Tacx Booster Ultra High Power Folding Magnetic Trainer

Tacx's Booster Turbo Trainer is stable, easy to set up and folds away for convenient storage or to pop in the car to take to races. Its main features are that it can provide a very high level of resistance and its fan and magnetic resistance unit are surrounded by a plastic housing, so you can't burn yourself on them when they get hot. It's compatible with Zwift, so it's a relatively inexpensive way to get into connected training, especially as it can typically be found for a lot less than its £210 RRP.

Apparently the Booster used to come assembled, and with a bag for transport. It's cheaper now, but you have to put it together yourself and you don't get the bag. Swings and roundabouts, and it's straightforward enough to put together.

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You get a Tacx quick-release skewer so that your bike fits securely into the clamp, and a front wheel block is supplied to keep your bike level.

A control lever on your handlebar allows you to change the effort required to turn the magnetic resistance unit from not-very-much to you've-got-to-be-joking in 10 increments. If you're going to change the resistance a lot, you'll need to clamp it as firmly as possible as the lever itself is quite stiff.

Resistance is this unit's raison d'etre. Tacx claims it takes 1,050 watts to get to 40km/h in the highest setting, and I can believe it. I can barely get it moving in this setting, even in a low gear, and I've seen commentary questioning that anyone – even a pro – needs this much resistance. However, if you do want to practise your maximum-output sprints, it's there for you.

My main use for the Booster was with Zwift, and that calls for the far less brutal second-lowest setting. That still affords plenty of resistance when pedalling a high gear, and gives the pedalling action a smooth feel. It's not quite like riding on the road, but it's perfectly acceptable, and far better than the ancient fan-only trainer it replaced.

With a bike installed, the Booster is very stable thanks to its widely splayed feet. It clamps the bike firmly, and both closing the clamp onto the quick release and tweaking the roller position to touch the tyre are easy.

It's also reasonably quiet. You don't have to crank your music up so loud the neighbours will complain, and you might even get away with using it in a flat without annoying the folks downstairs. That's not to say it's silent, of course; no trainer is. But it's easy to live with.

For your Zwift sessions, you use Zwift's virtual power feature. Zwift has worked out the power curve of the Booster's resistance unit, and tells you how much power you're putting out based on this. As such, it can only be approximate, but it gives you some numbers to work with to measure your effort and improvement, based on how hard you are actually working. That's still an improvement on just using your heart rate, which can vary according to how you're feeling.

I've been using the Booster to explore Zwift as I try to rebuild some fitness after a disastrously inactive 2016. Having a screen in front of you telling you how hard you're working and, if you're following a workout, when to make an effort and when to go easy, makes indoor training quite good fun. That's something I never thought I'd be writing.

> Turbo training tips — get the most from your home trainer

I'm not alone. The advent of Zwift and other interactive training systems means retailers tell us they now sell as many home trainers in summer as winter. As well as the game aspects of Zwift and its ilk, they provide training that's more targeted and intense than you can easily manage on roads infested with SMIDSY drivers.

The Tacx Booster is a well-made, sensibly-priced entry into home training, with the added extra of a very high resistance range so you can severely torture yourself if the mood takes you. Recommended.

Verdict

Stable, smooth, Zwift-compatible standard home trainer with huge resistance range