Once again, it’s time for the annual power meter buyer’s guide! It’s where I round-up every cycling power meter on the market, and talk through what’s happened in the last year. I give my opinions of every single power meter on the market, as well as some general guidance on choosing a power meter.
This year was legitimately a quiet year in power meters. At least terms of substantial new products. There were only a handful, and within that, only a couple that were truly new. The rest were very minor incremental updates that in some cases would barely be seen as new products. Plus, we did lose one power meter company just a few days ago as well.
This year also didn’t see major price shifts. Some minor ones, but nothing earth-shattering. Without any significant low-cost entrant or player making accurate and reliable units in the market, the majors need not respond with lower prices of their own.
To recap all of the major power meter announcements and reviews I’ve published this year (in reverse chronological order):
WatTeam Halts Production of Power Meters, Focuses on Acquisition (November)
Kona Bike Count 2018 Power Meter Analysis (October)
Tech Tidbits: PowerTap P2 pedals Announced (October)
Pioneer announces new color-mapping GPS bike computer, plus new power meters (September)
Hands-on: WatTeam’s New Gen3 PowerBeat Power Meter (July)
Hands-on: SRM’s new EXAKT Power Meter Pedals (June)
First Look: The IQ2 149€ Power Meter (April)
Sea Otter 2018 Tech Roundup–Power Meters: SRM Pedals, 4iiii Podium, ROTOR INpower, and more (April)
Shimano Dura-Ace R9100P Power Meter In-Depth Review (April)
Specialized Power Cranks Power Meter In-Depth Review (March)
PowerTap Significantly Drops Prices, Plus Detailed Power Meter Pricing Trends (2018 Edition) (March)
Stages LR (Dual-Sided) Power Meter In-Depth Review (March)
Note, I’m excluding running power meters here. Maybe some day there will be a good listing there, but today is not that day.
The goal of this post is NOT to give you a final answer that says ‘this is the power meter to buy’. If there’s anything I want to change in the industry it’s the mindset that there is a single perfect power meter for every consumer. Thus, if you ask someone for “the best power meter”, and they give you any answer other than “it depends”, don’t trust that person. That person should be asking you your specific use case, bike placement limitations, and how much you want to spend.
The cycling market has many unique use cases and thus you’ll need to take into consideration your specific requirements. For example, it’d be silly to go out and buy Garmin Vector or Favero Assioma pedals if you’re looking to put it on a mountain bike. And similarly, it’d be silly to buy a PowerTap hub if you currently have HED H3 wheels, since it wouldn’t fit there.
Note that I’m not going to cover why you’d use a power meter here, nor how to use it. For those, start here with these posts. Instead, I’m just going to focus on the products out in the market today, and those coming down the road.
Finally, remember that power meters tend to be about as fiery as politics and religion. So keep in mind this is just my view. There are certainly other views out there (all wrong of course), but this comes from my perspective of trying out all the products below and hearing feedback from literally hundreds of people per day. There are no doubt edge cases I can’t easily cover in a single readable post, but I think I’ll cover 99% of the people out there. The remaining 1% can consider a donation of gold and/or expensive rocks for my further thoughts.
With that, let’s dive into things.
Power Meter Placement:
Before we start diving into the brands, features, and functionality, we should probably talk about placement. The reason being that unlike a bike computer that works on just about every bike on the planet, power meters actually have more limitations than you might think. Some limitations are straight technical (i.e. it won’t fit), and some are preference based (i.e. I don’t like it). In either case, for most people, this section will help narrow down the selection a bit.
Let’s just briefly ensure we’ve got everyone on the same page as far as where these things all go, starting with the below photo and using the text after it as a guide.
As you can see above, we’ve got five main areas we see power meters placed today:
1) Rear wheel
2) Crank spider
3) Crank arms
4) Pedals/Cleats/Pedal Spacers
5) Bottom Bracket/Axle (not visible, behind tip of arrow)
There are tangential products on other areas of the bike (like handlebars or air pressure sensor-driven ones), but none of those currently on the market actually have strain gauges in them. Thus they are more estimations (albeit some highly accurate) than actual force measurement devices. So for much of this post I’m keeping the focus on what’s known as “direct force power meters” – which are units that measure force via a strain gauge of some sort. And finally, I’m not going to talk about companies that have gone out of business (i.e. Ergomo, Brim Brothers), or products that haven’t been made in a long while (i.e. Polar chain power meter). Not that I’d recommend either anyway at this point.
Back to my photo-diagram, I want to expand out the crank area a bit and talk specifically to that. Here’s a quick cheat-sheet of which products are where (I’ve added a single-line item for non-direct force options):
Rear Wheel: PowerTap hubs
Crank Spider: Quarq/SRAM, Power2Max, SRM, PowerTap C1, Team Zwatt Zpider, FSA (Power2Max OEM)
Crank Arms: Rotor, Stages, Pioneer, 4iiii, WatTeam, ROTOR 2INPower, Team Zwatt Zimanox, Shimano, XCadey, Magene, Cateye (4iiii OEM), Avio, Verve Infocrank
Pedals: Garmin Vector, PowerTap P1/P2, SRM EXAKT pedals, Polar/Look combo, Favero Assioma, Favero bePRO, Look, Xpedo
Pedal Spacer: IQ2, LIMITS
Bottom Bracket: ROTOR INpower, Team Zwatt Zpindle, Race Face/Easton
Non-direct Force Power Meters: PowerPod, iBike, Arofly, PowerCal
In the case of left-only variants of some of those products (Polar/ROTOR/Garmin/PowerTap/4iiii), it’s still the same placement, just on the left side instead of both sides.
Features and Functionality:
Now that we’ve covered where each unit goes, let’s talk about the features that the power meters on the market have today. Think of this like a ‘list of terms’ you’ll need to be familiar with.
Total Power (Watts): This is the obvious one – every power meter has this today (even estimated ones!). This is simply measuring and transmitting your total power output to a head unit of some type.
ANT+ Support: Another relatively obvious one, all power meters on the market today transmit via ANT+ to compatible head units. This allows you to use one of many dozens of different head units out there. For power meters specifically, ANT+ tends to be the most stable and the protocol with the least compatibility issues. Most power meter and head unit companies would strongly recommend using ANT+ over Bluetooth Smart if your power meter is dual-capable. In fact, Wahoo even forces connections over ANT+ rather than Bluetooth Smart. This is mainly to reduce incompatibility issues.
Bluetooth Smart: Bluetooth Smart (or BLE/BTLE for short) has become the norm on power meters now as a dual ANT+/BLE configuration. Only one unit on the market today (Avio) is not dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, and even they are looking to enable that in the short-term. Bluetooth Smart is most popular when used with applications on platforms like iOS that don’t support ANT+ (or some Android phones). It’s also used with watches from Polar and Suunto that don’t support ANT+. The downside is that the power meter landscape, even in 2018, is still messy when it comes to Bluetooth Smart compatibility. For example, some watches don’t support left/right data via Bluetooth Smart, and other devices can’t properly calibrate via Bluetooth Smart. Some devices will incorrectly double power via Bluetooth Smart too.
Left Only Power Meters: These power meters only measure power from the left side. All of these units then simply double the left power and produce total power. Stages really exploded this category with their left-only power meter, and other vendors followed suit including Garmin (Vector S variants), Rotor (Rotor LT, ROTOR inPOWER), 4iiii (some models), LIMITS, and Polar (Keo Power Essential) and many more. Note that all bottom-bracket power meters are left-only power. There are likely more I haven’t listed here.
Estimated Left/Right Power: This became all the rage just prior to true left/right units coming out, starting with the Quarq RED unit offering left/right power. That platform works by essentially splitting your crank in half and assuming that any power recorded while pulling up is actually coming from the left side, whereas pushing down is from the right side. Thus, an estimation. It’s good, but not perfect. Note that even with true left/right power (below), there’s actually very little in the scientific community around what to do with the data. While you may think that perfect balance would be ideal – that hasn’t been established. And some that have looked into it have found that trying to achieve balance actually lowers your overall output. The only thing folks agree on is that measuring left/right power can be useful for those recovering from single-leg injury. The PowerTap C1, all Power2Max units, and all SRAM/Quarq models currently on the market use this method.
Actual or True Left/Right Power: This is limited to units that can measure your power in more than one location. Thus why we see it on pedals, as well as the more expensive crank-arm or pedal based power meters. You can’t measure it directly at the spider, instead you have to measure it upstream of that such as the cranks (Stages LR, ROTOR dual system, Infocrank’s dual system, Pioneer’s dual system, WatTeam dual, Shimano’s dual system, 4iiii’s dual system), pedals (Garmin, Favero Assioma/bePRO, Polar/Look, SRM/Look pedals).
Pedal Smoothness & Torque Efficiency: These two metrics are available in the high-end power meters which contain true left/right power measurement as well as a supported head unit.
Cycling Dynamics: This was initially Garmin’s suite of Garmin Vector specific features that enable data such as platform offset and where in the stroke your power is coming from (power phase), as well as seated and standing position. Polar also has a variant of this in some of their new cycling units as well with their own pedals. Up until last year, other manufacturers couldn’t display this, but Garmin has effectively opened the standard up last fall, however at present it’s yet to be implemented. At the ANT+ Symposium in early October 2018, the ANT+ Power Meter Technical Working Group (TWG) did finalize most of these metrics. Companies including Garmin, Wahoo, and Favero have all committed to supporting these metrics. It’s likely others will as well as soon as those three move.
Battery Type: Power meters either use user swappable disposable batteries (coin cell or AAA), or they use rechargeable. The one exception is SRM’s crankset units which use a built-in battery that needs to be sent back to the factory every once in a long while. The vast remainder of the shipping units out there today utilize a CR2032 and similar coin-cell batteries. Most get between 200 and 400 hours of run-time before you simply replace the battery. However, some of the newer units like the PowerTap P1/P2 that runs on AAA batteries get a bit less time, as do units such as Favero and WatTeam that use rechargeable batteries. Still, other rechargeable battery options like the Power2Max NG can get longer battery times per charge, along with Team Zwatt’s and Race Face/Easton’s models. Rechargeable batteries like Favero’s are designed to last well over 1,000 charge cycles. Or if you do the math, like 50-70 years of usage. You’ll never hit that before you move on to something else. Ultimately, your choice between rechargeable and disposable is really about preference.
Calibration options: All units on the market today support some sort of calibration function, though to what extent is what differs. Some have numerous options (i.e. Quarq with an app allowing you much further access), while others are more black-box (i.e. Stages and Polar). For the most part, your primary concern here is really that some sort of calibration occurs, and that you can trigger it to happen on demand. Beyond that, it tends to get to more advanced calibration and torque checking methods. It should be noted that the term calibration can have very specific meanings to different people (technically most people are really doing a zero-offset). But for today’s post I’m going to keep it a bit more generic.
Ok, with all the core power meter features covered, let’s dive into the brands available today.
Power Meters Today:
I initially thought about redesigning this section for 2018, into different categories (pedals, cranks, etc…), but as I read through what I did in past years I realized there was actually logic to my madness. Mostly in that it allowed me to more easily dive into the detailed nuances of each solution, rather than trying to lump them all together.
We’ll start with products that you can effectively take home today. They’re in the market, available today for purchase and you can more or less install them today on the bike. They may have slight backorders if you were to order today, but units are shipping to consumers (which is where I draw the line). For the purposes of this section I’m focusing on direct force power meters (DFPM’s), in a later section I’ll cover non-DFPM’s.
Additionally, in the following section after this, I’ll cover announced but not yet shipping units that are on the road to market.
Note, this list is arranged in no particular order, you can use the sidebar shortcuts to quickly skip to different products. Also note that I’ve updated sections as appropriate for this year, but for products that haven’t changed, I’m not going to re-invent the text just to re-invent that text. I’d rather spend that time eating cookies and ice cream.
PowerTap Hub:
PowerTap has been around more than 18 years – longer than most folks realize actually. The iconic PowerTap hub replaces your rear wheel hub, which means that it’s tied into a single wheel. This makes it easy to move between bikes, but also makes it difficult if you have separate training and racing wheels – ultimately costing one of those two situations to lose out on power.
These days the PowerTap G3 hub products ship with a dual-capable ANT+/BLE cap. But if you find an older G3 unit that has an ANT+ cap on it, you can buy the dual caps or the BLE-only cap. Thus it’s pretty flexible that way. I use the dual caps on my units without issue across a wide number of devices.
At Eurobike 2018 they showed some new PowerTap G4 hubs that significantly expand disc brake compatibility, though these haven’t started shipping yet. They also shift from coin cell battery to rechargeable, but those initially will only be focused on disc-brake wheels and not regular wheels. No dates for any of them.
Advantages: Easy install if you buy a wheelset with it pre-installed (my recommendation). Auto-zero while coasting helps keep things in check without you thinking about it. Manual calibration is easy, and swapping out batteries and the electronics pod quick and straightforward. Good customer service.
Disadvantages: Limited to a single wheel, so training vs racing scenarios can be tough. Also limited on things like disc wheels. And if you have multiple bike types where the wheel type changes (i.e. going from triathlon to cross), you may be in the same pickle there.
Would I buy it: Absolutely, and in fact, it’s one of the units that I’ve bought myself as a workhorse in my power meter testing (I own three units, one for each bike). Based on what I’ve seen, the PowerTap is the closest I get to ‘set it and forget it’ when it comes to power meters on the market today (talking specifically to calibration/offset variance and stability). However, if you’re one that changes wheelsets frequently in your training, I’d be more measured in deciding whether it’s worth not having power somewhere (I don’t think it is).
Relevant Posts: CycleOps Joule and PowerTap Wheelset In-Depth Review, PowerTap’s new hubs, Bluetooth Smart Trainers, iPad apps, and more, A sneak peek at two new PowerTap products (including high-speed data cap)– Note that I don’t really have a super-new In-Depth Review of the PowerTap G3, for no particular purpose, though you’ll find data from it in virtually every one of my power meter reviews.
PowerTap Pedals:
Since we’re on PowerTap products already, we’ll continue that trend with the P1 and P2 pedals. I’m separating out these three products (G3/P1-P2/C1) because they’re so different (different placement, etc…). Versus if a product is simply a slight model change by the same company (i.e. Quarq Elsa to D-Zero), I’m lumping them together with differences noted in that section.
As for the P1 pedals, they were announced in the spring of 2015 and started shipping in the summer of 2015. Last month (October 2018) they introduced the PowerTap P2 pedals which shaved a bit of weight off and slightly increased battery life. Otherwise, they’re basically the same. Since then they’ve been adopted by many people, primarily due to their simplicity and ease of use. They can record some advanced metrics to the PowerTap mobile app, but not to the extent that Garmin Vector or Pioneer do. No worries though, they do have total power, left/right power, cadence, and other core metrics. Additionally, they also have dual ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart transmission.
Advantages: Easiest install of really any power meter out there (except perhaps the PT hub if it’s already in a wheel), no pods or torque wrenches required. Just a simple hex wrench to install and off you go, no settling period required either. Same as Garmin Vector 3 and Favero Assioma. Pricing is competitive with other full left/right units currently shipping. I view the AAA battery as an advantage, though a small group of folks sees it as a disadvantage (I love that I can get a replacement anywhere in the world at any tiny little store on a route if need be). Finally, no pods are on the units – so nothing to worry about breaking easily.
Disadvantages: Only a Look-Keo pedal/cleat type, and at that it’s not exactly a Look-Keo pedal (slight differences). Also, the battery life is more limited than some other power meters. Finally, there’s been a handful of folks that have seen issues with play in the spindle, though that’s largely dissipated in the two years. PowerTap says that they addressed some early manufacturing issues there. Note that any earlier reviews seen on the interwebs with power spikes have long seen been resolved in a firmware almost two years ago. Also worthwhile noting that PowerTap’s bearing service policies are wonky though, and can be cumbersome if overseas.
Would I buy it: Up until last fall, the answer was a resounding yes. But with Favero Assioma’s quite a bit cheaper, it’s a harder pitch (see my full power pedal recommendations here). The P1 pedals did get reduced to $799, which helps a fair bit, but the P2 pedals are at $899, which hurts their standing. Still, you’ll find either of the two sets of PowerTap P1 pedals I own floating around my bikes in-use as test units quite a bit. And the P2 pedals are headed through the testing now.
Relevant Posts: PowerTap P2 pedals announced, PowerTap lowers P1 pedal price to $999, matches Garmin Vector 3, PowerTap P1 Power Meter Pedals In-Depth Review, First rides with the PowerTap P1 Pedals & PowerTap C1 Chainring…and more, PowerTap announces P1 Power Meter Pedals, also PowerTap C1 chainring unit
PowerTap Chainring
At the same time that PowerTap introduced their new P1 pedals in the spring of 2015, they also announced a new line – the C1 chainring power meter. This unit ships with the chainrings, per the pod you can see attached to the chainrings above. The company started shipping the product late fall of 2015, however in 2018 they significantly pulled back inventory to only selling the C1 direct from PowerTap, and not via retailers.
While this could be seen as a negative (and it probably is), the positive side is that the price is incredibly competitive these days. The challenge with the C1 was always compatibility. If you had a compatible crankset, then it was an astoundingly good option for the price (or any price). But if you didn’t have a compatible crankset, then it wasn’t on the table. With PowerTap moving to direct sales for the C1, we’ve seen it often offered at really good deals.
I used the unit quite a bit across multiple seasons and into the winter without any issue. It’s essentially very similar to that of the Power2Max and Quarq units. The only major differences you’ll note are really more around compatibility with various cranksets.
