Magene P325 CS - First Impressions

[1Sigma]

I really wanted a power meter for my bike, but did not want to pay the normal rates for the a dual-sided meter
Noticed the Magene P325CS was a dual meter option for a reasonable price, so I pulled the trigger.

I think it retails for about $450/$550 CAD, but I picked mine up for about $350 CAD.  I got a standard 53/39, with 170mm cranks.

Packaging:
It comes in a pretty box, and is well-packaged.  Left crank is packaged in a separate box within, and the crank set protectected with a custom-cut piece of packing foam.
Includes: Chainrings, Cranks, magnetic charging cable, instructions

Build:
Everything looks well-machined.  Smooth, with no burrs.  All parts fit perfectly. 
The cranks are hollowed with 3-holes, 2 of which are visible.  Anodization does not run the length of the holes, and stops about an inch in
They are a bit chunky at 775 grams.
The power meters are rechargeable, and come with a charging cable that magnetically sticks to the charging ports on either crank
There are reports of chainring flex under sprinting conditions, but I cannot comment as I swapped out the rings for 1X.
The spider LOOKs like a direct-mount SRAM 8-bolt AXS interface, but it is not.  The SRAM 8-bolt interface has one shorter spline.  This means that if you switch chainrings, you will need to take a round file to one of the splines to get it to fit on the cranks.  (I had to do this with my Stone AXS-to-5-Bolt Adapter)
Note: If you want to switch out the chainrings, you will need to get one that allows access to the drive-side charging port.

Installation:
As easy as can be.  Fits standard BB road shell width, with 24mm crank shaft. 
Slide through BB, pre-load with 10mm hex bolt, tighten left-side pinch bolts.  done

Accuracy:
Can't speak to this, as this is my first power meter.  GP Lama reviewed, and it is not as accurate as he would like.  This was also looked at by Ronald Kuba, and to a lesser degree Charles Ouimet. 
Both of them believe it is fit for purpose, unless you are at a competitive level (which I am not, and early data from the power meter backs this up - lol)
At the end of the day, I am only competing against myself.  At the very least, it will be useful in trending performance changes.

Set-up:
Connected easily to my Magene C406 using the Onelap utility, which then syncs with Strava.  No issues here
One a few rides, but so far no signal drops

Features:
The Onelap utility provides all the metrics you could ever need.
Basic things it does track are: Power, cadence, left/right balance, pedaling efficiency, torque effectiveness.
It then makes other calculations, such as Power Zones (Anaerobic, VO2 Max, etc.), Watts/kg, Training stress, intensity, normalized power, etc.

All in all, I am quite happy with it.  For the same price, I could have gotten a single refurbished 4iii or Stages crank. 
Whether it is as accurate as a pair of Assiomas is irrelevant for me.  It is accurate enough for my purposes.

[theirishrider]

I got the same on kickstarter.

I'm very happy with mine. used them for 1000+ KM. Compared to my Elite Suito the power is spot on - no complaints. Easily good enough for anyone who's not doing scientific tests/pros. Never get dropouts, amazing 1-month battery even when using 7 hours/week. No complaints whatsoever. I think they'd be robust enough for gravel riding too I think.

[curvenut]

Nice review !

 Why didnt you buy a 4iiii .. recognize brand, and a canadian cie !
I got the left side Ultegra from their store .

I have mine for 5 months so far, no complaints .

[1Sigma]

Nice review !

 Why didnt you buy a 4iiii .. recognize brand, and a canadian cie !
I got the left side Ultegra from their store .

I have mine for 5 months so far, no complaints .

Thanks!
A few reasons:
1) for the price of a single side 4iii refurb, I got a dual power meter plus chainrings
2) I did think about 4iii, but that’d have necessitated sourcing the drive side separately, which would have increased my costs
3) But mainly, my challenge was to build a bike almost exclusively with Chinese brands. I dubbed my bike the MIC (Made in China) Mark I (the implication being that as Chinese parts improve, my n+1 will be MIC Mk 2)


Working with some of the manufacturers directly, you can really tell they are trying to shed the made in China stigma with their products.

