monstorr

Anyone want to share thoughts on the IQsquare power meter fiasco? Kickstarter page

I just got a Lezyne and want to get a cheap PM that still works well and this fits the budget if it ever comes out!

Im waiting for someone like GPLama or Rainmaker to get one and review it properly before pulling the trigger.

I can get one on their website for ~$300 USD so if you can think of something that equates to that and is already tried and true feel free to let me know!

-Richard

JohnJ80

I'd wait to see what both of those guys have to say. The power meter space is a pretty crowded space these days and what's out there is getting pretty cost effective in general. So I'd expect some of the weaker players would be falling out soon. If GPLama and DCRainmaker don't go for it, it's going to be an uphill climb for them.

The other reason I'd wait is that it seems there are a lot of unfulfilled tech projects on the crowd funding websites lately. Given the competition, it would be easy to put your money in and get nothing out.

unterhausen

they apparently thought they were done with the hardware and discovered they weren't. So I'm sure I wouldn't give them any money at this point. It's not that much cheaper than one that we know works, which are plentiful

JohnJ80

monstorr

I just did some light digging and found a few in the 3-400 range. I will probably pull the trigger on the PowerTap C1 or C3. Just trying to figure out do I want the dual side readings or speed readings. Im so used to wanted to get the latest and greatest I wasn't even thinking!!

JohnJ80

I have Stages single sided on two bikes and like them. I hear good things about Pioneer too.

DCRainmaker has a whole discussion on single sided vs dual in his power meter review, if I recall. Generally not a lot of difference in numbers but it can matter to some.

There's a ton of choices out there in almost any form factor - crank, hub, rotor, or pedal. I went with crank so that I wasn't fixed to a given pedal type and because I use Speedplay pedals and like them a lot. There's a lot from tried and tested brands that are not a lot more than the crowdsourced ones you were looking at. Pioneer even has a program were you can send them your crank arm and they'll mount the power meter on that. That drops the price more since they're not having to sell you a crank arm too (although it's nice to have an extra if you take the PM off).

J.

Seattle Forrest

Those are the chainrings, right? They'll measure 100% of the total power you produce, but not break it out into L and R? If so, go for it. L/R balance isn't useful unless your dealing with an injury.

monstorr

Yes they are, its funny you say that because I am actually getting knee surgery in the next couple weeks. I didn't even think about using the dual to make sure I am back to 100%

JohnJ80

Whoa. I just went and read the specs again on the Kickstarter page. They add a TON of Q-factor - 16mm to each side. That's essentially adding more than 0.6" spindle length to each pedal! That's an incredible amount of additional Q-factor and is likely going to cause pain in hips or knees - I know it would for me. I went through experimenting with different wider Q-factors a couple of years ago and wound up with a pretty sore right hip until I got things back to normal.

I do think that a relatively normal Q-factor variants (few millimeters) do lead to adaptation and I get that different bikes have different Q-factors, but this is a giant difference on the same bike over the pedals one used before. A lot of the tech in all of the other pedals involves getting the electronics and strain gauges into the pedals but without a big impact on Q factor. Most of them run around 53-56mm on the other pedal based power meters.

To put some numbers on this, I ride Speedplay, which has a standard spindle length of 53mm but offers a shorter version down to 50mm and longer versions to 65mm. If you were to take stock pedals at around 53mm spindle length and add 16mm to them you'd have a 68mm spindle that is 3mm beyond the longest spindle length Speedplay offers or you'd have to buy new pedals (special order) at 50mm to just get to the max Speedplay spindle length of 65mm - which is still a gigantic Q-factor. The reason I spent a lot of time figuring this out for me was to accommodate a old knee injury. I finally got it dialed in with a spindle length of the standard 53m on one side and bumped out the Q-factor on the other side to around 58mm. When I went to large Q-factors, I wound up with persistent hip pain that took months to fully resolve after just riding with it wider for a couple of weeks. Don't want to repeat that situation again.

Based on that, I wouldn't touch these with a 10' pole. Good idea, but a terrible implementation, IMO. I predict this isn't going to have very wide acceptance and that will cause them problems with the product's survival. That Q-factor change this huge is going to be a show stopper for most riders who are looking for power meters, I'd guess. Riders who are willing to buy a power meter tend to be oriented to the performance end of things and are tuned into specs like this.

J.

unterhausen

when I saw the picture, it really made me wonder why people were so excited over it. Crank based seems like the way to go for a cheap PM. But wide Q doesn't bother me too much, at least not on my fatbike.

JohnJ80

Seattle Forrest

My Vectors say I'm putting my feet about 15 mm outside the center of the pedals, this might be good for me.