To bring you all up to speed, I bought a brand new Stages Power Meter a month and a half ago, and the second I paired it with my 910xt and started riding, the power data was experiencing dropouts every couple minutes or so for 10-15 seconds at a time.
I then paired the Power Meter with the Wahoo Fitness App over Bluetooth Smart to see if the PM had an issue, which I came to find that it did not (zero dropouts using the app).
Stages support lead me to believe that there may be an issue with the 910xt pairing well with Stages consistently, and after some research it appeared that many people had the same issue. I thought I found somewhere that the number of ANT+ receivers in the 910xt was less than the 920xt or Fenix 3, so I upgraded to the Fenix 3. Last night I rode with the Fenix 3 and the Stages PM and experienced dropouts.
I can only assume now that the issue is with where I have my Fenix 3 located on the bike, or that there is an issue having the hub-mounted speed sensor and stages running at the same time.
I have the Fenix positioned on my stem on a quick release. I moved the quick release to my top-tube and didn’t have any issues, but i didn’t ride long enough to verify zero drop-outs.
Does anyone have the same setup (Fenix 3 + Stages Power) and not experience drop outs?
I’m tempted to buy a Polar V450 to display my power while riding because it is Bluetooth Smart capable. I would just hate to be mid-race and have my avg power be under-reported and instant power drop out completely on a climb or something.
You sound exactly like a friend of mine. He found the dropouts were inconsistent. Moving ANT+ and BT receivers closer to the unit helped somewhat, but not entirely.
Try investigating the battery door - apparently there are some clips that break or insufficiently press the battery against the contacts, and so the thing is constantly getting low voltage, powering off and/or rebooting, causing dropouts or low-power signals. My friend eventually returned it to stages, got a new unit and it has been working well for him for the last couple months as long as he treats the battery door like it’s a priceless artifact.
I was thinking the unit might be the issue, but since I recorded a ride simultaneously with the Wahoo app and saw zero dropouts, I can conclude that the issue is not the Power Meter.
I was thinking of getting the 500, but what scares me is that it’s an ANT+ computer, too, so I could potentially experience the same issues as my Fenix 3.
My only solution I can come up with is to buy a Polar V450 or V650 which are Bluetooth Smart power meter capable and just using those to race/train with and keeping my Fenix 3 as a backup.
I was in this boat. 910, then 920, now using a 520. If I recall my chronology correctly, I discovered the battery door issues with the 910 (used on an out-front mount with quick release), the weak-as-heck signal reading with the 920 (used on my wrist, which is enough to block the signal, worked fine in an out front mount but had decided I no longer wanted to use a quick release), now use 520 in out front mount but don’t have aerobar mounted hydration, which I hear can also be an issue. After you get it worked out, I recommend praying with a dead chicken. Good luck.
I have a 910 and haven’t tried it with my power meter (picked up a couple of months ago), though I did initially have problems pairing it with my laptop while running Trainer Road. I went through quite a few trouble shooting steps but at the end of the day all it took was a USB extension cord. I now have the ant + receiver zip tied to a bottle cage on my bike so it’s only a foot or so away from the power meter and it works fine, which doesn’t bode well for this spring when I start riding outside. At this point I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will need a used 500 or new 520 to properly use power on the bike.
Going to the grocery store now to buy a chicken. Hoping that works.
In all seriousness, I bought a K-Edge TT mount for the Fenix and will use it BTA and remove my water-bottle mount from there. If that fixes the issue, I have no problem riding with just two bottles behind my saddle.
As I stated in a reply to someone else, I’d be careful assuming the Edge-series computers will completely solve the problem–they are ANT+ after all. I would look into a Polar V450 or V650 since it will transmit Bluetooth Smart which in my experience has ZERO issues with the Stages Power Meters.
If you don’t have Stages, then the Edge series is probably fine.
I’ve completely given up on my 920 tracking my Stages PM. Stages work with everything else I have - Garmin Edge 810 and USB dongles connected to my laptop on the trainer. My 920 also works fine with my PowerTap hub. But when I use the 920 and Stages together I get drops all the time.
