I clicked your link - no power. Then I noticed it opened in a different browser than I normally use and when I logged into strava - power data.

Here is your speed / power data from Strava



Thanks for the comments. I am getting one on Friday.

I write firmware. Part of the job is writing software workarounds for hardware bugs.

I've used the Vector for 5-6 rides now. It appears to be working fine. I haven't run it side by side with my Quarq (my Garmin 500 is dead so I only have one head unit).

The power data appears consistent with perceived effort, and what I'd expect comparing it to past experience with a Quarq and PT's.

Recalibrating, and tightening the left pedal appears to have taken care of the descrepency in power balance I observed on the first ride.

After the initial set up, its easy to use, just pedal backwards a couple of revolutions to calibrate and you're good to go.

So at this point, my only gripe is the poor documentation for using them with other than a Garmin 800, and the lack ofknowledge by Garmin's support people. But again I guess that's to be expected in the initial roll out of a niche product.


Saturday's warmup ride before Six Gap:

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/CMHH...EEWFW7MGIRFS2E

Do you pay for Strava premium? I believe it only shows power to premium members, which is why some others can see your power data when logged in. I just use Strava free and do my power analysis on Garmin Connect.

Rather than start another thread, I will add my recent experience with the Garmin Vector to Merlin's.

We took delivery of the Vector about a week ago and spent last week installing it on my wife's road bike in anticipation of the GMR hill climb race in SoCal. She has a Quarq on her other road bike so she has a long track record of power data and perceived effort at different power levels.

I was installing the PM on the fly as we were on vacation in SoCal and the first thing I discovered is that I needed a special torque wrench and a 15 mm crowfoot socket. I have a torque wrench but it does not go high enough for the 25 foot pounds of torque required. After searching, I found the crowfoot socket at Lowes and the thickness of the socket was a perfect match for the pedal clearance. If the crowfoot is too thick, it will not work well.

I found a 0 to 75 foot pound torque wrench at Sears. I wanted a torque wrench with the 25 foot pound reading in the sweet spot of the range. Sears sells several torque wrenches and some go higher in torque but IMO, make getting an accurate reading more difficult at the lower end of the range. Also, one does not want a torque wrench that has too large of a head. If the head is too large, it may not allow the crowfoot socket to fully engage on the pedal.

I followed DC Rainmaker's instructions and read the Garmin info and looked at the videos. I recommend that one reads the entire DC Rainmaker review before proceeding with the installation.

Prior to installation, I checked the Garmin site for software updates and updated my Garmin 500 and 800. I planned to use the 500 for the Vector although the 500 does not have an installation wizard in the software. I also, updated the Vector Firmware by using the Garmin supplied WIFI UBS gizmo. One first has to download the Vector Updater and then pair the UBS gizmo with the Vector pedals. Each pedal is done individually by removing the battery and waiting 20 second and then re-installing it. The update worked perfectly and I set the crank length during the update. I do not think that the 500 sets the pedal length in the firmware.

There are a couple of tricky parts to the installation to get it right. IMO, a torque wrench is required and the crowfoot socket a must. DC Rainmaker has a curve showing error as a function of torque. The curve is pretty flat around 25 foot pounds but greater or less torque causes power data accuracy problems. The other issue is getting the accelerometers perfectly positioned on the crank arm. First, there has to be a space ~1mm between the accelerometer and the crank arm and this is accomplished by adding washers. I used one washer but more may be needed. The other is getting the accelerometer 90 degrees to the pedal. When the pedal is tightened, the accelerometer turns with the torque wrench. So one has to put a 15 degree offset from 90 degrees and then torque to 25 pounds. I used the pic in the DC Rainmaker review and when I hit 25 foot pounds, the accelerometer was at 90 degrees.

Potential problems... Some crank arms may not work due to clearance between the chain and the plug that plugs into the pedal spindle. My crank was a D/A and it was fine. Also, oval chainrings may not work and are not supported.

Before starting up the software, ride the bike and put in some sprint efforts. The goal is to stress the mechanical system prior to calibration. The 800 has a wizard to assist in the calibration but the 500 does not. The first thing that one has to do is allow the Vector to check the angles of the accelerometers. This is done by powering up the Garmin and pairing the head unit with the Vector. One then rides the bike and accelerates from 70 to 90 rpm. During that rpm acceleration, the software will flash a screen indicating success and start indicating power. With the 500 head unit, I did not see a splash screen. After that setup is complete, there is a static calibration with the pedals at 3 and 9 O'clock. The final calibration is a dynamic calibration by pedaling backwards 8 times and the Vector gives another splash screen and you are ready to rock.

