I know these peddles have had their issues with battery doors and drop outs and spikes and basically every other problem under the sun. I have read plenty of horror stories from early adopters and users who just cannot get their peddles to work right during the teething phase of this product. Many of those stories can be found here with the search function.
So maybe this is a question for more industry watchers than pissed off users.
Have these issues really been solved?
Is this a safe product to buy?
I want the data. Save me the spiel about how cycling dynamics do not present actionable information. I WANT THE DATA.
Favero Assioma are just not an option because of this. I would rather wait than buy something I think is a compromise; going any other route than access to cycling dynamics feels like a compromise. I know Garmin has published these as an open standard but I cant find any real information saying these will be championed by anyone other than Garmin.
Not an industry watcher and I don’t own these pedals, but I do know that the best place to see if people are still experiencing problems with any Garmin product is Garmin’s own forums.
Those people are not at all reluctant to voice their displeasure. I would trust the noise level there over any general statement you might find here
I hope that some one has useful data on the V3 returns over the last few months, but I think that our access to that information is unlikely. I don’t know if this is the type of n=1 you want to hear, but the vendor responses imply much more than n=1… I got a pair of V3 duals Dec 17 - they worked ok through summer 2018, then started throwing error codes that Garmin claimed they could not interpret. New warranty pair in July lasted less than a month. Power spikes, dropouts, all with factory-installed new battery caps. Now, the interesting part…I asked Garmin to provide the 3rd pair in consumer packaging, not new in a brown box. The service rep agreed and said that she was getting many such requests. Then, I used my story and the new-in-consumer-packaging story to try to get a store credit from Clever Training - mind you, this is now 9 or 10 months after the original purchase. CT was awesome, accepted my return after this long time since purchase and said that they were doing the right thing for all their V3 customers (i.e. I’m not the only one). Me? I’m in the northern hemisphere and have 2-3 months before I need power outside. Still waiting, but probably Assiomas…
For my own purposes, I have my own Garmin Vector 3 pedals I got last December, and they’re even on the old caps (seriously) without issue. No problems. I use them in testing without issue.
Would I buy it? Yes (finally, I haven’t recommended Vector pedals prior)). I continue to like mine, and when I’m not testing something else it’s the pedal I default back to.
If I were buying today it’s what I would get. (Un)fortunately my gen 1 Vectors are holding up well so no purchase yet.
I was skeptical of them at first considering the battery door issues. I do trust DCRainmaker who seems to think they are ok. I was looking to replace my Rotor InPower and I saw the Vector on a Black Friday sale at half off, so I took the plunge. I will start using them on Zwift shortly to compare with my Direto. I will post my first thoughts in about two weeks once I get started. I am certainly looking forward to seeing how they perform, although I know they don’t currently support oval chain rings (my Rotor QXL). Stay tuned.
I bought my Vector 3 dual’s on 6/1/18, right after they started shipping the new battery caps. Got them using the Slowtwitch code from BicycleDoctorUSA I found in the Classifieds here. I put about 1,250 miles on them, and replaced the batteries once, before I switched to my indoor bike. (On the trainer I just use trainer power numbers) I have had zero problems. No dropouts, no crazy numbers. Zero. I pair them to both my old Garmin 800 and my FR935, and neither of them has had issues reading the data.
I had (still have in a box) a PowerTap P1s (single sided) that I used for quite a while, but they never did come out with an upgrade option to dual. Plus they need special “almost Keo” cleats, as does Assioma pedals, and they are heavy/clunky compared to the Vectors. Other cleat-based pedals have bulges, or pods, or need to be USB charged.
Fact is, Santa just brought a second set of Vector’s for my wife to use. She hated how hard it was to un-clip from the hand-me-down P1’s.
I regret buying V3s. I purchased in April and suffered from persistent drop-outs. I was given the new battery doors (free, thank you Garmin) but the dropouts continued. Then the spindle/bearing in the right pedal started to seize so they went back to Taiwan for servicing. They returned working perfectly…for bout a month. The right pedal has been giving me grief for the past 2 weeks with persistent drop-outs (even after a battery change).
I am v. disappointed with this purchase. I am swapping to Quarq.
the first was the initial batch that were messed up from the get-go.
the second set was one with updated doors.
long story short they did the same exact thing the first set did.
garmin overall was great to work with, but ultimately it was going to be me doing “routine maintenance†on the pedals to maybe get them to work right.
i wasn’t about to do that with a set of $1000 pedals when there are other completely maintenance free offerings out there that are proven and work.
For my own purposes, I have my own Garmin Vector 3 pedals I got last December, and they’re even on the old caps (seriously) without issue. No problems. I use them in testing without issue.
