I had a Powertap many years ago, but sold it when the rims went to fund normal replacement wheels. Now though there are tons of options. I’d need something that can link to a Garmin so I guess Ant+. And I want it cheap – accuracy is less important than low cost.

Powerpod seems to have a decent review. What else to look at? It’d be nice not to need new wheels.

Lots of info on current market here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/which-power-meter-stages-or-power2max

You mean you don’t want to wade through 35+ pages of the PowerMeter thread 😆

How cheap is cheap? It isn’t so much accuracy as reliability that perhaps should be a key factor and compatibility as well.

Which bike? What are you willing to replace on it? i.e Crank, crankset? Pedals? etc.

I was going to type the Powerpod was £220 in PBKs current “up to 50% off” sale, but it’s back at £270! 😆

In hindsight, I wish I had bought the 4iiii 105 in the PBK Black Friday deal of £270.

But I’m now waiting for delivery of an Elite Direto at 15% under RRP, which includes a pretty darn accurate power meter, that I can use for indoor training, while waiting for another suitable deal hell to freeze over and my bank balance to receover.

Well minimal bike impact, which is why I liked the idea of the Powerpod. My mate has some power pedals but I think they are Look only, not that it matters much.

Could change cranks, don’t mind.

The Powerpod is what I’d call cheap. Wouldn’t want to spend much more.

You can often pick up a 4iii for 300 quid. PowerBeat should be shipping too at around that price for dual sided.

And I want it cheap – accuracy is less important than low cost.

PowerCal 🙂

Go for strain gauge pedals over either powerpod or crank based IMO. Then you can have repeatable, accurate and easily transferred power measurement, indoors, outdoors across a range of bikes now and in the future.

When are they going to make strain gauge pedals for mountain bikes, for those of us that like to walk into a fish ‘n chip shop without falling arse over tit?

bigblackheinoustoe – Member

When are they going to make strain gauge pedals for mountain bikes, for those of us that like to walk into a fish ‘n chip shop without falling arse over tit?

I’ve been wondering this – I guess that power is of most interest to xc/cx riders who’s pedals are much smaller than a road pedal so maybe not space to put the stuff inside?

And I want it cheap – accuracy is less important than low cost.

Well if that’s important just use virtual power in Strava- its free

If it’s not accurate it’s useles for training

+1 jonnyboi.

Google DCRainmaker 2017 powered buying guide for all you need to know.

I’ve got a 4iii one – cost me 300 quid and has been reliable over the past 6 months (replaced battery once).

Well if that’s important just use virtual power in Strava- its free

Ok when I said accuracy less important, I mean I don’t care if it’s +/- 5W instead of 1W. But Strava virtual power is complete fiction. Plus it doesn’t give you a readout as you ride so is doubly useless.

I reckon cost being the priority over accuracy is a mistake. Isn’t the whole point of a power meter that it is accurate? I’d be looking at an on sale stages. I saw a 105 for around 330 quid the other day.

Worth paying the extra 60 or so quid over a power pod surely if using it for training?

This is a gross generalization and someone will doubtless correct me but almost all direct force power meters now are fairly accurate to within the 5W range. More money just gets you more features (dual sideed / bluetooth etc) whilst reliability varies hugely even within same brand.

It it fitted my bike I’d get a 4iiii single sided one like sweamrs. It didn’t so I’ve got a Power2Max which has also been faultless for 3 years now.

Isn’t the whole point of a power meter that it is accurate?

Much more accurate than heart rate, yes. but that’s because of the indirect relationship between HR and power. But I don’t need it to be 1W accurate when it’s all I can do to keep the reading +/- 20W of my target power.

I like the left hand crank arm idea. I might switch cranks if I ever end up racing, but then I wouldn’t need a power meter in a race probably.

Repeatability/precision is far more important than accuracy.

Unless you have more than one PM.

I’m a geek and a physicist. So I like the powerpod and have two. It’s accurate on my time trial bike, but useless for road racing. I have a Powercal which uses an algorithm I reverse engineered to predict power from rate of change of heart rate. It’s the most reliable meter, but only really useful for average efforts.