Advantages: Dual ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart compatibility, ability to install onto your own compatible crank arms, price, and long battery life. More or less set it and forget it.
Disadvantages: Limited chainring compatibility is really the main one, being that the company is only offering certain compatibility options. For many people this won’t be an issue – but it’s worth noting. Like most of the other crank-spider region options (Power2Max/Quarq/etc…), it’s not hard if you know what you’re doing – but might be slightly intimidating to those not as familiar to figure out which model is compatible with your bike. Fear not, it’s easy for your bike shop though. Note that some people did have waterproofing related issues with earlier units and the battery caps, though I haven’t seen any of those recently in comments.
Would I buy it: Yes, I have no issues buying this unit (and recently recommended it as a solid option for my Dad’s bike). It’s been proven reliable and accurate, and after nearly two years of being on the market, save the early battery cap issues. I kinda put the PowerTap C1, Power2Max and Quarq units all in the same boat: All are great options and all are fairly similar in features (and roughly in the same price range) – simply go with whatever fits your requirements around compatibility best.
Relevant Posts: PowerTap C1 pricing reduced/availability tweaked, PowerTap C1 Chainring In-Depth Review, First rides with the PowerTap P1 Pedals & PowerTap C1 Chainring…and more, PowerTap announces P1 Power Meter Pedals, also PowerTap C1 chainring unit
Power2Max:
Power2Max has been on the scene for roughly a little over 6 years now. Since then they’ve repeatedly driven down the costs of power meters in the industry, and gained significant market share in doing so. This year was an exceptionally quiet year for them in terms of news/events, with them skipping the major trade shows after a busy previous year with their new Power2Max NG units they announced at Eurobike 2016. Still, they’ve been chugging away at making solid power meters.
The units are typically sold with or without cranks, so you’ll need to add your own, or purchase them from Power2Max pre-installed. The newer NG units bring with them dual ANT+/BLE (the Type-S is ANT+ only), as well as a rechargeable battery. It also brings a bit of a steep increase in price. Whereas the NG ECO units still have ANT+/BLE, a coin cell battery, and skip on some of the advanced pedal metrics that you won’t actually use.
When I use the Power2Max (like Quarq and PowerTap), I find them among the least finicky and most ‘easy to use’. Day in and day out in testing, these units tend to ‘just work’ for me with very little calibration worries.
Advantages: The least expensive crank-based solution on the market today (NG ECO specifically due to price). Solid accuracy with a growing crankset compatibility matrix. I really can’t say enough good things about the NG ECO.
Disadvantages: On older units, there isn’t a method to turn off auto-zero (which is really only an issue for the most advanced of advanced users), but the newer NG units do support it. Beyond that, it’s really hard to find disadvantages of the current units.
Would I buy it: No problem at all here, as noted above – it’s probably the best deal for a complete (captures all power, not just left) power meter on the market today, primarily the NG ECO. I love that they’re well into the ‘just works’ category. I have no concerns with purchasing any of the variants (NG ECO, NG, or even the older Type-S) – just be sure that if you get the Type-S, it’s one heck of a deal.
Relevant Posts: Power2Max NG Power Meter In-Depth Review, Power2Max NG ECO In-Depth Review, A look at the new Power2Max NG power meters, The Power2Max Type S Power Meter In-Depth Review, Power2Max drops prices…again. Now $610US, Power2Max releases new Type S line, expands compatibility, Power2Max introduces Type S mountain bike power meter, additional road bike models
Garmin Vector:
Woah, a lot has happened in the last year on the Vector front. If we skip past the fact that Vector 3 was Garmin’s third iteration of the pedals, it was this time a year ago that the company had about a month of Vector 3 shipping under its belt. A calm before the storm if you will. One hell of a storm.
And while things seemed fantastic at first (for the company and users alike), it wasn’t until January that everything basically fell apart. A tidal wave of users started having issues when their coin cell batteries needed normal replacing. People started getting dropouts, power spikes, and occasional small kittens died. Garmin spent the spring iterating through various solutions (while still shipping new units), ultimately deciding on a re-engineered battery pod that was sent to all customers in early summer.
Some customers never had any issues. It sounds like the number of customers that did have issues was likely in the 10-20% range. What’s more important though these days (if looking to buy Vector 3) is how many new customers are having issues. From an anecdotal standpoint, the number of people having issues has almost completely dissolved (between a combination of the new battery pods/caps and software updates). Though I do occasionally see a few blips, but it’s hard to know whether those are just normal odds and ends seen on every power meter.
For my own purposes, I have my own Garmin Vector 3 pedals I got last December, and they’re even on the old caps (seriously) without issue. No problems. I use them in testing without issue. But I also know folks and have friends that have basically chucked their Vector 3 pedals against the largest wall they can find. I don’t know if perhaps those folks had weathered the storm, they’d be fine as well with all the updates.
Ultimately, I don’t have concerns recommending new Garmin Vector 3 pedals in late 2018, but I certainly wouldn’t buy someone’s used on eBay – god only knows what that person might have done to them along the way.
Finally, by way of non-drama items, Garmin is the only company that offers Cycling Dynamics today (though, that’s soon changing), which includes all assortment of metrics on your pedaling style. Some of these metrics can be interesting from a bike-fit standpoint, but many don’t yet have a specific training or racing purpose. I’d hoped by now we’d have seen some science-like papers or something that showed the value of these, but nothing has happened in that realm – a number of years on.
Advantages: Cycling Dynamics, full left/right power recording, Vector 3 is now totally portable with no pedal torque wrench required. It looks like a normal pedal finally.
Disadvantages: Pedal choice (just Look-Keo compatible, albeit with a Shimano Ultegra upgrade/accessory kit available for Vector 2 units…not Vector 3). The entire battery pod drama/saga I just outlined in the above multi-paragraph section.
Would I buy it: Yes (finally, I haven’t recommended Vector pedals prior)). I continue to like mine, and when I’m not testing something else it’s the pedal I default back to.
Relevant Posts: Garmin Vector 3 In-Depth Review, Hands-on: Garmin Vector 3 Power Meter, Garmin announces Vector2 (and 2S), also upgrade kit for original Vector owners, Garmin Vector In-Depth Review, Garmin announces Vector S: $899 power meter, also announces Cycling Dynamics
Favero Assioma:
A few years back Favero came out of nowhere one summer to debut the bePRO power meter pedals. Surprisingly for a company nobody had heard of, they shipped near-immediately and were actually accurate. Oh, and they had great pricing.
Last summer they repeated that performance with their Assioma pedals (seen above). This added Bluetooth Smart capabilities, as well as simple installation that didn’t require any complex tools. A simple hex wrench and you were done in a few seconds. I reviewed them as well this past summer and found their accuracy solid (and moveability also solid). Better though is that they came in at $795USD for the dual leg set, the lease expensive dual-power meter pedal option on the market. They are rechargeable, and get about 60 hours of battery life per charge.
The company hasn’t stopped there though. This past spring the company issued a firmware update that increases power meter accuracy while also supporting non-round rings (oval rings/q-rings), one of the few power meter companies to do so. Then this past summer they issued yet another update adding in new Zwift Bluetooth Smart compatibility, as well as a slew of features via their desktop app. And finally, they’ve been hoping to issue another update sometime by the end of the year that will introduce Cycling Dynamics support as well (once ANT+ formalizes support of it). Seriously, there’s no other company in the power meter space that’s seemingly as focused on making consumers happy with updates as Favero.
Advantages: Price – the unit is $795USD for the dual pedals, installation is easy and no longer requires tools like the older bePRO pedals. Accuracy is solid, and it can quickly and easily be moved. The company keeps adding new features over time.
Disadvantages: The small pods still remain, and they require slightly different cleats (same as PowerTap P1 pedals). I’ve seen some cases where their support can be fishy on warranty claims, usually pushing back a bit harder solves it – but it’s a notable trend.
Would I buy it: Absolutely, I have zero issues with this unit. It’s a great alternative to the Garmin Vector 3 or PowerTap P2 pedals, simply saving upwards of $200+ over those options. It’s also the power meter that’s on The Girl’s bike these days. The only downside compared to Vector is that it’s not quite as sleek, nor does it have Cycling Dynamics.
Relevant Posts: Favero Assioma Power Meter In-Depth Review, The Favero bePRO Power Meter In-Depth Review, New Favero Assioma Firmware Adds Full Zwift Bluetooth Smart Compatibility, Additional Features, Favero updates Assioma accuracy to +/- 1%
Quarq:
Years ago, Quarq became the first non-SRM crank-based power meter that was actually affordable. Starting off on straight road bikes, they’ve expanded to other areas including track and cross bikes. The unit replaces your existing crank spider and depending on the model is typically sold with specific crank arms attached. You’ll need to ensure your bottom bracket is compatible, but if you shoot the Quarq folks an e-mail I’ve found they can usually help anyone figure that out easily. All Quarq power meters are made in South Dakota (US), along with servicing and shipping from there. The Quarq Cinqo was actually the first power meter I bought, and what The Girl subsequently purchased as well for her training on her first bike.
Two years ago at Eurobike they introduced the DZero generation of units, which slightly increased accuracy but more importantly added Bluetooth Smart compatibility/connectivity. These units are well regarded and stable, and it’s what I initially put on my new bike last winter (seen above). I’ve got no issues with it, and would have zero issues recommending it. Just works.
Note that in the last few weeks we have seen some prototype Quarq units show up on pro bikes, however, little details are known about those – except that a SRAM media event is scheduled for later January 2019.
Advantages: Crank-based design means no wheel swap issues. Accuracy on-par with other units. Can swap chainrings without issue. Easy replacement of battery, and can utilize phone apps for further calibration. For me, it has a high ‘just works’ factor. The addition of Bluetooth Smart into the DZero Units was much needed.
Disadvantages: Crank arm selection has diminished some with SRAM acquisition (reducing compatibility), and while some pricing adjustments recently have helped, they do tend to be a bit more expensive than the Power2Max or PowerTap C1 options with little tangible product benefits above those competitors (except support, which SRAM handles better for most international folks).
Would I buy it: From the standpoint of “Have I bought it?”, the answer is definitely yes. In fact, I put a new Quarq DZero on my new bike last winter. Plus, I own an older Quarq Cinqo, then a Riken, and The Girl also uses the older Cinqo on her tri bike.
Relevant Reviews: Quarq DZero Power Meter In-Depth Review, First Ride: Quarq’s New DZero Power Meter Series, Quarq introduces new $799 RIKEN AL power meter, Quarq/SRAM RED Review, Quarq RIKEN In-Depth Review, Eurobike 2014 Power Meter Roundup: Quarq News
Stages Power:
These days Stages isn’t just left only, but dual as well. As many know, Stages really started the whole left-only trend, in that it’s attached to your left crank-arm (seen above), and thus is only measuring the left leg power. It simply doubles the left-leg power to get total power. This means if you vary, or vary in certain conditions, then the power might not be accurate – or something that you could compare to years from now on different products. They were also the first one to do dual ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart dual broadcasting.
But a year ago at Eurobike they finally announced the intention to sell their long-awaited dual option, which has both left/right sides (you can see the right side above too). It’s what Team Sky has actually been using for years in testing. They started shipping that this past winter (my full in-depth review here), and in fact, it’s now the default on my main test bike. I decided to swap to the Stages LR from the Quarq DZero merely for practical reasons: It was Shimano, and with testing more and more Shimano left-only units, I could easily swap crank arms when needed. It’s not a slight on Quarq, but just a practical DCR-test-specific thing.
As part of the shift to the Stages LR product, Stages also refreshed their left-only power meters, to their new ‘Gen3’ models. These significantly increased transmission over ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, hoping to resolve connectivity issues that have challenged many Stages owners over the years. It certainly seems to make a difference, though the signal’s still not as strong as most power meters out there.
Note that Stages technically sells three basic variants: Stages LR is dual-sided (hence, L = Left, R = Right), Stages L is left-side only, and Stages R is right-side only.
Advantages: Shimano variants are easily moved from bike to bike with a simple Allen/hex wrench. Contains both Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ (and dual-broadcasts). Their new Gen2 design seems to resolve most people’s waterproofing concerns that caused earlier deaths, and their Gen3 design seems to resolve virtually all connectivity issues people were seeing (firmware updates in Spring 2017 for Gen1/2 units also helped quite a bit, if one hasn’t done that yet via the Stages app).
Disadvantages: Stages LR is fairly limited in terms of crankarm compatibility still. Also, while signal strength is good – it’s still a bit less than most competitors. For the Stages L or R (non-dual), the single-sided approach means simply doubling left-leg power, may not be a fully accurate representation of your power (high or lower). Note that existing Gen1 left-only units are NOT upgradeable to dual leg units, however Gen2/3 are.
Would I buy it: I have zero issues with the Stages LR in terms of purchasing one, and in fact did so this past June for my main test bike. As for the single-sided variant, that’s a much more complex question (that really applies to all left-only units, not just Stages). Technically speaking it’s a well-made unit that accurately measures the left side. From a pricing standpoint, it’s tough to recommend the left-only approach with other options in the same price ballpark that fully capture all power. Further, as I’ve collected a tremendous amount of power meter data over the past few years with 4-6 power meters concurrently, I’ve started to understand my specific personal left/right balance biases. For most of my riding, there’d be no major issue with Stages. However for longer or higher intensity rides where I might fatigue more, I see some inaccuracies on a left-only due to my personal leg differences. You might be the same, or you might be perfectly even. I don’t know.
I know it’s easy to point at Team Sky for left-only and simply say “It’s good enough for Froome”, but again remember that Team Sky has been using the dual setup (not the single leg setup) for years (2016, 2017, 2018), and in fact a driving force for Stages going with a dual setup was feedback from Team Sky.
Relevant Review: Stages LR (Dual-Sided) Power Meter In-Depth Review, Hands-on: Stages Dual Left/Right Power Meter, Stages 2016 Sea Otter News, Stages drops prices, down to $529US, Stages Power announces carbon crank options, talks a bit about dual-leg power, Stages Power Meter In-Depth Review Update
4iiii Precision:
Next, we’ve got 4iiii Precision. They announced four years ago at Interbike, and are now onto their third generation of products – the latest being their ‘Podium’ lineup (with the Podium Pro technically being the 5th generation I think). Their initial product line started with a $399 left-only power meter, but these days they have both left-only and dual left/right options. They also sponsor/equip two WorldTour Pro teams, either directly or via Specialized’s power meters, which are rebranded and slightly tweaked 4iiii power meters.
I’ve seen really good accuracy on both their single and dual leg setups, as I showed in my in-depth review. I haven’t spent much time with their slightly updated Podium lineup however, though I don’t expect that to be a substantially different product.
4iiii is a great option when you want to get into dual-leg power either cheaper than most other options, or if you want to go single-leg now and upgrade later.
Advantages: One of the least expensive power meters on the market today from $399USD. Can be applied to most cranks (non-carbon). Contains both Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ (and dual-broadcasts). Ability to upgrade to dual-leg on some models is key.
Disadvantages: Left-only approach for their left-only units means simply doubling left-leg power, may not be a fully accurate representation of your power (high or lower). However, if you have the dual-leg setup, that’s not a concern.
Would I buy it: For the dual-sided, absolutely. For the left-only, sure, but take the exact same general left-only comments I made for Stages and apply them here.
Related posts: Sea Otter 2018 Tech Roundup–Power Meters: SRM Pedals, 4iiii Podium, ROTOR INpower, and more, 4iiii Announces New Precision Podiiiium Power Meter Lineup, 4iiii Precision Pro Dual Left/Right Power Meter In-Depth Review, 4iiii Precision Power Meter In-Depth Review, 4iiii Announces New Factory Pre-Install option, Dual Timelines/Prices, A Brief Update on 4iiii Precision Power Meter: Starts shipping this week, 4iiii’s Introduces $399 Power Meter, Precision: My First Ride With It
Specialized (4iiii Variant):
This past winter Specialized decided to get into the power meter game themselves. Sorta. While the end-state product they have is definitely unique, it also leans heavily on their partnership with 4iiii. To say that it’s purely a rebranded 4iiii power meter would be undercutting some very real differences between the Specialized variant and all other 4iiii units – in particular on carbon cranks and with changes made around certain temperature variance edge cases. Inversely though, to say that it’s vastly different would also be a mistake. It’s like non-identical twin siblings (of the same gender).
The core differences include a far greater weather-sealed pod, which Specialized said they did to appeal to their pro teams using pressure washers to clean bikes. Additionally, the company says they changed aspects of the strain gauge design with 4iiii to account for temperature shift seen on certain carbon crank arms.
The unit is coin-cell operated and from an accuracy standpoint was very strong in all my tests with it this past winter/spring. The unit is offered both on Shimano crank arms, as well as S-Works carbon crank arms. It’s also offered both as an add-on for new bikes, but also straight from Specialized within their accessory store online (meaning, you don’t have to have a Specialized bike to buy it). Interestingly, they commissioned what I’d regard as the most detailed and insightful power meter accuracy test to date. Obviously, it showed it performed well, but if you dig into the details they didn’t hide the areas that it struggled slightly with either – so that’s actually good. Everyone I’ve talked to in the industry about the study (including their competitors) has largely agreed the framework of the study could serve as a good baseline for others to test power meters as well.
Advantages: Built atop the well understood 4iiii power meter design, coin-cell battery for those that like that. App for tweaking settings virtually identical to that from 4iiii. Has a carbon crank-arm offering.
