anyone using the standard powertap?



ccrnnr9

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May 5, 2004
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I am looking at purchasing a standard powertap on ebay as they seem to go for cheap. Other than the crappy HR monitor and the estimated cadence, are there any downsides to the powertap standard? I do not want to spend more than 1050$ on a powermeter built into a wheel (it would be preferred to have a matching front wheel as well) and also have a copy of cyclingpeaks wko+. I have found some of the PT standards go on ebay for around 300$ built into a wheel used. For that price I could afford wko+ and could afford a better wheelset. The other option would be to try to find a PT pro or sl for around 700$ on ebay and match it to a set of reynolds alta race wheels for around 220$ and then use the rest of the cash for wko+. Ultimately this would exhaust my budget. If I can use my old cateye to get accurate cadence, would there be any downside to saving a ton of cash and just getting a used powertap standard?
~Nick
 
ccrnnr9 said:
I am looking at purchasing a standard powertap on ebay as they seem to go for cheap. Other than the crappy HR monitor and the estimated cadence, are there any downsides to the powertap standard? I do not want to spend more than 1050$ on a powermeter built into a wheel (it would be preferred to have a matching front wheel as well) and also have a copy of cyclingpeaks wko+. I have found some of the PT standards go on ebay for around 300$ built into a wheel used. For that price I could afford wko+ and could afford a better wheelset. The other option would be to try to find a PT pro or sl for around 700$ on ebay and match it to a set of reynolds alta race wheels for around 220$ and then use the rest of the cash for wko+. Ultimately this would exhaust my budget. If I can use my old cateye to get accurate cadence, would there be any downside to saving a ton of cash and just getting a used powertap standard?
~Nick
Black standard CPU has fewer features and IIRC CPU battery runs low quickly if you are not careful.
 
Alex Simmons said:
Black standard CPU has fewer features and IIRC CPU battery runs low quickly if you are not careful.
thanks for the heads up. I may find that if I am going to spend a lot of money that it would be best to have a unit that will last a long time.
~Nick
 
ccrnnr9 said:
I am looking at purchasing a standard powertap on ebay as they seem to go for cheap. Other than the crappy HR monitor and the estimated cadence, are there any downsides to the powertap standard? I do not want to spend more than 1050$ on a powermeter built into a wheel (it would be preferred to have a matching front wheel as well) and also have a copy of cyclingpeaks wko+. I have found some of the PT standards go on ebay for around 300$ built into a wheel used. For that price I could afford wko+ and could afford a better wheelset. The other option would be to try to find a PT pro or sl for around 700$ on ebay and match it to a set of reynolds alta race wheels for around 220$ and then use the rest of the cash for wko+. Ultimately this would exhaust my budget. If I can use my old cateye to get accurate cadence, would there be any downside to saving a ton of cash and just getting a used powertap standard?
~Nick
The standard and pro hubs are the exact same. If you get a pro computer and wiring harness to go with it (which can be found brand new on ebay for around 150.00) then you have a powertap pro.
 
specialized31 said:
The standard and pro hubs are the exact same. If you get a pro computer and wiring harness to go with it (which can be found brand new on ebay for around 150.00) then you have a powertap pro.
Just for clarification, other than the amount of info recording on the pro (16hours I think to the standard's 8) and the actual recorded cadence as opposed to virtual that the standard has, are there any other features that the pro has that the standard does not? For the price of a new standard with a 10% off coupon I have, I can build the standard on the alta race wheels I want and have wko+ all for around 950$. I just don't know that I see a real benefit of the pro over the standard, especially if the actual cadence feature is not an issue to me. I have a cateye that calculates cadence that I can use.
~Nick
 
ccrnnr9 said:
Just for clarification, other than the amount of info recording on the pro (16hours I think to the standard's 8) and the actual recorded cadence as opposed to virtual that the standard has, are there any other features that the pro has that the standard does not? For the price of a new standard with a 10% off coupon I have, I can build the standard on the alta race wheels I want and have wko+ all for around 950$. I just don't know that I see a real benefit of the pro over the standard, especially if the actual cadence feature is not an issue to me. I have a cateye that calculates cadence that I can use.
~Nick

I've got an SL, but I've never connected the cadence sensor. The estimated cadence is pretty useless during rides, but when downloaded its just fine.
 
ccrnnr9 said:
Just for clarification, other than the amount of info recording on the pro (16hours I think to the standard's 8) and the actual recorded cadence as opposed to virtual that the standard has, are there any other features that the pro has that the standard does not?

Smoothing of the power output on the HU (pro/SL have, std does not).

You can see all of the various features
at the saris comparison chart.
 
shawndoggy said:
Smoothing of the power output on the HU (pro/SL have, std does not).

You can see all of the various features
at the saris comparison chart.
I would do a search over at Wattage on the CPU battery issue for the standard CPU to find out what the solution was. I had a loan of one for a couple of weeks when my Pro had to go back to Saris in 2005. The CPU would drain the battery in a matter of days. I literally had to remove the CPU battery after each ride/download and replace before a ride.

The display is a litle less refined than the Pro CPU.

It pretty much works the same.

It downloads a LOT slower than the Pro CPU.

No clock.
 
I've used a Power Tap Standard for around 7 years now. I haven't experienced any of the battery problems. A minor inconvenience is that you have the capacity to record only 9 intervals. Of course, after you've downloaded the file, you can always search the file and mark any intervals you want to look at. Maybe I've been lucky but I've been careful and never had any moisture problems or any other difficulties. Also have a Power tap SL and have swapped CPU's between systems with the only thing required being to zero torque when starting out.
 
ccrnnr9 said:
The download is so slow on the Standard CPU compared to the Pro there is no way I would ever go back. I have two standard CPU's sitting around because of the preference for the Pro.
 
Mike Lawson said:
I've used a Power Tap Standard for around 7 years now. I haven't experienced any of the battery problems.
My loaner must have been a bum unit then! But it worked OK and got me through a few weeks without my own unit.