You've got Mac/PC there, and Tacx/Wahoo. May as well add in tubed/tubeless and Sram/Shimano and really get the full house of 50:50 tossups ;-)

All I'll share is I'm running two Tacx Neo (OG) that are 7 year old, both working off second hand off lease desktops I bought 5 years ago for NZD$99 (US60) and then cheap NZD50 graphics cards.

Both work perfectly for zwift, then use an ANT+ dongle for connection.

If I was buying now, I'd almost certainly go for a Tacx Neo again as that's what I've used for what is almost 30 years now (really, wheel on trainers in 90s, an i-magic in late 2000s through to 2015 when I got the neo). Only thing forcing the rethink is in NZ the Garmin support is dreadful, but irrelevant to your issue.

I've not got any sort of movement plate, regularly do rides of 2 hours and fairly often over 3 hours. That said based on all reviews and comments from friends then it would be an upgrade.

Honestly, you can't really go wrong with any of the options you mention, it's just if you prefer pepsi or cocacola.

I just got the Neo 2T about 30 days ago with the sale and promotion you reference (haven't received the motion plates yet as they ship separately via the rebate) after my OG Kickr died after 6 years of heavy use. I was going to get a new Kickr due to my success with the original, but the Neo 2T sale was too attractive to pass up. You have to factor in the cost of a cassette as the Neo doesn't come with one, but I had several spares laying around to use. I'm extremely happy with the Neo.

I've used it with both a MacBook Pro via ANT+ (using a USB-C to USB-A single adapter with a Suunto dongle) and an iPad via Bluetooth, and both have been flawless. The trainer/power response for Zwift and built erg workouts directly from my Garmin Edge is awesome.

Noise was not a huge concern, but the Neo is essentially silent but for the sound of the drivetrain. I haven't received the motion plates yet, but there is significantly more side to side ride motion with the Neo over my Kickr even though I had the Kickr action feet (I bought the feet separately a few years ago and installed them on the original Kickr). The ride feel is really amazing. I am not huge on the road feel setting where you can feel the gravel and such in Zwift, but will turn it on for longer rides as it's a pretty cool feature and those kinds of little things can provide some mental relief and distraction on long trainer rides.

I can't recommend the Neo highly enough.

FYI - I just posted a Neo 2 for sale over in the classifieds section

Got my Kickr Core refurbished. Has worked great for 3 years.

My advice is to head over to dcrainmaker.com, read through Ray's extensive reviews and the hundreds of comments on each choice. Then based off that, it will become clearer which is your best choice.

@Kid

ETA: just noticed you mentioned you've read the reviews on dcrainmaker. Sorry, no experience with any trainer options you mentioned - well except the KK which I rode for 15 years before getting an H3 a couple years ago.

Thank you! I'll save the Shimano/SRAM and Tubeless questions for when I look to replace my next bike! :) Luckily my bikes are old enough that I'm just replacing things as necessary until I decide to upgrade that!

Thank you, the comments on the side to side motion is particularly helpful. I can only imagine that with the forward/backward motion plates that would be even better!

Thank you - I'll put this into consideration!

Yeah, I think the toughest thing is that a lot of the advice is based on pricing at one time, and those prices have changed considerably over the past couple years!

Thanks!

Which is where it really does come down to how much cost is a factor, and then what today's prices are. All are going to be good. Each has a 'fringe' feature the others don't which may be the clincher for you, or may just mean you get the one that matches your wallpaper....

Have fun, and enjoy what you get, don't go focussing on trying to identify the bit of the one you get Ray didn't like/called out as a negative.

Replying to the last, but thought I'd say thank you to all that responded. I pulled the trigger today on the Neo 2T with the free motion plates, and the trainer arrives on Friday. Pumped for the pain cave upgrade!

Nice. Don't forget to update the firmware out the box, and from then on then it'll pretty much be forget it - no calibration, no maintenance, just get up and ride.

21,000 km of zwift on my Neo OG so far. (I was injured for a couple of years)