Garmin Fixes Vector 3 Battery Door Snafu

June 14, 2018

Garmin's black eye, justly earned during the intro of its updated power meter pedal, appears on the pathway toward healing.

The sleek, low profile V3 offered a slew of new features and metrics, and debuted with great promise until this past February, when users got the product into their hands.

Reports of power drop, accuracy problems, waking and turning on, the lack of legacy support and improperly torqued spindle shafts flowed into reader forums.

As has been the case too often across the manufacturing landscape, the user community felt like beta testers for a product that was prematurely released.

Fingers crossed, it appears the problem has been identified and solved. The culprit was the battery door, which was designed to use insulating tape to keep the positive contact off of the battery body but allowed connectivity to the battery carriage.

The tape could not handle road vibration, humidity, weather changes and of course would peel off when the batteries were changed in the system. The tape would fall off rendering the pedal or complete system useless until the battery and prong was isolated again.

Two days ago, June 12, 2018, Garmin released a new battery door, along with a software update (3.50) and a service advisory to tighten the shaft/spindle to prevent any damage. Garmin emailed all registered Vector 3 owners this information and a code to claim upgraded battery doors at no cost.

Garmin also encouraged anyone uncomfortable doing the service on the pedals to send them in for free service.

Enclosed are pictures of the new doors I received yesterday. So far the left-right balance is perfect and power seems to be spot on. I have only ridden them on the trainer so far, but everything about the redesigned door is better, including how it affixes to the screws the pedal body.