Saris Utility 4+

Undecided on overall rating

I have been using the magnius trainer for a little under a year. In the beginning everything worked well. Towards the 3rd quarter I started to lose connection with Zwift. To be in the middle of a ride and the system looses its connection to where you must restart and begin your ride all over again. This in my book is except able. I have made sure the firmware is up to date, calibrated, a good internet connection. I’ve used iOS and windows computer system with the same results. I’m still unsure if it’s the communication between the trainer or it’s the communication between Zwift and trainer or my internet connection for which I have added a WiFi extender and checked my WiFi router and it’s connection to the internet. Maybe if the people reviewing the reviews could pass this forward the problem can get fixed.
Overall I’m happy with the trainer.

Developer Response ,

The Zwift team is working on fixing the bugs in their software with regards to connection drops. Our software hasn't changed in a long time, so there isn't much we can do to help Zwift or other software vendors. If you feel it is your trainer, enter ERG mode using our app and walk away. The trainer should keep a connection open with a solid blue light. If your connection does drop, then there is certainly something wrong with the trainer and we can work with you on that. If not, that means your trainer is functioning as expected and it is the integrating software that is having an issue. Shoot us an email at developer@saris.com if you'd like to discuss this further.

It does not pick up the Saris sensor

I bought a Saris indoor trainer that included the Saris sensor (cadence/speed), tried to set it up (many times already) with the utility but unfortunately the app does not connect to the sensor neither in cadence nor speed. I give this a 3 star rating because the sensor works with Rouvy… wished this could be different.

Questionable calibration results?

I use a CycleOps Magnus trainer. The latest version of this app does not function as smoothly for calibration. I’ve had several calibration attempts fail and hang. (I was also listening to music using Bluetooth headphones connected to my iPhone at the same time. This may have been a factor.) Further, the power measurements after calibration are much higher than before. I have been hot calibrating each virtual ride, so something seems out of whack. I’m not sure the power measurements are trustworthy. To be clear, this behavior started occurring when Saris reduced the required calibration speed from 24 mph to 22. If I could revert to the previous app version I would do so immediately.

Developer Response ,

We did over a 100 tests with an M2 and a BMC TeamMachine with 700x25 tires and only measured a .1 second difference using the old method, the 24MPH spin down, and the 21MPH spindown. The easier variable to adjust is tire pressure and whether the trainer's knob was clicked into placed appropriately. If you still feel your power measurements are off, shoot us an email at developer@saris.com and we can see what's going on.