Disadvantages: Changing the battery is a bit of a pain in the butt, even with the right tools (and not having the correct tool makes it a serious pain in the butt). Limited crank arm selection, just Shimano and their own.
Would I buy it: For the dual-sided, absolutely. For the left-only, sure, but take the exact same general left-only comments I made for Stages, and 4iiii….and apply them here too.
Related posts: Specialized Power Cranks Power Meter In-Depth Review
SRM Pedals:
This past summer SRM introduced not just a pedal-based power meter, but the technology platform for what the company views as the next evolution of all their power meters. However, this pedal wasn’t purely an SRM invention, but rather is from the partnership of LOOK and SRM. SRM states that they brought their power meter expertise, while LOOK took the pedal side of things. Of course, in reality, that’s not actually true. One only need to look at the pedal installation/calibration process to see it comes from what LOOK previously had with their own pedals (which in turn were from their partnership with Polar years ago).
No matter the origins though, this is a new product in SRM’s wheelhouse and one I’ve been testing since June. Albeit with somewhat mixed results. I haven’t been as befuddled on my final decision of a power meter as this one in a long time. The SRM pedals don’t install as easily as the Favero/Garmin/PowerTap pedals. They require a fiddly installation process with special tools that is easily prone to errors (and just a pain in the ass). If you plan to move these pedals between bikes often, I’d look at other solutions.
But assuming you get it installed, it’s mixed. Some days it’s rock-on perfect. Easily tracking my efforts. Yet other days it’s oddly low (compared to 2-3 other power meters that are well trusted). There’s no clear reason why this occurs. I’ve also had issues with batteries draining in a single day too – but that seems to be transient. A new set of EXAKT pedals arrived this morning (technically my third), and I’ll dig into them further.
If we set aside the accuracy and battery oddities though, and just assume it’ll work out – it’s still a tough pitch. The installation is what it is, and the price is almost twice that of all other proven pedal based power meters on the market. But then again, you probably already knew that.
Advantages: True look-KEO compatible pedal (with KEO cleats too – some pedal based power meters aren’t exact KEO matches). Claimed battery life higher than other rechargeable units (100hrs vs 60-80hrs).
Disadvantages: Expensive, installation process is cumbersome.
Would I buy it: Not at this point. I just don’t see a specific reason over any of their competitors. Not for accuracy, nor looks, nor price, nor ease of use, nor reliability.
Relevant Posts: Hands-on: SRM’s new EXAKT Power Meter Pedals
SRM Cranksets:
SRM cranksets have been around since the beginning of power meter measurement, and I don’t think there’s anyone that would argue that SRM doesn’t produce solid power meters. But no power meter out there today is perfect. Not even SRM. They all have conditions where they do really well, and conditions where they do less well. It’s understanding those conditions that’s most important. Which doesn’t take away from SRM, but rather simply serves to note that I believe there’s a bit of an urban legend with them being the ‘gold standard’. Many of the products in this post can produce just as consistently accurate power as SRM (which again, SRM is good at doing). Even SRM admitted straight up during their presentation that aspects like the new SRM EXACT pedals new temperature compensation algorithms were implemented because the existing SRM crankset units didn’t have true temperature compensation.
The good news is that SRM does see these updates to their technology coming to their crankset lineup (including things like dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart), though, there isn’t yet a timeframe for it.
Advantages: It’s a well established brand with a well understood product. The reliability is generally very good. With ANT+ you can use any head unit you’d like, and aren’t limited to just the SRM head units.
Disadvantages: Expensive. Servicing isn’t as open as other power meters on the market today. If looking at their head unit (not required), the current generation is simply really expensive for what you get. No BLE support. Also, some SRM units have problems with Wahoo ELEMNT/BOLT bike computers.
Would I buy it: While I do actually own an SRM crankset, I certainly wouldn’t recommend someone else buy one. With the exception of very specific technical use-cases that other power meters can’t fulfill (higher speed recording rates with older head units), I feel that for 98% of the market today, there are more budget-friendly options that are just as accurate. I don’t subscribe to the “gold-standard” concept, maybe at one historical point, but not in this market. And as the pro peloton has proved, virtually every other power meter in this list is just as good as an SRM (if not better).
Relevant Posts: Eurobike 2016 Power Meter Roundup: SRM, Eurobike 2015 Power Meter Roundup: SRM, First look at new SRM PC8 head unit with WiFi/GPS/ANT+ & Bluetooth, Eurobike 2014 Power Meter Roundup: SRM., Interbike 2014 SRM: Their iOS app, PC8, and their thoughts on low-cost power meters
Pioneer Power:
Pioneer has iterated nicely through three generations of power meters over the last five years, plus other crankset models, roughly paced at a new set of models per year. This year was true as well as the company rolled out a major refresh for their power meter lineup, adding in Bluetooth Smart support and increased waterproofing – as well as a smartphone app for configuration and data download. They maintained their price point at $799USD for a dual system (sending in your own cranks), as well as other single-sided and pre-built with cranks already attached options as well.
The Pioneer approach is a bit different than most other power meters on the market in that you don’t do the install yourself, but rather, you get the kit sent to you fully installed after sending in your crank arms. Additionally, it’s one of the few units on the market with true left/right high-speed data (starting at 12 samples per second (at 60RPM); faster the higher the cadence). The company does though sell complete cranksets (like the above pictured one) ready to go, but of course since that includes the crankset, it’ll cost ya a bit more.
In addition, this fall they rolled out support for their pedaling metrics to the Wahoo BOLT/ELEMNT series, which is a major win for the company. Also, they announced a new head unit that should help quite a bit as well.
Advantages: Has the highest recording rate of any dual-leg power meter on the market today, measures left/right power and associated metrics more in-depth than anyone else. A completely pre-set system once it arrives to you. Any choice of chainrings you’d like on the planet. Plus, the $999 complete system price for dual-leg isn’t too bad (for your own cranks).
Disadvantages: For crank arms, you’re somewhat limited to certain cranksets though that has definitely improved. There can be a small delay when you send away your own cranks to get it installed (versus buying a pre-installed set), though realistically very few power meters are available next-day anyway. Some have seen very minor delays in track-start type situations, but I think that’s very limited in scope.
Would I buy it: No issues at all for the dual system. I’m a bit mixed on the left-leg side. If you don’t plan to buy their head unit or upgrade to a dual left/right system down the road, then honestly there are cheaper (and better) options from Stages and 4iiii that do dual ANT+/BLE.
Relevant Posts: Pioneer announces new color-mapping GPS bike computer, plus new power meters, Wahoo Fitness adds Pioneer’s advanced pedaling metrics to ELEMNT/BOLT, Pioneer announces new power meter options, head unit upgrades, bike sensor modeling, Power meter prices plunge further as Pioneer & SRM join PowerTap in price cuts, The Pioneer Power Meter System In-Depth Review, Interbike 2015 Power Meter Roundup: Pioneer, Eurobike 2015 Power Meter Roundup: Pioneer
Verve Infocrank:
Verve introduced their Infocrank power meter in 2014, which is a dual crank-based power meter with strain gauges on both crank arms. Additionally of note is that the unit has custom designed crank arms that are specific to Infocrank. The company hasn’t really made any notable changes this year to their lineup, though the units still remain a viable option.
The unit transmits on ANT+, and uses small coin cell style batteries that you can go ahead and replace as required (no sending in needed). I tested one for…well, an exceedingly long period of time. And I saw absolutely zero accuracy issues with it – and can validate their claim that you don’t ever need to worry about pressing the ‘calibrate’ function on your head unit. Of course, at the same time, most other power meters are fairly accurate as well – but Infocrank seems to be more hassle-free when it comes to that side of things.
While they did introduce some data analytic options over the past year or so, we haven’t seen them add in Bluetooth Smart support yet, which is becoming a competitive requirement for all power meter vendors.
Advantages: Complete end to end system that’s mostly ‘install and forget’, gets fairly long life on coin cell batteries. The company claims higher levels of accuracy compared to the competition, but I’d say it’s more of a ‘just as accurate’ statement instead. Though the lack of requirement to occasionally manually zero is handy and low-maintenance.
Disadvantages: You’re limited in crank compatibility, since the units are built into their crank arms. The batteries can also be a bit fickle to find in out of the way places (thus, carry backups if you’re in the countryside somewhere – SR44 silver oxide batteries). Also, no Bluetooth Smart support.
Would I buy it: It’s tough. The price is higher, though sure, cranks and chainrings are included – but that’s far from justifying the price increase compared to other units that are just as accurate. Also, the lack of Bluetooth Smart support is challenging. So there’s nothing technically wrong with the unit, but I think it’s sliding back into being uncompetitive these days.
Relevant Posts: Sea Otter Power Meter Tidbits: Stages & Verve Infocrank, Verve Infocrank Power Meter In-Depth Review, Eurobike Power Meter 2015 News Roundup: Verve Infocrank, Eurobike Power Meter 2014 News Roundup: Verve Infocrank
ROTOR Power:
ROTOR has been in the power meter market for more than six years now, and has iterated through four different products in that time. They’ve changed technology and partners along the way, but I think they’re finally in a good spot with their latest 2INPower system, which was announced last year (2016), though made widely available in 2017 and that’s when I tested it this last year.
The 2INPower system is unique in that it’s one of the few power meters to actually work with elliptical chainrings (of which ROTOR is famous for). Additionally, they have a pretty extensive suite of software tools for doing pedaling analytics (primarily indoors). They also went with a rechargeable battery as well as adding in Bluetooth Smart support, both of which worked well for me.
From an accuracy standpoint, I found it great outdoors across a wide variety of conditions, but I did have some weird indoor trainer quirks that ROTOR couldn’t solve. These quirks were echoed by other people, none with a resolution. 2INpower had slightly tweaked the branding with variations on the 2INpower (such as appending DM), though the best explanation I can get is that nothing has changed internally.
Advantages: Compatibility with ROTOR cranks and elliptical chainrings (most power meters don’t do this accurately). Ability to track additional stroke/balance metrics through their software platform.
Disadvantages: Limited compatibility with cranksets. Note, the older ROTOR sets do NOT do Bluetooth Smart, but 2INPower does. Though, I don’t really recommend the older ones anyway.
Would I buy it: It’s tough. My challenge with it is that I saw accuracy issues indoor (as did others), and at the end of the day ROTOR couldn’t provide any resolution to that (for me or otherwise). If that was resolved, I’d have no issues with it technologically. Pricing is trickier though.
Relevant Posts: ROTOR 2INPower In-Depth Review, ROTOR announces new INpower power meters, starting at $779US, First look at new ROTOR Power Meter, Eurobike Power Meter Update Post: Quarq, ROTOR, Pioneer, Brim Brothers & Ciclosport
Avio:
This startup company from the UK has recently launched a left-side only power meter, Avio PowerSense, that aims to be the least expensive direct force unit on the market. They started shipping in various beta states last spring, though have ramped up shipping in more of a production status this fall. The pod attaches to a left crank arm in a similar manner to Stages or 4iiii, though, a bit longer in length than either of those companies. Essentially though, the same concept.
The company offers a few ways to get the unit (some only within the UK, but expanding out to the EU this week), including buying the add-on kit for an existing Shimano 105 or Ultegra crank arm, as well as an installation service. They also offer complete cranksets with it pre-installed. The power meter transmits total power (by doubling the left side), as well as cadence, via ANT+. It doesn’t broadcast via Bluetooth Smart at this time, though the company says that’s on their roadmap and may be possible via simple firmware update.
Advantages: Perhaps the least expensive left-only power meter on the market (to my knowledge), has a self-install kit (though I haven’t tried that yet). The company also offers an installation service too, or pre-installed crank/crankset options.
Disadvantages: Limited crankset compatibility (just Shimano for some products, but is expanding to other cranksets), no Bluetooth Smart support. Some products are only available in the UK at this point and time, however, the company has started expanding into the EU this week for others.
Would I buy it: It’s tough. I’ve been using one (or, actually, a pile of units) on and off since spring, and up until late summer it’s definitely felt more like a beta product. I think they’re getting close, and the company in the last few days plans to send over their latest variant. While it is available for sale and purchase today, I don’t have enough time on the latest unit to make a complete determination here. The lack of dual ANT+/BLE is also a tough one as well.
Relevant Posts: Avio PowerSense
Race Face/Easton:
Next up we’ve got a small gaggle of new units from Easton and Race Face, cohesively branded as their CINCH power meter. The two brands are both owned by Fox Factory. The CINCH unit is designed to be compatible with road, mountain, and cyclocross bikes, making them a bit wider spread on the compatibility front than some other power meter companies that may target just road riders. The main draw here is enabling both companies to offer consumers units that are compatible with their group lineups with minimal hassle to get a power meter.
The underlying tech though is actually kinda interesting. In this case, for reasons that are a bit weird – neither Race Face nor Easton wanted to disclose that the units were actually powered by Sensitivus (more commonly known as the company behind Team Zwatt). In fact, you may remember this very crank from my Team Zwatt preview test a year ago.
As for the tech itself, the unit is left-only as it’s placed within the bottom bracket and won’t capture the power from the right leg. This makes the left-only nature similar to that of Stages, 4iiii Precision (non-dual), and many others offering single-sided solutions. Though, priced from $599USD for the unit itself, it’s a bit more than those companies. Also, it’s micro-USB rechargeable, and gets about 400 hours.
Advantages: Broader compatibility with mountain biking and cyclocross bikes. Reasonably long-term battery life, dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart.
Disadvantages: A bit pricey for a left-only unit, though options are admittedly slim for off-road usage.
Would I buy it: I haven’t had a chance to test it in-depth, so it’s hard to say. However, I haven’t heard any complaints from readers on it.
Related Posts: Sea Otter 2017 Power Meter Roundup
Team Zwatt:
Team Zwatt launched two summers ago via crowdfunding with a few different power meter options. Behind the scenes, they also provide the technology for Easton/Race Face power meters. In the spring of 2017 they started shipping their own Team Zwatt units to customers, and it sounds like things are mostly chugging along smoothly these days. I’ve had a few readers use units lately, and mostly stuff seems to be working fine. I initially heard of some minor issues early on related to the subscription aspect – but those concerns/issues seemed to have dissipated.
What’s unique about them is their subscription approach, which lowers the upfront cost of the unit by supplementing it with a subscription service fee. This way if you take a prolonged break from needing a power meter, you can turn off the power meter function while still leaving it on your bike (and stop paying for it). While I did test out a beta version a year or two ago, I haven’t tried a final production model yet to see how it all works now that things are past the testing phase. Still, I think it’s definitely a compelling model if priced right.
I’m just concerned at this point the pricing doesn’t really make sense for the subscription aspect. All-in it ends up being more expensive than Power2Max – which has more compatibility offerings than Team Zwatt. I like the concept, but I’m not sold on the current pricing model.
Advantages: Lower upfront cost, a few different power meter attachment options, company has experience as an OEM to other brands – so not really an unknown startup.
Disadvantages: Pricing is a bit questionable longer term, especially compared to some other models on the market these days.
Would I buy it: It’s hard to say. The pricing model is both a pro and a con, and I’m not sure for me specifically if that pricing model works. But if it works for you – go forth!
Related Posts: Hands-on: Team Zwatt launches subscription based power meter, Sea Otter 2017 Power Meter Roundup
FSA POWERBOX:
Two years ago FSA partnered with Power2Max to put together what was at the time a unique branded option from FSA by Power2Max at a relatively reduced price. It was (and still is) a very solid deal. Then last summer Power2Max made that power meter available themselves as the Power2Max NG ECO. It’s the exact same physical unit, just different branding, and very slightly different firmware.
In my Power2Max NG ECO in-depth review you’ll see that it does exceptionally well. And likewise, on another of my bikes I’ve had the FSA PowerBox as well since summer, and it too is very solid. Both are great – and one of these darn days I’ll get around to writing up the longest power meter review ever on this site. The only difference to be aware of is that the two companies sell different crank arm configurations, and in the case of FSA you have to pay extra for a firmware update to enable Bluetooth Smart. Whereas with the P2M NG ECO unit it comes with it. But again, you’ll need to look at what crank options you want to see what makes the most sense for ya.
While my review is still somehow not out yet (mostly on account of me using my tri bike less and less these days), you’ll actually find data in a number of my product reviews already over the past year. I just need to circle all that data up into a single post and call it macaroni.
Advantages: Accuracy is solid, super easy to use. Generally good pricing once you remember that the carbon cranksets are included within the price.
Disadvantages: Bluetooth Smart costs a bit extra, so you’ll want to factor that into the price.
Would I buy it: I’d have no issues buying it. I’d just want to do my research and ensure it fit my specific crankset requirements. But technologically it’s solid.
Related Posts: Sea Otter 2017 Power Meter Roundup
Shimano Power Meter:
It’s been more than two years since Shimano debuted their Dura-Ace integrated power meter. While Shimano started out with their high-end Dura-Ace, everyone in the industry knows how this story ends (by going to cheaper models eventually). Unfortunately what nobody really predicted would be the troubles that Shimano has had with the product – a line of issues longer than…well…even Vector.
It was initially delayed about a year before it started shipping in the fall of 2017. They started off slowly in Japan, and then eventually sent out units to media reviewers (including myself). But universally all of us had the same issue with the inconsistent power readers, especially left/right balance. Of course, incorrect left/right balance issues really isn’t an issue with left/right balance – but rather fundamental power accuracy. After all – each side is measured individually, and the balance percentage value is merely done after the fact as a simple 3rd grade math equation.
