Ibike Power meter - pros and cons

[smitsone]

Hi guys,
just wondering if anyone has had any interaction with the Gen 3 Ibike power metershttp://www.ibikesports.com/aboutus.html .From their own testing it seems that it has improved since but still seems to report on the low side when compared to PT/SRM. Does it matter that it is reporting lower, ? more important that it is consistent from session to session. Any thoughts are welcome, i guess the big plus is the price

thanks

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Does it matter that it is reporting lower, ?

Yes. But it's the degree and why it's reporting low that will determine how important this is.

more important that it is consistent from session to session.

While that's true, precision and accuracy of measuring instruments generally go hand in hand. If something is inaccurate, there's good reason to suspect its precision as well. iBike relies on regular user calibration.

i guess the big plus is the price

Is it really that much cheaper than a Powertap (the iBike model that you would buy, not the cheap model that doesn't record anything for download - no point in having a power device if you aren't recording and using the data)? You can get new PT for <$1k.

It does have an advantage of being able to be paired with a power meter using wireless transmission protocol. But then it becomes a really expensive CPU on top of your power meter. It could well be a more function rich CPU than an SRM or PT CPU.

[smitsone]

Thanks Alex,
as you say the $200 US version cannot download data so is pretty useless. The more expensive version starts at $500 plus (US). have noticed that Competitve Cyclist still have the 2009 power tap comp for $783 AUDhttp://www.competitivecyclist.com/road- ... 380.0.html, it is the wired version and is still pretty reliable ?. I noticed there was a thread on transition forums re this but may have been removed.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Thanks Alex,
as you say the $200 US version cannot download data so is pretty useless. The more expensive version starts at $500 plus (US). have noticed that Competitve Cyclist still have the 2009 power tap comp for $783 AUDhttp://www.competitivecyclist.com/road- ... 380.0.html, it is the wired version and is still pretty reliable ?. I noticed there was a thread on transition forums re this but may have been removed.

I can't say specifically for that particular PM but I've been running 2 wired PTs for 4 years without a problem.
I am also getting some units in for hire.

[smitsone]

Thanks Alex ,
any idea how much the rental for the PT will be ?

peter

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Thanks Alex ,
any idea how much the rental for the PT will be ?

peter

I haven't finalised numbers yet but I'm guessing ~ $20-25 / week.
To start with however I will probably confine to local market (Sydney) and those I know reasonably.
I'll probably do a "rent to buy" arrangement at some stage as well where some of the rental costs can offset outright purchase.