I have been looking into getting a Power Meter i can move from bike to bike since i currently don’t have a power-meter on my bike i ride indoors as a reference.
A pedal based power-meter would be the obvious choice, I tried the Vector 3 a few months ago but experienced the well documented connectivity issues. My friend owns a pair of Assiomas and is only moderately satisfied.
I’m curious whether one of you has insight when the Vector 4 pedals will be released as i can’t seem to find anything garmin put out.
Garmin is good when it works, but usually takes a year from release until its stable.
So much good power meters out there now, why wait :D. I would look at assioma myself, i do have vector 2 without much issues.
If your friend is only moderately satisfied with the Assioma you should be a pal and offer to buy them from him so he can downgrade to less reliable pedals for more money.
I have the Vector 3s, waited until the updated battery covers were out before buying, and they’ve been fine once I figured out the trick of using double thickness batteries and/or using a drop of baby oil on the contacts to reduce the fretting.
As and when the Vector 4s are released there is absolutely no way I would buy them until they’d been out in the field for at least 6 months, or longer if there were any signs of problems. For something like a PM initial reviews aren’t enough as you can’t really assess reliability until you’ve had a few months of heavy use in all conditions. changed or charged the battery a few times, etc. And Garmin’s track record is pretty poor - if the current Vectors were the first PM pedal they’d made you could maybe forgive some teething issues and be optimistic they’d do a better job next time, but when it’s the third generation of the product and they still ship it with some fairly major flaws then I don’t see much reason to think that they’re going to nail the Vectors 4 out of the box!
To be fair to Garmin each iteration of their vectors have been different and the issues as far as I know are down to changes in design rather than power meter accuracy. I have vector 2 pedals and not having to use set tightening force was a big improvement over the originals. The current model did away with the pods that held the battery so in effect they are first generation of that design. That being said you would expect keeping the battery in place would be one of the simpler design objectives to meet when designing a pedal!
I wouldn’t expect any new model soon, not sure what Garmin would gain unless they were able to increase accuracy. The 3’s are ant+ and Bluetooth (one thing I wish my 2’s had was Bluetooth), no pod to break, loose, forget etc when travelling and if reliability is fixed I’m not sure what a version 4 would bring to the table.
I’m guessing you returned the vector 3. but a little bit of mineral oil on the battery ends when installing them solved the issue for me. Found this tip on a garmin support forum page.
I had the Vector 2 and was quite happy with them. I had little to know issues. The biggest downside to the pedals were the pods, which honestly, isn’t much of an issue. Rather cause for concern in case of the accidental pedal clipping and possibly breaking the pod.
I got the Vector 3 as soon as it launched, and like many others, I had a number of problems related to the battery cap and dropouts. In total I went through two replacements before finally getting a set of pedals that did not have any issues.
When the pedals worked they worked great. I liked the design, functionality (ie. Ant+ and BLE)… If Garmin hadn’t been so quick to replace I would have returned and gone another route.
As noted above, not too sure what to expect out of Vector 4 pedals. My guess is more ‘useful’ metrics that won’t be adopted by anyone. That or maybe even additional/new pedal body support. Either way, I will likely stick with my Vector 3 until I break them and am forced to replace.
I have the Vector 3s, waited until the updated battery covers were out before buying, and they’ve been fine once I figured out the trick of using double thickness batteries
which battery are you using for “double thickness?” thanks
Basically it’s like 2 of the LR44s stuck together. So gets rid of the fretting issues you get with 2 batteries rubbing against each other. Though I do still use a drop of baby oil on the contacts so that I’m covering all bases!
When everything else on my bikes is rechargeable (lights, Di2, computer) and just works it does seem very old fashioned to be having to change batteries, worrying about how low they’re getting, etc. Add in the need to order batteries (I haven’t found any local store that stocks the big ones) and then sit there with a cocktail stick and a bottle of baby oil lubing up the contact points and I have to say it’s not quite the premium product experience you expect when you pay that much money!
I was getting very pi$&#@ off with my Vector 3 pedals until I stated using mineral oil. Since then they have been flawless and I’m very happy with them now. They seem just as reliable as the P1s I had before them and are in line with my Neo.
