Recently moved my trainer from garage to the house. Used this floormat to minimize vibration and protect floor from sweat, etc. This floormat has worked well so far. No complaints from my wife about noise / vibration when I'm on the trainer at 5am and it cleans up easily. I had a mild odor when it first arrived, but I let it sit out for a few days and that has dissipated. I also laid the floormat out for a few days with weight on the ends to prevent them from curling up. All in all, an excellent product.
This really improves your engagement with Zwift. You pay much more attention to the twists and turns of the road, making the experience more immersive. I also run Zwift Sauce in order to see the drafting meter, and combined with the Sterzo, I am much more deeply engaged in my Zwift rides. I also have the Zwift play controllers that allow steering, but their approach is nowhere near as intuitive as this. I also have to give a shout-out to Sterzo customer support. A spring broke on my Sterzo after a couple of years of use. I contacted them for a replacement spring, and they sent me a whole new unit. Bluetooth connection is rock solid.
After 6 years and 20K+ miles I decided to replace my Neo2 with a 3M. Other than replacing the freehub my Neo2 was trouble free and I gave it to a friend. I have a little over 1K miles on the 3M. It seems a little smoother than the Neo2. I like the motor driven flywheel of the Neos, seems more natural when going down hill. The build quality of the 3M seems good and so far I am happy with it. Everything works as advertised. I had been looking at the 3M for about a year and decided to buy one now that the price has dropped.
I upgraded my Lemond Revolution non-smart trainer to the Garmin NEO 2T to set up for post-ACL surgery recovery, knowing I would need more stimulus than the concrete floor.
I was a bit worried about the fussiness and configuration for a smart trainer, but setup was straightforward and I was able to use my existing Garmin Connect account to get up and running quickly with the Tacx app. Connecting to Zwift was a bit more complicated and required several trips to the web before success. MyWhoosh was a similar experience. Overall, I've been pleased with the reliability and ease of use.
Pros:
- The unit is very quiet, especially compared to the fan-driven Lemond. So quiet all you really hear is the chain going over the sprockets.
- Easy setup, for a smart trainer, and re-starts have been very reliable.
- Decent Tacx app experience with a nice set of demo videos and simple workout controls. Works with all other major services.
- Works without power, so if you want a simple ride or need to warm up on it before a race, you can.
- Fun features like road surface simulation increases the verisimilitude of the experience.
- Plenty of resistance--so far. I haven't pushed it to the limit yet but have no concerns about it.
- Solid and stable. It's a bit heavy if you are moving it around frequently, but it also doesn't shimmy or bounce around under harder efforts.
Cons:
- It's not the most expensive unit out there, nor is it the cheapest, but ~$1k is worth a second thought
- A monthly subscription ($10-15/month) is required to one or more services to fully benefit from capabilities of the trainer. If you're willing to drop $1k for a trainer, this probably isn't a concern.
- Setup is more involved than an analog trainer -- you need at minimum a mobile device to run the trainer and larger screen (tablet, monitor) to get the full experience.
- You also need a place to put the display so you can see it properly and interact with the app when necessary. You'll also want a fan for air circulation since you get very warm very quickly indoors. If you don't have a dedicated space and equipment for it, you'll be spending a chunk of time setting it up for each session. This however is true for any indoor cycling experience.
