recommendations for speedometer/computer

Raph
Raph Posts: 249
edited December 2007 in Workshop
I've had a run of bad luck with bike speedos - none of them seem to last more than a few weeks. I've been through at least fifteen, everything from Halfords £5 to wireless ones for £30, they all stop working after a short while. Replacement batteries have been lavished on them but to no avail.

Years ago I had a couple of Trek ones that lasted over ten years, they were fine but eventually one of them died and all the fitting kits died one by one, in each case the wire broke where it goes into the the bracket.

Can anyone recommend a decent, preferably robust bike computer? As long as it does average speed I'm not bothered about it being wireless, don't need cadence or PC compatibility, just the usual 6 or 7 functions and for it not to die after a few weeks.

Comments

  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    Raph wrote:
    I've had a run of bad luck with bike speedos - none of them seem to last more than a few weeks. I've been through at least fifteen, everything from Halfords £5 to wireless ones for £30, they all stop working after a short while. Replacement batteries have been lavished on them but to no avail.

    Years ago I had a couple of Trek ones that lasted over ten years, they were fine but eventually one of them died and all the fitting kits died one by one, in each case the wire broke where it goes into the the bracket.

    Can anyone recommend a decent, preferably robust bike computer? As long as it does average speed I'm not bothered about it being wireless, don't need cadence or PC compatibility, just the usual 6 or 7 functions and for it not to die after a few weeks.

    Decathlon. About £12. I think.

    I have loads and never a moments problem. Accurate, too.
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    If you haven't got a branch nearby PM me and I'll get one next time I'm there and post it over.
  • aracer
    aracer Posts: 1,649
    What are you doing with your computers?

    I mostly use Cateye computers of various types (though the tandem has Sigmas), and never killed one yet, despite use in very poor conditions on a MTB.
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    :?:

    Putting them on me bikes?
  • System_1
    System_1 Posts: 513
    VDO are really good. I'm using their HC 12.6 model with the heart rate monitor, which at £50 is maybe a bit pricey, but if the rest of their range is as sturdy and well built I'd highly recommend them. I think their basic model is about £10.
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    Haven't killed one either - not since I broke the wire on me Dawes back in the big crash in '96
  • aracer
    aracer Posts: 1,649
    dave - comment aimed at the OP (I thought that was obvious, sorry!)
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    aracer wrote:
    dave - comment aimed at the OP (I thought that was obvious, sorry!)

    Yes, it was obvious. So it's me who should say sorry. :(


    Sorry
  • aracer
    aracer Posts: 1,649
    Apology accepted :wink::lol: :roll: (what is the correct emoticon to suggest I don't know why you're bothering to apologise to me? :D )
  • Rob Sallnow
    Rob Sallnow Posts: 6,279
    I have a VDO C2 and love it to bits. I only bought it for my winter bike because it was cheaper than a second mounting kit for my Cateye OS1.0 and it turns out to be far better performing in either wet or cold conditions.
    I'd rather walk than use Shimano
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    aracer wrote:
    Apology accepted :wink::lol: :roll: (what is the correct emoticon to suggest I don't know why you're bothering to apologise to me? :D )

    Dunno. I did out of manners in a desultory sort of way.

    I have a VDO. As I have said many times before, it's shit and cost ten times my Decathlon ones.

    It looks much nicer though. Probably ten grammes lighter, too.

    :roll:
  • Raph
    Raph Posts: 249
    Thanks for the replies. Yes the VDO ones seem pretty sturdy, but I've had two wireless ones just stop working. I've checked the magnet spacing, both batteries in each, still nothing. Or they start working again and then ditch halfway through a ride. I'm pretty fed up with it.


    "What are you doing with your computers? "

    Er, as said above, "Putting them on me bikes"!

    I hardly even do any off-roading, this is 100% road rides, since the speedo on my mountain bike stays on there, it's a sigma that only measures distance and has no buttons - that one's kept going fine, though I hate it cos you can't reset it, it resets itself if you stop for twenty minutes or so. And it doesn't do average or anything, just mileage and speed.


    Where can I get this decathlon thing?

    By the way, a speedo I can fit on the stem scores big points cos I can still get a couple of lights on the bars on either side. The VDO ones were good for that, shame they conked out. If I've just been unlucky with the VDO ones I'll get another - I thought they were great except for the crap longevity.
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    Decathlon computers are easily obtained from Decathlon.

