Hi all, I am making the investment in a smart trainer for the pain cave. I am trying to decide between the Wahoo Kickr and the Saris H3. Any suggestions? I will be buying them new to use with my 2018 Giant Defy. Thanks!
H3 user here. I’m in the basement early mornings with a wife and 2 kids and it’s very quiet (drivetrain is louder than the trainer). Only time it gets a little loud is when it freewheels (which is only during calibration or the end of a workout).
Overall, I have been very happy with mine.
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I had a bad experience with the Saris H3, 2 of them and both had a terrible screeching noise. It sounded like the noise they make when going from low watts to high watts very quickly and the belt slips, but constantly. Saris customer service was pretty terrible as I wasn’t based in the US… so move to the TACX Neo 2 … which so far seems excellent.
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This is a consideration that I think should be given more weight. We see mixed to poor results from each trainer maker when we start dealing with hops over oceans.
It’s not ideal, but I think people should really take into account the origin of the trainer vs where they are. We all hope to not need support, but if/when you do, having them more “local” is usually a benefit.
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I thought my H3 had a pretty loud freewheel too, so I repacked the freehub with grease, and it’s much quieter!
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I personally work for a bike shop that deals for Wahoo, Saris, and Garmin/Tacx as well. Personally, I’ve not seen the Tacx in action but my preference is ALWAYS wahoo over Garmin. I have seen both a Kickr, and CycleOps Hammer (older version of the H3) in action, and ridden both for a little bit. Both are fantastic trainers. You cannot go wrong with either, but I would definitely recommend the Kickr. It may be out of personal preference for wahoo as a brand, but I do like the design and connectivity of the Kickr better. I hope this helps!
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I had a bad experience with the Tacx Neo 2, two of them. The flywheel on the first one seized up on only it’s second ride. The second one lasted longer, a few months in fact. It failed when the cooling fans stopped working and lost all resistance. I got a full refund and currently borrowing a Kickr that so far has been ok. The only problem I have with it is that it can lose connection during rides. It reconnects within 5 or so seconds but by then I’ve lost the group. I find the ANT+FE-C a little more reliable than the Bluetooth.
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@mcneese.chad , how do you best find out which brands may provide support intra country, Canada in my case?
Good question. I’d start by contacting the main corporate office via email or phone if possible and ask them. On occasion, some sites will have a list of distributors for specific regions that would be the next closest.
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