Crankset power meter opinion

Just use the Stages app to check on battery.

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Do you see the same behavior? I’m guessing you check the stages app every so often for updates and battery level. The green to yellow indicator can be distracting. If you have the Gen 3, how often do you see the left side led?

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I never look at TR app for Stages battery info. Only check battery level in Stages app when my Garmin 520 tells me that battery is running low. When riding 6-8 hours/week I normally get 4-6 months of battery life.

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Quarq +1 . . . +10 :smile: [I have been using it for 4 years - fantastic!]

re 4iiii: FWIW: The 2019 Specialized Tarmac S-Works with Shimano drivetrain comes standard with dual side 4iiii power meter. [the same bike with SRAM AXS drivetrain comes with Quarq.] So you know the accuracy of the 4iiii is good. However, it’s not the off-the-shelf 4iiii. They designed a robust cover around it to address user concerns about water seepage into the power meter and provide overall greater protection to the unit.

Kind of a recap of where I sit and my logic. I appreciate everyone’s feedback

4iiii was top of my charts until they told me to use bluetooth I had to use they’re heart rate monitor to bridge between bluetooth and ant+.

Thought I heard panasonic used magnets, not too keen on that one. Think it’s just cadence, I would have thought that would have been a thing in the past.

Quarq wasn’t on my radar at first but I looked into them and they’re support was pretty quick to respond on what was compatible. They look like a real contender. Downside, not available for another two weeks and my patience isn’t the greatest. I like to get things done as soon as possible. I opened this thread a week ago. I had the stages installed last night and running this morning.

Local bike shop mention shimano’s power meter but I’ve read the review and it doesn’t sound like it’s there yet with no eta when. (from dcrainmaker review).

Didn’t dig too deep into Power2Max NG for shimano ultegra di2 options.

Didn’t dig too deep into Rotor 2PM.

So I ended up with Stages L/R. The Speedplays are making my knees happy since moving away from Assioma Favero. My left heel likes to hit the crank or rear frame even with the Speedplays, moved the cleat away from the frame which has pretty much resolved that. No twisting of the foot. Might still try the extended spindle from Speedplay, widen the stance a little and move the cleat back to the middle, see if everything stays smooth. I think I’m close to a solution to let me keep putting miles (or hours) on the bike.

Oh, side note. I take reviews with a grain of salt. Real world usage and people in the forum help really give you an idea what works and what doesn’t. No youtube video review can give you a good idea on your situation all the times, such as compatibility with bluetooth or ant+. New or older hardware, software, etc.

I have a 4iiii single sided and have no problem connecting to my iphone directly with Power Match and my kickr. And it connects fine to my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt as well. Happy with it so far. The one thing is that it reads about 10-15 watts lower than my Kickr and my Quarq on my gravel bike. The cool thing is that there is a tool in the 4iiii app where you can adjust the reading so I’ve tweaked it to match them.

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Possible support send me the wrong information but that would be a big hurdle if it was true.

Hi Roikyou,

I work for 4iiii and I can assure you that PRECISION does transmit its data in BLE and ANT+. What tyupe of connection are you trying to make? You can email me directly at jerold@4iiii.com

Cheers,
Jerold

Wriley sent me the following:

"Thank you for your interest in 4iiii Sport Technology.

Our powermeters only support one channel of data transmission through BLE and is supported by our iOS and Android Apps. In order to connect to 3rd party training programs such as Trainer Road on your computer, you will require either an ANT+ dongle or our Viiiiiva HRM used as an ANT+ to Bluetooth bridge. This is because the BLE protocol of our powermeters (and most other Bluetooth fitness sensors) is different than that of a computer.

Our powermeters are compatible with the Garmin Edge 1030. A good place for the most up to date ANT+ compatibility list is the This Is Ant Directory.

You will have no issues replacing the R8000 with the Dura Ace 9100 Ride Ready crankset. I would just suggest checking to make sure you have enough clearance between your frame and inside of the left crank arm for the powermeter pod. I have attached our clearance check document for you to determine this.

