Market: A new Kickstarter project is making waves today – Danish manufacturer ZWATT wants to make power meters affordable for the masses; With less than €200 for the cheapest model, this goal seems to have been achieved, but there is one or two catches: not only are there additional monthly costs for two years, but buyers are also supposed to share a 30-minute drive with the manufacturer every month to support further development. If you don't want that, you have to pay a monthly surcharge.
Three years ago, the developers at ZWATT in Denmark got together and started working on their big dream. The passionate cyclists had set themselves the ambitious goal of developing a power measurement crank that should be affordable for everyone. After countless hours of discussions, prototype construction and financing plans, the Kickstarter campaign for the so-called Team ZWATT went online at 16 p.m. today.
The concept: You can buy, install and use one of the two available power meters for very little money. In addition, however, a small monthly fee is due: The buyer has to pay the equivalent of €8,92 over a period of two years in order to be able to use the crank’s performance measurement functions. Anyone who agrees to support the further development of the ZWATT power meter with their own data only has to pay half of the monthly costs. In order to receive the discount, at least one 30-minute journey, including all data, must be uploaded to the portal set up specifically for this purpose every month.
Currently backers have a choice of two models, the Zimanox and the Zpider. An MTB version called Zpindle is planned, but will only be implemented once a certain funding goal has been reached. While the Zimanox power meter only consists of a left crank arm for Shimano cranks, so the power is only reduced and doubled on one side, the Zpider is a full-fledged power meter crank based on the FSA Gossamer. Now we come to the prices: The Zimanox crank arm costs a one-time fee of €170, while the Zpider is significantly more expensive at €270, but still considerably cheaper than all comparable systems on the market. When it comes to accuracy, ZWATT promises values similar to those of the competition.
Overview costs ZWATT Zimanox and ZWATT Zpider
| ZWATT Zimanox | ZWATT Zpider | |
|---|---|---|
| acquisition cost | €170 | €270 |
| monthly Costs | €8,92 | €8,92 |
| monthly Cost (including discount) | €4,46 | €4,46 |
| Total cost (including discount) | €277,04 | €377,04 |
Communication takes place via ANT+ and Bluetooth, the internal battery is charged via an easily accessible connection on the inside of the crank arm and via USB. In this way, Zimanox and Zpider can communicate with a variety of different end devices, but of course the manufacturer also supplies its own app for tablets and smartphones. If the financing is successful, the first finished cranks should be delivered in February 2017.