Power Meters / Powermeters (SRM, Powertap, Quarq, Ergomo, Vector, Stages, power2max, P2M, 4iii, InPower, Cinch)

I have 3s power on my main screen. With speed, HR, and cadence.

I have a lap screen with 3s power, lap average power, lap time and lap distance. Use this for decent climbs. Works well for pacing.

I also have a screen for TSS, Elevation gain, ride distance, and ride time. Which is more of a 'what I've done' screen.

Yes- it spoke to both a Garmin and the LYC, you are welcome to test it.

Paligap called this morning- new torque tube and the carbon-window shell of my SL+ don't play well together, so they are rebuilding the wheel with a G3.

I have 3s power on one screen and average on another.

I use 30s avg and lap avg during TTs.

#CSB

Just got the shipping notification that my SRM is on the way back to me - they got it yesterday.

I'm impressed with the turnaround - I'll be even more impressed if they've brought it back to as-new functionally.

Eh? What part of it don't you understand?

So I have some unexpected money and am thinking I'm going to power up like Goku.

I can get stages rival for 600euro to replace my left sram red crank arm. http://www.powermeter24.com

Or I can go power2max s900 route which will cost 940+180euro

So, £480 vs £880. So it seems stages pisses all over power2max for value. Can anyone provide a compelling reason why I might be making a mistake? I don't care if I have to replace the cheap as chips battery in the stages.

DC Rainmaker has suggested (inferred, maybe), that Stages may reposition themselves soon in terms of price with the new cheaper power metres coming to market- but it's all a bit vague.

Personally I would get the P2M as I have other power meters, so accuracy is important, however if the Stages will be your only one (as it sounds) then this isn't as important.

It depends what you are going to use it for and how much of a data geek you are.

In my experience, a PM allows you to optimise your training sessions, i.e. it tells you when you're not going as hard as you think you are, so you spend more time in the zone(s) you're planning to, making each session more effective. For most, a Stages will do this just fine as you'll get consistency between sessions from it.

It does have one major limitation, which is that it's only measuring power on the left hand side and doubles that to give you a total. This means it's accuracy is not as good as power2max (or other PMs that measure on both sides) but if you can live with that then it's going to be good enough.

I was going to buy a Stages but there stock supply has been woeful (which doesn't fill me with confidence about their longevity if I'm honest), and went for a power2max in the end. I'm glad I did as it has been 100% reliable and accurate since I bought it.

Or you could get P2M classic with Rotor 3DF (30mm axle) for £660

http://www.power2max.de/europe/en/Produkt/power-meters-en/power2max-rotor-3d-f-roa/

@Hovis I have Stages; I had a PowerTap before - I can't say that I have noticed any difference between them in terms of accuracy and performance.

The main benefit of Stages for me was it literally takes 30 seconds to swap between bikes, and also that I can use it at the track and on the road. P2m users will say that it's easy to swap between bikes, but undoing one bolt and doing it up again is so much easier than swapping spiders and rings etc.

It also means that I am no longer relying on one (heavy) wheel to do everything. Bonus.

I'll just leave this here...

Stages >>>

This P2M user won't make that claim. It's a ball ache to swap between bikes.

If stages is 30 seconds P2m is about 1 min 30 seconds IF used with rotor 3D (24mm axle). Provided you dont have to swap rings.

8mm allen key to take out the security bolt (3 revolutions); 5mm allen key to release the pinch bolt (this is what rotor calls DTT; 5nm 5 revolutions); nails to take the rubber washer; repeat in reverse on other bike.

Another vote for swapping cranks being a pain in the arse from me - I change chainrings at the same time though (road to cross).

@Dammit

DC Rainmaker has suggested (inferred, maybe), that Stages may reposition themselves soon in terms of price with the new cheaper power metres coming to market- but it's all a bit vague.

Can you link me to where he suggests this? If they are about to release something new I will consider holding out

@andyp
I'm not a data geek. My main reason for getting one is for pacing my rides but obviously would be good to use as a training tool. Would need to get quite clued up first. I am assuming most people do that after they get the power meter. My lamens perspective on it is that everything is a % of your ftp no? So what difference does it make if its a p2m, stages etc? (other than absolute accuracy).

@dan Being able to swap between bikes is somewhat of a factor for me, although the only other bike I have with sram on would be the fixed gear and I cant imagine ever wanting power readings for that.

@hippy Not sure what the graph is showing, other than the stages curve obviously not matching up with the others. But to me the DC rainmaker reviews overall message was that the stages was good and he would recommend, at least thats what I got from it.

@amey would that 30mm rotor world with my standard threaded 68mm gxp BB?

Finally, just seen one can buy a single garmin vector "s"pedal for £600. It doubles left leg readings like the stages. I'm guessing this marketed at cheapskates who will run their old keo pedal on the right? I do quite like this idea vs the stages actually as I can keep my sram red left crankarm.

Bloody hell, too many choices.

The graph shows that for some durations Stages is not recording the same power as multiple other units. It doesn't become consistent with the other power meters until you're over 1min. That's pretty important if you're doing sprint intervals. Actually more than just sprint intervals as it's log scale so however long that is - too long!

That's not to say Stages isn't consistently 'wrong' but it doesn't bode well. How do you know when it's wrong? You don't, unless you're running another meter.

Basically, if I was spending big dorra on some bit of bike kit to tell me something, I'd want it done properly. No Stages for hippy.

Would it not be more accurate to say the the graph shows that as the interval period increases, DC rainmaker's power split becomes more biased towards the right leg?

It tells me they're not thinking of the colour blind.

If you have standard 68mm GXP then Rotor 3D is right for that i.e. 24mm axle.

Not Rotor 3D+ or Rotor 3DF both have 30mm axle.

No, that just sounds like some marketing guff trying to cover up Stages crapiness.

@Hovis - although you can replace the gxp BB with a rotor BSA30 one and run the 3d+ /3DF 30mm axle in a bsa 68mm threaded bb

That's from me, not Stages. I thought general wisdom was that as you increased effort you were more likely to see a larger split in r/l power distribution, which a left only powermeter will not be able to pick up on, and as a result over/underreport <1 minute power? Dunno, but to me Stages seems like a compromise, I'd rather have no power measurement than potentially unreliable power measurement.

I know, that's why I wrote "sounds like".

You're trying to find a justification for the inaccurate power reporting. That's fine, maybe it is because it's averaging one sensor over two pedals or whatever but it all boils down to this - it's not accurate.

Yes you can but I dont see any real advantage to switching to 30mm axles and paying rotor £40 odd for BB .. I am using a £12 Ultegra 6700 BB with Rotor 3D