[Closed] Power meter users ...advice ?

Personally I know less people who have had problems with 4iiii than stages but that might be old news.

All my mates use pedals.

All have been a royal pain in the arse

I have a 4iiii, as does my wife. No problems at all. Got them cheap from Winstanleys. From an engineering point of view, its simpler and eaiser to fit the strain guage in a crank than a pedal spindal. That simple fact trumps marketing for me.

My 105 5800 4iiii has been trouble free for ~18 months, as far as I'm aware all the 4iii range will fit any Hollowtech II chainsets, higher models being fractionally lighter than older models. Battery CR2032 typically lasts me ~6 months, riding 5-8 hours most weeks.

They've recently been ~£230 at Probikekit, have been as low as ~£200 this year, for the 105 5800 model.

There's no problem with a 105 on an ultegra, I've got a stages dura ace and swap it onto 105 on the winter bike. Never had any problems with it except it can eat through batteries a bit. Make sure it's a gen2 though rather than the original gen1 as I think they had problems with water ingress.

user of a trouble free 4iiii here. Can't see any reason to pay any extra for Stages was the conclusion I came to. Battery life seems fine. Connects to Garmin no problems.

105 4iiii for 2.5 years now, all weathers, 3 battery no issues.

Stages user here, Ultegra 6800. Cant see why it wouldn’t work on another hollow tech crank.
Had no issues with mine, but I am getting rid as moving to pedal version as swap between bikes. That said, my winter bike is 105 5800 and I’m tempted to just get a 4iiii if they are £230 for the black crank.

All my mates use pedals.

All have been a royal pain in the arse

I have a pair of Assioma pedals. Utterly dependable

It’s the Assioma pedals I’m moving to Scardypants, have yours seen much wet weather use?
Apologies for hijacking the post - just a conundrum on whether I buy the 4iiii’s which I’ve checked and are £260, or just get the Assioma. Ultimately I want double sided power reading, tummy logic is that the Assioma’s go on the race bike and the 4iiii on the winter bike keeping the stages on the bike it’s on now.

the 105 version of stages definitely works on ultegra cranksets. I suspect 4iiiiii will be the same story if they do the same thing - ie glue a magic power box to an existing shimano crank.

If you do go for stages, make sure you get a 3rd gen as the first 2 gens all catch fire and die and delete your internet banking and upset your stomach etc

4iii on Ultegra crank arm, about 8 months use so far. Zero issues. Used in all weathers (and on the beach...) with no water ingress at all.

The 6800 crank arm has fitted fine on Dura Ace and other-series Ultegra chainsets with no problems, though I did have to space it out a bit on the CX bike to stop it catching on the chainstay.

I find the batteries tend to last about 100hrs (ie 1% used per hour).

I'd buy another, happily.

It’s the Assioma pedals I’m moving to Scardypants, have yours seen much wet weather use?

Yeah, fair bit. I'm not a massive mileage rider but do play out when it's wet

The "works" of the things are totally sealed in - I think impossible to open up
Bearings still nice (on bike since end of 2017)

I run a used Rotor SRM on my trike. This so I can run speedplay aero zero pedals. Inassume you are in the same position. In your case I’d go for the 4i cranks for the same reason. Check the length. And there is a trend for moving to shorter cranks now for more open hip angles, which you won’t be able to change with a crank PM.

I run an Assioma pedal on my other bikes. I’ve also run a few stages which did not end well.

Two of my club mates have recently had to return their 4iiii's under warranty (actually I think one was still honoured outside the official warranty), don't know what the problem was though.

I had a Stages G1 which are batteries, got replaced numerous times eventually to a G2 which was slightly better on the battery front but still not the 200 hour life claimed. I also had a Pioneer single sided which was a lot more reliable.

Now I have Assioma pedals (dual side) and seem fairly good after about 18 months use inside and outside regardless of weather. I did have one side throw a wobbler after about 6 months but they replaced the axle/power module without any quibbling. They also strangely need charging at rather random intervals (sometimes last ages and sometimes just a few turbo sessions). I also have an FSA Powerbox which seems to be the most bomb proof of them all, but it is probably the most awkward to swap between bikes (even assuming the same BB).

I use the 4iii on my mtb and not had a single problem (it will no doubt fall apart tomorrow)

Use Powertap hub on road bike which has been faultless too.

powertap hubs was where power meters were at when i left them -10+ years ago.

You trained with them with an SRM head unit and then changed out your rear wheel for your race wheels.

Alas i have a disk rear wheel these days and its not one that can have a powertap hub inpregnated.

I am thinking about plumping for an 4iiii r8000 175mm since my propel has r8000 cranks and itll be a nice swap over and its only an extra couple quid over a 105

3yrs into Stages ownership trouble free and a year with a mtb 4iiii. No trouble with either. Also had a 105 4iiii on Ultegra crankset on my CX bike for a bit too- also flawless. Sold it for near as dammit what I paid for it! (Which was enough for half the mtb one 🙁 )

(Oh and I accidentally had the 175mm Stages on my 170mm crankset for a bit and didn’t notice the difference 😀 )

Have been with Stages since Gen 1 and been through all of the pain and issues they have had.

Customer service has been excellent and now have (through warranty replacements and good will) three Gen 3 stages left hand power meters and they are faultless. I would not recommend Gen 2 (or 1) because they had too many issues.

I also have an InfoCrank (touted as the best PM available) and apart from being dual sided (which Stages now support) I cannot tell any real-world difference

Turned out that the prices for ultegra was pre tax. So it ended up being quite a bit more.

So bought 5800 105 from winstanley for 259

Can we see the Propel? I’ve just converted one of mine to TT duties with a full etap TT groupset and HED base bars. Waiting for a stem. Did you know you can move the saddle forward for a better TT position?

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/134580-aero-road-vs-tt/&do=findComment&comment=1843168

Mines just a stock 2019 advance disk 1.

I have toyed with some clip one but CBA taking them on and off all the time. Plus my disk and 82 don't fit the axles don't fit the propel. If the disk fitted it might change things

I have a low tech planet X stealth for a TT bike with the standard TT fare. 82 front disk rear , backwards 44s upfront etc - and now 105 left hand power meter.

I have a pair of Assioma pedals. Utterly dependable

Likewise. OP, what's the issue with "plastic cleats"? Not had any problems with mine.

The problem with plastic cleats is that none of my shoes have 3 bolt fixings and I'm not buying a new pair of specific shoes for one set of pedals.

4iiii 105 arrived fitted up well and connected to my Garmin edge 500.

All good .... But I cannot get it to connect to my 735xt it simply won't connect. Even when the edge is totally off.

I activate the crank by spinning it and then search for ant + power meter and/or all ant+

Says can't find it. Activate crank and try again.

App says battery at 50% is it worth changing battery or am I missing something else fundimental. Like I need to unpair one divice before I can pair another ?

That is strange, can you connect an HRM to the 735xt?

Tried opening the 4iiii app and checking the third party options? Might also give you a firmware update.

Opened 4iiii app calibrated it before I started

I have an HRM attached to the 735 , I've also got various cadence and power meters(on a couple of different watt bikes I use and my kickr) synced to it. Is there a limit to how many ant+ advices you can have synced ?