Tacx i-magic info?
 

I am thinking about getting a Tacx i-magic. Does anyone have one that can give me their thoughts. Is there enough to keep ypou going or do you have to puchase more courses. Also the online rundown.

Thanks

I have the Tacx foritus and can honestly say I love it. Spending hours on this trainer is absolutly no problem. In many ways, it is significantly BETTER than riding 'for real'. The Tacx trainer was some of the best money I ever spent. Here's some of the reasons I think it is so great.

1) You can ride anytime, day or night, regardless of the weather. I've done rides at 1:00 am, and once during a snowstorm when everyone was snowed in. It has enabled me to ride everyday, when that was once impossible with my schedule. The fortius is extremely realistic and feels just like riding my bike outside. It gets a little choppy on grades above 12%, but have done grades up to 20% successfully when using the the trainer tire and three turns on the roller pressure.
2) It's tremendously safer than riding outside. Thers's 0% chance of crashing, breaking down on the road, getting ran over, or of getting into a fight with a motorist.
4) You can see your power output graphed as you ride (along with heart rate, grade, speed and cadance). This is a biggie since you can train with power. There is nothing like it.
5) You have precision control over the workout intensity and length. When you ride outside, you have to live with the terrain in your geographical area. But with this you can control everything. For example, with the catalyst program, you can set the exact power, slope, or heart rate ranges you want for any part of the ride. This makes it easy to get the exact workout you have scheduled. In the real life video's (RLV), you can pick exactly where you are riding and adjust the slope by a percentage.
6) Everything is automatically recorded so you get an accurate trianing diary with no extra steps.
7) You can watch TV, listen music, play on-line poker, read, or even surf the net while riding. I often enjoy just riding, but it all depends on what kind of a ride I have scheduled and what is on TV.
8) Stop at anytime, and you're already home. Walk to the kitchen for a drink or go to the bathroom in a flash.
9) You can ride routes you'd never get a chance to otherwise. I have the Pyrenees stange from the Tour De France in wide screen and it is awesome.

There are some problems with the 120V version of the Fortius motor brake that cause it to limit the maximum speed to about 26 mph. You also get bogus power readings starting at about 22 mph. The power reading actually drops to 0 at around 26 mph, even though if you keep pounding on it you can get the speed above 26 mph, the power says 0, so you don't get any credit for it in your power averages. This make it impractical for online racing. The calibration also seems to drift with temperature as you heat the unit up by riding. There is reportedly a hardware fix for all of this soon to be released, along with some improved training software that supports GPS imports of routes. This remains to be seen and will only make the product better. I don't really have a problem with the speed limitations and bogus power readings, but you might.

Good Luck with your Trainer
Rude Dog

The i-magic is super as well. No 26mph issues (does not look like they will ever fix that) so you can do intervals, etc. up and down hills with no issues.
I find that the power measurement is occasionally right, but often not very close to my PTap when not climbing. I could definitely futz around with calibration some more to get things more accurate.
I am not sure why anyone would get the Fortius over the i-magic - the motorbrake of the Fortius allows you to coast down hills w/o pedaling. This will allow you to ride "junk" miles inside, I just don't see the point of that.

That's typical, I just answered a post with some iMagic info, so for your info heres the link http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=494763&page=2

Long and short of it - iMagic is good with iMagic green software (if you can get it). Fortius is good too, but you may spend more time fixing bugs and driver issues than riding.

I just got word from TACX and orded my 110V replacement package. It is supposed to fix the power problems over 26 mph. It comes with a new power adapter, motorbrake, the new trainer software, a 1 year multi-player license, and three RLVs, Quelle Roth Challange - Germany, Passo del Gavia -Italy, and Giro de Mortirolo - Italy, for $225. It sucks to have to shell out more money, but considering they are including three DVDs and the on-line racing, I'd say its a wash. Check their forums for details.

The i-magic is fine, and hits the sweet spot as far as prices vs performance goes. But I like doing hills greater than 6% and enjoy the realistic coast down you get with fortius. That little bit of extra realism is worth it for me. I also have the steering frame, and find that fairly pointless right now. In the future it is supposed to allow you to pan the wide screen RLV's as you ride. That will be cool, but find it pretty lame overall and usually turn steering off.

Tacx Trainers
 

Did the upgrade of the 110 volt unit for your Foritus solve the speed and % grade problems?

I am considering buying either the Foritus or the I-Magic but I am having difficulty deciding which one is b est for me.

I love the upgrade and would say they fixed the major issues, but wouldn't say it is perfect. The power readings on descents now make more sense and my averages (after calibration) on long rides agree with what I see outside on my bike with my powertap. However, there is a limit to how fast they will allow the rear whee to spin indoors on the trainer, for safety reasons, so on a huge descent Fortius is never going to be completely realistic. The flats and ascents are fine for me at my meager power levels. I program the courses to avoid descents for the most part anyway.

You can get best HD Widescreen RLV´s (Real Life Video) from www.cycle-in-motion.de - Made in Germany