Elite qubo wireless digital trainer

[Jimba]

Not a DCRainmaker quality review, but here goes.

Bought online from Freeborn cycles, cheapest I could find at £319 which compared favourably to Wiggle (by £30 odd quid). Checked them out and they seemed a decent organisation. Phoned to clarify the model, ie latest and not some old model, and they would deliver following day foc.

It is a standalone trainer just requiring mains power, no other wires. Small amount of Allen key work to get it set up but fairly straightforward. Paired the computer display with the trainer, paired the HRM and ready to go, that simple.

Readings all to cock, so had to take off the cadence sensor from the bike because of interference. Back on the bike and all working fine.

Now this is the only turbo I have used, other than the tacx fortius, so i am used to good data display including power, cadence, on graphs, virtual riders, previous pb comparison efforts etc etc. so just having a small display with basic readings of power hr etc seemed to me to be a come down. (more on ant dongle and online stuff later). To be fair I did expect it, I was more bothered about consistent power readings tha anything else. The last 2 yrs with the tacx I haven't used the VR or real life video features anyway but had focused on hr and power so really all it means is that I have to manually record e training better after the event rather than it being done automatically.

The power readings seemed good (other reviews done with multiple power meters have shown it to be +\- 5%) although low compared to the tacx but from what I have read the tacx does read high anyway. The cadence is, however, erratic. Don't know at this stage whether it is me shifting about to much, or inconsistent pedalling, bike not fitted tightly enough etc as the trainer does not have a cadence sensor but does some calculation of power to estimate cadence. (so standing up on the pedals changes pressure of the roller and throws cadence out for example). So first quick test seemed all ok and what I had expected.

Next day Ant dongle arrives - some confusion alan my part as to what I needed, it is a wahoo key which plugs into iPad/iPhone to access the I qubo app. They are in short supply, Freeborn said it would be over a month until they had some. I got mine direct from Elite in Italy, about the same price as Freeborn (£60). Now the app gives a numbe rof features (and I guess these will expand) various options for riding to power, preset programmes, a set Conconi test and the ability to create your own courses.

App works fine, did the conconi test, failed to do it consistently enough to get a FTP reading but confident I will do it ok next time (if this works it will be good for me as I need a programme to make me do these sorts of things and I need a good benchmark). Had a quick dabble with courses and it seems good, on the iPad plot the route, it then creates the altimetry which looked ok to me, you then ride it with the app controlling resistance on the trainer.

It's fair to say the graphic displays are not state of the art but the display readings are clear and aside from cadence seem accurate to me.

It seems solid and stable (aside from getting on and off where there is a little wobble but there was on my other one as well).

All in all very pleased with it, would recommend it , but obviously only used a few times so haven't fully tested and explored everything.

[Tritans]

Would you say it feels smooth ? Also does it allow for a very light resitance, post interval setting ?

How would you compare it to the fortious. In terms of the smothness rather than gadgetry.

[Kevy427]

Would you say it feels smooth ?

I thought Veet had already been reviewed?

[Jimba]

It is smooth and does go to a very light resistance for spinning after intervals. Will need to do another test on that, as it was a little strange today, after doing another Conconi test, and still failing to do it properly to get a score, it should have been an easy spin but it was quite hard. It then eased off considerably. I am guessing that this was due to the test programme rather than the turbo itself. Certain,y as smooth as the fortius.

I still need to do a few qother tests on it - eg what's it like on steep hills when riding a course, I haven't done an actual interval session on it so need to try that out.

So far though, very happy with it.

[andrewdickie]

I have just purchased the Elite Digital and cannot get it to connect to the iPhone app, is there something that I'm missing? Help please - very new to this!

[Jimba]

Have you got the Ant dongle thing , it's not the standard one as I recall, I had to send off somewhere for mine. Mine is for the ipad so it's the old bigger port, (where it is charged).
Cheers