SQUIRREL_13400325
A little more than a month since they were revealed, we’ve got our hands on Garmin’s latest power meter pedals.
The new Rally 210- and 110-series pedals feature an overhauled design, with a fully sealed power-measuring spindle and an internal rechargeable battery.
Leaving no stone unturned, Garmin has also refined the pedal bodies and made it easier than ever to swap between road and off-road options.
As noted in our news story about the pedals, though, the sticking point for many could be the price.
With prices starting at £929.99 / $1,199.99 / €1,099.99 for dual-sided road pedals and rising to £999.99 / $1,299.99 / €1,199.99 for dual-sided off-road pedals, Garmin is demanding a notable premium compared to options from Favero – its main rival in this space.
We’ve now got both options in to test, though, so how do the pedals stack up on first impressions? Let’s find out.
Something for everyone
While we rated Garmin’s previous Rally 200-series pedals highly, it’s little surprise to see Garmin has moved to an internal rechargeable battery for its latest-generation pedals.
While user-replaceable batteries allow for longer battery life, they also bring challenges in terms of weather sealing and the increased scope for user error.
It also made the process of swapping pedal bodies slightly more complicated, because riders had to contend with removing the battery compartment before accessing the spindle – something that is no longer necessary on the new pedals.
Despite the change, though, Garmin’s new Rally pedals retain an impressive claimed battery life of 90 hours. That’s a third more than the 60 hours offered by Favero’s latest Assioma PRO RS and PRO MX power meter pedals.
The new Rally pedals also offer a ‘quick-charge’ feature, which is claimed to give riders up to 12 hours of riding time from 15 minutes of charging.
This could be very useful if you realise you’ve forgotten to charge your pedals just before a ride.
There are also options for both road and off-road use, with compatible pedal bodies for Shimano SPD-SL and Look Keo road cleats, and Shimano SPD off-road cleats.
In contrast, Favero only offers its latest power meter pedals with Shimano SPD-SL or SPD-compatible bodies, with its previous-generation Assioma Duo pedals covering Look Keo users.
Garmin has also looked to address some of the criticisms made about its previous off-road pedal bodies, with the new XC210 pedals featuring an all-metal body and a lower stack height of 11.5mm (2mm lower than before).
First impressions
Price aside, then, Garmin’s Rally pedals impress on paper, refining an already impressive platform.
On our scales, both sets of pedals came in slightly above their claimed weights by just a handful of grams, with the Look Keo-compatible Rally RK210 pedals weighing 315g and the SPD-compatible XC210 pedals weighing 440g.
That’s 5g lighter than the RS200 pedals I tested previously, but that obviously won’t make much difference out on the road.
Favero's SPD-SL-compatible Assioma PRO RS and SPD-compatible PRO MX pedals are a decent bit lighter at only 250g and 384g per set, respectively, but it's also fair to say that will have little impact on performance in the real world.
Overall, my first impression of the Garmin Rally RK and XC210 pedals' build quality is very good – they feel solid and well-made, with a slick look that hides the fact these are power meters exceptionally well.
It’s also notable that the wear plates on Garmin’s road pedals are replaceable, unlike on Favero’s Assioma PRO RS pedals, where you’ll need to replace the whole pedal body should that part ever wear out.
I’m also very pleased to see Garmin has stuck with a standard 5mm Allen key / hex wrench socket on the axle end caps. This means you don’t need a proprietary tool to take apart or service the pedals, as you do with Look’s Keo Blade Power pedals.
Once on the bike and updated with the latest firmware, the pedals have performed well in testing so far, tracking a 4iiii Precision 3+ Pro power meter crankset well. I’ll reserve final judgement until I’ve completed more testing, of course, but first impressions count for a lot with power meters, so things are looking good so far.
One feature I haven’t yet been able to test is the ‘smart calibration’ – which is supposed to notify riders of the need to perform a zero-offset calibration, based on factors such as ambient temperature changes, the time since a previous calibration and so on.
Unfortunately, it seems the feature will only be available to riders with more recent Garmin Edge bike computers, such as the Edge 1040, 840 and 540, or newer Edge 1050, 850 and 550. Sadly, my trusty Edge 830 hasn’t received a firmware update to enable it.
That bike computer can be set to prompt a calibration whenever a power meter is connected, and the pedals will also perform automatic calibrations when your bike is stationary and idle, so it’s unlikely to affect the accuracy of my testing.
However, it’s worth noting you may need to upgrade your bike computer to take advantage of the smart calibration feature.
As with Garmin’s earlier Vector 3 pedals, which were Look Keo-compatible, I haven't bothered with the included cleats and have used the genuine Look Keo cleats already on my shoes without issues – clipping in and out is just as snappy as you’d expect, and I’ve suffered no issues with retention.
I’m likewise keen to find out how the SPD-compatible XC pedals perform with Shimano’s latest CL-MT001 cleats, and the ‘Pontoon cleat system’ on its new S-Phyre gravel shoes, so look out for that in my in-depth review, too.
And with that in mind, stay tuned for more.
SQUIRREL_13400325
