More powah!

That was meant to be read in the voice of Jeremy Clarkson.

So I've been getting more and more interested in owning a Computrainer as I've been using Golden Cheetah to keep track of my power scores during workouts on my Powertap  equipped P2.  A new CT, however, is stupidly expensive ($1600+). The good thing is that they last forever, so they're a pretty good item to purchase on the second-hand market.

Even used, they carry a fair premium, usually fetching $750-$1000 for the "Pro" model, and $1000-$1200 for the "Lab" model. However, up until 2000, RacerMate, the manufacturer of CT, made a system for the Super NES that let you race in 16-bit glory. There were two models, the standard (750W resistance unit), and the Pro (1500W resistance unit), which occasionally make appearances on Ebay/Kijiji/Craigslist. I found a Pro model on Kijiji two weeks ago, and managed to secure it.

So now you're thinking, "yeah, that's nice, maybe you can use it in erg mode, but so what?". Well, RacerMate sells upgrade kits, which are basically a chip that you replace, and a USB->stereo jack cable for PC control, et voila, you have a Pro model 8200 computrainer for ~$600.

Tried it out briefly last night, awesome.