Sure, they screwed up the roll out. Doesn’t seem like you’ve had much issue, and most folks who have upgraded the battery coversand follow the baby oil recommendation don’t have problems.
Two things steered me away from Assiomas - they’re made in europe and I’m in the US, so support would be harder, and I didn’t want to deal with rechargeable batteries now or in the future. YMMV.
I’m a Garmin fan but opted for the Assioma’s, cheaper and super solid for me. Zero issues and match my Elite trainer power very closely. 
I’ve been on SSBMV2 since I bought mine and haven’t charged them since I got them. I must be around 5-6 weeks with the charge they shipped with. They are super easy to charge though when the time comes. Nothing to plug in, just a magnet connection, super easy. YMMV
I’ve heard good things about the charge. At the time when they were new, there wasn’t as much out there, and I am always skeptical about the ability of rechargeables to hold charge over time. May not be an issue at all, but that was my rationale for choosing Garmin over the Assiomas (along with the Europe vs US based company thing).
I have both Vector 2s and Vector 3 pedals. Both are good and no complaints.
Vector 3 pedals are better for sure, but do have a shorter battery life. Over all big thumbs up!
The one other thing I want to say is Garmin’s customer service is excellent. I have had a few technical issues over the years (problem with a head unit, others) and Garmin has exchanged with price difference upgrades and many other things that have made me a happy customer.
I’ve compared the meter results to several other PMs, accurate.
Wasted a few weeks trying to get the Vector 3 units working, they were reading wonky. The first battery replacements then introduced dropouts and spikes… a few months later the new/replacement battery caps resolved that issue. I also confirmed the right pedal was reading low (static weight test). It was a total piss around and I lost a lot of time on them… so the replacements from Garmin sat on my shelf for a good few months before I wanted to touch them. I tried to return the replaced units for a full refund… because… $1500… they wouldn’t take them back.
So many ffffffffffff words later… I installed the replaced V3 and put them to the sword. All in-check with the tests I performed… happy days. And $1500 I wouldn’t spend again if I knew what’d it take to get to this point.
tldr; Don’t touch early models. New should be ok. I assume the same for V3s.
I just purchased Vector 3’s. The batteries were nearly dead out of the box. Replaced the batteries with the requisite light oil application. I’ve done a couple of SSB 1 workouts with the pedals comparing with my Kickr 17 in smoothed erg mode. The pedals consistently report power up to 80 watts lower than the KIckr. I’m in the middle of back and forth with Garmin Support. If this can’t be sorted out, they are going back. Bought them from my LBS so I have the ability to return them.
With the old style battery cover, the last two sets of batteries lasted 21 and 22 hours. With the new battery covers with the gold contacts, I’m at 35 hours at this point on the first set of batteries with the new contacts and via Garmin Connect on my phone, I’m still showing all bars (my version of TR for PC does not track the battery life for the pedals as far as I can tell).
One interesting thing to note is I watched a youtube video on replacing the batteries and it stated (as I recall) to only tighten the cover until the the gasket no longer shows. I have been tightening more than that. This might have generated a higher force between the contacts that increased friction.
The three changes I saw in the new cover were the contacts were a bit wider, they were gold plated, and there were rotated 90° from the old contacts. With the old design, the cover contacts I think had higher friction and relative motion between the cover contact and contact on the pedal caused fretting corrosion that increased the resistance and reduced battery life.
Stay tuned. I returned the Vector 3’s and purchased a pair of Favero Assioma pedals. Same power numbers compared to the Kickr. OK. So two sets of power pedals are consistent and the outlier is the Kickr. I went through the steps in Wahoo support, and did a factory spindown on my Kickr. It now agrees with the pedals within 5 watts. OK That means my presumed FTP of 4.2 watts/kg is nowhere close to that. I’m currently travelling for work, I have my bike, and using a borrowed set of Feedback Sports rollers with my Assioma pedals. Since I have no Idea what my actual FTP is, I set it at 200 watts- 60% of previous, and have postponed continuing in SSB1 until I get home and do a proper ramp test.
Done over 1k miles with mine and never had any issues, use good batteries and they last ages make sure you get sr44 not lr44 there twice the capacity and keep the firmware upto date, I’ve used them out on the road and with the kicker they really are fantastic and no other power meter give as much information if I wore them out id go out and get some more.
I’ve been running them vector 3s (pair though, not single side) for almost 2 years now, maybe 3,000 miles on this bike. The initial battery caps did indeed have issues, but the second design they replaced them with has been great for me. I’ve not had any issues, even following a crash with a fairly hard pedal strike that actually caused the battery cap to spin out and get lost, as well as physical damage to some of the plastic on the pedal around the cap. Did a little cleanup, Garmin sent new battery caps free of charge, and I’ve been using them without issue in the year since.
I got them essentially new from a friend who ended up going a different direction, and got a deal as a result. I’m not sure I would buy them at typical retail prices over the assiomas or something else, unless I was really tied into the garmin ecosystem (I’m not - the pedals and Varia are the only Garmin product I currently own). But if you’re using points, credits or something like that, I think they’re a great product – just not the best value.
Maintenance has been essentially 0 beyond battery changes and periodic clean/lube as you would with any pedal.
I would note: make sure you set the crank length correctly. Initially mine was set too high and it gave me inflated power numbers the first few rides before I started thinking something was off (was my first time using power outdoors, mistakenly chocked the difference up to indoor/outdoor).
My version 3 battery covers so far have been a disaster, but I think I’m getting to the root of the problem. I started tracking battery voltages when the fresh batteries are installed and when I get the low battery alert. I have been using SR44 batteries. When first installed, the voltages are around 1.6V. The left pedal has been running down MUCH more quickly than the right. After 7-10 hours, the left is dead with voltages less than 1.3V (3 sets of batteries). I had been keeping the same right batteries in and they were at 1.58V after 30 hours of use. I switched the battery covers between right and left and installed fresh batteries, all at around 1.645V. After 9.8 hours, now the right batteries were down to 1.27/1.28V and the left were still going strong at 1.579/1.581V.
Garmin is supplying new covers again, and in the meantime, I’m staying with the left version 3 cover and going back to the version 2 cover for the right. We shall see what happens now. Note the last round of batteries with the version 2 covers lasted 65 hours. The batteries in the right pedal are partially used and starting at 1.49V each.
I do clean the parts with IPA and use baby oil on the contacts.
I bought a pair of these not long after they were launched and it was a nightmare. very flakey, kept losing right pedal etc. Garmin sent a retrofit set of caps but it didn’t significantly help. I subsequently stripped the thread on the right pedal cap in trying to get a decent connection. loads of advice about relating to picking the connection spring inside the pedal which I did and it helps temporarily. Currently running them with some teflon plumber tape around the cap thread and they work. Absolutely ridiculous experience though for a V3 product.
Seem to suffer from fundamental flaws around the battery door. Sharp metal repeatedly screwing into soft cheese plastic means it’s only a matter of time before the threads loosen or strip, at which point the power dropouts are irreversible. Shame as they were excellent for about 15k miles.
