Tacx offers its own training software – Tacx Trainer 4 – but it only works under Windows and it's an extra €65, or €125 for the Advanced version. I used the Flux with Zwift, which I'd started exploring as a training tool while testing the Tacx Booster. You start riding, spin up to 30km/h, and then let it coast down, and then away you go. Tacx provides a free app for iOS and Android – Tacx Utility – that communicates with the Flux and reads power, cadence and virtual speed. Once your training software has detected the Flux, there's one more step. Some electronic wizardry inside the unit picks up the variance in power round your pedal stroke and works out how fast you're pedalling. Zwift quickly finds the Flux as a source of speed and power data and also, surprisingly, of cadence. Pop your bike on it, plug the Flux into the mains, an ANT+ antenna into your computer, start up your chosen training software, and away you go. The level of It Just Works here is impressive. The open source software Golden Cheetah can also pick up data from the Flux, when you plug an ANT+ dongle into your Mac, PC or even Linux box. (There's an outline for an FTP test included in our Six Weeks to Fitness training plan, here.) Go to the companion website and you can create workouts, though annoyingly it doesn't seem to be possible to base a workout on percentages of your FTP (functional threshold power), only on absolute power. Tacx supplies a free iOS or Android app, Tacx Training, that can control the Flux. You don't have to use Zwift or some other paid-for service, though. It's much easier to stick to the set power for an interval with 'ERG mode' (more on this below) controlling the trainer's resistance, rather than trying to keep an eye on a computer while playing dodge-the-4WD on the open road. That's accuracy as good as you'll get from pretty much any power meter out on the road. Tacx claims the Flux reads your power to an accuracy of +/- 5%, but after a warm-up period it achieves better than this, tracking the readings from other power meters to within 2% or so. It's noticeable that there's a few seconds' delay before the resistance increases when you go from one power level to the next. It's not unpleasant, but you're never going to close your eyes and imagine you're on the road. The feel of resistance to pedalling is that you're pushing a mechanical brake, rather than pushing a bike through the air. I've never used one that felt much like being outside, and the Flux really doesn't. People talk a lot about how close the pedalling feel of an indoor trainer is to riding a bike on the road. > Find your nearest dealer here Feel & response But most importantly, it's so straightforward to use that it actually makes indoor training – dare I say it? – fun. It's also fairly quiet, so the family can watch TV in the next room and you won't annoy your downstairs neighbours if you live in a flat. It's not cheap, but it's good value compared to its competition. It's a doddle to set up and get started, measures your power to a useful level of accuracy and consistency, and works with popular virtual riding applications such as Zwift to make indoor training less dull. The Tacx Flux Smart is currently the closest thing there is to an inexpensive fully smart direct drive indoor trainer.
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