Power meter

[Andywinds]

Before I stopped cycling last year I was looking to buy the Stages FSA power meter. I know they are not that important, but I liked the idea of tracking power and sustaining a level for time. The crank arm option does seem to be about £400 now, not cheap. Can the single arm option be problematic and has anyone used one?

 

[huwsparky]

I had one of the first 2nd gen Stages crank arms. It's over 3 years old now and It's still rock solid. I'd buy another, no problem.

Provided you only have one bike or your other bike has the same cranks it's a good option.

 

[mattobrien]

I had a gen 2 stages and suffered significant drop outs between it and my Garmin 820. As I understand it is about the strength of signal transmitted by the stages. I ended up swapping it for a quarq which has been flawless.

I believe the gen 3 stages have fixed this issue.

 

[Andywinds]

Thanks, they are still very pricey, but I will keep looking. They don't seem to come up that often second hand.

 

[Milkfloat]

I am getting incredibly frustrated with my Avio PowerSense so am about to switch to Garmin Vector 3 pedals. I will only get single sided, but can get them for £325. At least the pedals will be transferable between my bikes, plus Garmin finally seem to have fixed they battery issues.

 

[huwsparky]

I am getting incredibly frustrated with my Avio PowerSense so am about to switch to Garmin Vector 3 pedals. I will only get single sided, but can get them for £325. At least the pedals will be transferable between my bikes, plus Garmin finally seem to have fixed they battery issues.

I'd check out their reliability too. Have not heard good things about them at all. Dropouts etc.

The favero assioma's sound a better option and very probably what I'm going to buy myself as I now have different crank lengths on my TT bike. If you head onto DC Rainmakers site there's a 10% discount available too.

 

[huwsparky]

Thanks, they are still very pricey, but I will keep looking. They don't seem to come up that often second hand.

I wouldn't touch a 2nd hand PM personally unless I knew who was selling it and why.

 

[jiberjaber]

Before I stopped cycling last year I was looking to buy the Stages FSA power meter. I know they are not that important, but I liked the idea of tracking power and sustaining a level for time. The crank arm option does seem to be about £400 now, not cheap. Can the single arm option be problematic and has anyone used one?

Not Stages but 4viiii - I moved from Vector2 to the single arm power meter over a year ago after 3+ years on dual sided. I get all the info I need from the single sided power meter with the bonus of not being tied in to a particular pedal and better battery life. The 4viiii has been faultless with my Garmin 1030 where as I have seen reports of the Stages version (on the Garmin forums) of some issues (that may well be resolved now). The obvious drawback with crank based is you are then limited to that type of crank going forward in terms of length and 'type' (Shimano HT2 in my case).

I liked the single sided so much I have 2 of them, they can be had for much less than £400 if you keep an eye on the usual suspects (Ribble being one)...

 

[mattobrien]

I am getting incredibly frustrated with my Avio PowerSense so am about to switch to Garmin Vector 3 pedals. I will only get single sided, but can get them for £325. At least the pedals will be transferable between my bikes, plus Garmin finally seem to have fixed they battery issues.

Mrs O has a pair of Vector 3 pedal, which I have been fortunate enough to use a few times, they have been flawless. She got them after the battery door had been updated and the firmware had been updated.

Along with the Vectors, I have Quarq x3 and Rotor 2in power, all of which have been great. The only issue I have had was with gen 2 stages. That said, if I were going one sided I would consider gen 3 stages, but they are a little pricier compared to other one sided options.

I hav friends with 4iiii and Pioneer, again no problems reported.

 

[Andywinds]

Mrs O has a pair of Vector 3 pedal, which I have been fortunate enough to use a few times, they have been flawless. She got them after the battery door had been updated and the firmware had been updated.

Along with the Vectors, I have Quarq x3 and Rotor 2in power, all of which have been great. The only issue I have had was with gen 2 stages. That said, if I were going one sided I would consider gen 3 stages, but they are a little pricier compared to other one sided options.

I hav friends with 4iiii and Pioneer, again no problems reported.

Thanks for the info, the Vector 3 looks good. Can you get the 4iiii in the BB30 crank (FSA)? As for prices of these, why are they so expensive?

 

[mattobrien]

I think you can get 4iiii installed on your existing crank by the factory. How that works from the UK I don’t know, but maybe their website will tell all

 

[jiberjaber]

I think you can get 4iiii installed on your existing crank by the factory. How that works from the UK I don’t know, but maybe their website will tell all

Yep - I thought about that (they were originally going to do a self fit version as well when they first launched) but it's soo cheap to buy it wasn't worth the hassle - this obvs only applies if you already have the type of crank thats for sale with the sensor attached....
105 black version currently £290 at Evans (don't forget there's quidco on that potentially also )

https://www.evanscycles.com/4iiii-precision-power-meter-shimano-105-5800-EV273962

 

[HLaB]

I am getting incredibly frustrated with my Avio PowerSense so am about to switch to Garmin Vector 3 pedals. I will only get single sided, but can get them for £325. At least the pedals will be transferable between my bikes, plus Garmin finally seem to have fixed they battery issues.

Any word on them doing a factory refit? I don't know if my first one was from that dodgy batch but this new one seems to be giving me watts wise what I'd expect.

 

[Milkfloat]

Any word on them doing a factory refit? I don't know if my first one was from that dodgy batch but this new one seems to be giving me watts wise what I'd expect.

Not yet, I am still running tests for them. When I actually speak to Mike,one of the co-founders, I get some reasonable help and reasonable questions, but getting to him is very difficult. They seem to be very disorganised, losing emails, phone messages and even online chat messages. On the plus side, they refunded me but still want to work on fixing the device. I will keep plugging away with them.

 

[HLaB]

Not yet, I am still running tests for them. When I actually speak to Mike,one of the co-founders, I get some reasonable help and reasonable questions, but getting to him is very difficult. They seem to be very disorganised, losing emails, phone messages and even online chat messages. On the plus side, they refunded me but still want to work on fixing the device. I will keep plugging away with them.

I only ever dealt with Shai, sometimes he took a few days to reply but he seemed ok. I hope you sort it.