Has anyone used the new Look Polar Power Pedals? Any good or bad reviews on the subject?
I like the price of the PT but want to use different race wheels for different courses. The SRM also has great reviews but the price is a bit high.
Thanks!
-RBS
quarq
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Only a few hands have touched the pedals. We installed a pair here at Polar USA prior to bringing the set to Rodale Press. Chris@PolarUSA and Justin@LOOK met with Bicycling Magazine Editors. You are not likely to get much of response from a hands on perspective. If needed, PM me or post questions. This link might not help but we made it public.
http://www.facebook.com/PolarUSA
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150272823620800&set=pu.31962370799&type=1&theater
There is a rumour on other forums that Polar will now offer an Ant+ option on these. That would go a long way to deal with the critique of these. Any truth to the rumour?
show me link or as the ST’ers say, it doesn’t exist 
I need to read this since nobody posted critique my bike position lately
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http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=54198&start=465
See post from “743power”
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Quarq, unless you need to use Dura Ace cranks. Then it complicates the question. I would not hold my breath waiting for the Look/Keo system. If you buy a Quarq, and then want to switch (which I doubt) you’ll have no problem selling it. Latest and greatest is fun for many things, but not for a PM. Personally, I would give both the Garmin/Vector and the Look/keo systems at least a year on the market before taking the plunge. When they do come to market, watch the posts on the wattage forum. They will be crunching the numbers, and then we’ll have a better idea of how well they function, and what unforeseen customer service issues that will arise. They both are a new approaches to power, maybe they have a game changer, or another PM lemon. (Like Ergomo)
Found it, thanks. His little birdie is 100% wrong, either that or I missed an internal memo
You have heard Chris@Polar mention BTLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). This is why you need industry reps on message boards, you get credible information and not have to trust a rumor. You could reply to that message board about your little birdie on ST. I appreciate you pointing this out, ST rules. I am sure many have Google’d Dynastream, which might explain why we are not ANT+.
I suspect I am a lifetime Powertap user after having nothing but positive experiences with their customer service. I bought the wired version for a great deal at Excell Sports and have been riding it hard for 15 months. The two times I called, they shipped stuff out to me free of charge. One time I was not even sure of the problem and they shipped me a new harness, just to make sure. Frankly, once set up, the wired version is perfectly functional and has helped me immensely since I started training with more knowlege and purpose. If you are talking about bike racing when you say "use different wheels with different course, I can see that, but for tri you don’t really need anything besides a PT with a wheel cover. Truthfully, though, they have narrowed the price quite a bit between wired and wireless and now I might buy wireless instead, so I could try out the Joule and have normalized power on the fly.
Chad
The fact that the Look/Polar pedals show left vs right foot/leg peddling is huge! Strengthening the weaker side of the body to have a much smoother pedal stroke while maintaining certain wattage will increasingly make you a stronger cyclist. Personally, having a device that is NOT ANT+ compatible is not the end of the world either.
Last year I was riding with two of my buddies (both had Powertaps & Cervo computers) The two were riding about 2-3’ in between one another. My one buddy asked the other what his watts were. He told him and the other guy cussed because his computer was reading his buddies watts. Hmmmm…with Polar, that would not have happened.
I also heard that the SRM power meters cost more to maintain. Batteries…shipping…etc…etc. Is that true?
Quarq if it’s in your price range, otherwise just get a used PowerTap wheel and a wheelcover. I, along with a lot of people, was very disappointed with the specs on the Polar pedals. Not having ANT+ is a huge disadvantage when SRM, PowerTap, Quarq, Garmin and Power2max all use ANT+ to work with any number of computers.
Too bad on the ant+ decision. You (polar) seem almost strident about it in your posts… That sucks because I love my Look pedals and already own two Garmin computers that run power So why are you bucking the ant+ convention? I’d be pretty likely to buy a set for the road and put my quarq on the cross bike if they were ant+. I have never had a cross talk problem with ant+ as a previous poster suggested, ever. So other than a one hand washes the other between Look and Polar, I don’t get the resistance to ant+.
Too bad on the ant+ decision. You (polar) seem almost strident about it in your posts… That sucks because I love my Look pedals and already own two Garmin computers that run power So why are you bucking the ant+ convention? I’d be pretty likely to buy a set for the road and put my quarq on the cross bike if they were ant+. I have never had a cross talk problem with ant+ as a previous poster suggested, ever. So other than a one hand washes the other between Look and Polar, I don’t get the resistance to ant+.
I think what Wayne@Polar is getting at by his quote “I’m am sure many have Google’d Dynastream, which might explain why we are not ANT+.” is that Garmin owns Dynastream, the company that developed ANT.
The fact that the Look/Polar pedals show left vs right foot/leg peddling is huge!
What’s the big deal? Polar’s power meters have had that feature for years now…
BTW, ANT+ receivers are paired to a unique transmitter (and that only needs to be done once), so I highly doubt that your buddies were “sharing” a power output on their head units…unless one of them forced his to “pair” when the other one was in range, which would be a silly thing to do.
God forbid industry work together to simplify our lives…
God forbid industry work together to simplify our lives…
You do realize that Garmin and Polar are actually competitors in certain markets, right?
Anyway…I personally wouldn’t get too spun up about the Polar/Look offering and it being a great solution for “power enthusiasts”. If their track record on the previous Polar power offerings is worth anything, I wouldn’t plan on them realizing yet that they’re actually not in the “HR monitor” business 
quarq indeed.
This conversation is about the technology only at this point. I don’t think any would argue about the quality of Polar customer service. They are very good. Of course, so is Quarq!!!
This conversation is about the technology only at this point…
And that’s exactly what I was talking about…
True, but it seems to me that people take stands on the technology side (for perfectly valid reasons), but others sometimes interpret that as a general dis of the entire company. I’ve seen that on this forum and others. I was trying to perform a bit of a public service on this. Have had lots of experience (not as much as you of course) with the chain tension polar power meter. Although finicky, when set up it does the job for the power newby, and whenever anyone in my group had issues, they were dealt with professionally by Polar, no questions asked, and usually for just the cost of shipping. We actually wondered how they made money on their stuff, given the level of support. I have now moved on to Quarq (who as we all acknowledge have the “gold standard” in customer service). But that was for technological reasons only. I just want to present a clear and fair picture.