Would I buy it? Yes (finally, I haven’t recommended Vector pedals prior)). I continue to like mine, and when I’m not testing something else it’s the pedal I default back to.
If I were buying today it’s what I would get. (Un)fortunately my gen 1 Vectors are holding up well so no purchase yet.
I think for the most part people having active issues has mostly dried up (especially new purchasers). I see an occasional issue from readers maybe once a month(?), but in I think every case it was someone on an older set (even with retrofitted caps) rather than a new purchase. As folks probably know, part of the issue was how easily the the interior got threaded. So if someone did that, no amount of new caps or software updates would really address their issues.
Note on Assioma: They actually don’t have Cycling Dynamics today. However, it’s coming in a firmware update very soon (for those that want data). No plans from PowerTap to adopt that standard.
I have commented on these pedals a lot on this forum, gist is I had the early version and suffered all of the issues with them (software, doors, spindle nut).
I ultimately had sent mine back and got a new pair with new doors. I was still having drop out issues with them still and at the end of the day found out that my 810 head unit and the pedals just did not work together very well (not sure if this was just me experiencing this).
I upgraded to a New 520 Plus in a last ditch effort and BOOM - I have never had an issue again with my pedals and am eagerly looking for a reason to bitch or hate them again. They do everything perfect now and give me zero issues and I gambled and purchased a second set of pedals and a 520 for my wife (who also had a 810) and right out of the box/gate she has zero issues with the combination also.
I just change battery’s and ride at this point and these pedals generally read within 1-2 watts of my Kickr when I ride inside and capture both Garmin power and trainerroad power.
That’s my experience - I have some hate for them and want them to mess up but cant get them to (knock on wood), Garmin’s customer service is top notch!
Interesting that the 520 seems to have improved things. I have never had one issue with my Vector 3 pedals and mine are from the beginning of production and I’ve only used the 520 with them. Garmin did send me the new battery doors, but again, I never had issues with them in the first place I just wanted them. I’m very picky about power meters. My gold standard are my SRM units and the Vector 3 pedals track within a few watts of my SRM readings, which is due to where the power is read from (pedals vs. crank).
I was surprised too and not sure if it was coincidence or if some of the legacy units just have a hard time with the software and processing the data - I am not sure.
What really lead me into finding that something was wrong was I was doing group rides from time to time and we averaged roughly 21-22mph on a rolling course and after the ride it said I averaged 120 watts which was simply impossible haha.
I then ran both my 810 and my wife’s 810 on the same ride with the pedals and they had different power readings and averages. I wanted to upgrade my computer anyway and the 520 plus with its addition of Trailforks sounded like an awesome idea (we like to explore new MTB trails throughout the US).
I can say that if they continue to work the way they have all mid-end of last season that hands down it was an amazing/great purchase for me.
PS - I would never go back to a touch screen cycling computer now - the 520plus is freaking amazing!
part of the issue was how easily the the interior got threaded
This is still an issue though isn’t it? Bought a pair in September and they’ve still got the problem with having a metal cap screwing into a soft plastic body. I had a relatively low speed crash (patch of oil on a corner) and inevitably the battery cap was the first part of the bike to hit the ground. Interior got threaded, Garmin said I needed an entire new set of pedals as the body isn’t replaceable. Seems nuts that a plastic part can write off the whole pedal when the expensive components are all fine.
I was lucky, I managed to eventually re-thread the cap and have had 2 battery changes since then with no problems so think it’s ok. Did have to do the trick with putting a spot of baby oil on the batteries and contact points but now I know about that it’s easy enough to do. Does still worry me though that I’m one crash away from a very expensive broken pedal. The pedals are great otherwise, very accurate and reliable. And I love how easy it is to switch them between bikes, as I use 3 different bikes regularly. I’m just not sure I’d buy them again knowing how fragile they are.
Crit racing is the worst enemy I’ve found so far as the battery door being large and round do contact the pavement much more easily than a tapered pedal end such as SPD SL. It’s a real difference even though someone like DC Rainmaker would call it mimimal. It is probably minimal, but I’ve clipped 3-4 times and blown the door off every time. It’s taken the threads out of the pedal once.
Other than that I’ve found the pedals to be ROCK SOLID performing for the most part. Zero drop outs. Consistent. I’ve done 250 mile days in the gravel. Gravel races in the pouring rain. MTB races in the mud. Never an issue. So basically my only issues are battery doors and yes I had the originals that went bad.
I don’t have a better power meter solution as of now as these can move between all my bikes easily. If they’d get the end of the pedal tapered it would be everything I’d ever want (and another -100 grams).
One time it damaged the threads enough that the end cap was loose and malfunctioned. Other times I have gone back on course and either helped teammates find their end caps or found my own. The end caps always work after blown off.
