I’m not sure whether this feature in the latest firmware update slipped by anyone else. Does anyone have any thoughts on the reliability of this? I’m personally inclined to stick to the usual calibration pre-ride (minor OCD and all that nonsense).
Look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
Just a natural progression. Can’t expect that we’re always going to be doing manual calibrations for power meters going forward.
Algorithms perform much more important and complex features to keep this world ticking over.
I’m not smart enough to know how test my own manual calibration to see if it’s actually accurate. All I can see is a value on my head unit or a message saying ‘calibration ok’. How do I know that’s worth anything? Faith? Why not apply the same faith to a team of engineers who’ve improved the system. It’s the illusion of being in control. We’re just spinning a crank round, inexpertly setting it at 90deg and pressing an okay button. Monkeys can be trained to do it 
Whatever algorithm they’ve built will be improved when thousands of riders start using it. It’s excellent, hope others follow suit.
This is certainly enabled by Quarq’s ingenious design for its power meter. You can zero it manually by backpedaling five times — yes, you can calibrate your power meter in the middle of a race. I am so jealous. Automatic zeroing is icing on the cake.
My power2max auto-zeros when the cranks aren’t loaded for a few seconds, and it has been excellent. I’ve used the manual version several times and have never noticed a massive difference in power when compared to the auto-zero. I totally trust it and don’t calibrate it with every ride anymore. I just calibrate the trainer every now and then because it doesn’t automatically calibrate.
Honestly think most people calibrate way more than necessary. Modern PMs shouldn’t need a manual calibration unless they’ve been worked with mechanically (changed bikes, battery swap) or undergone a severe, sudden, weather change
yep, I zero before every ride and sometimes mid ride (various new and old quarqs) - I never really see the value change much - only if there is a massive temperature change and even then only by a few points (1 point is around .3w @ 90rpm)
still good to have I suppose - although I like to know more about how this actually works ? Feels like it might be more prone to errors than just leaving it alone
I calibrate my Stages before every outdoor ride. Indoors I use the PM built into my Hammer H2 and almost never calibrate that, maybe 4-5 times per year
Calibrate before every ride is a must, it’s a precision tool and the number the PM returns could be a telling sign if they’re any issues.
Calibrate != zeroing.
Zeroing is like tare in a scale and you should do it every time you weigh something. Head units do this when you hit “calibrate” and it accounts for built up residual torque on the strain gauge before the slope is applied to real torque in the pedals/crank.
Calibration is making sure the weight matches a known good. Headunits do not do this.
This is not actually “auto calibration”, it’s “auto-zero” which is still great.
/rantover and I’m still annoyed at headunits for keeping the language as “calibrate”.
It should just be called “tare”.
Sadly, the misuse of terms is all too common. It is only reinforced with bad use by head unit makers and training apps (to include TR unfortunately 
). This from people who do know better, but continue to use the wrong term for some unknown reason?
I rarely see the correct term “Zero Offset” used in any real place that matters (other than posts like this and “help” articles that focus on the real difference between Zero Offset and true Calibration).
Interesting… I’ve been using the “old” Qalvin BLE app and I don’t think it had suggested any updates for a while. The SRAM AXS app just took me from v7 to v10 firmware. Only annoyance is how hard they’re pushing you to create an “account” in the new app. Thanks for the heads-up to look into it at all.
As for automatic zeroing, I started to have issues this spring where mid-ride the offset would drop markedly and screw up my power numbers the rest of the ride. Imagine my surprise/pain on the Barry Rubaix race this spring when the power numbers shown on my bolt were well-under the actual effort. Since I turned off the Auto Zero option it hasn’t recurred. Best I can tell, the offset only ever changes when I change the chainring or reinstall the crankset, so I only ever re-calibrate when I do those things. Not sure I need a learning auto-zero feature, but I’m foolhardy so I suppose I’ll try it…
Well then, I feel kinda embarrassed for not actually realising the difference between the two! I’m going to sit quietly and blame Wahoo for my ignorance haha!