[Txapa80]

I have the older version of the magene power meter and I'm very happy with it.
In my case the power meter came in a ultegra cranckset so the chainrings are the standard Shimano ones.
After using it nearly two years I only had to change the batteries once (mine are not rechargable) and they had been working faultless.

In terms of accuracy I only can compare them with the power meter of my wahoo kicker core and the readings are very similar but as you said I only use the data with my olds rides so it is very useful to see if I'm improving or not.

I'd recommend it too.

[Nicoloc]

Hello
Do you have any feedback on P325C reliability ?
Are you still happy with it ?
Nicoloc

[theirishrider]

I’ve been using the dual sided version for 2 years ish now. Works very well. 10/10

[1Sigma]

Hello
Do you have any feedback on P325C reliability ?
Are you still happy with it ?
Nicoloc

So, first off a couple disclaimers:
1) I may be selling Magene stuff in the future which may bias me. I'll try to be as impartial as possible
2) this is my first power meter, so I have no prior experience to draw from
That being said...

Accuracy: I find the accuracy to be good, at least to itself. Meaning efforts of similar strain always produce consistent numbers.  Similar efforts between me and riders with similar profiles yield similar wattage.
It tends to be about 5% different than my Turbo trainer power.  Can't isolate the offender. It could just be because the power is being measured from 2 different spots (crank vs the trainer) and the differences are just transmission losses.
The P325CS is very sensitive. Meaning it picks up EVERYTHING. This is very apparent on poor roads. Of freewheeling and you got a bump, itll pick it up. Micro adjustments to keep a steady cadence on rough roads? It'll pick it up.  Heavier on one foot? It'll pick it up.
One one hand greater fidelity is a good thing.  On the other, unless you are on smooth roads, your 3! Second power will still jump around a lot.
If I were to be very critical, I would still have to say they are accurate enough to train with
The only way to check accuracy for sure would be for me to get a pair of Assiomas as well

Chainrings: I hear the earlier chainrings were flexy under power. I can't confirm, as I swapped them out for 1x.
The mounting system LOOKS like a SRAM 8-bolt AXS Mount, but it isn't. One of the splines/bumps of the SRAM AXS system is smaller than the rest, while they are all the same size for Magene.  Swapping rings requires : 1) being handy with a round file, 2) making sure the new rings don't obstruct the charging ports.
Passquest does make Magene compatible rings now, but only for 1X. They might be other manufacturers doing this too. Not sure.

Charging/Battery life: charging is done using magnetic connectors - one for each crank. Super easy, would be nice if one of the connectors were reversed. Easy to display, harder to explain, but for the connectors to fit, one need to be upside down (due to the opposite directions of the cranks). By no means a deal breaker.
I have 5,200km on my 168, and o have charged the cranks maybe 10 times? And that was just out of habit.  I've never run them dry, nor have I ever seen them low on battery.

Thats about it!  They have served me well, and have been totally hassle free so far.
Let me know if this helps!

[zosim]

Is anyone having any issues with a small cracking/pinging noise periodically with the 352 CS? I've had an R8000 based PM from Magene for a number of years so when I wanted to move that to a new bike, I bought the 325CS from them. Fitted as usual, greased where needed etc but I get this odd sound. I'd guess it's related to the chainrings as I've seen some comments online. Wondered if anyone else had the same issue?

It may be another symptom of the same problem but given the narrowness of the chainrings, big ring on the crankset to the smallest cog sounds a little like it's cross chaining. I was thinking of  sourcing a couple of 1mm spacers and seeing whether that sorted it. Again, anyone had the same thing?

On the plus side, the power isn't a million miles away from my vector 3 pedals. Good enough for the gravel bike at least.