Q&A: CycleOps PowerTap power meter review

Q: I'm writing you because I have been researching power meters and I have
some questions for you. I have read that there are a lot of problems with
the harness on the wired CycleOps PowerTap. I have also heard that the new
wireless version suffers from battery issues. What has been your experience
so far with your PowerTap? Have you had any problems with irregular readings
or black outs? I would hate to spend $1500 on a brand new wireless unit to
have to send it back for warranty repairs soon after. What can you tell me?
Roberto

A: I can only speak from my experiences with the CycleOps PowerTap
http://www.cycleops.com/c-11-power-meters.aspx, Roberto. I have had the
wired one on my bike for about a month now. I installed the same model on my
friend's bike 3 weeks ago. And, I helped my coach install the wireless one
on his bike about a year ago. All 3 of these have worked very well, no
problems at all so far. No harness or battery or blackout or irregular
reading issues.

I have also ridden mine in the rain 3 times even though I was told they are
not very waterproof. I have not had any issues. I will try to keep it dry
but if I get stuck in the rain I think it'll be okay as long as I don't
really soak the rear hub by riding through a creek, or something silly like
that.

My friend's wasn't working one day but it turned out that he had just not
pressed the head firmly into the mount. There's a little detent and you have
to push the head until it clicks in place or the pickups won't get a signal.

My coach has the most miles on one (his is the wireless one) and he says the
only issue is that since it's wireless he will sometimes lose the signal
when he's near high power lines but otherwise it works great.

One thing I notice is that the display can sometimes get little dark patches
on it. I checked with the other guys and they've seen this, too. It doesn't
seem to cause any problems, just looks a little bad.

Overall, though, our experience with the PowerTap has been very good and I
would recommend them, wired or wireless. FYI: One of our teammates has the
SRM power meter, which is more expensive than the PowerTap. He has had to
send it back to the factory twice for repairs and has more difficulty
setting it on rides to display what he wants to see for the day's workout.

I have also tried the iBike, which is a neat little unit and has a nice
price. The issue with that for me was that the roads here are so bumpy that
they effected to accuracy of the readings so I decided to spend more money
and get the CycleOps PowerTap and so far it's been really nice and worked
fine.

I would say that the instruction manual could be better written and easier
to understand. You can figure it out and learn what you need if you read it
a few times and also read what's on their website. But, if you were in a
hurry and didn't read carefully I can see how you might never fully
understand how to use the different functions of the PowerTap. Luckily I
have teammates using it so we compare notes and teach each other and that's
been a big help. Ideally the CycleOps people would polish their manual and
improve it. The PowerAgent software, however, was easy to setup and use -
though I did need to download it from their website since the CD that came
with the PowerTap was a bad one.

Overall, though, we all have been very happy with our PowerTaps so far.

I hope this helps,
Jim