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Would you buy a Garmin Vector 3 again?? Anyone happy please step forward!

KevsEdge
over 5 years ago
This is a genuine question.

I'm in the market for a pedal power meter solution and i'm invested in the garmin ecosystem. I am happy with the quality of all the items I have from garmin so the Vector 3 should be the obvious choice.

However, the issues highlighted on this board and elsewhere on the internet are worrying me - are the issues as widespread as they seem? I've always taken what I read on support forums with a pinch of salt as they do tend to (by design) highlight the bad.

So this is a chance for people happy with the product to step forward and provide a bit of balance.

I'm currently using a stages crank and to be honest, even though that system is now synonymous with battery-door water ingress issues, I'm happy with its reliability since the doors were upgraded. All the noise on the web would indicate that the issue is actually worse with the Vector 3 than the stages? Is that true?
  • 0 over 4 years ago

    No.  Mine worked for almost a year.  Until they did not.   I’ve been through three sets of battery doors, and my pedals now are being replaced because the pedal body is separating from the cartridge.  Garmin obviously knows that there is a quality control/design deficiency or they wouldn’t be replacing mine.  I’d feather have a power meter and pedals that are reliable and I don’t need to worry about every time the batteries wear.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    My story...

    There are some problems around Garmin warranty and not about the service only but about the advertised 2 years...

    FACTS:
    1) In 2019 March I got the confirrmation from Garmin: "Hi there, the Vector system is warranted for 2 years, here are the specifics on that: http://bit.ly/2Vxe9pF"
    2) Some useful pages that describe Garmin announced the Vector3 in Aug 2017 and that was the time the preorder was possible
    3) I purchased my Vector3 in 2018 Jan
    4) I reported "right pedal is missing" issue to Hungarian distributor's service in March 2019. They said that my pedal is no longer under warranty.
    5) I checked Garmin page and it presented my pedal under warranty (I have not seen expiration data). 5, March 2019  ( https://my.garmin.com/rma/en-US/repair/repairLanding )
    6) As per today (16, July 2019) I checked again: my pedal is no longer under warranty.  ( https://my.garmin.com/rma/en-US/repair/repairLanding )
     
    According to the warranty information on Garmin's webpage I should have got a pedal from Garmin before they officially announced and I should have payed for that (most probably).
    If I had only 1 year warranty then it should not present warranty information in March 2019 as pedal was already 1 year and 2 months old,
    The most annoying thing is the pedal is the most expensive and it looks like the 2 years of warranty is not really true.
  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to stevenknapp

    Which country is that? In my country the Garmin support was not that proactive. They did not want to send battery door except if I send back in advance or go to them and pick them up. Later Garmin UK (different country) sent me the whole inside and I did not have to send back the old one.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to cwikdahl

    CN1/3N is already approved? My last information from 1 year ago it is not approved/suggested/tested. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to jrb005

    Has it occurred to you that if every set of pedals work with the Garmin supplied batteries, and fail with the batteries you buy that your batteries are to blame? Since switching to a reliably sourced Duracell my pedals have been flawless. It's not the pedals...

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Hello

    I went through some problems with my V3s, I had to exchange them twice. The 3rd pair I got came  with the new battery doors and they worked great (until the first battery change).

    Initially, I was so happy I recommended the pedals to my friends and 3 of them bought the pedals.

    2 months later, all 4 of us have the right pedal issue (not found), spikes in values, and signal drops from the left pedal. I even unpaired the right pedal so at least I get a reasonable power value (and not half of it).

    So, sadly I have to say that the pedals are not a reliable product, out of 6 pairs (3 mine and 3 of my friends) ZERO work as supposed.

    Now, I dont know what to do.

    Garmin will not take returns and I lost faith that the product will ever work, it is not worth going through one more return process.

    And, I am very embarased with my friends I recomended the pedals to.

    Gigas10

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to gigas10

    Hello
    After much hesitation, I bought v3 in March 2019. No problem for 1 month then the batteries are low (40 hours only!) I change them and the 2nd race I lost connections, peaks of watts ... After 10 races like that I decide to change the batteries to see ... same thing. I sent back to Garmin to see what they say. I thought the initial problem of battery compartment would make a perfect product ... unfortunately there is something else. I am very disappointed.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to cwikdahl

    I have to change my answer to a "no, I wouldn't" now. They died after a battery change and were returned to Garmin. Gone with Powertap now.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Ive been using my V3s with no issues, I use the CN1/3 batteris, however you do have to be very careful when installing new batteris as there is no polarity protection if you install them the wrong way around - at least that is my understanding.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Over 25,000 km since 2018 and no problems. Would buy again!