Quarq is world renowned for its power meters and any launch of a new model is worth a few minutes of our time.  Today Quarq Is launching not one but two new models, the ELSA 10R and RIKEN 10R.  The ELSA is available today with a suggested price of $1995 while the RIKEN will be available February 22 for $1595.  Complete details for the new models are listed at the bottom but there is at least one item that caught our attention.

Only the ELSA appears to have the ability to differentiate between the right and left stroke.  Just today Ray over at DCRainmaker.com finished up his long term review of the Power2Max which has both the ability to measure left\right power but a suggested price of only $970 (October 2012 model).  While the ELSA does come with cranks versus the P2M being crankless, we still would have liked to see more parity with price.  In addition the RIKEN which has the lower price point does not offer these abilities.

As with any new technology, more competitors and the march of progress will drive down cost to the consumer, and that is exactly what we are starting to see in the market for power meters.  Companies like Power2Max, Stages Cycling, and even Kinetic by Kurt are starting to have an effect on pricing, and we here at AeroGeeks couldn’t be happier about that; what’s more, while we are excited about all of the new options being offered, we can’t help but think of what we will see in the upcoming year.