Want to measure force, then you will need either cranks or pedals. Assioma single sided would be the cheapest (and I believe most reliable) pedal. Garmins new one looks great but is still first gen.

For cranks, £300 is entry and 4iiii. I’ve had three Stages. Same problems as everyone else (except I was the first).

Personally, I’d go for the assiomas. Mature second generation product that has an excellent reliability record. Or cheap as chips powercal

I did once ask our elite tt’er to ride with the powercal and his SRM. I used both sets of data to deconstruct the algorithm. It’s very simple. Then I built my own by adding cadence and speed. Boy was that accurate. I ought to offer it to Garmin, because then you would have power from your Garmin.

@molgrips what are you going to use the PM for? MTB, Road, indoor?

Boy was that accurate. I ought to offer it to Garmin, because then you would have power from your Garmin.

Wonder if you could build it as an IQ app?

Repeatability/precision is far more important than accuracy

If not accurate then make sure you get one that over-reads for Zwift racing 😉

@molgrips what are you going to use the PM for? MTB, Road, indoor?

Road. Indoor unlikely.

I’m not a big fan of training indoors but if you want to see performance gains I think running a specific program such as trainer road, training peaks or zwift in conjunction with a PM will provide the biggest gains

Looking at the SDK now. Never thought about it before, but yes an app would be straightforward. I an not a programmer (SAS/R excepted)

Looking at the SDK now. Never thought about it before, but yes an app would be straightforward. I an not a programmer (SAS/R excepted)

I am, and have a team of developers working for me to cover up my shonky code. If you want to build something, drop me a line via wilkitcher@gmail.com

I have one of these (dual sided spider one) and it’s great:

https://shop.teamzwatt.com

Powerpods are in the new DFS PBK sale, max £25 off order with TOP10 on various products.

I’ve been tempted a few times this year, like when it was £220 the other day, as a way to quickly swap a power meter between my Cube road bike and Voodoo fatbike.

But the power reading changes with your position on the bars and your general stance, making it more of a useful supplemental tool for TTers to use alongside a traditional power meter IMO.

Don’t right off another powertap if you don’t have multiple sets of wheels. I’ve got an old pro+ On my training/turbo bike and it is far more reliable than the stages I’ve got on my other bike.

Mines a chunky 32 spoke monster but the new ones are lighter and come in 24 hole I think. They are a very mature product now, and they just work!

I have a Powertap G3 on my road bike and a Dual sided Rotor crank based PM on my TT bike.

Powertap is great and its very reliable however its a pain if you want to put a pair of winter wheels on for training.

Rotor obviously does not have this problem however the ANT+ comms seem to drop out more on this than the powertap.

I use it for structured training (trainer road and outside) and I would say for this repeatability is key. You need to have faith in the numbers for any kind of FTP based training.

The absolute numbers are less use than 250W today being 250W tomorrow.

Edited to add

I use a direct drive Kickr turbo too and the Powertap hub based PM is obviously useless for that. So that can be a consideration.

TiRed – Member
I’m a geek and a physicist. So I like the powerpod and have two. It’s accurate on my time trial bike, but useless for road racing.

Interested in this.. useless for training on a road bike as well? or just the actual racing?

If you are a TTer and have a conventional power meter already, the Powerpod could be used in combination to fine tune your aero posture using the fancy analysis tool.

You could use the Powerpod in isolation on a standard bike training alone, but because you are likely to change hand positions and your general aero position more than in a typical TT, there will be times where the calibration setting you have used will give inaccurate power readings. If you can live with that compromise, then happy days.

But in a race, unless you are de Gendt (always riding at the front, often in vain), your Powerpod readings will be all over the shop from the peleton aero benefits.

Anyway, main reason I’m reviving this thread is just to write that PBK have the Powerpod at ~221 again without a voucher code, so buy it through Topcashback to get 6% cashback, meaning you will pay ~£209 overall.

If you are a TTer and have a conventional power meter already, the Powerpod could be used in combination to fine tune your aero posture using the fancy analysis tool.

Am curious about this but i’ve seen very little chatter about it in the TT forums. A cheap accurate, easy to use way of assessing small aero changes is a bit like the holy grail for TTers so if it did work well enough i’d assume it’d be more widely discussed.