The PowerTap P1 pedals first hit the market in 2015, promising the most practical packaging of any power meter and accuracy to match the brand’s highly regarded hub-based meters. We grumbled about the weight and the size, and the worrying tendency to over-read significantly from around 300W. With this revised version, PowerTap says those issues have been fixed.
The P1s house the batteries and electronics within the pedals, so there are no pods to worry about as with systems from Look and Garmin. The right pedal is the slave and sends data to the left, which packages it and sends it via ANT+ to your computer.
With no pods or torque requirement, the P1s fit like any other pedal, making them the most compatible and transferable power meter available. You’re limited to Look-type cleats, but the P1s work well with the supplied pattern cleats or real Look ones.
Engagement is positive and there’s a huge range of release tension from 6Nm (almost nothing) to 20Nm (almost impossible).
The P1s weigh 442g including washers and AAA batteries, compared to 360g for Garmin Vector 2s and around 220g for a good set of regular pedals. That’s a bigger weight gain than nearly all crank-based power meters, but you can’t really feel it when riding.
For racers, the chunky shape can be an issue as it eats into your cornering clearance.
I experienced nothing but good, clean data from this set. There were no spikes or rampant over-readings, but battery life is still low at 45–50 hours.