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Is a power meter for me?

One question about the PowerCal: It's available in a bundle with a speed sensor. Garmin also has the GSC 10 Wireless Speed/Cadence Sensor. Are those two speed sensors equivalent or does one have advantages over the other?
From the description it sounds like the GSC 10 is a cadence sensor. How many magnets are there? One on the crank, one on the wheel or just a single one? Does the Garmin sensor only sense crank revs or also wheel revs?

Basically I'm wondering if spending more on the PowerCal + speed sensor than the Garmin HR strap + Speed/Cadence sensor is worth it, or how about PowerCal (non-bundle) + Garmin GSC 10? What makes most sense?

Yes, I do understand that the Garmin HR strap doesn't offer power meter functionality.
 
Sorry Joe, I just have the powercal, so I can't answer any of your questions. But I think, it's unlikely nowadays to ship just a cadence sensor.
 
Joe,

The garmin is pretty niffty actually. I only run 1 magnet on the cranks for cadence and then let the GPS work out my ground speed. There are some known issues with this such as when climbing up a mountain and going through switchbacks as sometimes lack of direct satelite coverage can register a spike in your speed.

Also tunnels will obviously cut out your GPS ground speed - so for those that tour or if you are racing events like the Tour of Kumano that pass a lot of tunnels then the wheel magnet is beneficial.

In regards to the power cal you first need to make sure it is actually compatible with the Garmin head unit you are using! Some companies have locked the speed cadence units coms so that it can only be detected by the same brand of head unit.
 
James, with the Garmin sensor, if you wanted non-GPS speed data on top of cadence, would you need just another magnet or also a second sensor unit (one for the crank, one for the wheel)? I have not seen how it's mounted for cadence but somehow I can't imagine one sensor could get close to 2 magnets.

I am asking this just out of curiosity -- non-GPS speed data for tunnels and areas with weak reception is not important enough for me to justify buying a second sensor, if one was required.
 
GSC10 uses a magnet on the crank, and another on the wheel. The sensor is placed to pick up both readings. I have used it for 3 years, combined with a garmin HR chest strap. Has functioned flawlessly for me during that period. (Garmin 705)

(both magnets included in the package)

can't comment on Powercal.
 
Joe - Also the GSC10 unit has a swing arm for the wheel sensor so that it can be adjusted depending on the rear stay design.
 
with the Garmin sensor, if you wanted non-GPS speed data on top of cadence, would you need just another magnet or also a second sensor unit (one for the crank, one for the wheel)? I have not seen how it's mounted for cadence but somehow I can't imagine one sensor could get close to 2 magnets

some images here of it doing what you can't imagine.

I read somewhere that because of the limited space on a Bike Friday some additional custom mounting hardware is necessary in order to get both parts of the sensor to work and not have the sensor be ground to dust when folding the bike.

Your mileage (as they say) may vary.
 
Mike,

comparing a 700C road bike and my Bike Friday I can see that it's a straightforward job on the 700C but not the BF. On the 700C the crank arm overlaps about 5 cm with the spokes, while on the BF the end of the crank arm is a few cm from the end of the spokes, i.e. the two circles don't overlap. On top of that the chain stays are further from the crank arm, as the left and right side are angle towards a common hinge near the bottom bracket.

Maybe I won't worry about the cadence / speed sensor on the Bike Friday for now and only set it up on Shintaro's bike.
 
The GSC10 works on a few different ANT+ head units. And vice versa other Cadence / speed 'pods' work on the Garmin. The Cycleops stuff tends to be compatible with Garmin head units. According to our Cycleops rep, the PowerCal is compatible with Garmin 500, 700 and 800's.

Oh yeah, you can calibrate - but will need a Powertap or other SRM that is also properly calibrated to begin with. The latest versions require no calibration (again, according to Cycleops).
 
Maybe I won't worry about the cadence / speed sensor on the Bike Friday for now .

Cadence isn't that hard to check if your computer has a seconds timer, count for ten seconds and multiply by 6. After a few weeks you'll know to a few RPMs your cadence.
 
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