To date, Shimano has yet to fix the issue.
Atop that, the unit doesn’t transmit power over Bluetooth Smart. Shimano had originally slated that for the end of 2017, but then pushed it to sometime in 2018, and these days the standard answer given is down to ‘no date known’. It does connect via Bluetooth Smart to the Shimano app, but that’s merely for firmware updates.
Finally, from an actual purchasing standpoint – you likely can’t even purchase one of these if you tried (perhaps a sign of the situation). They’re telling some retailers that they won’t get stock until late 2019. Yes, 2019. So there’s that for ya.
Advantages: It looks kinda pretty. And I suppose being all-Shimano purchasing/distribution, one vendor to deal with for the issues you’ll have.
Disadvantages: Magnet based means slightly more complex install, isn’t accurate, and doesn’t broadcast Bluetooth Smart (with no timeframe for when they’ll enable BLE power). Can’t buy it unless it’s from some retailer that’s sitting on stock forever.
Would I buy it: I can’t see a scenario where I would.
Related Posts: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100P Power Meter In-Depth Review ,Eurobike 2016 Power Meter Round-up: Shimano, First Look: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100–Now with power meter option
Other New Devices:
This short section is for products I’ve yet to get hands-on with. They are largely products that are brand new on the market (but actually shipping), but haven’t made their way to me yet. That doesn’t mean they’re bad (or good), it just means I haven’t seen them in person:
Tempo Power Meter: This company initially launched a crowd-funding campaign, but didn’t hit its goal. Instead of giving up though they pressed on (self-funded) and are now shipping units starting from $299USD (including the crank arm). They make a left-only solution akin to Stages and others, and their $299 option is based on the Shimano 105, with Shimano Ultegra at $349 and $399 depending on the variant. That would be the least expensive direct force power meter on the market for US buyers. Given I haven’t tested one I can’t speak to accuracy (claimed is +/- 1.5%), however do note that it’s ANT+ only, and not dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart. So decide whether or not that matters for your specific use-case. Further details here.
Giant Power Pro: Giant now enables you to equip your Giant bike with a power meter, which is dual-sided and affixes to your crank arms. There isn’t much in the way of accuracy-focused reviews out there (most reviews have focused on the bike rather than the power meter). It’s a bit surprising to see a major company come out with a power meter without any tale of development work, nor any claims by industry power meter partners. The design doesn’t mirror others on the market, so it’s hard to say if there’s a OEM partner somewhere (which would bolster credibility). Typically power meter companies work for years to get accuracy nailed down. Of course, Giant is a big company and has plenty of resources to get the job done. Note that it too lacks Bluetooth Smart, and as such is ANT+ only. Further details here.
Non-DFPM Devices:
Finally, we have a few options that use calculations to determine your power output. These units don’t actually measure your work effort using strain gauges, but instead rely upon other environmental factors. Thus the name of non-Direct Force Power Meters (DFPM). Some take offense to these being called ‘power meters’ since they lack a strain gauge, but frankly that’s stupid. There’s no international definition that states how a power meter shall measure power, but rather just that it measures it in some way. These units come to a measurement via different methods than direct force measuring strain gauges. I don’t care whether they use strain gauges or small chipmunks, as long as it ends up accurate. Inversely, if it’s inaccurate, then it’s useless – even when using a strain gauge.
Historically (in all the years I’ve been doing this), I’ve kept these as a separate category – in large part because they were indeed so different in terms of not just product design, but also accuracy. However, I do want to highlight the PowerPod as being one that for the right consumer I would recommend.
PowerPod: This was launched at Interbike 2015, and then started shipping about 60 days later. The concept is built upon the iBike technology of using aerodynamics for power. In my in-depth product review, I found it did very well against a suite of power meters in a wide variety of conditions. For a $199 power meter, it does quite well. There are specific edge cases where it might not handle as well, but if you understand whether or not you fall into those edge cases – then you can make the right decision. My In-Depth review can be found here, as well as the boatloads of people in the comments who are largely quite happy with the device. Finally, the company also started shipping a dual ANT+/BLE option, which helps compatibility a bit more as well.
PowerCal: The PowerTap PowerCal (offered in both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart) is a heart-rate strap that also transmits power information. It monitors your heart rate and then uses the rate of change to determine power. While many hard-core power meter users are afraid to even glance at the thing, I found that when you started looking at real-world data, it wasn’t actually all that bad. And in fact, it was far more accurate than you’d expect. In general, I’d recommend this for someone that may be buying a heart rate strap anyway and is interested in power (since it’s down to $49 these days). It’s also a good option for those that travel and are stuck with hotel bikes and want to get some mileage with Zwift on an otherwise non-useful hotel bike. While there are some apps out there that can attempt to do the same thing, none of them re-transmit back over ANT+, so the data isn’t included on your bike computer. Check out the full review above for the limitations on where it works well, and where it’s not so hot.
Arofly: This small pressure sensor power meter only works with phones (their app specifically), and their mini head unit. So unlike the other three above that don’t require a phone and app, this does. I briefly tried the unit back a year or two ago (with the phone app), and found the experience less than awesome. Since then they made a bunch of tweaks based on some of that feedback, but I haven’t re-tried it (or seen any trusted individuals that have reported good results on it).
Unreleased or Cancelled Products:
Lastly, we’ve got power meters that are currently in a pending shipping state. This means that as a regular consumer, as of the date of this publishing, you can’t actually get your hands on one quite yet (though, some do offer pre-order options). In some cases I’ve test ridden versions of these products, or seen them in trade shows.
What we do know however is that nobody in the power meter market has actually hit their projected timelines for initial release of new products (I’m not counting minor variants). Seriously, nobody. Not SRM (new rechargeable model took years until finally this spring), not Garmin (Vector was years delay), nor Polar (Bluetooth edition took years too). Despite what the interwebs would tell you – it’s rather difficult getting a mass-produced accurate power meter, regardless of whether you’re a company with hundreds of millions in revenue (Garmin), or a startup (WatTeam). Remember that it’s easy getting 95% there in power meter development, it’s the last 5% that can take years (and often does). Nonetheless, here’s what’s in the theoretical pipeline.
IQ2: This pedal spacer based power meter fits in between your pedal and your crank arm, which means that it makes it more compatible than any specific pedal design, or any specific crank-arm manufacturer can. The downside being that it can impact (increase) the q-factor of your stance (how far your feet are apart). The IQ2 power meter was introduced/announced in April 2018, and while initially slated to ship in September, the company says they’re going to start shipping Nov 29th. At present no independent media outlet (or any outlet/person/pigeons for that matter) has tested the unit yet. So it remains to be seen whether or not they can achieve what will be the most impressive power meter development cycle in power meter history (and deliver an accurate device). If so, it’ll be a huge win for the consumer. But I still suspect we won’t see a fully accurate unit until sometime next spring, but of course, I’m happy to be proven wrong.
Next, we’ve got now defunct or otherwise discontinued products. In years past I’ve included full sections on products that are no longer in production. While the parent companies may still be around in some cases, these units are not being manufactured and thus I’d simply not recommend them any longer.
WatTeam: The company just closed sales of units last week. While I’ve written plenty on them over the years, with this announcement I wouldn’t recommend purchasing them, primarily because the unit is so heavily dependent on not just their mobile app, but backend servers that do calibration and configuration. While WatTeam has committed to continuing support, I find that these types of last-ditch commitments only go as far as the next change of wind direction.
LIMITS: To the best of my knowledge, this company is no longer producing units (nor responding to customer support requests). The company started as a crowd-funded power meter project, and eventually raised significant sums of money. The company started shipping units in mid-2017, however, accuracy never quite got to the point of being accurate enough for meaningful usage. Here’s my past accuracy-focused post on them, as well as significant reader comments.
In past years I’ve written entire sections on the entrants below, but this year I’m just going to simplify things a bit, as most of these have remained in this section for the better part of forever. You can look at last year’s post if you really want details on what I certainly wouldn’t recommend buying:
XPEDO THRUST E: This is a pedal-based power meter touted by Xpedo for about the last half-decade. Every time I see them at industry trade shows I ask about it, and they consistently respond it’s only a couple months away from shipping. It’s a bit of a running joke, which, they don’t realize they aren’t in on when I ask it. I asked again this year though nonetheless – and the answer remains the same. Note: first photo above.
Luck Shoe Power: This cycling shoe based power meter is designed to fit just below the base of your cycling shoe, and was designed specifically for Luck’s cycling shoes. Getting clear and concise answers out of the company at Eurobike is always tricky. The first few years I chalked it up to some language barriers. However, these days I’ve decided they simply don’t have a saleable product. They usually bring enough to a trade show to easily pedal and show on a big screen, but no place to actually order them. I’ve seen no evidence of this being out in the wild anywhere. Note: second photo above.
Then there’s a list of companies that I don’t see as being in business anymore – either because they’ve said so, or because they’ve gone silent. But since I’m sure people stumbling onto this page may not know all the historical information, here’s the quick versions:
Ashton Instruments: Ashton Instruments made the media rounds at Interbike four years ago (2014), and then I visited with them again during the spring of 2015 where they demonstrated their bottom bracket based system, which they hoped to sell for under $500 in the spring of 2016. These former MIT students have the foundation for a potential power meter company and product, and were able to demonstrate it to me both indoors and outdoors. They also have riders on one of the local teams testing out basic prototypes of the platform. Note that the solution will be limited to measuring left-only power. Best I know, the company is no longer in operation. I haven’t heard from them since 2016. Note: third photo above.
Dyno Velo: I visited these folks at Interbike 2015. They’ve got a bottom-bracket region power meter, very similar to what Ashton Instruments is doing. As I noted in the post, I think they have the potential to have a solid product if they can make it a bit more consumer/bike shop friendly. Their pricing will likely be in the same ballpark as the Ashton Instruments option (and targeting the same customers). At that time they wanted to ship in early 2016, but I thought they’d need to make some minor tweaks to their designs in order to achieve that. I haven’t heard from them since then. Note: fourth photo above.
Brim Brother’s Zone: This was a Speedplay based cleat power meter that was long in development. As of October 2016, the company ceased operations. While they got close, they ultimately couldn’t transition from 95% of the way there to 100% of the way there.
I suspect we’ll see more companies join this group over the next year, as the price of power meters continues to drop and thus push viable budget options into being non-viable due to consumers going with name-brand options they trust at only a slight price premium.
Buying Used Used Power Meters:
Everything in this post is talking about new units whereby you are the original owner. So when I talk about costs there, that’s my baseline. With that in mind, there’s nothing wrong with buying used cycling gear. However, in the case of power meters, I’d caution that accuracy is of the utmost importance. After all, if you’re buying an inaccurate/untrusted power meter, you might as well just send me the cash instead and I’ll send you back random numbers.
Thus if you buy a used power meter my only caution would be to spend the money to have the manufacturer validate/test it, this is especially true if you don’t know the source of the unit.
For example, I’d be less concerned if you had a close friend that used a PowerTap for six months and then decided to swap it out for something else due to changing their rear wheel for a disc. In that case, you would know if your friend was having issues with it, and the reason behind the sale (new wheels).
Whereas, if you buy randomly from an unknown person you don’t know the history behind it and I’d be inclined to ensure a trusted 3rd party can complete a test on the device to ensure accuracy. In most cases, the best 3rd party to complete that test is the manufacturer itself.
Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, as I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy used. I’m just saying trust…but verify.
So what should I buy?
At the end of the day, there’s no single right answer to this question. There’s only ‘best’ answers for a given individual situation. I’ve tried to outline all the major pros and cons of each unit on the market, and in simple language whether or not I’d purchase it (or, purchase it again). I’d probably narrow down first where you plan to place the power meter (i.e. pedals vs crank arm vs etc…), then narrow down a brand. Placement will drive usage (i.e. changing bikes or not).
The landscape will continue to change. As I noted in the above sections, the market continues to expand, and thus you’ll continue to see new brands – and we’ll continue to see drops in prices as we have every year for a number of years now. However, just like last year, I don’t expect to see any further price drops this year, with the first round likely not coming until probably Spring 2019 – dependent entirely on whether or not IQ2 can put forth a viable product. If they fail to do so, don’t expect any meaningful price shifts from the industry. And finally as noted somewhere up above, I don’t expect anything otherwise unannounced will hit on the market until spring as well.
Of course, if I haven’t covered something – feel free to plop questions down below. Thanks for reading!
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Hey Ray! Thanks for the updated guide for this year!
Do you know what the model number is for the new pioneer power meters that have the bluetooth smart? I’m seeing a bunch of sales for pioneer power meters, but descriptions are scarce on if it has bluetooth smart.
thanks again!
Yup, they are:
Single-leg: The SBT-LT91 (Dura-Ace) and SBT-LT80 (Ultegra)
Dual-leg: The SBT91 (Dura) and SBT80 (Ultegra)
I think it’s worth noting the service options with the various power meters. At least with the Powertap P1 I was able to get it overhauled and basically get refurbished pedals for $300 after using them for 2 years. Not sure what’s the story with the other ones. Any upgrades for P2 over P1?
Yeah, it’s tricky to cover every possible service option (since most companies don’t publish that info). I tried to call out specific examples where I’ve seen an outsized number of comments about a given model/company.
Both my husband and I used the P1 and both pairs died a few weeks of each other after about 2 years of use. Rather disappointing. Mine were apparently cooked by humidity and not reparable. My husband got refurbished but are still unreliable and therefore useless. The switching from bike to bike was nice but it damaged the threads on my crank set. I would really have a hard time to buy from them again.
Happy FSA Powerbox user here! You can actually find those units in the Netherlands for €428 on sale now!
Do you have more details about the new powermeter that GIANT is using on its high end 2019 bikes?
Nothing yet for the 2019 Giant bikes in terms of testing. I do have their contact information, so I may dig into it over the winter and see about getting a test bike in.
Great review. I believe that Stages does sell a R-only (Ultegra and Dura Ace) that they claim can upgrade an existing L-only to LR. It’s a Gen 3, and doesn’t say whether it’s compatible with Gen 3 L-only.
Correct, Stages Gen 2 and Gen 3 L-only power meters CAN BOTH be converted to true LR units by purchasing a Stages R model and linking them in the Stages app.
Good catch, I’ll clarify that Gen2/3 are fine for dual-sided pairing (wheras Gen1 aren’t).
@Sean from Stages – so if I have an Ultegra 6800 gen2, can I upgrade to LR by purchasing an Ultegra 8000 gen3 right only?
In other words, the crank and right side are 8000 series while the left crank arm is 6800?
Bsquared: Correct. Ultegra 6800 and R8000 look a little different (though it’s hard to notice at a glance) but are 100% compatible, so you can upgrade to a Stages LR by purchasing a R side unit.
The Stages R units are also useful for aero bikes with chainstay mounted brakes and certain gravel bikes lacking clearance on the non-drive side.
Thanks Sean, have one on order and looking forward to trying it out.
Hi Ray!
I currently have a Stages L (Gen 1) and am wanting to get to true LR power. Given comment above, doesn’t seem like I have ability to purchase Stages R only to get true LR; I’d need to buy a new LR system and essentially start over. With that, leaning toward Garmin Vector (in part for cycling dynamics) but wondering if there are any advantages of crank based or BB (I.e accuracy) vs pedal other than portability / ease of install.
Actually, as you can see from the above comment, you can upgrade by purchasing the R only.
Oh, nevermind, you have the Gen 1. Sorry.
What about Chinese named XCadey. Have you tried it?
I haven’t. Shane has though: link to youtube.com
Thanks! so cheap, but no reliable…
Have you actually seen the video?!
He concludes with 3 points for the Xcadey
for a left-only its: Cheap, quite good but no tech support/after service.
Considering how many reputable companies also have nonexistent tech support/service it sounds like a good device.
I use the Xcadey powermeter since March and I concur with this conclusion. Works very well. They have since udpated their app which is used to update the firmware. However the connection with the crank does not work anymore and support is non-existant. Still, for the price I am fully satisfied
Are the PowerTap C1’s available outside of North America? Their site just states “No prices available” for anywhere other than US and Canada.
They used to be available overseas, though I’m not sure where to get them exactly these days. :-/
They were available in UK via Wiggle, etc for a while at a great price.
1 still available at Sigma Sport : link to sigmasports.com
Here’s my two cents on the power meters I own:
I’ve owned both a Powertap G3 and a 4iii Precision. The Powertap works great and as you mentioned is set and forget. That being said, if you are doing a lot of miles each year I would tell you to steer far clear of the Powertap. In the last three seasons I’ve had to send the wheel back three times to get the bearings replaced. Each time it cost $150 and that doesn’t even include the shipping of the wheel. When a brand new Powertap cost $400, I could have bought an entirely new unit after just the past three seasons. I’ve kind of got fed up with sending the unit back each year, so I’m gonna give it a go and just change the bearings myself and hope for the best.
As for the 4iiii Precision, I’ve had zero issues with that. After dealing with all the bearing issues in my Powertap, I wanted something that didn’t need to be serviced (ie: hubs or pedals). I’ve compared it to my powertap and the overall power is usually dead on but I’ve found that on Strava segments the power between the two units can vary as much as 20-30 watts. Sometimes the 4iiii can spike during sprints but otherwise I’ve been happy with it. Although I’m content with the Precision, I’ve had an awful experience with 4iiii as company. Back in March I ordered their newest Podium dual sided power meter. Without going too far into it, they delayed the product and did an awful job at updating customers and responding to emails. I had multiple instances where I got no response and another time where it took three weeks to receive an email back. I eventually cancelled my order with them out of frustration. I think as of today you can’t even find the dual sided Podium model on their website for the new Ultegra r8000 or Dura Ace 9100. In other words 4iiii has great products and sub par customer service.