There are posts online that say you can try disabling Bluetooth, putting your 920 on your handlebars, etc. I tried disabling BT and that didn’t seem to fix it to my satisfaction so I just punted and don’t expect that combination to work. Some day in the near future, I anticipate replacing the Stages for just this reason (unless I end up upgrading the 920 and it works with the new watch).
I emailed Stages and they gave me a response that indicated the 920 didn’t have a strong enough receiver. At that point I just interpreted the response that they didn’t see any problem and weren’t going to fix it. Of course I’m sure Garmin sees it the same way.
I was thinking the unit might be the issue, but since I recorded a ride simultaneously with the Wahoo app and saw zero dropouts, I can conclude that the issue is not the Power Meter.
Except that every other ANT+ power meter on the market (Quarq, SRM, P2M, Vectors, PT hub, P1s, C1s, etc) have no issues transmitting to any of the ANT+ devices you listed. And you still think the Stages PM is not the issue?
I was thinking the unit might be the issue, but since I recorded a ride simultaneously with the Wahoo app and saw zero dropouts, I can conclude that the issue is not the Power Meter.
Except that every other ANT+ power meter on the market (Quarq, SRM, P2M, Vectors, PT hub, P1s, C1s, etc) have no issues transmitting to any of the ANT+ devices you listed. And you still think the Stages PM is not the issue?
To be fair, the 910xt seems to have problems receiving data from at least some Quarqs and P2Ms as well as many Stages power meters. So it seems to be a 910xt problem rather than Ant+ as a whole.
YMMV,
Stages power meters have difficulty transmitting perfectly to ANT+ watches because the Stages unit is ALWAYS moving, which in essence, fucks with the signal. In other power meters (Powertap, Quarq, P2M, SRM, etc.) the ANT+ is more stationary and thus will keep a better connection to the watch.
For whatever reason, cycling specific head units experience better connectivity to stages (Edge-series) because of less limited space inside the device for the ANT+ chip, and therefore experience less drop-outs.
Bluetooth smart devices work pretty flawlessly with the Stages PM (Suunto Ambit3, Polar V800, V450/650, etc.).
For best results, keep watch as close to power meter as possible. I plan on placing my quick release near the seat post on my top tube, and getting either an Edge 500 or Polar V450 to display my watts, speed, cadence and heart rate during races. It isn’t perfect, but it beats the hell out of buying a power meter that’s twice the cost of my Stages.
All of you with inconsistent ANT+ dropouts. Can you try taking the entire setup bike sensors watch everything and take it somewhere far away from other wireless signals? Outside the city, away from wifi and Bluetooth? See what that does. Don’t forget to turn your own smart phone off!
Not stages. I do have a Garmin watch, sensors, and ANT+ stick. Also intermittent dropouts on an occasion. One time the setup didn’t work in a race until I was about 5 miles away from transition. There was sheriff’s boat in the water and their radar antenna was spinning. Later I started thinking that the radar could have overwhelmed the receiver in the Garmin.
Radio problems can be diabolical because it’s a shared medium. Think of a thousand people all shouting in the same room. I also have intermittent issues with the garage door opener that were conclusively traced to radio interference. The ANT+ dropouts obviously happen in the middle of a workout. Not so eager to stop a workout to fire up the spectrum scope or the SDR to look for interference.
was thinking that an outdoor ride may produce better results.
I have an SRM Hollowgram on my cyclocross bike and purchased the 910XT a couple years ago for cross races as I did not want to risk destroying my Garmin Edge 500 in a crash. With the watch worn on my left wrist, initial experiences included frequent power and cadence drops in the 910XT data, so I moved the watch to my right wrist and for training rides, mounted the Edge 500 to the stem. While I saw no dropouts with the Edge 500, the same was not true of the 910XT, so the watch has been relegated to use in the pool, on the treadmill, or out on the mountain bike.
My n=1 hasn’t seen any dropouts when using both my edge 500 and 910 at the same time to my Quarq during races. But interesting to know that the issue can exist across other PMs. Good thing I’m the type that will never ride without a dedicated bike computer anyway.
I am probably still going to get a dedicated bike computer to use on rides so I can better see my data, but I just rode for an hour and had only five 1-second drop-outs over the course of an hour. Perfectly acceptable for my power meter and would definitely not skew the overall results enough to matter for me.