It's annoying and poor design.

One more alternative is to use CR 1/3N batteries. They are essentially double the size of the 357 batteries, so you use 1 per pedal = no fretting.

Drawback is they last about 10 hours, versus 50ish for the silver oxide batteries. Decent for a race I guess.

I've only ever used the bigger batteries and never had a set last only 10hrs. I have 3 pairs of garmin vector/rally.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

Agreed. I ride about 20 hours a week and they last about a month.

Rechargeable someday sure would be nice. No pods 😀

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24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex

Sounds like whatever I ordered was old or counterfeit. Think I bought Duracell on Amazon. I'll have to try again.

I solved this by buying the Favero Assiomas

that is the only way to drop issues with crappy garmin stuff..
i had vector bought new, did not work, did get some parts, put them in, worked...3 weeks..than bought faveros...after one year i installed the garmins on commuter bike...3 weeks later, dead again..now garmin does not help and told me to swap them for 200 USD?they have worked exactly 150 km...
i would only need some parts, but they do not have them here in Europe, dealers do sell them for 40 Euros....

this is ridicolous...i disposed them in the trash, as i did not want anybody else having issues during an ironman or something!

As noted, if you're having Vector 3 battery connectivity issues, the fastest path to resolution is:

1) Ensure you've got the newer battery pod holder design (this came out years ago, and Garmin sent it out to everyone for free years ago, but not everyone filled out the little form. Hit up Garmin support and they'll send them out to you for free).

2) Switch to CR1/3N batteries. The reason Vector 3 had so many battery issues is that the production of LR44 batteries varies greatly. They aren't as uniform as power meter companies hoped (Verve Cycling also hated their life choice after they selected this battery design for their power meters). So the lack of compliance caused tiny little disconnects, especially with 2xLR44's that can change size/shape over the life of the battery. It's why some peopel went years without a problem, and others couldn't catch a break. They bought different batteries at different stages of life. The new pod design essentially eliminates that.

That said, this is one of those issues that was literally solved like 6 years ago for people with Vector 3 (June 2018). So if you're still somehow having issues, and haven't done the above, then definitely reach out to Garmin support. Rally uses the newer battery pod/cap design, and battery stuff simply hasn't been an issue there.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

I know those pedals are crap, but make sure it’s not a garmin head unit issue as well. Mine recently started dropping my brand new Rotor power meter and then it started dropping all of my sensors. There is a beta software update that Garmin says will fix it. Too early to tell though. But yeah. My Favera’s have never dropped…

My CR1 batteries seem to last forever. You may want to try a different brand?

of course, all the batteries possible were tested ( i work for a sanyo distributor and have loads of sourcees for all batteries available) :-)

In that case, which Vector 3 pods/caps are you using?

I mean, this was kinda a solved problem 6 years ago. Obviously, you can have dropouts from other sources (just like any other power meter), including head unit, wifi interference, large power lines, etc... But battery-driven power dropouts, and people reporting issues with Vector 3 ended a long-long-long time ago.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

it came down to a mechanical problem, the parts which were defective added up to 40 Euros if i remember correctly (Batterhousing etc...)Garmin did not want to sell them or send them for free(they told me they would not have any stock of anything in the EU), they told me i would have to swap the complete pedal.
Due to the delay in use (i bought them for a training camp in sourthern france and ended up with no powerpedals for 3 weeks) warranty did not cover it..but the pedals were only used 150k total..
so, i wante dot get them redone and sell them. But after seeing garmin treating me like this, i decided to trow them in the trash...they were basically brand new....but 2 years old..

My Garmin 840 drops my Rotor all the time too. Good to know there might be a fix coming.

The beta software is available to download now. They sent me a link to download it.

The pedals are certainly not crap. I simply didn't realize that after all these years I needed to clean off the contacts. They were not visibly dirty but when I wiped them with a Q-Tip one of the contacts was very dirty. That simple act solved the drop-outs instantly and I have not had a single drop since. I'm using cheap off-brand CR1/3N batteries and they last a very long time.

I'm pretty sure everyone with the pedals knows to use CR1/3N batteries and Garmin solved their hardware issue long ago. But, I'm sure a lot of people are not aware that simply cleaning, and maybe oiling, the contacts might be helpful.