Tacx Training™

I have been using my Tacx trainer for a little over a month and love it. Who knew that it’s more enjoyable to ride the virtual/real course than train with a movie? Or a book? I appreciate the scenery, the automatic adjustments for terrain, it makes the ride almost real. Add some earphones and music and you could believe you are there. Amazing experience riding around the world on beautiful locations or historic routes On the needs improvement side, since I am both running and riding indoor/outdoor and mostly use the Tacx when it’s not ideal to go outside on the road (dark, winter, rain, etc.) I wish the transition between the Garmin training plans were more seamless across devices. As it is, you pretty much need to choose one or the other. You can ride your Garmin Connect plan on the Tacx, but no video. You can create a Tacx coaching plan, but can’t modify the days, #of days, etc. and can only ride it on the Tacx. All the pieces are there to create a seamless Garmin fitness ecosystem between real and virtual world. Raining? No problem, just keep on your training schedule and hop on the Tacx to ride in Ireland…. Hopefully it’s in the works. Overall, light years head of my old resistance wind trainer, highly recommend.

I have never written an app review. To use this app you need some membership (which I have) - it’s not cheap but for top quality, I usually do not count $. I use mainly the desktop app which recently crashes at every training session I do. Not the cpu heavy videos but the simple training program sessions. It takes about 5-15 minutes and then crashes. The beauty being that when you click resume/continue, it puts you in limbo (not at exact spot where it crashes) and most of the time does not work - you can pedal but the time-counters are frozen and, if it was a 60 minute warm up before intervals, you’re stuck in the interval for 60 minutes minus the time when the app crashed (so 60 minutes minus say 15 = 45 minutes interval - that’s not an interval anymore ...). So pure garbage. In a moment of brilliance, I’ve decided that I should use my tablet (hence this app) to momentarily palliate to the deficiencies (read uselessness) of the desktop app. Well guess what? In true tradition, you go to training programs, click on the session you want to do - and - you cannot even start it rendering the app useless. I know that TACX was bought by GARMIN, maybe it is the software practices at GARMIN that have degraded the TACX apps - which used to work nicely (albeit never needed this iOS app). Anyhow, I’m seriously thinking of moving my buying power somewhere else - what a shame & what a basic lack of software quality control. I would give 0 stars but apparently this is not an option.

Good: The interface is good. It connects with my trainer great. I can upload my own GPS routes and ride them. I get to experience the elevation changes smoothly. The view shows a cool overhead map view as I progress on the course while also showing current cycling data and an elevation profile- all the things I want at once. The rides will sync with my Strava account automatically if I choose. Bad: No way to edit my own uploaded GPS workout names/titles. Also - GPS rides feature a “select subcourse” option but there are no subcourses when I select it and no instructions for creating a subcourse in a GPS file. No instructions for the app on TacX or Garmin sites - and no manual either. Tutorial videos? TacX tutorial videos are way too old and don’t match the current program. FAQs don’t scratch the surface.