I have two 4iiii precision power meters. One nearly 2 years old and the other just under 1 year old. After working flawlessly the older one recently stopped working (the power reported dropped to less than half what it should and calibrating the meter would produce an error). The support basically consisted of telling me to take the battery out and put it back in (I guess it is the power meter equivalent of turning it off and turning it back on). When this didn’t work it was deemed dead but they did offer me a 20% discount to buy another one. I figure the strain sensor has broken or lost contact with the crank arm, possibly the glue has deteriorated? I don’t consider a 2 year life span good enough for a power meter so I won’t be buying 4iiii again.
The powertap G3 hub is not a good choice if you do a lot of home trainer or try to aero test outside: the measurement of the power is less accurate at high rotation speed of the rear wheel. It is made worse by the low resolution of the offset given by the auto-zero function. After 12 years of PowerTap hubs, I am moving to crank PM.
Identical experience with 4iiii. The precision strain gauge just broke after 12 months mid ride. I ended up with a very expensive cadence only crank sensor. 4iiii gave me the replace battery instruction which did not work. These units have a problem. Plenty of other folk on web boards experience this as well.
RE: Aero testing
Odd, almost every aero testing company I talk with actually prefers the PowerTap G3 as a baseline. This is for a number of reasons:
A) It’s the closest power meter to the point of rolling resistance. So it allows you to remove guesstimates of drivetrain efficiencies
B) Auto zero offsets while coasting means that it’s virtually constantly in calibration, rather than realizing later you didn’t do it. While a handful of people on Wattage hate auto-zero, the reality is that aero facilities love it (and most consumers do as well)
C) I’ve never heard of the rotation speed making things less accurate. The PT hub is pretty much one of the most trusted power meters out there (for more than a decade and a half), and that’s the first time I’ve heard that claim. It doesn’t do cadence well however, as that’s just an estimate.
That’s all.
So, I’m in the same boat – former PowerTap hub user, current 4iiiis Precision L/R user. I also use a Pioneer L/R ANT+ w/o BLE. Both the 4iiiis and Pioneer are on DA9100 cranks.
While I had bearing and torque tube replacement issues on my PowerTap, they were not as frequent. I switched to discrete L/R meters due to a leg injury. When it comes to numbers, I only had a few rides on which I used both the PowerTap and 4iiiis. On those rides, they showed similar power with the PowerTap slightly lower as expected due to power train loss. Overall, it appears the the 4iiiis has slightly greater variability then the PowerTap but that’s just seat of the pants. Overall, I’m much happier with the 4iiiis than PowerTap
However, I’d like to rave about the Pioneer. Again, just seat of the pants and no direct comparisons. I just FEEL that the Pioneer provides the most accurate power that I’ve experienced. I also trust the efficiency and L/R numbers it generates more than the 4iiiis. I don’t know why but the super fast sampling rate could have alot to do with it.
The vector mapping capability of the Pioneer cyclecomputer also is incredibly valuable to me. Just like the 4iiiis the Pioneer is measuring the recovery of my injured leg and efficiency of both. The vector mapping shows exactly where i am applying too much and too little force to the pedals and where I am applying pressure in an inefficient direction IN REAL TIME! As I change power application the vector mapping shows changes and I can keep an eye on the efficiency of each leg, output of each leg and L/R balance simultaneously. Of course, this is only advisable on a trainer or roads with zero traffic and not in groups. However, off the bike analytics show lasting improvements.
Installing the magnets for the Pioneer and calibrating it was tedious and I needed three attempts to get it right but Pioneer support was excellent and their power meter has been the best investment in my cycling in years – less than 12 months after buying a new bike!
I hope both the 4iiiis and Pioneer give me many ling years of flawless performance.
A) Absolutely
B) The autozero is a great feature but for a powertap hub in specific conditions as I will explain in C) it may impact precision of power. We know that the offset in powermeter varies with temperature. It took me some time to realize that during early aero session (to avoid cars and wind), with a PT hub, the variablilty on CdA was low on several laps but not consistent accross several runs (each time the offset had changed, because of temperature changes with the sun rising). It is much better now with a crank PM. Aero facilities using PT hubs has not the problem as they test indoor with constant conditions and so no offset drift.
C) On a PT hub, power is given by TorqueHub*RotationalSpeedRearWheel so an imprecision on torque measurement is magnified at high speed contrary at others PM with torque and rotation speed are measured at the crank. Typically during an aero session at 180w/36kmh the hub torque measured by a PT is around 6 Nm. With an offset resolution of 0.1 Nm, error and possible jump of power are near 0.1/6~1.5% (not a good deal when you target less than 1% precision on CdA). Same issues happen on a trainer when using a low resistance and big gear (so high rear wheel speed): an offset drift may cause power drift, and auto-zero will not help a lot. I will post on Wattage forum to discuss this point of PowerTap hub precision.
I am sorry to say that, because PowerTap hubs are just perfect for any other use cases.
Thanks.
But the entire point of the offset is to compensate for temperature drift. So in your scenario (outdoors with changing temps), it’s actually doing exactly what you want it to do: Keeping the power accurate even though temp is shifting.
Just another input regarding 4iiii. I have had left only Precision on Ultegra 6800 crank for close to 2 years. Cannot compare it to any other PMs, but it works very well IMO. I recently broke off tabs on the the battery door, contacted 4iiii and they sent me a replacement. So a very positive experience overall. A bit of heads up for those in the EU – Sigmasports has what I believe to be a very good price on Precision left-only (Ultegra and 105) with Viiva as a free gift.
Hello all, Mike here from Avio,
Since chatting with Ray we’ve since moved to also offer Sram cranks with Force and RED options available as a Factory Fit, as well as a whole host of others including some mountain bike cranks.
Essentially if your crank’s inside face is flat and smooth (ie not like ROTOR or cheaper FSA cranks like Gossamer) then you’re probably compatible!
Come and see us!
(Crank is making it’s way to the post office Ray!)
Peace.
M.
Cheers Mike, order placed this afternoon
Thanks Mike – installing my unit this w/end. Great customer service thus far from your team.
No worries Si,
Anything else, just give us a shout. You know where we are.
M.
Hi Mike, is Bluetooth actually in the works? Your current offer is very tempting, I just worry that I might want Bluetooth connectivity in the future, and paying twice as much for a competitor might mean I can get twice as much use out of it.
Any chance that you’ll be offering a square taper track crank arm, or that I can send you one and get it installed?
I’m trying to retrofit an internal spin bike (Lifecycle GX) for Zwift. I have the speed/cadence of course. Need to add Watts but desperately want to keep my Speedplay pedals (knee issues so need the float). The bike has a tapered bottom bracket. Any left-side crank-arm power meters out there? Or….any more update on Speedplay(Garmin) coming out with a free-float Power Pedal?
I’m on my fourth set of Vector 3 pedals and they still don’t work. I no longer ride/train on my bicycle, I spend all my time trouble shooting with Garmin. Garmin can’t resolve the issues. I think there is a small percentage of users that still have problems (< 10%??), that Garmin has no ability to resolve. I would not recommend Vector 3 pedals and being one of the owners with issues, I'm sad to see Ray recommend them. The main caveat I would add if you are interested in these is to buy from somewhere with a good return policy.
Hi Jose, I have Vector 3S and have couple of friends that has it. We all are happy with it and use it a lot. Highly recommended as it is very portable if you travel and rent bikes.
But I have to say it was having issues at their earliest firmware, unreliable readings, high power peaks and disconnections. Current firmware is pretty stable without problems! Have you upgraded the firmware?
I ended up getting rid of my Vector 3 pedals because Garmin Connect Mobile wouldn’t pair with the pedals. Spent 2 weeks ‘troubleshooting’ with Garmin Support before someone finally admitted that they had the same problem. Never got a timeline about getting the problem solved. And my phone was a Samsung Galaxy S7, which is a pretty mainstream device.
I have upgraded the firmware and performed the service advisories. I have also received replacement pedals that were supposed to have been “fixed.”
I won’t argue that it works fine for some folks, but it hasn’t worked for me. My personal experience has been terrible with the Vector 3 pedals.
I’ve had a lot of problems too. Garmin is now sending me a third set of pedals. They will be going straight up for sale. Constant reboots and spikes in data have made them pretty much unusable. I’m sure these work for most people. But I’m done fighting with them.
To be fair, Samsung and Huawei do pretty nonstandard stuff with their bluetooth management. Sure Garmin should resolve it, but they are not the only ones to blame.
I am a webdeveloper and we have an entire set of phones to test our stuff on. Samsung and Huawei are most consistent at giving us stability problems and dropping bluetooth stuff.
Thank you for getting in touch with us José and providing the details. We understand your frustration and will get this sorted out.
Also, we’re now in the European market as of this week for the factory fit units direct from us and Retro-fit units. We do have some Authorized Dealers in the Netherlands and Denmark. More coming soon.
Also speaking to retailers on the east coast of the States who we expect to be on board before Christmas
Feel free to get in touch if you’re wanting more information.
Peace.
Just placed my order – what a great Black Friday deal! £149 is an amazing price :0)
Hi,
Do you guys support cannondale cranks?
Like the cannondale si for the off road cannondale scalpel?
“SRM introduced not just a pedal based power meter, but the technology platform for what the companies views as the next evaluation of all their power meters. ”
SRM did what now? Next evolution maybe. ;)
Thanks!
Ray, do you have any mtb PM recommendations?
I don’t have enough experience in the mountain biking realm to really recommend anything there. That said, I’d focus on brands that have a solid road presence with lots of history and go from there. For example, Quarq makes a mountain bike variant, as does Stages (albeit theirs is left-sided, but still an option).
The pedal based once are pretty out, since you can’t get them as SPD, eggbeater or the like. The look system does not deal well with mud….
I use a Stages XTR arm. It handles the beating and all like a champ, but it seem to have issues with very low cadence. Sub 40ish or so, so it won’t measure if you get caught on a steep climb in the wrong gear.
Also, it sometimes gets confused when going downhill on bumpy terrain. I have a handfull of rides, where I have 1200-1500 watt spikes, with 130-140 rpm cadence. And this while standing & freewelling, so clearly an error…. The spikes might have been fixed in a later firmware, though….
But I would probably pick Stages again….Mainly due to the simple install. And the price. Just my two cent…
@ScottH:
On my gravelbike I’m running a Quarq with a SRAM 1x chainring and 10-42 cassette in the back with an XT Di2 rear derailleur (clutched) and SPD pedals. Should work well with MTB as well. Shifts nice, but it’s definitely a spendy solution.
Waiting for Shimano to bring Di2 to their 12-speed 10-46 cassette.
+1
I’m happy with my left sided Stages on my mountain bike.
Good question. I landed on left only Stages for my XTR M9000 crankset. It works fine, but watch out for the fit. (I have only 1 mm space to my back swing, but luckily it hasn’t rubbed in the 2 years that I’ve used it.)
You can actually take Favero Assiomas, remove the pedal body – leaving just the spindles – and mount Xpedo SPD pedals onto the Assioma spindles for a MTB pedal-based power meter.
link to gplama.com
I know, I wasn’t asked. It’s just my 2 cents…
It measures how much the cranks bend. So when you’re going downhill standing and freewelling on a bumpy terrain the vibration speed could be mesured as cadence. The bumps/jumps or when you bob up and down produces the watt spikes.
So, whats the latest on the Limits powermeters?
Have they started shipping yet?
They shipped units in mid-2016, however they were never reliably accurate (or reliable). At this point they’ve long stopped responding to customer support requests or selling new units. Last social media posts were mid-2017.
Any particular reason why InfoCrank is not mentioned in the ‘complete’ list in the beginning of the article?
Not sure I follow, it’s listed here: link to dcrainmaker.com
(The company name is Verve, so it’s under them)
In the beginning you list power meters based on placement – Verve InfoCrank is not mentioned
Ahh, odd. No idea, added. It’s a crank-arm solution.
Ray, Great write up! I was wondering if you had noticed anything around life expectancies of the various types. For example, my pedals seem to wear out as I would think anything with bearings, hubs, chainrings… would that make the crank arm a better long term investment? Thanks
Generally speaking we’ve seen crankarm and crank spider units do fairly well long term. It’s a well protected area of the bike, and as you noted it’s got less wear/tear than things like bearings.
But I honestly wouldn’t let that drive the decision entirely. There’s plenty of people with original Vector or PowerTap pedals out there still, 3-4 years later, no issues and no replacements. Some people like to swap things like bearings more often, and others never do it. The general trend I see here is that it’s more of a rider preference thing.
My experience with Team Zwatt left-sided Zimanox:
While the readings during a single ride seem stable and reasonable, the day to day difference is huge. Albeit calibrating the unit before every ride i see big offset between the readings. One day i barely manage to keep 300 W, the next day i pedal away at 360. And while the variation in my power for sure may account for some part of that, there are clearly problems with the unit, and they make the unit useless, since every time i try to pace myself on a climb i need to guess the todays offset to know what my ftp would be…
The only comparison i can make is to my indoor trainer (elite Drivo) and there i also see such erratic behavior (reading 10 % above one day and 10 % below another) see the attached picture. The customer service answers were only the unit needs to settle in and i should update the firmware. Both didnt help much.
Additionally, the plastic cover of the pod-thingy broke after just few months, the first time Team Zwatt repaired it, and i “just” had to cover the shipment costs, however, when the cover broke again after few more months ( I assume the o-ring inside is too big and pushes the cover up), they asked me to pay for the repair as well as shipment, since as Kickstarter buyer i cant claim any warranty. So i decided to cancel my subscription and ditch the unit.
Funnily enough, the unit still seems to transmit power even without the subscription.
Anyway, enough ranting, thanks for the guide Ray ! I will come back to it closer to spring, when i’ll buy a worthy replacement.
Hi,
I seem to remember you have a chart/graph with price over time somewhere. Would be cool if you had an updated one you could drop in here….
Indeed, this one: link to dcrainmaker.com
Good call, will add it in somewhere here in the morning.
Clever Training is selling the Powertap P1s for $679 and the VIP one-time discount can still be applied. I got them on my doorstep for $544!
I backed iQ2 on Kickstarter (currently I have bikes equipped with 4iiii Precision).
According to the campaign update from yesterday (Nov 12th) shipping will start as planned on Nov 29th and they’re compiling an update with data information.
I think it’s the smallest delay in the industry we’ve seen so far (2 months).
So much for that. Current status is delivery beginning February 2019.
With Pioneer releasing their gen 3, I’ve seen some deeply (40-50%) discounted gen 2 clearance sales. Are the changes in gen 3 worth it? Or should I snap up one of the remaining gen 2 at a discount ?
That’s tough. The older units are great and all, but with the lack of Bluetooth Smart, that makes them more challenging to use as power sources for apps, especially on iOS/Apple TV (but also a number of Android devices). Same goes for watches from Suunto and Polar.
So if it’s a long-term purchase, then you might be boxing yourself in some. But totally depends on how you plan to use it.
Thanks for the input. I have a smart trainer already. This will be for my outdoor/race bike that I will use with a Garmin cycling computer. So If the BT is your major consideration, I think I will try to find a gen 2 discount.
Hi,
This is a very interesting post.
I am wondering if you have an opnion on Giant’s power meter ?
It is called the Giant Power pro. It looks like the pionier power meter.
I think it works really well.
Thank you
I haven’t ridden one yet. I’m somewhat suspicious of any power meter company that comes out of nowhere with no apparent technical skillset in the power meter field. I’ve not heard any credible rumors as to them working with anyone to build it (which would have helped build credibility).
Still, Giant is a big company and perhaps they nailed it the first time out of the gate with no assistance. They would be the first, if so.
There’s also the Tempo power meter. This one started as a Kickstarter campaign, failed to get enough funding, but kept developing in the dark. I got a message from them about a month ago. They are shipping. It’s three models of left-only crank arm power meters like Stages/Avio/4iiii between 300 and 400 USD. I didn’t buy one though because I’m invested into the iq2 campaign.
link to tempopowermeters.com
Really nice write up.
However I can’t understand why you are so positive about the P1 pedals. I’ve owned 3 different sets (warranty), the last one I sold the moment I got it form Powertap. On the first set, the right pedal simply stopped transmitting. The second set had similar issues. I was running the v2 battery caps, but the alloy is so soft you’ll easily damage it with your allen key. Add to this the horrible looks, high price and the poor battery life and I really can’t justify this PM over other pedal based options.
Now on 2 Quarqs and never looked back!
Ultimately, aside from Vector there’s no pedal based power meter on the market that’s sold more units. While early on they did have some teething issues for some, it hasn’t really been an issue as of late (including the updated caps).
With the reduced pricing they remain one of the best deals out there.
I’ve been using P1 pedals for about 1 year (black Friday refurbished deal last year; dual sided for something around $500). I was coming from a PowerPod (actually a Newton, but samesies). I have been really happy with them. If I saw them without knowing they were refurbished, I would have thought they were brand new. They are consistent, accurate (in testing against Elite Direto trainer), portable (rented a bike for a race this year and still had my power meter), and just work with little fuss. I bought recharge-able batteries, and swap them out when needed (which is way less often then I would have thought).
If you see PowerTap offer discounts on their refurbished units, take it. It’s one of the best values in power meters.
One big missing disadvantage for the Powertap Hub: it will not work with wheel-off trainers.
