most people have complained about in the past, but it is still not Mac compatible.

2. Trainer itself
The brake in the trainer is what causes the resistance when simulating uphill. It seems to be good to about 6% grade, but anything above that it gets jerky and such. That seems to have been remedied by the new virtual trainer from Tacx due to be out any time now too, and it simulates up to 10% gradients much smoother. Quite frankly, there is no trainer that is ever going to simulate it like the real world. It is a matter of how close it gets.

3. Videos
They seem to be decent enough for what they are and what they cost.

4. Costs
When you start to add up the trainer, videos, computer to run it (if you don't have one with the minimum requirements), larger screen, etc. the cost can get significant. Worth the costs? That is only a question you can answer because what is way too much and worthless to me may be just fine to you and vice versa.

I know someone upgrading this one to the new one due to come out, so I am going to wait until he gets it and uses it a bit before I go and drop some coin on it. I would rather hear his pretty objective opinion before I do it though.

You should also read the review above. Very good and detailed.

I mentioned above that I got the Tacx Vortex for Christmas. Well, I ordered the PC upgrade kit for on Friday, so I am taking the full controlled plunge. For me, I really like the videos, and the resistance varying without me having to do anything. For interval workouts, it is largely irrelevant, but I am finding the mind numbingly boring zone 2 to 3 stuff much more entertaining with the video and the varying resistance. I spent two hours at my LBS on Friday just riding, and I don't know if I enjoyed it but it definitely felt quicker than it normally would.

When folks talk about graphics being bad on the tacx, I have never tried their VR stuff, nor do I intend to, so that didn't impact my purchase.

Where did you get 4.0? Last I knew it was in beta. I do have a strong laptop, bought it only for running TTS. It had been flawless before I went to 3.6.