Originally Posted by
carpediemracing
Question for the powermeter bunch. I want to get an Ant+ powermeter but I don't know what computer head to buy. Does everyone use the Garmin because it's that much better or are there alternatives? I am thinking of stuff like if I ever use the data to feed into an active-resistance trainer, like one that replicates your ride (like I think the CycleOps stationary bike), etc.
Or is it just get an Ant+ thing and get it done?
I'm looking to download into Golden Cheetah. I have WKO+ but rarely boot up the Windows machines. I do the Strava thing and may consider uploading actual power files versus just the map and avg power/HR/cadence.
I'll be parallel recording power/data with the wired SRM for a while, to compare/check stuff.
I don't use the computers for training, meaning I don't look at my wattage or HR or whatever while I ride. If I had a watch on my wrist I would almost never look at the powermeter. In other words I don't care about intervals or laps or whatever. I just want to download the data and look at the graphs.
cdr--what do you want to accomplish?
long story short, garmins are pretty ubiquitous. they do many things right and sometimes can be found for a song (like the edge 500 which many people dismissed when the 510 came out). the 510 doesn't really replace the 500.
there are lots of alternatives. i personally love the pc7, but it is quite a bit different to a garmin and a non-starter if one needs gps. what it does right is always recording, and it is pretty bomb-proof in terms of data integrity.
as GC mentioned, most garmins are fine though every one i've owned and everyone i've worked with has -- at some point -- lost data due to a garmin. it's infrequent (i'd say 1 file per year). you can decide it that is important to you or not. for me it's an issue, but i still have 2 garmins sitting on my desk. i use one of them to update the slope on SRMs (funny that the pc7 can't do it!) and for an occasional ride where i want/need gps.
i expect the pc8 to replace it.
there are other options but i can't really speak to them with personal experience.
i think BTLE might be the future, but i don't think it is the near future. i think we'll have ANT+ for a while.
if you decide you want a pc7, let me know as there are some deals to be had. also, when the 8 does show up (roll your eyes--delivery time has become a joke!), i may wind up selling my own pc7 for cheap. i won't sell it before i am 100% convinced about the 8's data recording, though.
dcrainmaker does very long reviews. IMO, the reviews sometimes miss the mark for people who race/train in scenarios where there are lots of short spikes or intervals. his testing is usually centered around endurance stuff/longer triathlon efforts, and i've read many reviews from him where he declares something "good" but hasn't really considered test cases that might be important for, say, a crit guy. just my $0.02.