Writing this description of what I did was harder than actually doing the installation and the setup. Such is life with documentation.

My wife test rode the Vector and said the power matched her perceived effort.

The next day, the Vector would not perform a static calibration and gave a calibration failed error even though the power readings seemed accurate. I got on the phone with Garmin (I got a CS rep in about 3 minutes) and discussed the problem. He talked with his software support and indicated that the 500 can create a corrupt file the first time it is used with the Vector. I had to do a hard reboot of the 500 and reset all the settings. The Rep stayed on the phone while I did the restart and then with me while I rode the bike and redid the startup of the Vector. It worked perfectly and calibrated. They will have to revise the 500 software to fix this bug. I told the Rep that I did not see the splash screen going from 70 to 90 rpm. He said that it is really fast and most miss it.

My wife used the Vector at the GMR race and it calibrated and worked perfectly comparing past power data to the new Vector data seems that the Vector is yielding accurate data.

Swapping between bikes... Based upon my limited experience, this seems totally reasonable and should not take a lot a time (a few minutes) but the torque wrench and crowfoot socket are a must IMO. There may be issues with crank arms and chain rings and the crank arm length (if different) must be reset each time and it is unclear is one needs to do that using a computer or can be done with certain head units.

We deem the purchase and installation a success and certainly equal to or better than the experience we had with Quarq and Power Tap. YMMV.

To the user it is just one product with one price, not a hardware product and a software product. I agree that new products should work as advertised and not need an initial upgrade. At every, of the many, delays in the roll out of the Vector, Garmin repeated that they wanted to get it right the first time. It is the way things are with all new products however and why I only rarely pay to test products by being an early adopter.

Wife feels differently and stayed up late to get on the Apple web site and get one of the new iPhones. It has had an system update already. I suppose products may be a little cheaper this way with all the volunteer testing so I guess I like the early adopters.

I didn't use a torque wrench, and am not sure it's necessary.

DC Rainmaker's experience, chart, and discussions with Garmin, clearly show under tightening leads to inaccuracies.

My own experience with the left pedal apparently under reading is consistnet with that, in that tightening the pedal (and recalibrating) seemed to solve that.

I'm not sure that over tightening is a problem. In other words, I'm not sure you have to hit the 25 ft lbs precisely. Garmin's manual says 25-30ft lbs, and doesn't indicate that hitting it precisely is necessary for accuracy.

And as I read the chart, I don't see where it addresses torque above 25ft lbs



All that said I'm going to buy another torque wrench, and crow's foot, to spec it correctly.

Good point Merlin. What surprised me was that 25 foot pounds did not feel like that much force from my arm but that may be due to the length of the lever arm of the torque wrench. Also, I am planning on swapping the Vector quite often between bikes and I did not want to over torque the pedal and I want repeatability of power data from bike to bike so proper torquing seemed to me to be a way to minimize error. BTW, the Sears torque wrench was really cheap $13 online and pick up at the store and the crowfoot $7 at Lowes. The biggest problem was locating the tools quickly while on vacation.

Finally got my Vector pedals to work properly today.

No major issues with physical installation (location, washers, clearances) except a note to be careful with the grease! It was noted above by someone else that they were going to be extra careful given that the torque would be higher than we would normally do, so after a good clean of the crank I greased up the threads well and put the pedals on. As the threads spin on, the excess grease is squeezed out - normally no issue and easy to wipe off. However, with the Vector pedals the end of the spindle is open and full of the electrical contacts, so I managed to fill that with a bunch of the blueish/green Park Tools grease! I had to clean it all with a couple of q-tips!


Riding:

Initially I had a very biased left-right balance that wasn't believable. Checked torque on pedals.

Then I had an even balance for half a ride, then I lost the left pedal. Restarted Edge 500 and did calibration, but upon return the pedal was registering but the imbalance was also back. Loosened and re-torqued both pedals and re ran calibration. Power total about half what I'd expect!

Next ride saw the cadence stop (using the GSC-10 sensor) and the power stop with it. When cadence did come on, so did power. New battery in cadence sensor.

Cadence still coming and going. Loosened and re-torqued both pedals, cleaned pod plug contacts and also the socket inside the end of the pedal shaft (alcohol wipe, q-tip), removed cadence sensor and moved closer to bottom bracket so that I could move crank magnet further from pedal (possible interference?), re-installed software on Edge 500, pushed reset on GSC-10 when starting ride and calibrating everything.

Success!
Realistic power and left-right balance. No odd stopping of cadence and power.


Now to devise a training program to get the most of this so I get fitter and lighter!