FSA Alloy PowerBox Power Meter Crankset

I bought this in April of this year and by mid-June the initial battery went dead. No big deal right? Well I put in a new battery and then only got cadence data from it - no power. That's weird, so I reached out to FSA. Their response was that I needed to update the firmware on the crank. Seems reasonable, but the problem is that the only app they have to do this is for an Android phone. Since I don't have an Android phone I had to try updating when I was with some friends that have Android phones. Long story short, after emailing back and forth with FSA they concluded that I needed a replacement. I had to pay $80 to ship the crank to them so that they could repair/replace. Another week goes by and now it's mid-July. I am unable to pair with any of three different head units. Again back to FSA (via email cause there's no phone support). FSA says I need to update the firmware. So I try again to update the firmware (same song and dance, find a friend with an Android...). Unable to update the firmware. Now FSA tells me that I need to contact Power2Max the software company - that happens to be in Germany. Again long story short, they did their best, but I wasn't able to get that crank working either. So I got this crank on Apr 21, rode it for just over a month (10-12 rides) and I've spent the rest of the season trying to get it to work.

Kudos to Competitive Cyclist for agreeing to take it back outside the return window as a warranty issue - but I've lost the entire season of important training data because of this crank. Very disappointing.

We had to do some research on bottom brackets because we replaced the bottom bracket so it would fit the crankset, but the installation was pretty straight forward. (We went from an FSA Exo to the 386 Evo needed.) It paired up very easily to my Garmin. The original battery didn't last long, but the replacement has lasted much longer.

"The Powerbox is not really one for weight weenies, and there are power meter options that weigh a lot less and are cheaper but I would have no qualms in recommending this to get through the worse a winter can throw at it and still come out the other side in full working order, something that was the initial aim for the product."

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/power-meters-bike-components/fsa-powerbox-power-meter

Installation was pretty simple , had to move take shims from previous crank to set up.

Once on sync'd quick with my head unit. Coming from a hub based PM for years was a nice change but keep in mind now dont have speed built in so need to depend on GPS or sensor. Overall it has worked great, super consistent watts. First battery barely lasted 15 hours of ride time so hoping second lasts as stated. For the price it can't be beaten, build on proven technology and looks sweet too!

FSA quietly released their foray in to the power meter market in the middle of 2017, and although it may seem like a gamble to purchase a first generation power meter, they're actually backed by years of German reliability and technology.

FSA are smart folks and decided not to go out on this venture by themselves, so they employed the folks over at Power2Max to whip something up for them. They've been around since 2010, which doesn't sound like a long while, but is an eon in power meters. Since that time, they've gone through three generations, and even the first was trouble free, a rarity in this genre.

So this unit will give you everything you'd ever really want, accuracy, reliability, and price. The only small issues are the proprietary FSA chainrings and the weight. This is definitely one of the heavier cranks on the market and the chainrings aren't compatible with anything else. That really isn't too large of an issue though, a well maintained drivetrain will see upwards of 10,000 miles on a chainring set and replacements are easily found.

Some cool features:
- Automatic temperature compensation (which also works mid ride)
- It auto zeros whenever you stop pedalling for a few seconds, only PM on the market that does that
- Compatibility with every single frame out there that isn't a Trek
- Attainable price (I guess thats not really a feature, but I had to include it)

Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have!