Stages Power Meter

chatlow

I have just received the above Ultegra PM. I have since read a number of posts from a while ago complaining about dropouts and connectivity issues between the PM and some head units.

It seems fine with my Elemnt Bolt and will try it with my Mac using ant+ dongle later. Fenix is struggling, but I'm 99% sure that's the watch's problem.

Just want to ask here to see if anyone else is currently encountering ant+ or BT problems or is it likely that these problems have been patched up since?

If so, then I will be tempted to go for 4iiii instead.


Thanks,

sancho_panza

I use a Stages PM (2nd generation, I think, on Sram crank arm), bought in late 2016. 600 hours' use and three battery changes later and it's never dropped out at all with my Wahoo on blue tooth. I had problems with an old Garmin 500 on ANT+ but it hasn't lost a beat since I got the Elemnt in March 2017. Seamless connection to iPad and Macbook through bluetooth so no need for a dongle/adapter.

Were the problems reported on this site related to use in heavy rain? Even so, that shouldn't affect performance but I can't vouch for the long term weatherproofing as I tend to avoid riding in the rain if I can help it.

I have nothing to measure the Stages performance against but they're pretty popular here in western Switzerland and I've never heard of any issues. I'm certainly happy with mine.

Calibrates immediately with the Wahoo on BTLE, whereas it used to take a while on ANT+ with Garmin.

aberdeenal

I have 2 x Stages PM's (1 x Gen 1 and 1 x Gen 2) - I had issues with my 1st Gen PM which they swapped for a Gen 2 but since the swap I've had no problems at all.

chatlow

thanks - I think the issue may be related to ant+, not bluetooth. But good to know it's been steady for you.

Will test out connectivity between my mac with ant+ dongle and the PM later.

Alex99

Two gen 2 5800 units here. Very solid, no drops on ANT+. 2 and 1 year respectively.

FWIW, I suspect that Stages and definitely Garmin roll out the odd bad update. Once everything was working and battery life was good on the Stages, I just stopped updating. Happy ever after

chatlow

Alex99 wrote:

Two gen 2 5800 units here. Very solid, no drops on ANT+. 2 and 1 year respectively.

FWIW, I suspect that Stages and definitely Garmin roll out the odd bad update. Once everything was working and battery life was good on the Stages, I just stopped updating. Happy ever after

Great to hear, thanks. Effort to replace for a more expensive 4iiii unit so just wanted to confirm at least 1 or 2 owners report no ant+ connection errors as I will be using it that way.

Cheers,

chatlow

Have you lot found the power to be down compared to other meters? I only have my Tacx Vortex trainer to compare against and it's down by about 30-40 compared to that. I'm definitely no Chris Froome but my average for an hour Zwift session was 185w from stages, 225w from Tacx. Reality hurts.. or my left leg is crap lol

Peter Antonio

I have a 4iiii and it works great, no problems in 6 months!

triggersbroom

I've had an Ultegra Gen2 Stages PM attached to my bike since December. It's not missed a single connection to my Elemnt in all the time I've had it as well as connecting to iPhone for use with Zwift. Easy to use and thoroughly recommended. The combination of the Wahoo and Stages is faultless and has been a revelation in terms of seeing how much work I'm doing on the bike.