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 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.