Training with power does have advantages, but the importance of training "with power" as opposed to other measures of workout intensities, such as Heart rate and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) would depend greatly on your level of experience (in endurance sports). I believe you've mentioned elsewhere on this forum that you have one season of triathlon behind you and are currently 20-30lbs overweight. At this stage, I don't think getting a power meter for your regular rides in necessary at all.
If you have used the ERacePlanner Training Zone Calculator to create your Heart Rate training zones, you will be able to work-out corresponding "Power Zones" (using your indoor trainer) by observing your workload (in watts) at the various Zone levels. You can then use these power zones for your indoor training. One advantage to this that you'll avoid pushing too hard, by trying to "drive" your heart rate up into a (HR) zone. You can just "power" up to the appropriate "power" zone.
This will give you a pretty good feel for workload, which you can then apply to your regular rides (outdoors).
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