Best power meters in 2022 | Top-rated power meters and buyer’s guide

By Simon von Bromley

Published: Thursday, 14 April 2022 at 12:00 am

Once the reserve of professional riders, power meters have gained significant traction across the recreational side of cycling in recent years.

With massively increased competition in the power meter market and the advent of immersive indoor cycling apps such as Zwift, TrainerRoad and Wahoo SYSTM, more and more cyclists are understanding the benefits of training and racing with power.

We’ve reviewed eight products to bring you our definitive guide to the best power meters available in 2022.

What is a power meter?

A power meter is, in simple terms, a set of moving scales that measure your power output and is measured as a calculation of torque (how hard you’re pushing the pedals) multiplied by cadence (how fast the pedals are turning – or revolutions per minute).

Your power is measured in watts (one watt equals 1 joule per second), giving you a precise calculation of how much energy you’re putting through the pedals at any given moment.

With this knowledge, you can calculate your training load, target precise effort levels through your training zones, track improvements in your fitness, determine how many calories you’re burning, and more.

Combine this data with information from a cycling computer and heart rate monitor, and it can be a very powerful tool in the right hands.

What we tested

We tested seven power meters from leading brands through the first six months of 2021, and this list of the best power meters brings together the most reliable and user-friendly power meters we tested.

Products from across the price spectrum have been included as well as different power meter types, from crank-based power meters and spider-mounted power meters, to pedal power meters.

We focused our testing on power meters that measure total power, rather than single-sided power meters, (which measure power output from one leg and double it to estimate total power) because these give the most accurate picture of your power output.

While single-sided power meters are typically cheaper, they also assume your power balance (the percentage of total power each leg is producing) is perfectly even at all times. Our experience using dual-sided power meters (which measure power output from each leg independently) shows this isn’t the case, though.

Our testing took into account ease of installation, how each power meter performed on the bike while riding, and whether it’s likely to stand up to long-term use. We have also tested the accuracy of all the power meters listed here. More on this below.

Power meter accuracy and how we tested it

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BikeRadar’s technical writer, Simon von Bromley, tested each power meter indoors on an Elite Direto XR smart trainer, with results also validated outdoors on his Giant TCR long-term test bike.

It’s crucial that any device used to measure something is accurate, so we have rigorously tested all the power meters included in this list.

Most manufacturers will claim their power meters are accurate to within +/- 1 to 2 per cent. Typically, the more expensive a power meter, the tighter the claimed margin of error will be (though, again, this is not always the case).

As with any measurement device, accuracy should be a given, but there are occasionally differences between what a brand claims and what the product delivers.

How have we determined the accuracy of a given power meter? We tested multiple power meters from a wide variety of brands to cross-reference against one another, which enables us to put those claimed accuracy levels to the test.

While we don’t expect every number to match up exactly, accurate power meters should agree very closely on the power you are producing at any given moment.

Also, each power meter was tested on a series of indoor rides, with data also validated on outdoor rides.

When riding inside, we measured power from three sources – two on-bike power meters (for example, power meter pedals and power meter cranks and an Elite Direto XR smart trainer). While outside, we always used two on-bike power meters simultaneously (again, using power meters measuring power from different locations on the bike).

When used to record data simultaneously, we can quickly determine whether the lines on the graph (a trace of your power output across a ride) match up or not. With three power sources in the mix (power meter pedals, power meter cranks and a smart trainer, for example), we can start to get a feel for which – if any – are the outliers.

With time and lots of riding, we can build up a catalogue of evidence to say whether or not a power meter is able to consistently produce accurate data that you can trust.

Finally, a word on consistency.

Consistency is a key attribute of a power meter because you need to be able to trust that changes in your day-to-day power output are genuine changes to how hard you’re turning the pedals (and not simply noise in the data). This is how you know whether or not your training is working, for example.

It’s vital a power meter is both consistent and accurate, though.

A consistently inaccurate power meter is like a ruler with an inaccurate scale. Perhaps fine in isolation, but not much use for comparing to any other source.

If you ever upgrade to another power meter in the future, for example, then having used an inaccurate power meter can render historical performance comparisons meaningless.

Likewise, if the inaccuracy manifests as an underestimation of your true total power, you could find yourself at a significant disadvantage compared to your competitors when racing on Zwift or other indoor cycling apps.

How to choose the best power meter

Buying a power meter can be a minefield, with a wide range of brands offering products at a variety of price points.

You also have single-sided and dual-sided power meters, and a decision to make as to where you want to place the unit and, in turn, measure power in the bike.

If you want to learn more about power meters and what to look out for when buying one, keep reading until the end for our buyer’s guide or click the link below. Otherwise, you can listen to the podcast below.