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Garmin announces Vector S: $899 power meter, also announces Cycling Dynamics

Today, at the start of the outdoor portion of Eurobike, Garmin has made two cycling specific announcements. The first is unveiling the Vector S power meter, while the second is announcing upcoming ‘Cycling Dynamics’ metrics that will be applicable to full-fledged Vector owners.



Here’s the simplest way to think of Vector S: Half the power meter for half the price. Err…almost almost half the price. Garmin has followed in the footsteps of Stages and now Rotor in releasing a left-only power meter. This means that you’ll get a single left-pedal and associated pod. As a result, the price is reduced from $1499 to $899US (side note: As of today, Vector’s permanent price is $1,499, from $1,699). In the future, should you decide you want to ‘upgrade’ to the full system, you can purchase the right-side for $699, making it a complete set at the same price as the full-fledged Vector.

So what’s a left-only power meter? Well it means it only measures power coming out of the left leg. Stages pioneered this about two years ago, with a sensor pod attached to the left crank arm. In the case of Vector, it’s in the left pedal just like the regular Vector system measures in the pedal, and measures using strain gauges in that left pedal. The reason why this is important though is that it won’t capture your right-leg power. So if you have an imbalance (normal), you won’t necessarily get an accurate picture of your power output.



Now, many would argue that as long as the power is consistent, it doesn’t much matter. And, there’s some truth to that but also some elements that are incorrect. In the case of Team Sky – that’s the approach they’ve taken with their recent Stages sponsorship. It really depends on how you use it. The imbalance variations you see do however differ from person to person.

For example, I have a slight imbalance to one side up until my FTP (functional threshold power), but then beyond that the imbalance becomes quite exaggerated. So if my left-side was 55% (and right side 45%), that would mean that my total power would be incorrectly exaggerated by 10% (110%), as left-power is always simply doubled. I’ve also found that my power balance changes the more I fatigue. Thus, on a 90 minute ride I stay consistent, but on a 4+ hour ride, I start to slowly become less balanced.

Finally, this can become more challenging with long-term data if you start off with a left-sided power meter and then move to a full power meter, since the long-term data would be inconsistent and might not show your gains properly.

I asked Garmin what they thought the merits/downsides of a left-only system, and here’s what they had to say:

“In our research and data collection among testers it has proven to be reliable. There are left-right differences for every athlete and these are not static, but the changes appear to be reasonably repeatable and a single-sensing solution is a great entry point for cyclists interested in adding power to their training tools. If they decide they want direct left-right accuracy later on, they can always purchase the upgrade pedal for a dual-sensing system for additional insight into how they ride bikes. “

Now for me as a triathlete, I rarely (if ever) go beyond my FTP – so I’ve found in analyzing my data long-term that it’s less of an issue. Whereas for a sprinter or track athlete, it might be more of an issue. It’s really hard to say since there’s not a ton of good study information on it yet, just lots of data floating around.

Again, don’t misunderstand my explanation of the pros/cons above. I think that anything that reduces the power meter price point is great. And, I think everyone’s requirements are different. To that end, I think that for many people, a left-only system is sufficient as long as they understand the limitations (no, it’s not as simple as “Team Sky is using one, so it must work for me!”). As with all power meters though, you still have to do the hard work – merely having a shiny piece of metal installed on your bike doesn’t make you faster.



When it comes to what’s in the package, you’ll get the following:

• - 1 left sensing pedal with Garmin Vector (the pedal looking thing)
• - 1 right pedal with no sensor (just to match the left)
• - 1 Vector communications pod (the silver pod looking thing)
• - 2 cycling shoe cleats (for left/right)
• - Some o-rings
• - Some metal washers
• - 1 ANT+ mini-USB stick for firmware updates/configuration

All of which you’ll attach to the left hand-side of the bike, just like this (except for the ANT+ stick):