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But stages isn't consistent. LR balance changes with effort and fatigue as well as cadence let alone injury etc.
The only time it would be worth while was if you only had a left leg.
As mentioned, the Team Sky argument is meaningless, they are being paid to ride them.
danb-
You're joking right? I've got hours and and hours and hours of power data from years of training with power meters and as Ed says, at best your power meter is 2% accurate so your 2% left right swing makes no difference because that will be constant in you. As long as you're happy that you're only using power for training and not willy waving then it is constant in yourself.
Slack
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.