Please let me know if you have any further questions."

With Stages, TrainerRoad does display left and right but transmits both channels through the left, so you have to connect the left was the main gotcha when connecting Stages.

This was a deciding factor not to go with 4iiii. I’ve been riding Stages L/R for the last month with no issues other than TrainerRoad doesn’t like to display the battery level correctly. I’ve seen this with Garmin Vector 3 also. But you can either connect the app or there is an led indicator on the left crank arm that displays both the left and right battery level at green, yellow and red.

Hopefully you can update Wriley for the next person who has pre-sales questions.

as I understand it, TR app “sees” total power from the left crank arm power meter. By “sees” I’m not sure if TR app is either:

  • receiving both L and R (separate, and combining in app)
    or
  • receiving total L+R power

So it looks like it transmits on ble and ant +. Same as any other power meter. Problem is that almost 0 computers support ble or ant+ and that’s why we need a bluetooth dongle or ant+ dongle?

I use a tablet or phone that has ant+ and ble so I should be fine right?

This is the same situation as any other power meter isnt it?

I believe talking with Stages support, right is transmitted to left and both simultaneously to TR but TR still sees both left and right but if you connect with the right, you get no information. I’ve tested like you suggested (or someone) to peddle just the right side and I see power without peddling the left and vice versa. I’m confident it’s working as suggested.

As far as windows, there should be an update in windows 10 to allow computers to use bluetooth, not sure if that is in effect now as I stay away from windows and only use ipad pro with bluetooth. I did use the ant+ dongle but had several drops. Not a single drop since I moved to ipad pro. (2018 12.9" version)

Ok,
So I looked into the original email sent to Wriley. When using a dual PRECISION PRO powermeter the unit sends the data package via channel connected to the left side crank. Similar to your other powermeter. As part of that data package you would have left right balance data. Have a great day.

Cheers,
Jerold

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Hi FBS,

PRECISION does indeed transmit BLE and ANT+. When it comes to using your powermeter with most laptops you will need to use a dongle. I use a MacBook and it does support the BLE signal from my powermeter so I am good to go. When using a phone or tablet there is a limitation with BLE that it will communicate with 1 device at a time. When you are riding with just power, no problem. You are set. It does get trickier when you want to add other devices such as HR or a Speed Sensor. You would have to pick 1, unless you have a 4iiii Viiiiva HRM. Viiiiva acts a bridge. What that means is you can connect all your sensors using ANT+ to the device and then it will take all of that data and transmit it to your smartphone via BLE for you you so you can then have all that data while using the 1 channel available. I hope that helps a bit.

Cheers,
Jerold

I’ve had a Quarq Riken for 4.5 years of near daily use that has performed flawlessly. The thing appears that it will live forever but if it ever goes, I’d get another one.

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I’m not understanding the following

My ipad pro can connect power meter, heart rate monitor, speed/cadence sensor and kickr. My iphone 10s max can connect to all the above devices also. But, once a device is connected, it can not connect to another device if that is what you mean? What I’m reading above, you can connect to only one device, such as power meter to one table or phone, one channel? Not four like I do every day?

Windows is suppose to be opening up support for bluetooth via laptop, not sure if that is available yet.

Bluetooth has been mentioned many times as a better connection, my preference is bluetooth.

If you connect iPad Pro to those four sensors using Bluetooth, and start a workout, those sensors are “locked” to the iPad Pro for the entire workout. In other words, once you start using iPad Pro then you cannot pull out your iPhone and connect to those sensors.

Its like a library book, once your iPad Pro “checks out” the book (power meter) the sensor data can not be read by any other mobile/computer (via Bluetooth).

Absolutely. Probably why the connection ends up being better than ant+ which just broadcasts, connectionless. Kind of like TCP vs UDP…

Googled it, understand it better now. probably forget it tomorrow. Bluetooth is still my preferred way.

Bluetooth using frequency hopping, which provides better resistance to interference.

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