Stages - reliability vs 4iiii or Pioneer
YellaBelly
Posts: 130
So my second stages power meter has gone belly up after the first went back under warranty. 2 dead units in 5 months. When I spoke to warranty they said Stages are having battery drain issues and it's affecting a considerable number of units, but others are fine. Either it'll develop the fault quickly, or it won't at all. So I could send it back again and hope for 3rd time lucky.
Or I get my money back, and look at Pioneer or 4iiii single leg meters. How do those two fair against the Gen 2 Stages performance and reliability wise? Anyone with experience of these units?
Or I get my money back, and look at Pioneer or 4iiii single leg meters. How do those two fair against the Gen 2 Stages performance and reliability wise? Anyone with experience of these units?
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Didn't even consider Pioneer because it appeared to require a magnet for cadence... And of course requires cadence to derive the power.
My Stages G1 PM has been fine other than one glitch where I was connected via Bluetooth then walked out of range - had to reset the PM to get it to work on ANT+ again. Oh, I've replaced the battery once and it's due for another change now.
I'll sell it for £5000 ....
Fitted it yesterday evening and the Garmin immediately told me the battery was low despite it not being used for 2-3 weeks. Seems pretty poor to have to replace a battery every 2 months especially as i have not been riding too much (8 hours a week max).
Are others seeing this as well?
Oh and its a Gen2 model.
Mine worked for about a month then battery died for no apparent reason. Replaced battery - dead the next day. Replaced battery again - dead again the next day. Numerous 'explanations' from Stages support later (e.g. I used the wrong battery, there are known issues when the weather turns cold, I should keep my bike in a heated room.....) and I returned it and got a refund. I'd recommend everyone do the same and avoid Stages until they can actually produce a power meter that's reliable.
If you want reliable then get something that's proven like a Power2max.
stages, dropouts were frequent, it didn't calculate peak power well and had the battery issues. not weatherproof.
Pioneer, no dropouts, measures power more accurately, batteries last what they say they should last and the thing is weatherproof.
Repeat to fade
This is one of the things I'm interested in. Stages seem to have a lot of issues down to the British weather. Badly sealed. Batteries draining in cold. Pioneer I think are a Canadian company and have not been selling many units over here. Many reviews I've read have been US, or Australia...
I would have bought a Stages, but with so many stories of people going through 2 or 3 units before giving up... Really don't want to chance that. But I'm hoping Pioneer are not going to show the same issues if they start selling thousands of units over here because at the end of the day, on the surface, they're a very similar product.
look into IP ratings and the surrounding issues of why stages went for a generic not quite IP67 rated product and you'll see the issue. least that's my perspective. fundamentally I doubt they did enough harsh weather based testing.
My mate has a 4iiii and he told me it needs to calibrate for 1st 20 mins of a ride before the reading settles down. Thats is no good on a turbo trainer with limited training time.
Glad to hear the pioneers working well.
your mates 4IIII sounds odd. none of my friends that use them need that to happen...
On the subject of the Pioneer, the power readings translate well between the turbo & road. I had BePro pedals before this & I put out approx 15-20 more watts on the road that I did on the turbo. No such problems with the Pioneer.
Also you can upgrade to a dual leg at a later date if you like
I don't know if this is normal but I leg press about 320kg and myself weigh 130kg. I would have thought the pro's can put out more total power but perhaps I put out too much torque?
Or I just got a duff unit...... Will have to wait and see when I get another one.
Oh and the battery life is pretty short on it too, maybe get a month from a battery, I do about 1100-1200 km a month.
Its going back for a new one shortly and if that one starts doing the same then I may look at changing to the pioneer PM if my LBS can get them.
I have two gen 2 Stages 5800s on the go (one 1.5 yr, one 0.5 yr). Both are behaving fine... at the moment. I did have battery drain issues, but on current firmware, and everything is OK. I wonder whether they are just a bit fast and loose with firmware updates???
Something to throw into the 4iiii mix - one of my 4iiii's has gone back after becoming uncalibratable - it went back in January and warranty replacement was agreed pretty much instantly. I'm still waiting for any stock to appear in the UK to replace it. (You can imagine how happy I am)
Are there any crank meters which actually work.
Quarq, P2M.
What he said.
Kinesis Tripster ATR
Orro Oxygen
Don't think there's a correlation with cold in my case. But will certainly keep an eye out for it now.
Firmware was updated not long ago but the battery draining quickly has always been there, on my 3rd battery in 4 months now and I have not been doing massive miles either?
My LBS said the drop out in readings may be from having an out front mount instead of having the Garmin mounted on the stem, apparently that's what Stages have told him, but as he says, who mounts their Garmin on the stem?
Will wait for my replacement and see if that sorts it.