Tacx Trainer Software 4.0 Key 30
Leslee Galyan
this is debatable. Zwift was just a software maker until 3 months ago. Now he has produced his own machine. If Zwift currently removes compatibility with machines from other manufacturers, it will have serious problems. This results in a large company like Garmin wiping out the others from the market. constitutes a violation of competition rules.
I agree with you that companies are targeting monthly membership fees. I think the best example in this regard is the Microsoft office program. In the past, we used to buy the program once and use it for life. Now we pay money every month. As I wrote above, zwift monthly membership is 15 USD, while Garmin is 99 USD per year. What is normal for this price? That can be seen small price but should be discussed
While I too would like to see Tacx-Garmin support third-party trainers, as was pointed out, this is entirely on them, not Zwift. You can submit a feature request for missing functionality here: -US/forms/ideas/
The box containing the Bushido is a fair bit smaller than I expected. Nice and tidy, all in a single unit. As you can see however, the fine folks at UPS did assist in the durability testing a bit though.
In the case of aerobars, it would be 90* offset. So my solution is using the CompuTrainer stand with a 4-Cup Oxo measuring cup. Works perfectly. And the measuring cup can also fit right over your aerobars as well, using that as a stand.
It should be noted that both the trainer (aka brake) and the head unit have firmware that can be frequently updated. I participated briefly in a beta program for firmware for both units, prior to it being released over the past few weeks. Tacx does frequently update both the firmware and the software, introducing new features and fixing bugs.
First up though is a quick note that your user account is saved online. This is pretty cool in that all your settings are stored magically up on their servers, so in case your computer dies, you can re-download it all again.
The Catalyst mode is the mode with the least amount of graphical and/or entertainment distraction. It simply gives you a real-time graph of your effort, along with data fields along the bottom. While this may sound odd, for me, this is the mode I actually use the most.
Real Life Video mode allows you to train watching integrated videos taken in real locations, with the trainer adjusting the resistance based on the terrain you see in the video. The videos are generally recorded in conjunction with major cycling races, so they attempt to replicate the feel of being at the lead of the pack.
As you can see along the bottom of the screen you have metrics around your current data. You can also adjust the display of the screen using the controller (head unit) to display additional information such as the virtual elevation graph of the ride, or your current location:
You can adjust the level of detail, based on what you think your computer can handle. The above screenshots were taken with a middle of the pack two year old laptop with an integrated graphics card. In other words, most modern computers can easily handle it.
But, as a brief overview, the multiplayer function requires the purchase of an extra package, though not terribly expensive at under $50. This then allows you to connect to their systems, or engage directly with other users.
The myth goes that once a year he leaves his home country (spain) and visits all families with kids to bring gifts and chocolate.
Amazingly, he delivers these goods by going from roof to roof on the back of his big white horse and descending down the chimney of each house where he drops his gifts and chocolates for the children.
The second concern was related to posts concerning accuracy of the power measurement and control. People have complained that they have trained with power before and the Bushido power measurement and control did not appear to be consistently accurate. Similar to how you compare accuracy of GPS on the various watches I would be interested if you could test the accuracy of the Bushido power measurement compared to your bike power meter (and computrainer).
I have used the Bushido for about a year and have not experienced any problems with either the hardware or software. For the most part, the software works fine as long as your PC meets the specs recommended by Tacx.
how does the unit handle cadence measurement? also, the genius model description on the tacx website makes reference to left/right power differential with their cadence device, probably similar to spinscan on the computrainer
My BIGGEST complaint i that the elevations are not accurate. If I use google earth(the coolest) feature or import a file from my Garmin, the hills are near impossible to get up. A 8% grade for me is not that hard but a 6% grade on the Bushido is deadly. When I create known courses, they are nothing like the effort of really riding them.
Also, I find that the Bushido brake works at an ideal cadence of 80rpm. Any thing above that gets increasingly easier. It would be nice for riders who pedal at a higher rpm to get accurate resistance.
The Tacx was towards the top of the list but a lot of comments on the web are negative. You put a lot of that to rest. Seems like similar issues to Garmin with their firmware problems, but they are always updating.
