This is pretty cheap isn't it? I remember looking months ago when there were stock shortages and they were all much more expensive.
Tacx Vortex Decathlon
I'm tempted to get one now to use in the winter or is there now going to be a glut of them on the market and people are going to selling them for a tenner on eBay?
Looks a lot like my Tacx flow that was £180 4 years ago
I paid €318 for my Tacx Vortex in 2015, seems a decent enough price taking inflation and covid shortages, etc. into consideration.
I would go for this over the Tacx...
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-direto-smart-turbo-trainer
In fact, I bought one about a month ago to replace a Tacx Flow.
The ride feel is massively better, the gradient changes smoother in Zwift & the ability to handle steeper gradients make it more effective.
I got mine using the finance package; seemed like a no-brainer.
I have 2 of them and they are fine but not sure I'd pay that price, I got both mine hardly used off Facebook for less than £200 each!
What might be my best ‘in before the rush’ buy ever. Got one, hardly used, in Jan 2020 for £120 😎.
Does everything I need it to do, and it works well with zwift but if I was putting out more serious watts/doing more training, I’d probably look for a direct drive one.
Worth noting they have two apparent design flaws - the metal roller becomes detached from inner causing noise then slippage, and the wheel size adjuster lugs snap leaving you only able to run 29er MTB wheels (won't tighten on anything less).
Garmin are IMHO amazing with the warranty backup (I had two sets of replacement parts then a whole replacement unit) but can be hard to get hold of and slow to sort.
It's summer soon, stock will be better and other halves will want to have friends around for BBQ's and not want to have to explain why the conservatory has been re-branded the pain-cave to people who will just assume it's a 50-shades reference.
That or the Direto at Wiggle just seems like a much better option unless the budget is a very fixed constraint.
Even the more expensive Kickr Core and Direto-XR are showing as in stock in most places, if you don't need it right now, I'd bet in a few months they'll actually be discounts.