I guess the challenge with that though is that realistically there’s no direct drive trainers on the market that don’t have power within them already (except the old LeMond Revolution Pro, but that stopped selling years ago).
Good point! Thanks for the great roundup!
“Maybe some day there will be a good there, but today is not that day.” — I just don’t understand your hate, Ray. Running power meters are as useful as cycling ones. No more no less.
Did someone at Stryd upset you?!
Dan G, thanks for that constructive comment. I couldn’t find the link to all your website articles about running power meters, why they are so great and all your multiple reviews that you have done. You are obviously a source of impeccable knowledge. Please post the links so we can enjoy the benefits of all your hard work.
“Running power meters are as useful as cycling ones.”
But they’re not.
Cycling power meters work when it’s windy out. Running power meters don’t.
Cycling power meters work on all sorts of ground types. Running power meters don’t (well).
Cycling power meters can be compared and validated to each other. Running power meters can’t.
With each new running power meter, my trust in the tech only lessons. These days we’ve got four core running power meters (Stryd, RunScribe, Garmin, Polar), and none of them match (even remotely). How can any runner trust that kind of tech when everyone says their right and nobody is the same?
I get the whole ‘but it’s consistent’ thinking, but that doesn’t work well when you move from device to device. Nor does it solve for the major issues noted above.
It’s only me to have a Shimano DA PM ?
I got it delivered in 1 week in mid 2018 and I find it accurate, compared to SRM and Pioneer that I have on other bikes…
Also took a punt on IQ2 – looks hopeful and at the price will make an ideal backup set. Currently love my Quarq DZero – fit and forget accuracy, and have two road bike and a CX set up with the same BB so swapping takes less than a minute. Main aim for IQ2 is so I can leave it on my CX with a 1x setup, and swap onto my MTB cranks as needed. Here’s hoping !
Hey Ray, Thank you yet again for the exhaustive reviews and explanations on power meters. I can say after a LOT of surfing of the interwebs, I find your research and explanations are far and away the easiest for laypersons to understand while trying to understand all the subtleties of these confounding items. I ended up settling on the PowerTap P1’s for the flexibility they offer moving between bikes and the ease of battery changing while getting all the data I need. I’ve not been disappointed.
Thanks Chris! Glad it’s working out!
I wonder if the Magene Ridge is on your review list, as much as I wonder if Magene is going to make it available internationally.
It’s not currently on my review list. Generally speaking for me to consider it, it’s gotta be both available in an EU or North American market (with plans to expand globally), and support has to be provided in those markets.
Otherwise it just ends up being too niche.
I have 4iiii left side PowerMeter and been happy with it however this Fall it did start to fail and 4iiii gave great support and fixed my unit without any issues. Having a good company behind the product is also very important and 4iiii passed that test with flying colors.
without owning multiple power meters like yourself, how can you verify that your brand new power meter is giving you accurate numbers and not just a radndom number generator? if i am purchasing my first PM, and have no historical numbers to compare against
you almost run into the same issue as buying a used power meter (although the probability of a faulty unit is much lower)
It’s tough. While some would say you can validate torque values with a known weight – the reality is that was always kinda only one piece of the puzzle. And these days, not really the piece that matters.
Most power meters these days fail when it comes to temp compensation, rough roads, humidity, or all sorts of other environmental driven conditions. So ultimately, the weight test is like looking at a cheeseburger and saying it’ll taste great, without eating it.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really an easy way to validate accuracy without a bunch of math. You can use things like Virtual Elevation to do some ballparking though. Or find a friend with a known good trainer and attach your bike. :)
You have the same problem with everything that’s measured. How do you know your HRM is giving the right number, how do you know your GPS is giving correct speed/distance? In some cases, you can check independently (count and time your pulse, compare to mile markers). In the case of a power meter, I can think of a way to get a minimum to compare with (climb a hill, compute the energy it took to climb it (mgh), divide by the time it took to climb it, and that’s the minimum average power on the climb), but nothing really accurate. Even doing what you say, riding a known good trainer, only tells you about indoors on that trainer, and not outdoors where, as you say, all of the problems are. I think what you do with multiple power meters is about the best you can do. In the end you have to trust the manufacturer knew what they were doing and follow their instructions on how to calibrate.
i see what you’re saying but it’s a bit different with a PM
i can count my own heart rate and see if my heart rate meter is way out of whack. i can compare my GPS tracking distance on google maps to see if my GPS watch is close. even if they’re off by 2 BPM, or 50m i’m not too worried. a HRM strap is $80, and my GPS watch was $200
however, i paid $1200 for my garmin vectors so i expect a lot more out of them. but at the end of the day i have to almost blindly trust the QA of garmin because i have no other tools to verify.
and as yourself and DCR have pointed out, calibrating on a friends trainer only tells me ideal conditions. i live in a place with the full range of seasons. 30C summers, and -30C winters.
i’m quite happy with my vectors, but this has always been nagging me in the back of my mind
thanks for the reply and all your great work.
i pulled the trigger on vector 3s this summer, based on your reviews….
i’m quite happy with my vectors, but this question of accuracy has always been nagging me in the back of my mind. i could have a defective unit that’s reporting +10% or whatever, and i would probably never know
calibrating on a friends trainer only tells me ideal conditions. i live in a place with the full range of seasons. 30C summers, and -30C winters.
If you’re outside riding when it’s -30, you have my sympathies :-) When I’m outdoors and it’s -30, I’m on cross country skis. The bikes stay indoors below 0.
J, to verify that your power meter is reasonably accurate, find a good long climb and compare your average power measure with your power meter to that calculated on link to bikecalculator.com. I think you will get better results on a climb because aerodynamics will be a smaller factor.
Link to GCN video. link to youtube.com. I didn’t watch this again but believe it just gives you the average for a distance. Worth watching and the GCN folks seem to know a little about what they are talking about.
Magene Ridge? Great overview by the way!
Isnt the new pioneer sbt series power meter crank arm installation $799 when you send in your own? It seems like your post says $999 when sending in your own crank.
Ahh, good catch. I was looking at a pricing chart they sent over inclusive of the new models, but apparently that oddly didn’t include the send your stuff in option. Updated. Thanks!
26-inch wheels, disc brakes, 150 or 155 cranks. Looks like InfoCrank and Rotor are the only viable choices … thoughts?
Go rotor, really good
Ray, in the Vector 3 section you mentioned that cycling dynamics would soon be available on other power meters. Looking at the link you provided, it looks like Garmin opened that up to everyone over a year ago. Yet, we still don’t see other power meters using it?
Yup, here’s a tiny update in this post here towards the bottom: link to dcrainmaker.com
Thanks for the updated article.
I had no idea about the redesigned battery case for the Vector 3 – hadn’t had communication from Garmin so will be contacting their customer support.
BTW – the link at the start to the training peaks article in this sentence: “For those, start here with these posts.” is out of date and just leads to a trainingpeaks “page not found” placeholder page.
Cheers,
John
Yeah, in theory if you registered pedals you got an e-mail back in May-ish. Have your e-mail search for “Important Service Advisory” from garmin.com – it has a little coupon code in it for an online order so it’s all free.
Of course, if you contact support they’ll get you hooked up as well.
Thanks, going to find/fix the TP link!
If I already have a wahoo elemnt bolt and plan to use my existing crank arm on the only bike I have, would you suggest the new pioneer dual system crank arm over other branded crank arm sets? Also, would you suggest the new bluetooth version from pioneer over the old pioneer version even though it seems like all versions can still connect to wahoo bolt and you mentioned computers wanting to default to ant+ connections with power meters anyways?
I’m trying to assess what additional value/capabilities I get out of the new bluetooth version?
From a Wahoo standpoint, it wouldn’t actually matter either way – so that bit is a wash. They support the older generation units for pedaling metrics just the same as newer.
For Bluetooth Smart though, it depends if you plan to have 3rd party apps (like Zwift on iOS or Apple TV) use it. Same goes for any watches or devices from Polar or Suunto, which only work with Bluetooth Smart.
The folks in Avio are selling the PowerSense, fitted to your crank, for £149 this week. Black Friday deal.
I have been using the PoweSense for about 6,000km and I can’t complain; it is the best cycling purchase that I have ever made. I won’t say that it’s any better or worse than the other meters but it is precise and consistent. That’s all that really matters to most of us.
The power meter has changed how I train, climb, and think on the bike (and recover off it). I am much more productive, fitter, lighter, and faster thanks to training with power. I wish I had one ten years ago. At £149, now might be a good time others to come down off the fence.
Avio customer service is the best that I have ever experienced; they go a long way to ensure that their PowerSense is the best for your bike. I really don’t know how it pays them at that price.
Anyway, the PowerSense works and throws power numbers at me every day. The CR2032 battery is good for about 2,000km and they even send you a spare. Changing that battery roadside is a bit tricky – you’re going to get your hands dirty. Tip: Ask them to bond the meter to the crank with the battery furthest from the bottom bracket. You’ll thank me in time.
I thought that was just for the fitting, on top of the price of the power meter?
When I last looked, it wasn’t particularly clear – I’ve just gone back and checked and they’ve clarified that it does include the Powersense. It’s a shame Ray’s not reviewed it yet because that’s a ridiculously good deal if it’s any good.
It’s the meter and labour. Like I said, I don’t know how they do it.
Link under “For those, start here with these posts.” is not working…
I purchased the SRM/Look Exakt power meter. The bearings in both pedals deteriorated within two weeks / around 300 miles of use. In my opinion, the bearings would have failed based on the rate of deterioration. There was also an annoying click every pedal revolution which I stupidly mentioned. I also thought the power reading was incorrect and had dubious battery life. So I contacted customer service regarding the bearings and was directed to Look.
They wouldn’t acknowledge the bearing failure and required I test cleat spacers before accepting a return. The theory being my shoes might be causing the issue. Funnily, cleat spacers didn’t solve the problem. They agreed I could return the pedals. I had from the outset requested a full refund. Under UK legislation consumers can demand this within 30days. Exakt decided they’d repair the pedals and return them without informing me first. They did, however, admit the bearings had failed. I’m now locked in a dispute with them.
This is not a good company to deal with should you have problems. The product is deficient and not up to standard based on my experience.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the great article (again). I know this question has been asked to death on previous Vector 3 reviews/buyers guides, but is there any possibility of a shimano spd-sl compatible vector 3 (or 4?).
I’ve been holding off getting a power meter in the hope this becomes available.
My understanding is that it’s technically possible, but Garmin hasn’t specified if or when they might go down that road.
I can understand you take some precautions for Garmin V3. Just to share my personal experience, been riding on Vector 1 since they were released and NEVER had an issue, even moving them every other day from one bike to another one.
But switching to Vector 3 was my worst decision this year, and I ended up with 2 tries, one pair and then another one, that failed. First one with the cap issue (was not solved by the replacement) and the second one with the new cap, suffering from battery frettling.
Sorry but I don’t want a produt that I have to play with and question if it will work on every session and race. So I moved away to another brand
Hi Ray,
Thank you for yet another valuable guide. Truly a gift. Here’s my quickie question. If I have 1 set of wheels, use and like my speedplays pedals, don’t really need left vs. right power, but want total power to be accurate, is there any reason not to go with the powertap g3’s ?
No reason at all not to, it’s a great choice. Just be sure you’re picking up a dual ANT+/BLE cap as part of the set (really hard not to do that as its been the standard a few years now, but in case you’re buying a close-out deal from a shop or something).
Thanks for the confirmation. I’m going to retire my 17 year old Mavic Open Pro wheels and enter the current millennium with power! My old rear wheel will be dedicated to a Stac Zero Halcyon ( and it’s weights) each winter. Excited!! Thanks again.
Back when I had one bike and one set of wheels my Powertap Hub was perfect for me. Now I have used it for several years without ever having a single problem other than changing batteries maybe once a year. It just works.
Thank you for the reassuring testimonial!
My first powertap wheel was like that, and then it went wrong for me. I’ve now got two G3 hubs and battery life for both is very poor like 20 hours if I’m lucky. Worse is that powertap have no interest in assisting me.
So when I needed a powermeter for a new bike I got a Powerbox. And a Zwatt Zpider, in fact anything other than a powertap.
YMMV as they say
I just got the stages ultegra LR last week and for me it reads about 10 watts lower than my neo. It looks like the right side is problem because i know that my right leg is the strongest but the left/right balance is in favor the left side by 52/48 or more. Do you not have the same problem Ray ?
Pick my power meter:
New cyclist
Not mechanically inclined
Full Shimano Ultegra r8000. Seems to limit compatibility, and I’m not keen on replacing these parts with integrated power solutions, since they’re new.
No pedals, yet. No cadence yet.
Wahoo KICKR trainer, so need power by Northern Hemisphere spring.
Priorities are accuracy, reliability, and set & forget. Though willing to calibrate periodically.
Certainly willing to pay more for a solution that meets these criteris, and lasts longer.
I have the Favero Assioma DUO and absolutely love em. Mounted and since then they are running smooth without any kind of Problem
Vector or Assioma pedals if you are ok with Lookish pedal systems. Powertap g3 hub if set and forget and you’ll need to build a wheel.
I have been looking out for a decent review of the Easton Cinch PM but haven’t been able to find one. The attraction of this system is it allows for a variety of chainring sizes and would be perfect for my all-road bike. Pedals aren’t an option as I am a Speedplay user. The only thing I have come across (other than advatorial rubbish) are some comments on forums that are less than complementary regarding the power data reliability. In short these users have advised others to steer clear.
Has anyone here used them?
Found one more crank arm – link to inpeak.pl Not sure how accurate they’re.
Just chatted with them. Sounds like they’ll be hitting market early next year. I’m in touch and will have units once they feel confident with where things are.
Any news on this ?
Because they are now selling at decatholon
link to decathlon.be
kind regards
Koen
Hi Ray,
Before I build a new wheel around a PowerTap G3 hub, have you heard anything about a G4 coming out in the near future?
Yup, there’s a new G4 that was kinda-announced at Eurobike this summer. But the focus initially is for disc brake versions, and then from there regular road bike variants. It’s also rechargeable. But there isn’t a specific timeframe for availability to my knowledge.
I’ll poke and ask.
Regarding the Powertap C1; I don’t know what pricing is in the EU, but in the US the new MSRP (always this price, don’t have to wait for a sale) is $349. Assuming you have a compatible crankset, that undercuts even the cheapest Power2Max NGeco by a fair margin, especially when you consider that you don’t have to sweat a possible bottom bracket swap, and makes it easily the most affordable combined L/R option available here.
One disadvantage is that the smallest inner chainwheel available is a 36. You can get a C1 in 53/39, 52/36, or 50/36 combinations, but no 50/34.
I am bike and tech lover, so I have (too) many bike, each of them equipped with PM:
SRM
PowerTap G3
Pioneer
Shimano
4iii
my personal comments:
PowerTap G3 (and also the old Pro):
reliable, precise, going strong also after many years of use
I cannot really find any fault. I did indeed replace the bearings, but it is quite an easy job and bearings are cheap.
the obvious drawback is that you are tied to one wheel, so that’s quite limiting if you are the kind of cyclist who likes to change from time to time depending on the type of ride…
it is probably an “obsolete” product compared to crankset/pedals based PM but still makes to use if if you owns one…
SRM
nothing to say, it works well, precise. I bought it 2nd hand because it was the only match for my Campagnolo bike.
Compared to other offerings on the market, it does not offer the same value for money… too overpriced and drawbacks in many areas (batteries, etc)
4iii
Left only, cheap.. I found data a bit high compared to Powertap (a bit beyond of what could be reasonable for the powertrain losses) but you can adjust the offset with their APP.
Otherwise it is obviously very easy to install and to maintain.
very good Left-only option
Pioneer
definetely a very positive surprise. I was a big reluctant before the purchase, but I got a good deal and took the plunge (from a distributor which sells the whole crankset already mounted with PM).
Precise, reliable and plenty of additional data (pedaling efficiency, etc). Their cyclosphere website is also quite interesting, where you can compare your own data with the universe of Pioneer users.
Shimano
I have it only for 6 months, seems ok. Can also measure pedaling dynamics like Pioneer
Hello Ray,
Another great buyer’s guide like always ?. However, here’s the issue that currently has me debating with myself. It’s a bit of a story, so hold tight.
I currently own a Trek road bike and Cannondale mountain bike, both with Stages single sided power meters. However, I lost the battery covers to both power meters a couple months ago, so didn’t ride those bikes outside to avoid getting water in them and rendering the power meters useless. I ordered some new battery covers from Stages and while they took a few weeks to get to me in Canada, I got them in the end, so it’s all good now with power meters on both bikes.
However, while I was waiting for the Stages battery covers to come in, I ordered a 4iiii Podium left side power meter because at the time I thought that I didn’t want to deal with coin cell battery covers coming off and getting lost, so enter the rechargeable USB port Podiiiium power meter.
To complicate the story more, I want to to add a gravel bike to my stable/feed my bike addiction for 2019 and I am trying to decide on what to do for a power meter. I would like to have at least one dual sided power meter. In weighing the different options out there, I’ve read on other sites that differences between two power meters can be significant based on the area of the bike they’re measuring from (which is obvious), but could also vary from brand to brand- so a Stages would be quite different than a 4iiii. Obviously both are crank region based power meters and the power meter on my future gravel bike will be a crank arm based one so that all bikes have my power measured from the same area of the bike. Issue solved. But, what about the brand vs brand issue, is the difference between the two really significant enough to worry about?
