The Garmin leak is further down in the post, I will just quickly put this in context first.
I speculated a while back that Garmin were due to release ANT+/BLE-enabled sensors. My speculation was that there would be a HRM and a new footpod. It wouldn’t then be too much of a leap to expect a new bike speed and/or cadence sensor.
In that context, the Garmin Running Power algorithm developed for CIQ looks like a starter in Garmin’s quest for Running with power dominance. ie Why not put running power meter functionality into a new, more accurate footpod?
Clearly companies market research departments LONG AGO identified the trend for increasing usage of running with power. Hence we have the Polar Vantage V with onboard power.
The Leak
Source (Spanish Language): http://www.planetatriatlon.com/garmin-nueva-tienda/ Interview with Natalia Cabrera, Commercial Director, Garmin Iberia. Published 30Sep2018.
Google translation: “There is a very big novelty at the potentiometer level . Something very novel, which is not in the market and at a very affordable price,” she says. And they want it to be available to everyone. “Many people can take advantage of this technology in their training.”
Google Translation: “In 2019 will come great developments at the potentiometer level”
To me that sounds like a, possibly cheap, running power meter pod in Spring 2019 and maybe a new competitor to STRYD
And there it is, there is the reason Garmin doesn’t support Styrd power natively. I want to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. It was only a matter of time, and who knows? Maybe having an in-house system of sensors will be superior to pairing outside products with their line of watches. I liked using my TickrX HRM with my old 235, but the HR chart didn’t always look nice. Once I went to the HRM-Tri, it seemed better (both in the chart and arguably in the reported data).
Maybe that’s what is going to happen; maybe we get something extraordinary, maybe we get a bunch of junk numbers. Either way, I’ll be waiting the requisite six months before I look into buying one.