Originally Posted by eandmwilson
OK, the OP asked best for the $$.
Is the Polar utterly useless crap? At 1/3 to 1/4 the cost, from what I've seen it is ~10% accurate compared to 1-3%. If the error is relative (i.e. always off but repeatably), how can that NOT be the best cost/performance option? Is the exact wattage key, or fairly accurate, though not exact, power trends?
The problem with the cheaper power meters is that their accuracy is very inconsistent. Under certain conditions, they can be very accurate. In other conditions, accuracy is known to be pretty weak. How valuable these things are overall depends a lot on the type of training you are doing.