best beginner clipless shoes/pedals/powermeter?

Shimano makes some pretty solid pedals that are affordable.  The R540 pedal runs around $40, and the 105 version is closer to $70 online.  I have used both of those pedals on my road and tri bike for MANY MANY miles.

As far as power meters go, right now we are just starting to see a huge shift in power meter pricing.    DC Rainmaker expects that in the next couple of years, there will be power meters on the market that can read power from both legs (or as a total...not just doubling one leg) for around $400 brand new.  

That said, before investing in a power meter, I would advise getting one of the books about training with power, either by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, or the one by Phillip Skiba.  Learn about what it takes to train with power and see if it interests you.  A power meter in of itself does not make you faster.  In fact, the unit itself makes you just a tad slower due to additional weight.  It's how you use it in training and racing that will make you faster.  You would be surprised at how many people own power meters that have no idea how to use it to make them faster.

You don't really think 200-250 grams of weight added to the crankset makes one slower, do you?

Just a tad...

I know that kind of weight will make almost zero difference, but those uneducated about power meters are probably the same ones that think 250 grams matter.  I'm not trying to scare anyone off from power meters, but if you don't know how they work, or generally how to use them, you probably should do your homework.  Just like those who know how much 250 grams will slow them down. 

Powertap is the power meter brand made by Cycle Ops.  That said...I would say that a powercal is just as precise and accurate a training tool...as a heart rate monitor.  The good news is though that the price of a powercal is not that much more than a HRM strap...and you still get HR reading off of it.

I don't mean this to be snarky, but you aren't trianing with power. You're training with HR that is then converted to a power metric (perhaps using some other inputs to help, like speed & cadence perhaps).  I think one would be beter off just training with HR (and learning to understand what the HR is/isn't telling you) rather than using some 'HR-conversion' to guess at power output--which is almost guaranteed to be unreliable in many use cases.  Or take the plunge and get 'full-fledged' power meter.

Consider Speedplay pedals.  They are very beginner friendly due to dual sided entry and "push down and it just works" ease of entry.  Shimano SPD-SL and Look Keo are both single sided and take a bit of practice to get into, even if you don't have them upside down.

Avoid cheap SPD style pedals (not to be confused with SPD-SL).  SPD pedals use tiny cleats and entry takes practice.  And they have a small surface area which tends to led to hot spots.  In general, SPD is an old design and has been surpassed in most ways be newer designs.

I have Garmin Vector, and have no issues.  I'd give it 5 star reviews.  I should go write one.

What you should look for in a power meter is

• Direct measurement of power, via strain gauges.  Not estimating, not guessing, not correlating.  Measuring.  There is no substitute.
• Integration with head units and wrist units (your Garmin, your Polar, etc). You want compatibility and a degree of future-proofness. 
• You want to be able to upload to Strava or BT or whatever.  You don't want to hand-enter your data.  You want analysis and segments and all that fun.
• Ease of battery replacement for end user.  None of this SRM-style "ship it to Colorado Springs once a year for a $85 replacement".
• Ease of swapping from bike to bike, if that matters to you.
• Value.  As you know value is not just price.  It's a ratio of features to price.  Is what you're getting worth, to you, what you're paying?

This is why I bought Garmin.  Direct measurement of both feet separately.  Integration with Garmin 810 Edge is flawless.  Easy upload via Garmin Connect to everywhere.  Battery swap is 30 seconds with CR2032 button batteries.  Swapping bikes is 20 minutes; fast enough for me.  For me Garmin Vector was fire-and-forget.  Works every time, rock solid. .

All that made the $1700 worth it to me.  Quarg won't swap between my two bikes because the cranks are not interchangeable.  PowerTap won't work because I already own multiple sets of non-power-tap wheels.  Various other crank based systems; well, I didn't really look into them just went to Garmin Vector.

Yes SpeedPlay Light Action are easier to get into and out of than regular SpeedPlay.  We bought my daughter Light Action pedals when she went clipless, and she loves them.  She was basically an expert on her 3rd ride.  I was most impressed by how fast and effortless it seemed for her to gain that expertise.

Originally posted by woosh alright, so I got Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan's book to get a better idea what is it that people dump so much money into when it comes to training with power meters and I think I'm sold on the idea of double sided easy in easy out speedplay light action. now is there anything I should know about shoes or is it just fit? also I noticed there are cycling shoes and tri shoes, what exactly is the difference between the two? don't you wear both just on the bike anyways? also it seems like Bruce is quite happy with Vector while most the reviews on Amazon seem to be negative. Anybody else has any experience with Vector? Would Vector be compatible with speedplay pedals?

Vectors are specific to the look style pedal.  The strain gauges are built into the pedal spindle, so it's not as simple as matching up the pod with any pedal you want.  

I don't own Vectors, but know at least 4 people that have had them.  Three of them sent them back for various malfunctions.  Anything from leaking grease to very wonky power numbers.  I have a Quarq and have had pretty much zero issues with it, but I also know someone on BT who is on his 5th Quarq in 4 years.  Same goes with Powertap.  It was my first power meter and it worked great...as it did for many others...but I still know people that had to send theirs back multiple times.

It can be hit or miss whether you get a reliable unit or not.  Nothing seems 100%.  The good news is all of the above companies have good customer service and a record for replacing faulty units.

Vector uses Look Keo which are single sided, an offshoot similar to SPD-SL but not compatible.  Sigh. 

You can read people's Vector experiences here on their forum: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?424-Vector  As usual with forums, people who don't have problems don't post.  I've never posted anything there. Mine just works.

BTW I see Garmin has a $900 single pod unit now, the Vector S  https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/vector-s/prod167943.html

And I see there is now a Garmin 1000, which beats my Garmin 810 with a better screen.  Sigh. Always a new toy to blow my $$$ on...