Hi, Im looking to get a turbo to run with Zwift. I have a budget of about £300.
Any recommendations? I’m looking at the Tacx Flow from from halfords. My only reservation with this is the noise, as i will be using it directly underneath my babies bedroom and I am wary of the noise of magnetic trainers.

Thanks.

Bump for this.

Also interested. Exactly the same position!

I was worried about noise, living in a flat. It is very quiet, equivalent to a fan. Actually more from the drivechain

Noise is largely dependant on wheel speed for any given trainer. I find that with the smart trainer, I just keep to about the middle of the cassette and on the inside chainring (on a double) and with the resistance being controlled the wheel speed and therefore the noise is much reduced over when I used to have to go through the gears to increase power on a dumb trainer.

In a flat and don’t find it that bad when used with a matt, much quieter than my old rollers

Can I ask why SMART? that is if you have a Garmin with cadence, speed and HRM sensors? Seems you pay a bit of a premium for SMART and the only potential feature that I’d be interested in, the power meter, gets sketchy feedback on how accurate it is on the lower end SMART turbo’s. Just contemplating given a limited budget of circa £200 I might be better off with a low end fluid dumb turbo vs. a magnetic SMART turbo.

i’ve got the tacx flow smart. i think it drones a bit, but i’ve got it on my shed, away from the house on a concrete floor and I ride with headphones on.

not sure I’d want to use one in the house.

when I say I, I mean my wife & son…

Well I bought the flow today and I’m very happy so far. Need to purchase the ant dongle for zwift, but it’s noise is acceptable (a lot less than an old elite mag I used to have) and it was a doddle to set up.

Thanks for the update. Think I’ll take the plunge…

I’m after a decent budget fluid turbo trainer that doesn’t require a mains power source (will be using in my shed).

Any recommendations new or one to look out for in the classifieds/Ebay?

Budget up to about £200.

Thanks.

I’m looking to sell my kurt kinetic road machine with an inride power meter.

email in profile.

a proper turbo tyre, pumped to 110psi, helps with the noise too. Halfords have one for £10 (£9 with BC discount)

Bit of a detour from the orginal post but I’m also interested. I have rollers and a simple turbo. I also have a garmin with HRM, speed and cadence.

Rather than buy a new smart trainer would I (you?) be better putting the money towards a power meter. Are they even available at that kind of price – stages cracks might be an option. This way you can also use the power info out on the road.

Paceman – I was eyeing up this following a recommendation from my brother and looking into the magnetic brake vs. fluid brake thing:-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-fluid-elastogel-trainer/

But its not SMART hence my questions on what is the point/benefit of SMART if you’re fully Garmin’d up.

Variable resistance is the answer to that one.

Thanks Wobbliscott, that looks like it would fit the bill nicely.