Trade in your old Saturn Quarq for a new model by 3/31 for $899 or $699. Thoughts?
As a current satisfied Saturn owner with no problems experienced to date I don’t want to spend money just for something new and shiny but are they doing this for a reason? I know the customer service is great (vs. competitor products that don’t need cust svc and that argument) but are they doing this to try and get them off of bikes so they don’t have to deal with them anymore while making $$ and making customers feel like they’re getting a good deal?
Trade in your old Saturn Quarq for a new model by 3/31 for $899 or $699. Thoughts?
As a current satisfied Saturn owner with no problems experienced to date I don’t want to spend money just for something new and shiny but are they doing this for a reason? I know the customer service is great (vs. competitor products that don’t need cust svc and that argument) but are they doing this to try and get them off of bikes so they don’t have to deal with them anymore while making $$ and making customers feel like they’re getting a good deal?
It helps people out in several ways I would guess:
Gets old technology off the road and replaced with newer, better technology.
Allows a wider range of fit options (shorter crankarms?)
I think the deal is okay. I bought the 975 when they were closing out last March for $995. If I do the upgrade to the Riken, that will mean my total purchase is $1700 (ETA: probably closer to $1750 when I factor in shipping to/from my location). If I wanted to spend that much, I would have just bought the Riken last year when it first came out. For someone who has owned their Saturn or 975 for a longer period of time, it likely is a more appealing offer.
My 975 is still under warranty. If it craps out for any reason, they’re going to send me a Riken. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard about recent Quarq returns. I’m happy with my 975 right now. No reason for me to upgrade but I do like the fact that Quarq is making the offer.
are they doing this to try and get them off of bikes so they don’t have to deal with them anymore while making $$ and making customers feel like they’re getting a good deal?
Interesting question. Given that the warranty for the Cinqo is two years, there is little chance that this will be a significant money saver for them: the costs of covering warranties for these products will be virtually nil as most are out of warranty.
There is also no chance of them being sold “reconditioned” as the announcement states that the units will be crushed. Therefore, the only option for them to make money from this is by persuading customers with older models to unnecessarily upgrade.
Finally, the terms are reasonable: the going rate for secondhand Quarqs in the classifieds on Slowtwitch is less than the 1kUSD implied value from the trade-in terms.
Personally, I run a 2010 FSA Cinqo and love it. My only concern, and therefore incentive for taking up their offer, is the expected life of the unit. I don’t know what a reasonable life expectancy would be for a Quarq. Can anybody help with this?
That’s my question as well. I wasn’t trying to imply it was a bad deal but wondering to myself if it is worth the upgrade to hedge against mine crapping out after 4/1 and then being SOL. Getting a quarq for the price of a stages is a great deal but of course its money that I hadn’t budgeted to spend this year on equipment.
For those that have had an older quarq bite the dust after warranty expiration, what have they offered if anything?
That’s my question as well. I wasn’t trying to imply it was a bad deal but wondering to myself if it is worth the upgrade to hedge against mine crapping out after 4/1 and then being SOL. Getting a quarq for the price of a stages is a great deal but of course its money that I hadn’t budgeted to spend this year on equipment.
I’m seriously looking at the same. Any thoughts on which crank? I’m running fsa but if I go shorter I’ll need new crank as well. Thinking 170 sworks for my shiv.
You get everything. A full crank, spider, crank arms etc.
The program has no restrictions apart from returning an eligible power meter and paying the upgrade cost. You can move from full size to compact. You can change your crank length or bottom bracket to take advantage of new, shorter cranks or to realize the dream bike build you have been working on.
Unless I’m misunderstanding something that is~.
You can even change from GXP to BB30 or the other way.
Only restriction/difference you’ll have to think about is the top tier (RED, RED 22 and Elsa) have more crank options compared to the shortest 170mm of the Riken and the left/right power calculations.
I was getting weird calibration #'s when I arrived in Kona this year(over 2000), visited the Quarq tent and they were able to easily trouble shoot the problem. I took the opportunity to ask them about the warranty on my 2012 FSA Cinqo and what the worse case scenario would be if my power meter totally crapped out after the 2yr warranty period. Now I have nothing in writing and can’t even remember the term that was used, but basically I was told that I would have to send in the PM for a replacement and that it would cost about $800. So since then,in my mind, I’ve thought that I would be out at most $800 if I need to get a replacement PM…I’m now wondering if this is no longer the case(after this March 31 deadline), or if this promo is simply advertising what was already the case.
I don’t necessarily think either is the case. I’m betting they will continue to offer this for anyone with an out of warranty unit that might crap the bed in the future but they won’t make it part of their warranty service formally. I’d be surprised if I come to them with a completely broken Saturn and the only option they give me is to buy a new unit at retail price. That being said, this current deal definitely benefits them by hopefully clearing some of the original odds and ends out of existence. Now that they are part of SRAM I bet they would prefer to not have all those other models floating around. I suppose I’m in a bit of a risky position having 2 Saturns - one Lightning crank and one Rotor - with the end of formal support for them here. Still, I can’t justify dropping significant $$$ to “upgrade” something that I’m perfectly happy with and have no issues. I don’t really care about the “new” technology. The only true benefit I see for me would be another 2 years of warranty.
I’m not sure how I feel about this, I don’t think it’s a bad deal but I also think it’s a pretty smart if not necessary move for Quarq.
