I’m looking to upgrade my smart trainer and it will probably be either the Drivo II or the KICKR.
Would love to hear some feedback from owners of either. Love it? Hate it? Encountered any problems?
Thank you in advance!
I have a Drivo I and and a new Kickr. It’s really hard to decide which one is better. I think the Drivo seems more consistent with power readings (there is no calibration), but the i never got the erg mode to work, if that is important to you. I’m big on ‘road feel’ , and I would say the Drivo has a better feel to me. If you want the climb, its an obvious choice, otherwise it’s really a toss up. If you live in the US, a kickr may be easier to get support if you have problems, but I have never had problems.
Kickr of course.
ERG Mode don’t work with the Drivo II and ERG mode is a very important thing for a serious training.
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My mate has returned 4, yes FOUR, KICKR 2018s under warranty.
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Ouch. What was wrong with them? All different things? I had a similar experience with Tacx neo,
Ah, yes, that would be important to me. Thank you for the info!
That’s my worry. I currently have a Wahoo Kickr SNAP. This one is quiet and working well, but I have returned four or five of them. Clearly Wahoo has some quality control issues. On the other hand, Wahoo support has been stellar.
Why choosing from only these two? (Just curious) When I got into the world of smart trainers last December I purchased a Kickr Core. I had it for a few weeks before returning it for a Tacx Neo 2. What I didn’t like about the Kickr Core was that the belt in it just always felt like it was ‘slipping’ a tiny bit (i.e. not the same positive feel of turning the rear wheel IRL). The Neo, of course, doesn’t have a belt so this is not an issue. The Neo does have some other minor issues but, overall my experience has been great and I’m really glad I made the change, even given the higher price of the Neo (which was more than the difference between the Neo and the regular Kickr you are considering).
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I crossed Tacx and CycleOps off the list after seeing numerous reports of bad customer service. However, I see that Garmin has now bought Tacx – maybe service will improve?
I’ve had no problems with tacx customer service, in fact, it’s always been good. Garmin’s CS is outstanding IMO.
Good to hear. Thanks!
I contacted Elite and they responded that ERG mode is working with Zwift. Hopefully someone on here who rides a Drivo II can confirm.
Hi Bhaltair,
I was in your position, looking at the same trainers, concerned about making the right
choice first time. I’ve had an Elite product and been very happy with it, but I always
came back to the Neo. I’m glad that I did. If I had bought something else, the Neo
would have been always in the back of my mind.
I’m saying buy the one that is top of your list even though its a hard decision.
For me…
I really didn’t want the added problem of calibration and the slight movement from
side to side is a positive comfort point also.
I hope your choice works out for you.
My Kickr has 7 months and it is not working anymore. Very loud noise, huge vibration and no power/resistance signal. It is f… up with my trainings for IM in May this year. Warranty and Customer support sucks. I came to this topic to check whether Elite Drive II would be a good choice… read that tacx neo 2 also has problems…
I can recommend Saris H3.
I’ve just bought one and I am very impressed. It tracks my quarq extremely well although over-reads by 3% or so at peak power.
I have no experience of the Drivo but would expect it to be good.
Obviously Neo 2 is a great choice too.
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I had the Drivo and think its a good trainer. Problem I has was it never worked correctly in ERG mode, had a 10-12 second delay to power changes. This seemed to be a common problem and the only response from Elite was it was a problem with Zwift.
Not true, I used it on 3 different ERG programs and still same issue. Elite did not seem to think it was an issue and would do nothing about it. Based on that I could never recommend it for a trainer if you ever plan on using ERG mode
So, I tried the Drivo II, and it just wasn’t going to work for me.
First of all, it was louder than my wheel-on Kickr SNAP.
Secondly, although it worked in ERG mode, it took far too long to adjust to a required change in power. Doing a simple interval workout where the power needed to alternate between 170 watts and 220 watts, the Drivo II took 19 seconds to hit the new power target, and another 5 or so seconds to stabilize. That was just too long for me. My SNAP makes the change in 2-3 seconds.
There were some other strange effects as well. Such as, when sprinting the resistance would suddenly change. I’m not sure what was going on, but as I would wind it up, I’d shift to a bigger gear, and then the Drivo II would increase the resistance, forcing me to shift down again.
I worked with Elite’s technical support, who were willing, but didn’t have any solutions. Exchanges also took at least several days.
So, I’m back to the Kickr SNAP. Maybe next year I’ll try something else.