I have a couple different routes to go here on this.
– sell the 4iiii power meter and get a left/right Stages for the road bike, then switch the existing Stages left only on my road bike to the new gravel bike (I am going with an Ultegra 46/36 cyclocross crankset, so a dual sided Stages isn’t possible, st least Stages recommends against it on their website) or
-send my existing road crankset into 4iiii to get a right side Podiiiium installed to go with my left sided Podiiiium (that I still have sitting in the box) and move the existing Stages left side over to the future gravel bike.
Of course, If I go with the 4iiii upgrade, I’ll be without a road bike once the gravel bike gets here while I wait for the 4iiii to get installed at their factory in Cochrane, Alberta (I live about 4 hours away), so I’ll need to figure that out.
But, just from the perspective of the difference between the two brands, do you think there really is that much difference between a 4iiii and Stages when both measure power from the same area? If there is a considerable difference, then the decision for me is easy, I’ll go with the Stages L/R to keep all three bikes consistent. On the other hand, if the difference between the two companies is minimal, my decision gets a bit tougher.
I may still end up going with the Stages L/R on my road bike anyway, but your advice will factor into my decision.
Thank you and I love your site, it’s a realizable source anytime I am faced with a cycling tech buying decision.
Matt :)
Hi Rain,
I see a price drop for Assioma, it’s a good news.
I can buy new Garmin Vector 3 for less than 700€.
Could you recommand Vector over Assioma for the same price ?
Thank a lot for.
Regards.
Totally depends. Both are great units. I think we’re probably past the issues with Vector 3, but it’s hard to know for certain.
Thanks for the great article. Unfortunately like a few of the vector users i suffered never ending problems. Vector 1 and 2 were excellent but vector 3 were a disaster. Had them replaced, battery covers replaced, and pedals replaced again. Still had drop outs, spikes of power to 20,000 watts etc etc ..They became unusable and Garmin Australia weren’t that easy to deal with. Each change involved numerous emails and numerous proofs of purchase. Eventually they were good enough to refund my money after a year. I won’t get another set which is so disappointing as the idea of pedals which i can interchange is so appealing.
Hey!
I currently have power2max and inpower on my two main bikes. Works fantastic, but now I got fitted on 145mm cranks. And I want to stay with Shimano pedals. Hubs are no option either hence I have mixed wheel sets.
Any recommendation?
Thanks
All other things being equal Ray, would you buy Infocrank or Rotor? (Short cranks; these are the only 2 currently being considered)
Gail – see my post below. Short answer for Infocrank is “no”
Any update on what power meters will support the new metrics the ANT+ Power Meter Technical Working Group are adding?
At present it’s Garmin Vector 3 and Favero Assioma that have announced plans to support them shortly. No other companies have announced anything from the power meter side of the house. Tacx is looking at it from the trainer perspective with the Neo 2 and Tacx Bike.
The Favero Assioma DUO powermeter is now sub €700 in Europe for a couple of weeks already; seems to be a permanent price cut to me, because I noticed it on the factory website first at €695 and now on retailers websites for €685.
Yes, but via clever training and DC’s discount code that is the cheapest I’ve seen the DUO’s in Europe.
Except that DC’s discount code can’t be applied to the Duo’s.
It can, brings you to 636 euro’s on clevertraining.co.uk version.
Correct – the EU/UK side does permit it. Not on the US site unfortunately.
Interesting. And crazy!
Hope everyone is good. I got my avio powersense power meter back in the post yesterday. Inside was a code to say that me or a friend could get the same deal of £149 for a factory fitted power meter. The code was PowerSenseFFS149. I haven’t actually used it yet but my two friends have used it and they’ve got the exact same code in their box too
What are the issues w/ using elliptical chainrings on dual sided power meters such as Pioneer or Quarq that Rotor has resolved? I’m in the market for a new power meter as part of a new Tri bike I’m building and was planning on installing Q-rings. Thanks!
Big question !
Powertap p2 vs fAvero Assioma
I have to choice the best product…
Thanks
Just a warning on the 4iiii that if you google for calibration issues you’ll see quite a few people have had their units die on them. My own 4iiii left crank arm went kaput after just 1.5 years and 4iiii didn’t offer any support past telling me I could buy another one. On the other hand my power2max spider meters have taken much more abuse and are still going strong.
I’ve been happy with my Stages. It’s been working well for several years.
DC
Thanks for this. I was looking for something more reliable than my Vector2 pedals and after a lot of research went with Infocrank. Loved the idea that I could have units on different bikes and get consistency between the units.
BUT, despite reassurances from LBS that the Rotor chainrings that are compatible w. Infocrank would be up-to-scratch w. my DuraAce rings, sadly that was far from the case. Shifting performance was way off. Cue multiple trips to LBS for adjustments etc.
Eventually LBS agreed a full refund for cranks and rings and I bought a Stages LR DuraAce. So I was pleased to see you’d adopted the Stages for your test bike.
This may be a weird question. But, do power meters measure power in both/all directions or just while pushing? When I am hard-riding rollers or in an all out sprint, I push and pull. On flats, I sometimes really focus on maintaining a circular motion. While I have read articles that say pushing is best, I maintain variety helps, which takes me back to the question. Do the power meters measure total power or just pushing power? Thanks.
The strain gauges in DFPM measure force at the point of measurement. They don’t care which muscles produce the force.
Paul,
Thanks for the reply. But, if you have, for example, pedal power meters, the only muscles that can create deflection are the ones that are attached to the strain guage. So, theoretically left/right power meters measure left/right legs. My question is, do those strain guages measure only the downward (push) force, or do they measure the complete rotational force of the lever (the crank arm)?
If it was a unidirectional lever like some water pumps, then the work only happens on the down stroke. But, with a 360 degree lever like a bicycle crank, there is work taking place all around the circle.
So, a rider who only pushes may generate 250 watts on that down stroke. But a second rider, who works on generating power around the complete circle, may average 225 watts around the complete circle but create more total watts per revolution. I want to know if the power measurement is cumulative, average, or peak per revolution.
Also, in general, I think it is the OFPMs that do not care what muscles are used, since they are not based on strain guages. DFPMs, on the other hand, would be varied as some are single sided and others are double sided and would also depend upon where they are placed.
Thanks,
LT
They’re strain gauges. All they measure is strain. They don’t know what muscles produced the strain. Pedal based power meters can probably tell whether the pedal is going up or down, since they probably include an accelerometer, but I don’t see why they’d do anything differently on the up stroke or down stroke. The integral is the same, and it’d be weird to ignore power produced (or lost) on the upstroke. Pedal based meters can measure individual legs, but as Ray’s multiple tests of power meters show, the results are consistent between various DFPM’s no matter where they measure the force. Even single sided, which simply report double the power produced by one leg, seem to be good enough.
And if you look at, for example, Wilson’s “Bicycling Science” (and I’ve seen this elsewhere as well), you’ll see that essentially nobody produces an upward force on the upstroke. You’re lucky if you raise your leg fast enough to keep from producing a downward force on the rising pedal.
I don’t think it’s about which muscles are being used. It’s more about the angles at which the power is being applied.
Paul
Thanks for your reply. But, I am not asking about the individual muscles. I know that strain guages do not know what individual muscles produce the strain. You are stating the obvious and missing the question.
I am asking how the measurement takes. Is it based on the maximum force being applied per revolution? Is it based on an average or total force per revolution? Or is it measured in some other way?
Strain guages can absolutely be programmed to measure deflection based on multiple parameters and in single or multiple directions dependent on the placement and type of guage being used. Some guages are circular and measure deflection in all directions. Some are linear and measure deflection in one direction. Others, I’m sure, do other things.
If you know the answers to how the measurement takes place, it would be great if you could share that knowledge. Otherwise, your comments are noted and appreciated but off point; and I would really rather not chase the wrong rabbit down the wrong hole.
My guess is that I should just call the manufacturers and speak to tech support.
Thanks again.
LT
Scott,
You are correct. I am asking about how the measurement takes place not which muscles are being used.
Thanks,
LT
Anybody knows when Favero will launch the firmware update containing cycling dynamics?
Not me
Hi jgallero,
the implementation of the new dynamics is in the final stages.
Not to miss important news about it, we suggest subscribing to our newsletter: link to cycling.favero.com
Have a good day,
Andrea | Favero Electronics
I love your website !
I love your product reviews !
I love the details that you go into !
But why isn’t the annual product guide available as a PDF document download ?
This would be nice to view offline, and to be able to email to other people.
Truly great website !
Q : When will the $100 power meter first become available ?
I find that PDF versions of online/living documents don’t tend to age well. :-/
As for $100 power meters, technically the PowerCal is there today at $49. It’s good for non-sprint durations, but not ideal for 15-30-second durations. I don’t expect to see sub-$100 power meters for a few years. While the parts cost for some of these is under $20, the reality is the development cost to get these companies there cost far more – as does the support side of the equation.
I recently got a good deal on a Stages L (105 groupset, R5800). It was US$318 instead of the usual $530.
Power2Max NGEco is $640 – ($490 for the spider + $150 for Rotor cranks). Worst part about Power2Max is that it’s not easy to figure out what you need for a Shimano groupset. Other companies like Quarq make it easier to figure out what power meter to buy for Shimano – which is the most widely used OEM out there.
I have had a tough time with the Giant Power Pro, which came on a 2019 TCR Advanced SL 1 Disc I took delivery of in December 2018. I’ve compared the output to a 2018 Kickr and Power Tap pedals and it definitely reads high. Of late it has gotten worse. The left right balance gets way out of whack and appears that the right side is adding a bunch of fake watts. What’s worse is I can’t seem to get anybody to help me fix it. Have a warranty claim in to the shop where I purchased it and they have been non-responsive. Giant website says to deal with my shop. For all the time I put in to training, I’m not up for effectively being a beta tester for an unproven product. I’m probably going to bite the bullet and she’ll out $1,000 plus for something proven.
just bought same bike ! (you like it ?) Will get it in a few days. Will post if antyhing about the powermeter ! Anything new on your side DC ?
I don’t have one though, have been chatting with them.
I know GPLAMA on YouTube (Shane Miller) has one, and has been testing it. It doesn’t sound like this are super awesome at this time, though, it does sound like they are making progress month to month.
I should update this to say that the bike shop did take this up and got Giant to warranty the unit by sending a new one out. I haven’t received it yet, but was glad they were responsive. I also had a defect on one of my wheels and they are replacing that as well. The lead times for both were several months.
For the power meter, I ended up deciding on the Pioneer. Seemed like it had been around for a long time and was swayed by the integration with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt that displays the advanced pedalling metrics. Truth be told, I haven’t paid much attention to them, so that may not have been the best criteria. but the quality of the data has been spot on.
I noticed that Tempo is shipping their power meters now. Has anyone tried them?
Any estimate on when we will see an Avio Powersense review? I’d really like to take the plunge but need to see some feedback first.
I actually don’t have a final version of the current unit. They had talked back in Nov/Dec I think that they were sending one over via Twitter, but never showed up.
We’re looking to get a new, updated unit to Ray for review soon!
We’ve been working on a load of new stuff so we’re going to get that over to Ray as soon as possible.
Hope this helps!
Shai
Any update on the Avio PowerSense?
Hello DC Rainmaker,
based on you comment that during the ANT+ Power Meter Technical Working Group in October 2018 various companies, including Wahoo, have commited to support cycling dynamics, I have reached out to Wahoo when they would issue a firmware update to make this happen for the Elemnt Bolt. The response I got was:
“We did implement a pedaling monitor system to be used with our ELEMNT and BOLT computers. Here’s an article from Pioneer that goes over the information available with this feature: link to pioneer-cyclesports.com. We have not currently disclosed any plans to incorporate these metrics in future updates. That does not mean that it will not happen, but as of right not, we are not actively working on this.”
Is this in line with you understanding of the commitment that, amongst others, Wahoo has expressed in October 2018?
Thanks for you response,
Rutger
Thank you for the guide. New to power meters. Read through it. Understood most of it :) but unless I missed it, there isn’t a direct force powermeter that I could use without changing something on my bike. I have a Sram Red22 crankset with speedplay pedals. I don’t want to change my Chris King hub to the hub power meter, don’t want to change my pedals either, don’t want to send away my crank arm or buy a new one. Powertap chainring not compatible with my cranks. Did I miss something? :(
If I may suggest the pedal based power meters are the least intrusive and most versatile. I mean who want to replace their cranks or wheels? For less than $800 you can get new pedals with a power meter built in. I’ve had the Garmin Vector 3 for over a year and only wish I had gotten the double sided instead of the single sided.
Just my two cents
Thanks for such complete feedback, it really helps.
I’m seriously thinking of getting myself a power2max. Having a Shimano drivetrain, I’m left with the Rotor alternatives. Which one would you recommend? Either the older yet reliable Type S, comes with Rotor 3D and rings, so it’s an all inclusive for 680€. Or the newer NG eco, with newer Aldhu arms. It’s 690€, to what I have to add 50€ of 105 rings (I’m planning to reuse the original cranks on my winter bike, which have crappy microshift rings). I don’t really need BLE since I’ll be using it with a Wahoo anyways.
So does the 60+ € difference is really worth it between the 2 models? Apparently the specked chainline from the Aldhu matches exaclty the one from Shimano, whereas there is a 1.5mm difference with the 3D, buth p2m guarantees it’s not an issue.
For pedal based power meters do you think dual sided is a better investment or just an indulgence?
What are your thoughts on oval chainrings, I had no idea where to look these up? I’m an older rider so I am always looking for an edge…
Thanks
Hey Ray!
Love your work and really appreciate the time and effort that you put into your reviews.
Just a quick question. I was looking at the Powerbox on the FSA online store and they only have 3 units in stock (and that’s not three different variants it’s three individual units). What’s up with that? Are they still making the Powerbox?
Thanks!
What would you suggest for a bike that gets used on road with road pedals and CX/gravel with SPDs?
I am running SRAM Force 1x for all applications. I don’t need any fancy L/R analytics, just consistent, accurate power readings. Thanks!
Hi Ray,
I know you are limited with what you can or can’t say about upcoming products but I am looking at getting a set of power meter pedals but have heard whispers that both Garmin and favero are to update their current models again this summer.
Have you heard anything?
Do you expect any significant upgrade?
Thanks
Not sure. Favero last time had a two-year cycle, but with only being on their 2nd gen products, it’s hard to discern any pattern from that.
In some ways, it’s just as difficult to understand a pattern from Garmin either at this point. Sorry!
No worries.
Think I’m just going to go ahead and place the order. Even if either do update the model in the next few months, the favero assioma and vector 3 are still good power meters and worth the money right?
Yup, both are solid products.
Excellent. Thanks Ray
I just purchased a left crank arm power meter. I’ve done a few rides comparing it to my Elite Zumo interactive trainer. I have my Garmin 130 connected to the power meter and my pc connected to the trainer. The wattage numbers I get out of my trainer are very smooth. The power meter’s numbers are all over the place, even with 3 second averaging. Even with a consistent effort the numbers are jumping up and by almost a hundred watts. Even if the overall wattage would end up being close, I don’t see how I could get any benefit from that. The owner of the company suggested I use 30 second averaging which I don’t have available or even want to do if I could.
This unit is going to get sent back…we think it’s defective.
Can anyone comment on how much numbers should be varying when using a 3 second average? Let’s say your pedaling is fairly smooth, will the numbers vary up and down by 10? 20?
Hi Ray, I’ve been using your analyzer for some time to check if my power meters give the same values. Mostly between my Tax Neo, Stages LR (Dual) and Quarq Dzero power meter on my beach racer. I recently bought a Stages LR (Dual) power meter and it’s about 12w and 18w off from my Tacx. The Tax Neo has higher values. My Quarq Dzero has even high output.
Here is the comparison between Tax Neo and Stages LR (Dual)
link to analyze.dcrainmaker.com
What the real values are is less interesting for me, as long as they are the same so my training values are constant. Is there a way to set an offset manually either to the Stages or Tacx to make sure they have the same output?
Best regards – Brendan
One major disadvantage of pedal powermeters (like Garmin’s Vector): vulnerability! I had mine for a few months, worked well, was happy… until a stupid (wet weather) slip where I landed on hand/knee/racebend… and Garmin pedal. End of life, end of power measuring. Money down the drain.
Help! I am so confused, and a bit of a neophyte, but hopefully you (or someone here) can help.
I bought my wife the Stages SC1 spin bike. We had looked at the pelaton, but seemed ridiculous. She is using it with a Wahoo cadence meter, and enjoying pelaton classes. However, she doesn’t get the resistance #s they refer to in the class. I understand getting resistance may not be possible with the stages power meter and console, so we are looking at getting a power meter and some other app or device that provides the info we want.
Do I need to get the Stages Power Meter? Or can I get another one? Ideally, we just want to be able to use it and have metrics to follow while doing a class. Resistance as well as output would be ideal. Any ideas??
Which of the power meters give the most data like balance, pedaling smoothness/efficiency, deadspots,…? Thanks.
Hi
Did you do a comparison on the weight of each power meter? Perhaps a summary table??
Ray, great buyers guide. I have two PowerTap hub on my MTB. I am happy with them. I am selling my bikes and buying a newer model, which has a rear axe “boost” (148mm).
Will powertap address that? I as told it is possible to adapt the hubs but I will loose the benefits of the 148mm boost. Any thoughts?
Is there a power meter pedal for MTB?
