Garmin multisport watches + stages power meter

WattsUp

I have a Garmin 910XT and a stages power meter. Due to some known issues with signal strength/reception the watch will only pick up power data if mounted on the handle bars rather than worn on my wrist. This problem is acknowledged by Stages and Garmin.

I'm thinking about upgrading to a 920XT. Just wondering if this watch, worn on wrist, works correctly with a stages power meter ?
Does it work reliably ?
Even in races where these are a lot of Ant+ signals present?

Thanks

sconhome

The problem is more likely the power from the stages transmitting and not the receiving side of the signal.

Interested to find out too. Seem to be plenty of stages users in Cycling who may know more.

joey100

I think it's an issue with the 910, common enough one too. Not just with stages either, when I use the watch with my power2max it drops out a lot, no problems at all using it with the edge 500. Seen a lot of people having similar problems online with 910 receiving power data. No idea about the 920 unfortunately.

tunney

joey100 wrote: »

I think it's an issue with the 910, common enough one too. Not just with stages either, when I use the watch with my power2max it drops out a lot, no problems at all using it with the edge 500. Seen a lot of people having similar problems online with 910 receiving power data. No idea about the 920 unfortunately.

910 had loads of issues with my SRMs too.
Could be both, but 910 also to blame

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

I think it's an issue with the 910, common enough one too. Not just with stages either, when I use the watch with my power2max it drops out a lot, no problems at all using it with the edge 500. Seen a lot of people having similar problems online with 910 receiving power data. No idea about the 920 unfortunately.

Have the same PM as you, zero issues with the 920. Well I had one night, but it was dripping power and hr that night. Apart from that 920 been flawless. Strapped to bars or on my wrist

WattsUp

mossym wrote: »

Have the same PM as you, zero issues with the 920. Well I had one night, but it was dripping power and hr that night. Apart from that 920 been flawless. Strapped to bars or on my wrist

Certainly sounds like the 910 suffers from reception. Glad to hear the 920 appeared to work well. Do you were it on your wrist with tribars ?

My 910 "almost" works when it's strapped onto the handlebar tops but it's still losing some data resulting in lower power data.
I compared 20 minutes of TT data I collected with the 910XT and the Edge500. The 910 had some drop outs and resulted in 229W average versus 240W on the Edge.

Even stages solution of putting the 910 on the handlebars does not fully resolve the issue

mossym

20rothmans wrote: »

Certainly sounds like the 910 suffers from reception. Glad to hear the 920 appeared to work well. Do you were it on your wrist with tribars ?

My 910 "almost" works when it's strapped onto the handlebar tops but it's still losing some data resulting in lower power data.
I compared 20 minutes of TT data I collected with the 910XT and the Edge500. The 910 had some drop outs and resulted in 229W average versus 240W on the Edge.

Even stages solution of putting the 910 on the handlebars does not fully resolve the issue

yup. any outdoor use has been with 920 on the wrist. any indoor use, which is any turbo sessions, has been with the watch strapped around the base bar.

that said, i used the 910 with my PM for about 4 months before getting my 920, and never had any issues either .the 910 was not worn on my wrist as i had a QR for the 910, but it was mounted on the bars pretty close to my hands

Fazz

20rothmans wrote: »

I have a Garmin 910XT and a stages power meter. Due to some known issues with signal strength/reception the watch will only pick up power data if mounted on the handle bars rather than worn on my wrist. This problem is acknowledged by Stages and Garmin.

I'm thinking about upgrading to a 920XT. Just wondering if this watch, worn on wrist, works correctly with a stages power meter ?
Does it work reliably ?
Even in races where these are a lot of Ant+ signals present?

Thanks

What use is it to you if worn on the wrist?
Do you constantly turn your arm to check data?
Or purely from a gather and review later perspective?

Either way, solution is to get a bike computer, relatively cheaper thankfully, and use that on bike. 910 or 920 then as back up if using multisport function for races, and saves turning wrist a lot or fiddling with quick release.

As a side note:
I use a 500 with my stages, and on turbo rarely see dropouts but sometimes do.
Outdoors on own so far so good.
Outdoors in group had a lot of dropouts.

Researched it and changed a few settings - will see this weekend if it makes a difference.
Settings changed:
- manually typed in sensor ID instead of searching.
- switched off Ant sensor for cadence/speed (gps and stages gather anyway).
- switched to 1s recording.

I also switched to non-zero average at present, this is fine when constantly pedalling but if free wheeling or downhill will skew figures up a bit.
Will switch this back when I see dropouts reduce to negligible.

WattsUp

Fazz wrote: »

What use is it to you if worn on the wrist?
Do you constantly turn your arm to check data?
Or purely from a gather and review later perspective?

Either way, solution is to get a bike computer, relatively cheaper thankfully, and use that on bike. 910 or 920 then as back up if using multisport function for races, and saves turning wrist a lot or fiddling with quick release.

As a side note:
I use a 500 with my stages, and on turbo rarely see dropouts but sometimes do.
Outdoors on own so far so good.
Outdoors in group had a lot of dropouts.

Researched it and changed a few settings - will see this weekend if it makes a difference.
Settings changed:
- manually typed in sensor ID instead of searching.
- switched off Ant sensor for cadence/speed (gps and stages gather anyway).
- switched to 1s recording.

I also switched to non-zero average at present, this is fine when constantly pedalling but if free wheeling or downhill will skew figures up a bit.
Will switch this back when I see dropouts reduce to negligible.

Thanks for the suggestions but non of them work for triathlon :-(

What use is watch on my wrist ? During triathlon I twist the watch to the back of my wrist for the cycle. It's in a perfect position to see it when on tri bars. Actually, it a much more visible position than on the stem or even those extended brackets.

Why not use Edge?....I want to use the same device for swim, bike and run. Apart from that leaving a an "Edge" on the bike in transition while off swimming etc is just begging someone to twist it off and walk away with it.


Settings.....I tried all you listed, does not work and both Garmin and stages acknowledge the issues is combination of weak signal and poor antenna in the watch.

mossym

20rothmans wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions but non of them work for triathlon :-(

really? i guess what i've done for the last 2 years mustn't work so. strange, i still seem to have finished the races.

920 on the wrist in multisport mode. 500 on the bars turned on jsut before the swim and autooff turned off. swim, get on bike, hit the lap button on 920 and start on the 500. 500 becomes the main screen for the bike, never need to look at the 920, but it records. don't even have to worry about stopping the 500 at the end. hit lap on the 920 once done.

and i had the same fear as you about leaving the 500 on the bars but in multiple races it has never gone missing.