dr_max

My ultegra groupset was destroyed after 25 000 miles, bought a Sram force etap AXS groupset this Black Friday and the guy at the bike shop convinced me to go with a Sram force crankset with a power meter since we used to race together 10 years ago.

would you recommend
Arrowhead
Wahoo
Garmin

is there any app on the phone that connects ANT+ directly to the SRAM force crabkset power meter?

I have not looked into that for 10 years since I stopped racing

BTinNYC 

Congrats!!

I've read good things about IpBike, it's apparently powerful but with a steep learning curve.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...pbike&hl=en_GB

List of Android phones that support Ant+
https://www.thisisant.com/consumer/a.../ant-in-phones

As a city rider, I like the rear facing radar that displays on my computer (Both Wahoo and Garmin do this well) and that's about the only thing the phone app doesn't do.

chaadster

For training and serious riding, there is nothing to recommend a phone over a dedicated cyclocomputer.

Since you’ve been out of the game awhile, I’d suggest the Wahoo Bolt as an excellent way to go, because the Wahoo user interface and ecosystem is more simple and plain to use than either Garmin or Hammerhead, although I see Garmin have improved things over the past few years. I’ve been all in on Wahoo since the first Bolt came out, though, and I have been very happy being there.

In all, there’s probably very little separating those three top competitors— i.e. it’s not going to be hard learning your way around any of them— so it’s all in the finer details of the user experience, and ultimately, what you want to do with the computers. Garmin, for example, have more on-board data analysis stuff than Wahoo, I believe, so if you’re the data junkie type, Garmin is probably the way to go. Hammerhead have the ability to “side load” Android apps, which may be useful depending on what you want to do

For all the essential in-ride data and features you need for efficient and effective training, I think Wahoo delivers that better than anyone right now, albeit by a slim margin. Post ride analytics can be done in any variety of places, and you can push data fairly easily wherever you prefer pretty much (don’t know about Hammerhead), so that end of it is a wash by supplier.

There are other brands, like Lezyne and Bryton, in the space too, but unless you know exactly what kind of features, connectivity, and workflow you want from the headunit, I’d stick to either Wahoo or Garmin.

If you can, I’d suggest hitting your local bike shops and poking around the devices just to see how the user interfaces hit you. There are lots of good YouTube vids on that stuff, too

PeteHski

I agree with chaadster, although I only have experience with Garmin computers. I use a Garmin Edge 530, which works fine but the Garmin UI is a bit messy. But once set up it's easy enough to use on a daily basis and has been reliable for 3 years. I do have mine paired with a SRAM Force AXS pwoermeter too. No problems there.

choddo

Agree with the above. Phones are just too big, fragile and the battery takes a beasting. imho. Garmin 1040 here and the battery life and mapping are outstanding. New UI is mostly better than the x30 series and earlier but has its foibles. Friends have Wahoos and speak very highly of them.

datlas 

Get a dedicated head unit. The big three (Garmin, Hammerhead, and Wahoo) all have viable offerings and choice depends on budget and features you want. Look at DCRainmaker if you want a deep dive on these, but all of them are viable.

Agree avoid using a phone app, that’s an option but would strongly suggest a dedicated head unit.

Rick_D

My aged Edge 820 communicates with my SRAM wireless drivetrain, displaying the current gear values and selected cog on a rear cluster graphic. I'd guess the newest 840 will do that and power meter values. It's very customizable and dead reliable--I put mounts on most of my bikes and just move it among them.

I also like the Garmin Connect app.

Steve B.

The Hammerhead units interface well with SRAM, seeing as how SRAM owns Hammerhead, so there's good info. shared. I've used the K2 for about 2 years as well as having owned a bunch of Garmins. The only thing I find annoying on the K2 is the mediocre battery life of about 10 hrs. It's only an issue in that you need to pay attention every couple of days to keep it charged, but it baffled me that Hammerhead has never seen fit to fix this issue. I would think for somebody doing touring with poor access to power sources it would be a poor choice;. Other than that it navigates well and has a good screen display and a decent map. I do read on the K2 FB page that folks have many serious issues with a poor ability of the unit to re-route if you go off course, seems it's been a known issue for over a year that Hammerhead has not yet resolved, so much for their so-called superior customer service. As well it does not well interface with Trailforks if you do much mt biking and need that system for navigation.

