I purchased a Headwind 3 months ago and I knew at the time it was vastly over-priced but I still fancied one.
I find it excellent, the fan is very strong, the control works from the phone (Android in my case) and it looks nice. I have it to the front right of my bike and that works well.
I have it synced to the HR (Tickr) so that full blast comes on at about 98% MHR - which doesnt happen that often.
I have two minor improvements which I think would help
If you manually increase power of the fan then the blue lights come on to indicate which of the levels you are at. However when it is being controlled by HR whilst the power increases the lights do not come on which I think is a weakness.
I have to remember to switch it on. I would have thought that it could be switched on automatically when it receives a signal from the KIckr or the HR monitor.
I agree as well, its expensive but it works great and keeps me nice and cool when I need it. Being able to sync with power or heart rate makes it super simple to use.
I created my own version of the headwind fan. I converted one of the Lasko fans to variable speed, and it’s controlled by app.
I can leave the fan on in standby mode, and turn the fan on from the app on my iPhone. The app also shows the fan speed.
Works great. It’s nice to have the fan off in the first 5-10 mins for warmup. Then I switch it on using the app and run it in heart rate mode. I have it set up so fan speed varies from 40-100% over a heart rate range of 120-180bpm.
I just have my Cleva fan (UK product similar to Lasko) wired up to a switch I can easily reach from my bike. I like the idea of having a power/HR/room-temperature-driven fan, but in practice what I really like is being able to just turn a switch whenever I feel the need to. I put it on 1 a few minutes after starting, and it goes to 2 on some hard intervals. If I put it on 3 it basically means I’m ready to tap out…
…so it goes on 3 during most non-recovery workouts
Would you be able to add some more details on how to converted the fan? I’m really interested in doing this since I like the ideas behind the Wahoo Headwind but can’t convince myself to pay that much for a fan. I guess specifically how you converted it to variable speed and how it is hooked up to an app? Also is this an app that already exists or one you made? Thanks!
I used a triac to control the power going to the fan, and used an Arduino 101 to control the triac. I programmed the app myself to read heart rate, power or speed. And then send a BLE signal to the Arduino to control the triac to set the fan speed.
It was something I did while I was playing about between jobs. It ended up taking a lot of work, but kept me occupied.
Buying a Headwind would be quicker. And maybe cheaper. But not as fun😁
I picked up a Headwind with a 20% deal at Clevertraining over Black Friday. It’s been super solid. I use it exclusively in HR mode and have set it to go to max at about 80 percent max HR, which feels about perfect.
Wow that’s awesome! The software I can do, the electronics not so much lol. Thanks for the details and linking to the post! It looks like from some of the comments you feel that $250 for the headwind may be a fair price for the fan, engineering, and margins etc?
Love my headwind but it seems I’m the only one here that uses his on manual control. My heart rate runs higher than most and using speed seems a waste, ERG keeps the speed mainly constant.
What I would like is the Wahoo to base fan speed on your power output against FTP.
