Is SRM worth the money vs. Powertap?

yzfrr11 said:

SRM is mor than three times the price of a Powertap. Is it that much more reliable?

I have both. There seems to be a production problem with the SL right now but the cheaper Pro is still widely available.

The differences are already covered in the wattage FAQ at midweekclub. http://www.midweekclub.com/articles/

Try posting in the power training forum for more appropriate responses.

Instead of thinking of reliability think of what you would prefer - being able to use all of your current equipment except for your cranks or having to swap your rear wheels and maybe get a purpose built rear wheel for training and racing. If you have more than one bike that you wish to get data from that's another consideration.

With both of them you have to send back to the factory periodically. The SRM batteries are not user servicable, and the cranks arms are supposed to be replaced every *year*. The MTB arms are not supposed to be changed by the user. The PowerTap wheels I have last about 5000-10000 miles or a year before I need to get them serviced - a couple of non user servicable parts in there.

Saris has suspended production (and repair) of PowerTap SL hubs, until they can determine the cause of the high failure rate for the SL hub. So if you need to buy something NOW, the choice is the PowerTap Pro or the SRM (or the Polar or Ergamo units). As an anecdotal comment, my CTS coach told me he had sold his PowerTap and bought an SRM, because running training camps he needed the superior reliability of the SRM. However, that begs the question whether, for most of us, the huge price differential can be justified, since many users seem very satisfied with their PowerTaps (even a few lucky ones who have SLs that have worked well...)