Cheers. That’s what I’m thinking too.
The offset should be stored with the power meter so doesn’t matter which app/device you use to calibrate. At least that’s what I’ve been told around here 
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Looking to pick up a GRX crankset and looking at a factory install of either a Stages Gen 3 or 4iiii. Stages is cheaper with the USAC discount by $60. The other option is a Power2Max but that’s about double the price. What is the current thought about Stages vs. 4iiii vs. P2M? I can get a GRX crankset for $120 at REI with my dividend/discount, so around $360 total for the Stages, $420 to go the 4iiii route, or $670 for P2M (with chainrings).
Same here with the Stages Gen 3 mounted on my road bike. It shows about 10-20 watts lower than my 4iiii Precision on my TT bike or my Elite smart trainer. If the power meter just shows constantly from day to day it’s ok, I use power meter as a tool - if I know one tool works other way than another and I know about, it’s alright for me. Then I can pace my intervals power-wise a little lower with the road bike and a bit higher with the TT bike. Anyway, I’d rather have a power meter that shows too low than high so I don’t have too high expectations in races.
I have a 105 gen 3 stages on my road bike and have no issues with it. From what I hear 4iiii power meters are nearly identical to Stages. Stages does get a bad rap for drop out issues but with the Gen 3 that should be fixed. The only time I have ever experienced any drop outs on my Stages is when the battery is running low but that’s not the power meter’s fault. If all things were equal I think I would get a 4iiii because they have the Podiiiium which is rechargeable.
I wouldn’t really put the P2M in the same category as Stages/4iiii. The P2M is spider based and is therefore dual sided. You can read all about the dual vs single sided debate. What it comes down to is single sided just doubles your left leg so if there is an imbalance it will read artificially high or low. It could be very accurate or it could be far off depending on your left right balance. With dual sided you don’t have these issues. Because you talk about GRX I just want to make sure you know P2M isn’t compatible with a GRX crankset. You need a crank with a removable spider.
With all that said these are my thoughts. I would go with the Stages if money is the biggest concern. It does have it’s limitations but plenty of people are happy with the product including myself. I would go with the 4iiii if you want the rechargable battery and you think the extra $60 is justified. Outside of that there is not much different between the two. I would go with the P2M if you don’t mind spending the extra money for a nice piece of equipment. For me if this were going on my main bike I would probably spend the money and get the P2M but if it were going on a bike I use for the occassional gravel ride or cyclocross race I would go Stages/4iiii.
Yea, I would, too. But unfortunately 4iiii only has the Precision for the GRX crankset right now.
Yea, if I went that route I’d just get the Rotor crankset rather than buy the GRX cranks. And L/R power would be nice. I’m also curious how the wider Q factor with GRX will feel, so P2M wouldn’t be any change there.
Stages isn’t currently doing factory installs right now, 4iiii is. So there’s the get it right now factor.
Interesting to see the issues with Stages vs. trainers here. I have two gen 3 Stages PMs (Cannondale Hollowgram cranksets) and they both read within 3-4 watts of each other and my Kickr Core. It’s so close that I’ve stopped using any kind of powermatch and just use the Kickr power at this point, though I also monitor the actual power through my Garmin to make sure it’s accurate. This way I can use either bike on the trainer or outside and know that my power is consistently within a handful of watts regardless.
FWIW I’ve had Stages gen2 and gen3 (dual-sided) and both are within ~5W of Kickr 2017 direct-drive. However the Kickr will drift, and to see that level of alignment requires letting Kickr warmup for 20-30 minutes and then do a spindown.
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Do you still recommend?
Have had a Precision 4iiii dual-sided power meter Ultegra crank for about 15 months. The difference between my left and right is typical 1%, so in the future I would get a left-side only power meter.
I have had problems in the winter with the batteries draining quickly. In temps in the high 30s, battery life has been 2 hours. Sometimes batteries have drained overnight in my basement. 4iiii said to zero set before rides. I said I do, so they had me perform a procedure to reset the power meters. After performing that procedure, the left power meter was rendered non-functional. They said to ride my next race a few days later with just the right side power meter. Well, the right side reported power for only 5 minutes of the race. Don’t know if it is non-functional. Sending the crank back to 4iiii for repairs,
Will be purchasing a power meter for another bike next month. It will be a new bike with a GRX crank. Whether I buy another 4iiii is going to depend on whether they resolve the issues with my Ultegra crank.
Unlucky and I hope they sort it for you. My experience of 4iiiis is it one of the more robust/ stable power meters Ive had not that I have much to compare it to (a Favero B Pro S, Limits and a Avio Powersense). My sh1tmano cranks failed with the problem that doesn’t exist just before Christmas and I put it back on the bike a couple of weeks ago expecting battery degradation but it was fine.
Last winter the bike was stored after rides in my parents garage in Scotland for about 5 months (probably stayed +ve deg C figures though, outside would be below 0deg often). The Scottish roads seem to destroy things at that time of year (it was probably the precursor to the crank failure 8 months later) yet the 4iiii never missed a beat.