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It's not a question of having used it, it's the fact that they're fundamentally flawed and not cheap enough to make it worth it.
umop3pisdn-
So you say, having never used one or having no personal experience of one.
See, training with power is great. But it's only relevant to yourself if you're actually using for training and not just waving watts in the pub.
Really it makes no difference how accurate your power meter is, literally none at all if you're using it for training. What makes a difference is consistency. If it is consistently accurate or inaccurate it matters. As long as it gives the same number for the same effort every time then it's ok. It makes no difference if your power meter is saying 300 and John is saying 330 and Jeffrey's is 390. As long as they are consistently accurate to themselves.Now, I've used a stages, and I still do. Along with 2 power2max and a current power tap. I've owned 2 gen 1 power2maxes, 2 gen 1 stages, 3 generation 1 powertaps. To be fair, stages were unreliable at launch but I've had no problems with my gen2 and would recommend them to anyone. As long as you are aware that your powertap will always read lower than your power2max or srm and you know to adjust your effort upward or downward to compensate then it's fine. It's no different to a stages reading higher or lower for any given effort as long as it is constant in that reading, and they are.
I know it's popular to hate them, and that's fine if you want to jump on that band waggon but it's simply not true anymore that they're rubbish or a toy. Given that you can pick them up for £380 or what ever online then they are cheap enough, at half the price of both my power2maxes.
I've just had a look at prices, while a power2max seems cheap on the face of it. If you haven't already got a crank, once you include arms, rings, bolts and a bb it's almost twice the price of a stages including a new ultegra crank. Bear in mind you'll end up with a better shifting , lighter crank for half the outlay of a power2max given the euro/pound rate at the moment.
Slack
So, have any of you actually used a gen 1 or gen 2 stages? Like actually used it for an extended period of time, as well as concurrently owning multiple other brands of power meter and had a significant amount of personal experience with multiple brands and generations of power meter? Or, are you just saying they're shit and unreliable because your mate Jeff over heard someone down the pub that was telling his mate Jonny about something he read on the tinternet where some ones mate on a forum owned one and had a bad experience with it?