I have always found that the power reading from my various devices have followed each other very closely. The one exception was that the sprint power recorded in Zwift was always lower.
For the last couple of weeks my power meters are reading 15-18w lower than Zwift is showing. I have calibrated everything and the difference has persisted. I am using a wahoo kickr core with Zwift and both assioma duo’s and iqsquare duo power meter pedals.
Where do I start to hunt for this one? And in the meantime, which do I take as the real reading?
First thing what is Zwift preference set to for showing power. I can’t remember whether it is 3 seconds or more. I also take it your not comparing different power meters as you can see small differences in readings.
Obviously this could result in you seeing a lower max power in a sprint if you only held it for say 2 seconds. Power smoothing gives you a rolling say 3 second average so your power looks to be smoother and less choppy.
Your bike computer will usually have the same setting as well. However the raw data captured by your bike computer should have ever little change. Whether the Zwift file does record it all I’m not certain but you can go to Zwift.com and log in and download the fit file to then look at it.
DC Rainmaker is probably one of the best source of information on power meters. https://www.dcrainmaker.com He does a tool to compare different files which might be useful.
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@Kicikacsa just had another thought. I’m not sure if for example the Wahoo kickr, Assioma etc have any on board settings for smoothing the data they send either.
For example I know with my Direto trainer as well as being able to calibrate the pwoermeter there is also options for pedal smoothing. I’ve never dug into this as to whether it actually does alter the data sent to any paired device like Zwift.
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Do you mean your power is 15-18w lower during a sprint effort or just riding normally? Because during a sprint effort, that is probably nothing.
Riding normally there is an offset. It is relatively new.
When sprinting the peak power can be up to 200W different but in the opposite direction - pedals are higher than the trainer reading.
Based on DC Rainmaker and GPLama’s data and testing I’d trust the Assioma’s. It is those that most testers use as their know accurate constant reference when testing other power meters.
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