EB14: Garmin Vector Power Meter Pedals Go Single Sided, Not Quite Half the Cost

This is pretty awesome for people who are just starting wanting to train with power, can get started for Stages money then upgrade to L/R in future without having to sell your current meter.
There will be a change in power reading of about ±2% for most folk but that’s not exactly deal breaking, there would have been changing to another power meter anyway.

Any standard torque wrench will click when you are doing righty-tighty to the allen key on the end of the pedal spindle, back side of the crank arm.

Too bad they don’t make a a Speedplay version but given all the issues I’ve had with Garmin’s poor quality software and hardware they aren’t on the top of my list anyway.

It’s a good point about the importance of a good/familiar pedal. Wild how much cheaper those power2max are. I bet their sales went way up.

Awesome… a $900 pedal.

Garmin (and Rotor?) getting worried by not competing with the top entry level power estimators on price and the top serious pro training devices on performance? Could this be the first giant killing of the power meter wars?

My Vector powermeter has been working excellent all season with no hiccups to speak of. I have a few friends with Stages and they’ve all had issues ranging from ‘hiccups’ to being returned multiple times.

I’d say it’s definitely a better move to go with a Vector S than a Stages based on my experience. My L/R power difference is as much as 54/46% either way [left or right heavy], but it’s most often 52/48% or less. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the fluctuation. It might bug me to wonder if I had a “light left” day were I using a Vector S or Stages, but for all practical training and racing purposes the single-sided systems are just fine.

Will the Pods still crack and crumble like biscuits when torquing them up, or have they changed the material/construction?

If you’re breaking the pods during install you’re doing it wrong. They can withstand lots of swaps. During the winter I take them on and off of various bikes several times per week without issue.

It’s hard to beat this if you have multiple bikes (Stages’ flaw) and/or multiple wheelsets (PowerTap’s flaw). Yes you need a torque wrench but I’d rather spend the $50 on a Craftsman instead of several times that on a second/third/fourth/etc power meter.

I see pictures of team sky bikes rocking SRM. Tell me more about power2max.

The pod material has changed from cast aluminum to forged aluminum. That should address Choco’s concerns.

Choco – Use one hand to keep the pod from rotating while conducting the final torquing of the pedal. That’s it.

If the pod rotates into the crank arm, the beveled edge of the pod causes it to get pried outward from the arm, which will cause it to break. As you have experienced. Repeatedly. Upgrading the pods to forged aluminum is great, but you can’t fix stupid, and abusing a $1,500 piece of gear because you can’t be bothered to learn how to install it correctly? That’s the kind of person who will find a way to break anything.