If you have a power meter on your bike, it is perfectly usable. I have used an Elite (direct drive) dumb trainer for several years until it broke.
Then the price doesn’t sound too great to be honest. You can get a direct drive smart trainer for $500 new these days.
Ditto, and having went to a Suito, a part from its bulkiness at times I think the old non smart Elite Muin (non ERG) was better. I do though prefer the fully smart feed back of the Suito on virtual courses like Zwift or RGT.
This is one of the main things that I was hoping to attain. I don’t think it takes quite 10 seconds, but I’ve gotten into the habbit of (despite being in ERG mode), shifting a few seconds before the interval so I can get to target cadence sooner.
Mine hub is one of the old 8 speed. I didn’t know that spacers were an option, but I’m hoping to upgrade my road bike this year at which point I’ll be compatible with most any of the DD trainers.
This is a good practice for Erg mode no matter what trainer you’re using, so I still do it, but my DD trainer is still an order of magnitude faster than the wheel-on to get up to target power when the interval starts.
The alternate to shifting that I use is to slow my cadence before the work interval, then kick up to my desired cadence once it hits. Ex: Rolling the recovery interval at 90rpm and then kicking up to my usual 97rpm at the kick for a typical Threshold interval.
For higher target intervals like VO2 and Anaerobic, I end up with a similar slow cadence (90rpm), but since I quickly ramp my cadence to 110rpm or more (based on interval intensity & duration), I get to that target power quickly since the fast change in cadence exceeds the ability of the trainer in ERG mode.
It sure can, and is why Kinetic used to offer the option for their Road Machine trainer.
And yet, you can get an equally good workout from either! (if you have a power meter and don’t use ERG mode especially lol). Personally I think ERG mode makes people worse at pacing and spinning but that’s neither here nor there.
That was how the STAC worked. They had a janky looking set of weights in the wheel itself. It worked but it wasn’t nearly enough to be really good.
Yeah, I skipped that as I found it a bit of a hack workaround for their specific system. Kinda cool in a way, but that system always seemed to fall short for a number of reasons. I won’t like though, I considered odd stuff like that (even thought about adding water into my tubes, cookoo… and I never actually tried) when I was looking for “simple” ways to get more flywheel effect on my rollers 
Despite that, there is potential benefit to adding the weights to the wheels, if it can be done easily, safely & properly balanced, particularly if you use a dedicated wheel just for the trainer.
Agreed…the difference is in the experience of that workout. IMO (and those of most users), a direct-drive trainer provides a better overall experience. The workout is still the workout.
This came up above, bit I’m a fan of the direct drive trainer over a dedicated bike like the Kickr or Tacx for a variety of reasons.
I can test the power meters on my road and mtb against my tacx Neo 2T, so I have a good sense for how far off they are and how my training compares to the PM I’m using outdoors (Short story, I tested Favero Assioma, Garmin Rally, and two Quarq PM against the TacX and they’re all within 2% with some “spikes” on the quarq)
You could do this with a set of rollers too, but I like to be able to video myself on my bike to check fit and form with something like MyVeloFit.
The TacX and my old road bike pack up and store much easier. I’ve brought the trainer and the bike with me on vacation as long as I’m driving.
And, cheaper as long as you don’t have to go out and buy a new bike to use with it.
No complaints whatsoever with the TacX Neo 2t…
My sweat is like the blood from the movie Alien. It just burns through everything it touches.
Until your $1000 smart trainer breaks 3 years out of warranty and you can’t get spare parts. Cry twice, maybe. 
That said, I bought a used direct drive Kickr and it is so much better than any wheel-on trainer that I highly recommend direct drive to anyone.
I have a kickr snap - it’s great - big flywheel etc. Does need a spin down every ride though. That said - I will keep it until it breaks - its about 4 years old, but I will buy a direct drive replacement - so they are better but not so much better that I will bin a perfectly operational bit of kit for!
Perspective from a rider who alternates between a Tacx Neo (high-end DD trainer) and a Zwift Hub (low/mid-range DD trainer) roughly 6 days a week through winter. The price difference between them is roughly $800 USD at regular retail prices. I’ve been riding the Tacx Neo for 4+ years and my partner’s Zwift Hub for roughly 5 months. I also use dual Assioma power meter pedals to measure the watt’s that I’m producing on the bike for both trainers in TR.
With a proviso: I’m a 66-68kg rider/racer focused mainly on TT’s and climbing road races. So, I have little to offer when it comes to high-intensity short, on-off sprint efforts—I rarely venture above 800watt efforts. However, I spend a lot of time at steady-state VO2 Max, Threshold, and below.
Focusing on the criteria cited in your original question, I’ve found the difference next to zero between the two trainers when it comes to holding steady power at climbing and TT efforts. So far, I’m impressed at how well the Zwift Hub responds to changes in ERG-mode intervals and simulated gradients. So just viewing things through that lens alone, I’d recommend the ZwiftHub.
I’ve not used the ZwiftHub long enough to vouch for its long-term reliability or durability. So far it’s been simple and easy to use. In the 4+ years of using the Tacx Neo heavily, I’ve had zero issues with it.
One thing worth considering is how your needs may grow over time. Because I enjoy climbing but currently live in the lowlands, I also ‘ride’ and reconnoiter real-world mountain routes via downloaded GPX files or those on Tacx’s software platform. As such, I benefit from the greater grade simulation that the Neo provides. As painful as that can be at times.
Hope this is helpful
Perhaps I should have said; Do your research, THEN buy once, cry once?
Jokes aside. That’s terrible. Sorry to hear that, and glad you got a solid unit in the end.
Hopefully Wahoo doesn’t go bankrupt and our existing warranties remain.
Does resistance mode work for you with TR workouts? That’s my one major regret with my KK. Seems to work fine in Zwift though. (Support was unable to resolve the problem.). I also occasionally have to hop off the bike to reset when resistance gets stuck at the end of an interval. But that is rare.
I don’t know, I use a power meter and never use their resistance mode.