Ray:
When riding in the Live Video mode you indicated that the speed of advance of the video is constant. That must mean that if your speed is slower than the video you are spending less time climbing than you would in the real world or conversely more time. This could make the time taken to ride a course quite unrealistic or am I missing something.
2. To run the Bushido on your PC, it looks like the PC link (including USB dongle) is required in addition to the software which you have listed as $170. The PC link is more expensive at around $280. Correct me if I am wrong but I think this should be clarified.
3. I am about to pull the trigger on the Bushido and would like to purchase via a link on your site. However, Amazon does not deliver to my location in Australia (and does not ship free). Is there a workaround for this? Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere on your site.
Many asked about this, so I went ahead and created a short video showing the noise levels between the Tacx and CompuTrainer, as well as my voice in normal talking mode. This is about 1/3rd of the way down the review, under Noise.
The primary reason is to have very set workouts for intervals at a given wattage. This allows you to focus on getting an exacting workout at a given power level, versus trying to maintain that that. That said, I agree that fundamentally a large part is understanding how to hold that level on your own.
You got it spot-on I think. Tacx are quite advanced in terms of embracing new opportunities and they tend to bring new things quickly to the market. The flipside of this is that it sometimes causes stability issues.
Sounds like Tacx might be much more open to third party developers than CT. The latter refused to even share the .3dp file format for proprietary reasons several years ago. Yet here you have people generating their own real live courses with a Garmin and a Go Pro.
Someone asked if Tacx had an women to ride behind.. link to tacxvr.com two of the best in the world right here..Ray had a pack of rather dated films, there are a load of new ones on the way including a 235km long 2011 Tour of Flanders
The Genius will be like the Fortius but with a single cable for power. able to smoothly simulate very steep hills & also spin the wheel down.It allows the rider to really spin on a trainer, its not just a gimmick, I had 190rpm on the Fortius last week, try that on a normal trainer ;-)
Your review says the Garmin USB stick hyperlinked to Amazon in your article would work, but every post I have scanned indicates the TTS 3.x software does not support USB2. Any thoughts or comments on how to get the USB2 stick to work with the TTS 3.x (.5 in my case) with the Garmin USB2 ANT stick?
My most recent issue with my new bushido/TTS3 (and there have been plenty, USB1vUSB2 being one of those issues which is now thankfully resolved without pulling all of my hair out) is trying to get the HRM format data files converted into something recognized by strava (.GPX, .TCX or .FIT) without using any paid third party websites. If you have any suggestions in that regard I would be most appreciative.
Initially disturbed by the anemic customer service protocols of Amazon.com and Tacx Bushido; several postings including advertising my distress and proposing the return of the new but inoperable Tacx Bushido and software upgrade yielded favorable results.
I am returning the Bushido to Amazon for a refund. I am still trying to return the VR upgrade but it is looking like I may have to end up eating the software as a total loss. My advice: Buyer beware. This has been a most unpleasant and expensive mistake.
Tacx was rather nasty when they realized that they used Google maps without a proper agreement with Google, so Tacx people just shook their shoulders to get off the dirty problem and said that users have to pay USD30 p.a. No problem but they had advertised their products WITH Google maps.
The software is still buggy (note I tried TTS3.12 too, but reverted to 3.10), sometimes it makes no sense to upgrade hoping an ultimate solution, it does not help. An instance of annoying bug is that in case of 75-90% of the RLV rides (maybe it is true for the other type of rides like RLT or Catalyst, but I typically use RLV), you have to unplug and replug the ANT+ stick at the end of your ride to make yourself able to save your ride due to some comm bug.
Or another example of a bug which makes me mad is that it was a great idea to let your powermeter to control the brake unit through Bushido headunit and/or TTS, but it is very common that TTS/head unit loses the power signal.
What does the stupid TTS do? Although there is a clear power (=voltage) generation showing that you are still riding, but TTS is put to paused during the temporary disconnection. In an unlucky day it means at least one minute per hour difference between the total ride time of TTS and the real total, so when you would like to merge your data from your Garmin eg and the elevation data from TTS, there is evidently a problem.
b37509886e