    They are very sturdy.
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    Another vote for Decathlon 'puters, wonderful things for the price. 8)
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/412

    I use two of those and had no problem with either of them.
    I like bikes...

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  • Pat920
    Pat920 Posts: 55
    I like the Treks (incite 9i), which have worked better than the other computers I've had.

    They have all the usual functions, PLUS temperature! I don't know why, but it is something I like to know. Big readout, slightly fiddly to use but you get used to it.
  • Rob Sallnow
    Rob Sallnow Posts: 6,279
    Raph wrote:
    By the way, a speedo I can fit on the stem scores big points cos I can still get a couple of lights on the bars on either side. The VDO ones were good for that, shame they conked out. If I've just been unlucky with the VDO ones I'll get another - I thought they were great except for the crap longevity.

    Just get a wired one. As I said the C2 is excellent.
    I'd rather walk than use Shimano
  • Raph
    Raph Posts: 249
    Just realized the C2 is identical to the wireless one I have, except, er... it's wired. Other than the minor detail that both my VDO wireless computers have stopped working, I did actually really like them for the short time they graciously deigned to function.

    Might get the slightly cheaper C1, cos it looks like the middle buttons are a tad more accessible with fat gloves on, since they're spread along the edge rather than inbetween the other two.

    Though - for that "banana-fingers" syndrome when I'm wearing fat gloves, a single button is best - e.g. Decathlon. SO my last question is - does it fit on the stem? can't tell from the pic on the website.
  • Raph
    Raph Posts: 249
    Whoops - just seen another pic and the decathlon's TWO buttons... still, compared to VDO you don't have to aim at one inbetween two others so not so bad with fat gloves/mittens on. Still wonder whether it can be fitted on the stem?
  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    Raph wrote:
    Though - for that "banana-fingers" syndrome when I'm wearing fat gloves, a single button is best - e.g. Decathlon. SO my last question is - does it fit on the stem? can't tell from the pic on the website.
    Not sure if you could fit it on the stem - probably not with the standard mounting - but my Decathlon 'puter definitely has TWO buttons.

    Edit: Ah, apparently you noticed that. :oops:
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • Raph
    Raph Posts: 249
    Had a little session with the old VDO wireless speedos - one of them's totally dead as a very dead dodo, the other works, I swiped a magnet past the sensor and hey presto it works... fitted it to the bike and it worked... ten minutes later it didn't work. New batteries all round, still nothing. That's the sort of slapstick I've been dealing with every since I got these jokers.

    So I've just gone for two (wired) VDO C2s from cyclebasket. Stick with what's familiar, I thought, And I know they'll fit on the stem so I can still do my Mod-Vespa-style lighting array.

    If these play charming pranks like the last (wired) one did, such as resetting itself at the 200th mile of a 230 mile ride to Wales and back, thereby losing the total mileage and average speed... I'll enjoy burning them alive.

    And I'll get one of those clicky measuring wheels on a stick that surveyors use and just wheel that along beside the bike. I'm so very fed up of tinkering with tiny bits of plastic that don't do what they're meant to!
  • dave5n
    dave5n Posts: 3,307
    Raph wrote:
    Had a little session with the old VDO wireless speedos - one of them's totally dead as a very dead dodo, the other works, I swiped a magnet past the sensor and hey presto it works... fitted it to the bike and it worked... ten minutes later it didn't work. New batteries all round, still nothing. That's the sort of slapstick I've been dealing with every since I got these jokers.

    So I've just gone for two (wired) VDO C2s from cyclebasket. Stick with what's familiar, I thought, And I know they'll fit on the stem so I can still do my Mod-Vespa-style lighting array.

    If these play charming pranks like the last (wired) one did, such as resetting itself at the 200th mile of a 230 mile ride to Wales and back, thereby losing the total mileage and average speed... I'll enjoy burning them alive.

    And I'll get one of those clicky measuring wheels on a stick that surveyors use and just wheel that along beside the bike. I'm so very fed up of tinkering with tiny bits of plastic that don't do what they're meant to!

    That's why I didn't like my VDO. And why my functional but not-posh Decathlon computer got the thumbs up.

    Interesting how all the anti-Shimano brigade diss the unfashionable computers but promote the epensive crap. (They all have the same chips anyway.) Is there a connection? I think we should be told!

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