I have a few year old S975 that I picked up used. No major problems with it, but my zero offsets have always been pretty huge and I’ve had some issues with temperature compensation and drift on the unit in certain conditions. If the new models have generally improved accuracy, durability and extreme weather performance than it’s something that I’d consider. That of course and more crank arm options.
Now in terms of the business sense of this, I think this is almost necessary to try and retain Quarq customers. If I were to decide to simply replace my Quarq outright it is unlikely I would purchase another Quarq at this point. I think it’s a great product and I’ve always had great support, but I just don’t think their price points are that competitive anymore. Quarq provides a great product, but is it really worth X dollars more than a Stages, Powertap G3 or Power2Max Type S? Possibly, but it’s not an easy decision anymore.
On other hand, if I were to spend Elsa type money I know have other somewhat compelling options like the Vector, which may not offer many/any real benefits over the Quarq but feels like more exciting technology when compared to just another minor iteration of a crank-based PM.
So in that regard this is a good move for them, it tempts me into re-committing as a Quarq customer, potentially earlier than I would have if I would have at all, and does so before even more lucrative products or prices from the competition can tempt me away entirely.
All that said, this feels in a way like a partial admittance from Quarq that they may need more competitive pricing going forward to attract customers and this may serve as somewhat of a stopgap measure in the interim period.
I agree. I think the days of $2k power meters are not going to last much longer. Companies will still develop/sell the higher end, but that’s not where the marketshare is going to be.
I’m not sure how I feel about this, I don’t think it’s a bad deal but I also think it’s a pretty smart if not necessary move for Quarq.
I have a few year old S975 that I picked up used. No major problems with it, but my zero offsets have always been pretty huge and I’ve had some issues with temperature compensation and drift on the unit in certain conditions. If the new models have generally improved accuracy, durability and extreme weather performance than it’s something that I’d consider. That of course and more crank arm options.
Now in terms of the business sense of this, I think this is almost necessary to try and retain Quarq customers. If I were to decide to simply replace my Quarq outright it is unlikely I would purchase another Quarq at this point. I think it’s a great product and I’ve always had great support, but I just don’t think their price points are that competitive anymore. Quarq provides a great product, but is it really worth X dollars more than a Stages, Powertap G3 or Power2Max Type S? Possibly, but it’s not an easy decision anymore.
On other hand, if I were to spend Elsa type money I know have other somewhat compelling options like the Vector, which may not offer many/any real benefits over the Quarq but feels like more exciting technology when compared to just another minor iteration of a crank-based PM.
So in that regard this is a good move for them, it tempts me into re-committing as a Quarq customer, potentially earlier than I would have if I would have at all, and does so before even more lucrative products or prices from the competition can tempt me away entirely.
All that said, this feels in a way like a partial admittance from Quarq that they may need more competitive pricing going forward to attract customers and this may serve as somewhat of a stopgap measure in the interim period.
I’m in the market for a PM and I’m interested that you reckon the cheaper options are worth a decent look. Have you guys heard any reports on the Stages? Not having left-right balance seems like a major downer to me (pretty sure my pedal stroke is a bit skewed, and one of my reasons for getting a PM is that I’d be able to pay more attention to it).
The question is at what point will those be the retail price for the cranks vs upgrade price. While the price for Quarq is a complete crankset, Stages has set the new bar for price that thus only PT has followed. With multiple bikes between my wife and I, it’s a better deal to have several PT wheels. If you had only one bike, I could see Quarq being a good deal especially if you want a lot of wheel choices.
I’m in the market for a PM and I’m interested that you reckon the cheaper options are worth a decent look. Have you guys heard any reports on the Stages? Not having left-right balance seems like a major downer to me (pretty sure my pedal stroke is a bit skewed, and one of my reasons for getting a PM is that I’d be able to pay more attention to it).
The general consensus so far is that L/R power is not a revolutionary feature. Some imbalance is expected and does not seem to have much/any real negative effect. So far I have not heard any reports of people really using this data to make significant and positive adjustments to their pedal stroke.
The most important feature of a power meter is consistency, even over accuracy. By that measure I don’t have any problem recommending pretty much anything on the market today, especially Stages. It is possible that your readings may not be as accurate as other systems, but as long as they are consistent for you this should be entirely inconsequential to the true benefit of training with power (analysis) and race execution based on power (pacing).
For around the same price as Stages you can also get a Powertap G3 hub which may offer better accuracy depending on your power balance. Of course the tradeoff is that you are bound to a single wheel for both training and racing. Of course, you could also practically afford 2 G3 hubs for the price of one Elsa so this may not be a major concern.
Combining increased accuracy and features over Stages but with flexibility in wheel selection you have the Power2Max Type S which seems to be well regarded and I think is very attractively priced. Right now I think that would be my recommendation for best combination of value and features. My only concern with Power2Max is that it is a European company and I am unsure if their US customer service is comparable to that of Quarq.
I think Quarq is still a compelling option itself, but you are potentially paying more mostly for peace of mind (reputation, proven customer service) rather than tangible improvements in the product itself over the competition.
I would still personally recommend Quarq if you are not as constrained by budget, but it’s not nearly as much of an open and shut case as it once was.
I have a Stages (a bit of a Frankenstein setup too on my bike). If I were to buy a crank based system I would get the power2max in a heartbeat. It is extremely well priced I think.