Stages PM?

[Jcgill]

This is inspired by the recent “stages price drop” thread.


Now that stages is $300 for 105 and $350 for ultegra left side arms i am considering one.
How are the new generation of stages left side arms? Any issues with connecting or drop outs or bugs?
How would a stages pm work with zwift and a dumb kurt trainer? Currently i am using a garmin gsc10 speed/cadence sensor with a CABLE ant+ to bluetooth converter bridge to my ipad with zwift. It works but it is a pain to start everything.... would i be able to just sync the crank arm and use that with zwift power for my dumb kurt trainer?

[sitzmark]

Yup - pair your Zwift device with the Stages crank for power/cadence and you’re off. HR strap if you want to track HR. Manual resistance control.

[madsciencenow]

Gen3 ones are pretty good and I’ve seen little to no dropout. 2nd gen ones can be a little glitchy but in my experience it’s typically outside and doesn’t happen enough to be an issue. Gen 1 was fine but I think the earliest ones had some issues with the battery cover and moisture (never had problems with this myself). There’s also issues with certain head units so do some googling and make sure yours isn’t one of em. If I’m remembering correctly the issue has to do with antenna placement though Garmin would never own this. Stages “fixed” the problem by increasing the signal strength.


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[Gummee]

I'm not sure which gen my Stages is, but it eats batteries.

The Specialized/4iiii I have on another bike doesn't.

That's the limit of my experience in left side only PMs

M

[everbeek]

Gen 2 Chorus with Garmin Edge 500 worked perfectly. No dropouts and very rare spikes. Although I could throw the 500 in my back pocket and still collect GPS data, to collect power data the unit had to be on the handlebars. Routinely got 40 plus hours of battery life.

[shoota]

I'm not sure which gen my Stages is, but it eats batteries.

The Specialized/4iiii I have on another bike doesn't.

That's the limit of my experience in left side only PMs

M

Gen 1 - grey label, no LED
Gen 2 - blue label
Gen 3 - grey label with LED

Gen 1s are notorious for eating batteries. Contact Stages and ask them to make it right, they're usually pretty good about that.

[hobbanero]

I had a good experience with Stages replacing my gen 1 units with Gen 2, and those were reliable. Sometimes they did not want to talk to my Garmin, but since I had no problems with a Wahoo head unit that may just be the Garmin. Gen 3 units are supposed to be better still.

You can read DC Rainmaker's reviews to get more info on the disadvantages of 1-sided power measurement.

[mcfarton]

I'm not sure which gen my Stages is, but it eats batteries.



The Specialized/4iiii I have on another bike doesn't.



That's the limit of my experience in left side only PMs



M



There is a simple fix for this that involves a butter knife. But you should email stages first. They might just give you postage to send it back for a free upgrade.


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[RobJ]

I always accepted Stages as the safe bet, the one that just worked (for a 1x solution). I had them in the past and no issues, but then those weren't the bikes that I was logging high mileage with.

So I am in the market again for a PM and saw a 4iii Podium listed for a ridiculous price so did some quick reading on DC Rainmaker and elsewhere. Surprised how many people commented on having tons of issues with their Stages, even Gen 3's, and switched to 4iii and love it. Just saying.. For me this definitely opened my eyes some and expanded my PM search.

[Gummee]

Gen 1 - grey label, no LED
Gen 2 - blue label
Gen 3 - grey label with LED

Gen 1s are notorious for eating batteries. Contact Stages and ask them to make it right, they're usually pretty good about that.

bought the thing used, so I doubt I have a leg to stand on, but I'll reach out

M

[Jcgill]

I always accepted Stages as the safe bet, the one that just worked (for a 1x solution). I had them in the past and no issues, but then those weren't the bikes that I was logging high mileage with.

So I am in the market again for a PM and saw a 4iii Podium listed for a ridiculous price so did some quick reading on DC Rainmaker and elsewhere. Surprised how many people commented on having tons of issues with their Stages, even Gen 3's, and switched to 4iii and love it. Just saying.. For me this definitely opened my eyes some and expanded my PM search.

I have noticed a lot of love for the 4iiii in reviews, it has definitely broadened my search

[commonguy001]

I have noticed a lot of love for the 4iiii in reviews, it has definitely broadened my search

I used a 4iiii for a few years and it was basically flawless. Sold the bike it was on or I’d still have it. I have a gen 3 stages now and no issues but I don’t have a lot of time on it. For left side units both are solid options but from experience the 4iiii was amazingly reliable.

[MagicHour]

I have a gen 2 Stages and a 4iiii precision, just some personal observations:

Accuracy: both are close enough to each other as well as my Kickr to be negligible (single side vs l-r philosophies aside)
Battery life: Stages is a little better with battery consumption, consistent with published specs. For each I do get less than the published specs, but it might be related to my trainer usage, moving bike and waking up PM etc eating into battery life.
Calibration: Stages has onboard temperature compensation making zeroing less critical than 4iiii if you forget to do it at the start of a ride. Stages more finicky when calibrating from Garmin head unit sometimes need to use app.
Dropouts: outdoors 4iiii has a much better transmitter as far as getting a clean data file from Garmin with no dropouts than the Stages; indoors less critical as you can use an ant+ dongle with a usb extension.
Warranty: Stages offers an applecare type warranty add-on for an extra year for $80. Fortunately I haven't needed to warranty either unit, but nice to have with certain sports tech. Perhaps economics make less sense at the new cheaper price point, though?
Apps: both company’s apps to manage devices work well. 4iiii has an option to activate of a sort of anti theft “find my iPhone” feature.


Both are reliable, at old prices 4iiii may have been the better value for $$ but with the new Stages price decrease and if the Gen 3 Units have a stronger ant+ transmitter as has been noted, it’s much more of a tossup, either unit is a solid choice.