Saris CycleOps H Series H3 Direct Drive Smart Bike Trainer Review

Saris CycleOps H Series  H3 Direct Drive Smart Bike Trainer

Saris CycleOps H Series Direct Drive Smart Bike Trainer



Saris CycleOps H3 (9830T) is a modern direct drive smart bike trainer as part of the H Series. It has an average customer rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars by 49 users on the day of this product review. Your other options are H2 (9820), H2 with Zwift (9820Z) and H3 with Zwift (9830TZ).

With the new drive system on this new smart bike trainer you’ll hardly hear any noise as it works at lower decibels than the previous models. You’ll experience precise training with the +/- 2 percent power accuracy. The electromagnetic resistance ensures a more controlled and measured workout consistently. You will not need any external sensors as the cadence, speed and power are displayed. This heavy training unit is made in USA and integrated well with the cycling apps.

With the ant+ fee-c & Bluetooth fumes standards it hooks up to indoor cycling applications smoothly. Zwift is a virtual training app for riding, running and training at home with others around the world. If you choose to get the H3 model with Zwift package (9830TZ), you’ll get a 3-month Zwift subscription, 1-month Rouvy subscription, a USB extension cable to hook up the bike trainer to Zwift on a computer, an ANT+ USB dongle and a pre-installed 11-speed cassette.

Saris CycleOps H3 is a reliable, sturdy and durable product that is designed to last for many years to come. How quiet is an indoor bike trainer is quite important for the customers. And the Wisconsin-based company tried really hard to make the H Series bike trainers very quiet. And the noise level is specified as only 59 decibels at a speed of 20 mph for the H3, which is their quietest trainer to date, 5 times less than the previous versions.

The direct drive design ensures compatibility with a larger number of bikes and gets rid of the wheel slipping. The internal components are carefully calibrated for measuring speed, cadence and power precisely and has a precision-balanced flywheel to handle 2000W of power and reproduce a 20% climbing. Saris CycleOps H3 (9830T) weighs 59 pounds and measures 22 x 22 x 12 inches. The maximum total user weight capacity is 300 pounds.

Saris CycleOps H Series Direct Drive Smart Bike Trainer H3

It is quite easy to get your bike on and off the trainer in a few minutes, mostly without adjusting the deraileur. Please note that the bike trainer doesn’t come with a rear wheel skewer. But the quick release is available for bike frame forks that are 1300mm to 1355mm wide. If you don’t want to have a paid subscription, you just use the Saris Utility application to simply cycle in the default mode without pairing it with any program.

It also works with Garmin Edge etc. for reading the power, speed and cadence. But you will not get any smart features this way and it is obviously more fun with them. It will offer a progressive resistance curve and you may send the data to a cycling head unit for monitoring your workout data. The flywheel on the H3 is probably the closest you will get to the real road-like feel on any bike trainer. The Saris H3 is compatible with the 11 to 8 speed Shimano/Sram cassettes. You can email their customer support team at support@saris.com or call them on 1-800-783-7257 at between 7am and 4.45pm during weekdays.

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