Hub Power Meter-v- Polar HRM with Power meter?

hopper1

Guys,
Not sure if I can, or want to, justify the price of a Hub type Power Meter for training. What do the forum think to the likes of the Polar CS600 with the power meter accessory.
Probably not as accurate, but would at least give readings I could use to base training on.
Or would it?............
Glad to hear of your opinions on this. :?

Alex_Simmons/RST

If you can set them up right, they work well and are reasonably accurate. However, many have trouble getting the set up right. It likely depends on the chain stay configuration of your bike. Positioning of the power pickup module is very important as is weighing the chain accurately (that's the main calibration needed). On some bikes the set up just doesn't stay stable.

They tend not to work very well on indoor trainers/turbos either (the vibration frequencies from the turbo throw out the pickup), which is a really big problem if you intend to ride on a trainer much or are hoping to do some performance tests on a trainer (such as a MAP test).

There are also discrepencies depending on gear combinations used.

So if you can get it set up right so that it works reliably on your bike, then it will do the job.

What I do know is, that of the 10 ride buddies and clients I know that used a polar power meter, 9 upgraded to Powertap or SRM because they couldn't get reliable data.

The one remaining client using it has budget restraints but is saving to upgrade. As per the trainer comment, we can't get his to work on various trainers.

One other thing to consider - they put very little memory in the CPU, so that at 1-sec recording you only get about 2hrs worth of memory capacity. Really really dumb, considering memory is so cheap.

hopper1

Thanks for your input, Alex.

I'm considering renting a Power Tap now, see how effective it proves over the initial 12 week rental period, then...... :roll:

Paul