I tend to use my Garmin 1040 the most as it well integrates with Shimano DI2 which I have on 2 bikes and also connects to my one AXS system. K2 does not connect to Di2 unless you sideload a special app. My1040 also goes 35 hrs run time, so I don't need to pay attention as much to keeping charged. Kind of baffles me that Garmin can design their devices with terrific battery life yet Hammerhead cannot. As far as I'm concerned, I get none of the issues with my 1030 or 1040 devices that many on the K2 FB page complain about, it's always been spot on with navigation. I could see that if you are only using as a general data display, power, etc... and not using maps, get the 840 with the smaller screen. The larger 1040 is a better choice if using for navigation. The K2 is about $50 cheaper for a similar unit. The K2 also offers separate button control which can be useful if you ride in cold tempos with heavy gloves, where as the 840/1040 are mostly touch screen units.

choddo

I think the hammerhead screen and the fact they have to run android burns a lot of energy where Garmin can be much more parsimonious.

dr_max

thanks for the help everyone

mschwett 

assuming it’s a new power meter (the current or relatively recent force unit by Quarq) you don’t need to use ANT+. basically all modern power meters support bluetooth.

if you want to try out a phone app, IMO the best is cadence. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bike-t...e/id1490975634

it has an incredibly customizable set of dashboards
including maps of any size, stats for basically everything - power, hr, cadence, pedal balance, speed, etc, great customer support, low battery usage (especially on a modern OLED phone with the black background), varia radar overlay, and lots of other fantastic features.

if you do decide to mount a phone on your bars (preferably a small one like an iphone mini) strongly recommend quad lock or sp-connect.

dr_max

really interesting app



do you think it will detect the new Sram force AXS powermeter

eduskator

Long term Wahoo user here and I wouldn't choose anything else. It's a matter of personal preference to be honest. It's like Android VS Iphone.

I think AXS uses a different connection protocol than Bluetooth or ANT+, but you should be able to pair it with this app.

Let us know how you like your Force as compared to your Ultegra.

choddo

AXS power meters support both ANT+ and Bluetooth.

mschwett 

yes, it definitely should.

PeteHski

You are thinking of the AXS proprietary protocol for wireless shift signals. Communication with external devices (phones, head units) is standard Bluetooth/ANT+

dr_max

my shifting cables were never changed since 2019 and shifting on my ultegra was the worse you can ever think off

my Sram force will be paradise

eduskator

Don't want this thread to derail from its original subject, but you can't compare oranges with apples. Your upgrade will certainly feel like paradise, but Ultegra DI2 is by far superior to Force AXS. Try both if you can; you'll see what I mean.

dr_max

I’ll let you know I am renting a bike with Ultegra Di2 in Mallorca this summer

Yan 

Garmin makes the most popular GPS sport watches on the market, so staying in the same app ecosystem is something to consider if you want to run, swim, or hike with a Garmin watch.

Steve B.

Well, yes and no. If you use the Connect app/website as your primary activity tracker, then I would agree. I use an Instinct for swimming and kayak tracking, data goes to the Connect website and onward to RWGPS as my activity tracker. When I use my Hammerhead the activity data goes to the HH website and then up to RWGPS. Only very minor difference between an activity tracked on my K2 and on my 1040, is the 1040 data also gets sent down from Connect to show on my Instinct. Pretty much data I pay no attention to. I can send my HR data from my Instinct to both the 1040 and the K2. Having a Garmin watch has mostly no impact on which cycling computer I use.

eduskator

Sweet! Going there in March too. Where will you rent your bike from? I will be renting one too since I don't want to travel with mine.

cweb99

I just run a simple Sigma with MPH, miles and cadence.

also got a new bike with mechanical shifters. I didn’t like the idea of plug-in bike. To each there own. Have fun!

dr_max

Max Huertzeler

he has a fleet of 3000 Cube bikes in 12 shops all around the island.
about 200-300 euros to rend a bike for 2 weeks.

really great service
they set up the bike in less than 5 minutes when you arrive with your measurements on the chart they send you first

PeteHski

What a useless post! lol