Thanks
Ray, great work. I have read this BG at least three times. I have a couple PowerTap hubs disc, for MTB (G3). It turns out the newer bikes are coming with an rear axel of 148mm, and my hubs are made for through axel of 142mm (I think). That made me mad, as my hubs will become obsolete.
What would you recommend for MTB? Does any of these crank arm models fit on MTB crank arms? All pictures are taken with road crank arms.
Thanks from Rio de Janeiro
Anyone know if I can use a Stages left crank arm meter simultaneously with a garmin vector 3 right side pedal?
No such method there unfortunately.
I am looking for advice. I do 90% of my riding on local paved and gravel roads using my 34 pound Salsa Fargo with SRAM GX components. I really, really prefer SPD pedals as I love to bike in my Shimano sandals (even in winter because I have irregularly sized feet). I also ride on hard dirt surfaces like the Katy Trail.
I do about 10% of my riding on my 2003 Litespeed Vortex with Shimano Dura Ace components from that time (9 speed)(the bike fit is not ideal and the gearing doesn’t suit me anymore as this area has no flat roads, lots of short, super steep hills, and I am 48 yo and 200 lbs instead of 28 yo and 155)
I desperately want to get into using power meters, but I cannot afford a space program, let alone the moon. I also am allocating $$ to buying a Wahoo Kickr Core and Wahoo Bolt, so I need to stay “cheap” on this 3rd purchase or my wife will (rightly) tell me No. I basically need to choose the cheapest, reliable meter appropriate to my usage. I am willing to only get gear for my Fargo for now. Recommendations?
I forgot to mention, my Salsa runs 45mm tires and uses disk brakes, and my Litespeed has a max tire size of 28 mm and uses caliper breaks, so there is absolutely no intent to share wheels between the two.
I’d probably look at seeing if you can find a good closeout deal on a Stages Left-only crank, and equip your Fargo first, and then your Vortex.
There are downsides to left-only, but it’s a great introduction to power, and Stages often has really good deals on previous year models on their site.
Thanks so much!
I have decided that I want to buy a Pioneer Powermeter but I could not find any seller/dealer in Europe. Am I the only one here or is there something spooky about the Pioneer Powermeter?
I believe in the last year they’ve largely pulled back from distribution in Europe to focus on North America and Asia (primarily Japan).
Hi There, I was just listening to a podcast where a UK distributor of a known ‘crank based information’ system was talking about the benefits of differently positioned power meters. He was saying that one of the major disadvantages of a pedal based system is that due to the use of inferior materials and plastics that these wear over time, become soft and therefore make power measurements useless. This wasn’t necessarily a surprise as all components will fatigue, but he claimed that this could happen in as little as a few months and after that the readings could essentially be so inaccurate as to be useless. Is this something you can comment on having used many different systems over long periods of time? Any chance of a comparison form your files? Should I be changing my pedals every few months, that’d be pretty expensive!!
Thanks
Thank you as always for the great review/guide. I use a ROTOR crankset and noted that you mentioned that Favero is compatible with elliptical chainrings. I think having this crankset limits my choices due to compatibility. Do you know if the Vector 3 or Vector S is also compatible with elliptical chainrings? Are any other pedal-based meters compatible? I like the portability and ease of installation of the pedal-based approach.
I clicked the 2019 link but this is the 2018 review! Hopefully that is a sign that it is about to be updated very soon, because I am hanging out to hear your thoughts on the latest additions and editions. Specifically hoping you have had a chance to review the Tempo, which seems to be the best option for my custom application.
Were you able to find a 2019 version as i can’t seem to find one and would like to see what came out in the last year to buy something this black friday?
Cheers
I’m a big guy who uses custom Zinn cranks (200mm), with 36 spoke custom wheels and Speedplay pedals. It seems like with Powertap C1 no longer being supported (my current power meter), I’m out of luck for power meter options? Does anyone know of any non-wheel, non-crank, Speedplay supported Direct force power meter options that exist?
Hi there, clicked through the menu for 2019 Powermeters and it brings up your reviews from November 2018. Have you updated for 2019 and it’s not linked properly? Many thanks
Hi Hamish,
Were you able to find a 2019 version as i can’t seem to find one and would like to see what came out in the last year to buy something this black friday?
Cheers
Hey Ray, thanks for the in depth reviews, this is awesome.
I am new to Power Meters, and am teaming up with a cycle coach for a winter training program. A key to the training is a power meter based approach so I am faced with needing to get something for 3 bikes ( trainer bike, road and gravel bikes). Given I am at 3x for consistency, would you have any recommendations for a solution? Cost is certainly a factor I am pivoting around, as I would rather not be swapping cranks, pedals etc before heading into a session outside or on the bike.
Thank you!
After having bought a used PowerTap P1 set earlier in the year for buttons I was the cat that got the cream. Now, after sending them off for a “Bearing Service”, not so much. It’s ~£150 for a bearing service, which itself is ridiculous, but then to be told that both pedals are done is gutting. Ceased bearing races and electrical issues. Apparently a common theme on the PowerTap… So I’ll wait for my Assioma’s to arrive then I’ll stick them on and replace the bearings at the first hint of problems (for far less than £150)…
What options are there in powermeters for a gravelbike with Shimano GRX drivetrain? SPD-pedals and the 2.5mm offset in the GRX crankset seems to limit available options.
Look up the Assioma modification that GPllama put on YouTube. You can use SPD with a few caveats.
Any indication when a Vector 4 might be release?
Is there a 2019/2020 edition planned for the guide?
The low-end keeps declining in price. For example, DIY Avio Powersense for less than $200 USD.
Do you think PM’s will eventually become standard crank tech for brands offering pro level equipment?
Ray,
about the TeamZwatt Zpider… I think they stepped away from the subscription based program a while ago, pricing the standard zpider at 450 and the carbon at 750. Compared to Power2Max/FSA that seems quite competitive. Also, their website mentions the Zpiders as out of stock and on hold for next gen.
Honestly, for me and my fellow (super)early backers on Kickstarter it was a fantastic deal… even after paying a small monthly fee (the first two years only) it came down to a full L/R power meter for 350-400euros. In spring 2017 (when the first units started shipping) that was a killer deal as far as I’m aware with most L/R options in much higher price brackets.
I’ve been using my unit for almost 3 years and I’ve had 0 issues, in fact everything worked great and the power is more or less in line with what my Neo reports.
Compared to my friends P2M who’s had numerous issues with his PM going into permanent sleep mode when idling too long during a ride (only fixable by fiddling with the battery cell), I’m still very happy with the deal I got.
Hello Ray
Do you have any updates on the Garmin Vector 3 power meter ?
For some reason, there has been no reviews in the last 6 months (or more) and the Garmin forum continues to have user complaints.
I would like to know if the complains are from a minority of users or if it is general owners problem, and somehow Garmin is being able to block new reviews.
Thank you !
I bought a pair of the new Garmin Vector 3 pedals in a Black Friday deal. I bought Left only to save cost. I ended up returning them as compared to my KICKR the power wasn’t accurate or consistent. I would see pretty broad power ranges in output across a workout, and a really erratic power output being registered. I know I bought left only, but in a wattage based workout session ( TrainerRoad, Sufferfest and ZWIFT all tested) it got really frustrating seeing the variations of output.I can share power graphs from sessions where this was a problem.
Does your Kickr have power smoothing turned on? Wahoo gear had that on by default and it shows an artificially smooth line. Power meter readings should be jaggy, and should smooth out when looked at over an average sample.
Agree, if you’re talking jagged graphs from a power meter – that’s spot-on perfect. If you see perfectly smooth graphs (like a Wahoo KICKR has by default), that’s basically oversmoothed/fake data. It’s why they have the toggle to turn it off (unfortunately, I wish it was off by default).
Yes power smoothing is/was enabled.the bigger issue i had with the Vector pedals was not just the jagged, but how jagged it was. The range was not a couple of watts, it was +-20-30 or more. Is that normal?
Sounds normal to me based on my experience with several different power meters.
Once you ditch the power smoothing you realise just how inconsistent humans are and a “smooth” feeling pedal stroke is not all that smooth!
So what is an acceptable range of wattage swing when smoothing is disabled? Is the range a few watts, or are we potentially in the 35-40W range?
I’d normally expect to see 10-20 watts maybe. But I tend to only glance momentarily. Also it depends on what time the sample is taken and how the kickr and vectors overlap.
Speaking from personal experience: riding, for example, a 240W interval on Zwift, power could dip under 230W from time to time and on the other end go north of 250W. So a bandwith of 25-30W doesn’t seem unrealistic at all.
Ok Jeff, I think I have figured out what’s going on here. It’s your wahoo that’s the problem. Trainers with built in power meters seem to give off very low readings when they are cold. I noticed this thanks to the lockdown, and I decided to bolt my Assioma’s up to my trainer bike. My trainer is in the garage, and over winter it will get down to single digit temperatures. Fantastic for keeping the sweat down, not so great from a strain gauge perspective!
For the past few months I have been using Sufferfest on my Wahoo Kickr, the warm up always seemed brutal, the power should start at about 133 and build up to near 200w but I always found it really hard. I just put it down to being tired.
After the warm up, 133w always felt easier. Again I put it down to me being warmed up, but no!
I stuck my Assioma’s on the bike and the first thing I noticed was that my warm-up stared at 200 watts. This obviously caught my attention! So for the first 5 minutes, the Kickr reports a very low power, gradually coming down to meet up within the % tolerance for the pedals.
So I think pedals like your Garmin’s and my Assioma’s will report the power well regardless of temperature. The Kickr does not. It really does need that warm-up that the Spindown always demands.
I expect the difference to be less pronounced in summer, but still be there. It certainly would explain the large differences in power you are seeing.
That’s assuming your Kickr does the same as mine when it’s cold…
Hello DC Rainmaker. What about SIGEYI AXO and XCADEY XPOWER-S? Do you intend to test them?
Time for a flash refresh on this subject DC, unless I missed it elsewhere. Lol
Yes please!
Yes please ! ?
Just read that Favioma has launched a software update with cycling dynamics using a protocol that’s based on Garmin’s but open so it will load into several Garmin cycle computers:
link to cycling.favero.com
Seems something to test for you?
Yup, covered it last January when it came out: link to dcrainmaker.com
Cheers!
*July
J months are hard.
In November, Magnus asked:
“What options are there in powermeters for a gravelbike with Shimano GRX drivetrain? SPD-pedals and the 2.5mm offset in the GRX crankset seems to limit available options.”
His question remains unanswered, except for a kitbashing workaround.
Like many randonneurs, I prefer mountain bike shoes. Ray and Shane both wrote in 2019 that they expected a slough of SPD pedals due to patent expiration. Is there nothing at all in the rumour mill? Even any kind of update on iQsquare or SRM’s mountain cleat pedals?
Both of my Powertap hubs are starting to have mechanical failure: 1 of 6 pawl springs are broken in each. Last year I lost all six springs and the use of a bike in one hub. I don’t want to be stranded at night on a country road. If I have to switch to crank metering, I would prefer to move to GRX.
I ended up getting a Stages leftside-only GRX specific crankarm which they quietly released this spring. And that for a third of the price of the now available SRM SPD powerpedals!
I have Avio Powersense and it gives me all I want – power data (albeit single-sided) at a budget priced. Recently bought another bike with FSA SLK carbon cranks, which Avio unit won’t work with, so I need another option …… any thoughts from anyone on possible options pls?
I’m trying to retrofit an internal spin bike (Lifecycle GX) for Zwift. I have the speed/cadence of course. Need to add Watts but desperately want to keep my MTB Speedplay Frog pedals (knee issues so need the float). The bike has the older style tapered bottom bracket. Any left-side crank-arm power meters out there? Or….any more update on Speedplay(Garmin) coming out with a free-float Power Pedal?
Hey Ray! Do you still recommend Favero pedals in summer 2020? Or should I wait for new pedals that might be released? Any news on upcoming pedal power meters? Thanks!
Totally would recommend the Favero pedals, about to jump on a ride with them in fact.
Pedal power meter:
What’s the best option now in July 2020, price no issue, just want the best:
1. Garmin Vector 3?
2. Favero Assioma?
3. Wait for a Garmin Vector 4?
4. Wait for some other release in the works, what’s coming new in H2 2020?
I love my Assioma pedals. Hassle free, simple to use. Seem accurate too. Have owned them for nearly a year, only had to charge them 3 times. They come with a big fat thumbs up from me.
I’d generally go with what’s available.
You won’t go wrong with the Assioma pedals, and you probably won’t go wrong with Vector 3.
Any hope of seeing some SRM SPD-compatible pedals soon?
Hi Ray
Canyon states that their Ultimate frames don’t have enough clearance for all crank based powermeters, e.g. 4iiii.
Have you run into this issue in your testing?
Thanks
MJ
Nope, never once. Perhaps in certain crank lengths maybe? I usually run 175mm, and have never seen it in all the things I’ve tested on it over the last 3 years.
Hi Ray,
The guide is pushing 2 years old. Any plans to update? Or had the power meter market solidified and all the cool updates are going to smart trainers?
It does indeed need an update, though frankly, almost purely for Google search SEO reasons. Realistically, there’s been virtually no changes in the power meter market in the last two years product-wise, aside from some very minor crankset compatibility type things (and the addition of the SRM X MTB pedals).
Do you have a review of the SRM X MTB petals upcoming? I ride a road bike and a fat bike and would like one power meter I can swab based on the season. Seems like the only option other than hacking the Favero pedals.
Hi Ray! Any chance you will update this? Curious what your net net thoughts are on the best value for money power meter. Thanks!!
He has one, I don’t think I can post links (might be marked as a spam), but go to the front page and you will see it a bit down (#2 under 5 easy steps to the site).
Thanks! Are you talking about the sports-technology-buyers-recommendations-guide ? I don’t see a lot a section for power meters. Though the comment from ray above suggests that there hasn’t been any new tech worth mentioning. I wonder if the kickstarter products would make the cut.
Ah, I was too fast. I did see that there were some mention about power meters. But, looking at it again, it was only one link about it. Sorry about that! :)
Yeah, I do need to update it.
Though, somewhat ironically there’s been almost no new mainstream power meters since then (aside from a few crankset type changes). Notably new however are:
A) SRM X MTB pedals
Notably now dead:
A) Pioneer everything (bought by Shimano)
B) PowerTap everything (discontinued last week)
And then there’s a raft of mostly small brand produced left-crank arm power meters. GPLama has reviewed a lot of them, most with fairly mixed results.
But yeah, I need to round things up again.
Thanks, Ray! Really appreciate your response and update on the ones that are dead & added.
If helpful, quick top of mind from me as you think of the next one:
1) What should we expect from the upcoming power meter launches (i.e., is it worth buying now or waiting for future products? Roughly when should we expect updates & new launches?)
2) Love your other page with “Gear I use” and the Smart trainer buying guide — it’s helpful to get to a smaller prioritized list. Would love to see that power meters.
Thanks so much for your great work. It’s been super informative and helpful to me.
Came here looking for an update and found the most recent comment(s). Looks like I’ll have to be patient, but it’s a shame the industry has kind of stagnated for the last 2.5 years.
I only came to drop a note that the leftnav/Jump To nav could probably use an overflow styling if one doesn’t have enough vertical space for it (MacBook Air here and it gets cut off for me).
Cheers!
Indeed, still needs an update. I suspect doing it after what is historically the Sea Otter timeframe will make the most sense. That’s usually mid-April, but things tend to release until the first week of May.
Just my guess…
Ray,
Clearly you’re herding an army of interns and doing behind the scenes work for the “Powermeter Mega Supreme Roundup of all time 2022” ?
It is about time for an updated Powermeter roundup….
Any news on 4iiii or Stages meters?
Ray thanks so much for all your content! The amount of times I’ve referenced this page or sent athletes to it is outrageous even though it’s slightly outdated. Gives a great overview of everything!
Thanks Garret!
Is there any chance you will be posting a test of Rotor InSpider in (near) future? Cheers
They’ve been saying for two years they’re almost ready to send me a test unit. I’ve gotta believe by now either they don’t think it’s ready for prime time, or, I don’t know.
So sad to hear. I’m considering pulling the trigger on the aldhu 24 crankset, but I hesitate if inpower is not a viable option.
Hello Ray. Would it be wide to but an used powetap G3 hub, assembled with a Mavic Rim, for roughly 330 dollars? The wheel seems to be in good state..
Would it be wide to but a Bran new g3 powetap hub at all, since it seems they are going to be discintinued in production!
I am really sad to report that Avio appear to have gone bust. I have used their powersense powermeter for 18 months now. The first few months I was experiencing some peculiar readings, but the last firmware update appears to have fixed that. Unfortunately their website is down, documentation no longer available and it appears from company house that they are in administration. As a Brit in the tech industry this saddens me, and as a cyclist seeing a company challenge established norms and bring products in at lower price points is something I applaud. I do note that retailers are still selling this equipment, but I would encourage caution since there is no tech support for the unit, and you might not even be getting the latest firmware in your retail unit.
Excellent content as always!
Do power meter pedals exist which don’t require cleats? I understand the purpose and benefit of them, but if someone is willing to accept the limitation of a push-only pedal power reading, which would match reality with a flat pedal, then it seems like a good option for the “rest of us” who don’t clip in!
So… 2018 was a long time ago, and I’ve found references to a possible 2021 update, which also is disappearing every further into the rear-view mirror… are we going to see an update on this excellent state-of-the-industry article (ideally a 2022 one!) or is there some reason that there’s no longer a need? Asking as I have to commit to something new fairly soon!
Love your work