New computer... possibly with altimeter

nic_77

My cateye computer has packed up... it absolutely refuses to show my speed any longer

But every cloud has a silver lining... and I now have some justification to look for a replacement

I would like the following features:

- Usual raft of speed / distance / average etc functions
- Quite keen on an altimeter (barometric is fine)... might be useful during the Marmotte
- Did have cadence on my old computer, not sure I used it that much except when picking a gear for climbing, so probably not essential
- Am undecided on wired vs wireless
- Would like something stem mounted
- Not too worried about price, providing it represents 'good value'!

I look forward to your suggestions...
Thanks
Nic

Jamey

Garmin Edge 305. Great value IMO.

MegaCycle

yep. it has to be Garmin, really.

Down the Road

Mavic Wintech Alti About £80 all you need Leaves a clean handlebar as a bonus

SunWuKong

With regard to the Garmin Edge 305. Whilst I love it (when it's working) mine stopped working in Feb, got sent a replacement and then that stopped working last week. They will replace / repair that too but there does seem a knack to preventing this.

If you check the motionbased forum there are several people there that have had similar trouble. If you read through there though the method of preventing this is explained.

I hate not having the data I get from though

Jamey

SunWuKong - what was the exact problem you are/were getting?

And what's the fix for it?

My 305 has been fine so far but it's good to know these things in case it happens to me in future.

SunWuKong

Jamey
The problem seems to be when it's charged by USB and then unplugged. It goes in a state where it wont switch on but isn't actually off either. It can be rectified by doing teh reset procedure, reset/Lap & mode pressed together then power and it should switch on.

Mine didn't so it's gone back.

To prevent this from happening, you switch it on, unplug it, then switch it off. The support guy told me it was a safety feature for the device and they can't nail down exactly what causes this. Although it isn't on the devices feature list :roll: From what I gathered from motionbased it doesn't happen when charged from mains, but obviously you will always want to connect it to your PC.

I have hooked up my old wired computer until I get it back Wires!

Jamey

Oh right. Weird.

I charge mine via USB all the time and no probs so far but I'll bear that reset in mind. Thanks.

nic_77

Down the Road wrote:

Mavic Wintech Alti About £80 all you need Leaves a clean handlebar as a bonus

Thanks for the replies so far.

I had a look at this mavic range - seems to have a good set of features. Does anyone else have experience of using one? What's it like to live with? Are there any problems with signal interference or alignment problems etc?

Another question, do you think heart rate or cadence is more useful - it is one or the other if I want the altimeter function.

I'm not totally put off the Garmin... Just feel that the GPS option is a bit overkill, and I don't fancy having to charge the unit all the time.

nic_77

nic_77 wrote:

Another question, do you think heart rate or cadence is more useful - it is one or the other if I want the altimeter function.

Actually on second look... this might not be true. I don't think it is possible to get the altimeter computer with HR monitor, only an optional cadence sensor.

Going off the idea of the skewer sensor too - not easy to swap between my best and training wheels.

Jamey

Well you can't really leave the Garmin on the bike in case it gets nicked, so given that you have to take it off, plugging it into the PC for a charge isn't that bad.

How the cycle computer interfaces with your PC is important too. One of the things that put me off Polar was the ridiculous system they have whereby you hold the unit in front of a microphone and the computer receives the information as sound.

Nuts.

aracer

Jamey wrote:

Well you can't really leave the Garmin on the bike in case it gets nicked, so given that you have to take it off, plugging it into the PC for a charge isn't that bad.

I find stuff doesn't tend to get nicked off my bikes when they're sitting in the garage. Certainly leave all my other easily nickable computers on the bikes all the time.

Jamey

Ok, Let me rephrase then...

Taking the Garmin off the bike every day really isn't much hassle and shouldn't be used as a reason not to buy one.

That better?

Pirahna

nic_77 wrote:

I had a look at this mavic range - seems to have a good set of features. Does anyone else have experience of using one? What's it like to live with?

One thing to check. Make sure the computer displays the height units etc in the way you want. I've got a VDO altimeter/temperature computer and it switches between metric and imperial and that's it. I like distance/speed in miles with height in metres and temp in C, so want a mix of imperial and metric and the computer doesn't do it.

Also, the altimeter will run on air pressure and at best is only a very rough guide. You'll need to know the exact height above sea level of your house as a reference, but even then it can move up or down quite a bit, variation can be in the region of 100 meters or so. This can happen very quickly as well.

Down the Road

nic_77 wrote:

Down the Road wrote:

Mavic Wintech Alti About £80 all you need Leaves a clean handlebar as a bonus

Thanks for the replies so far.

I had a look at this mavic range - seems to have a good set of features. Does anyone else have experience of using one? What's it like to live with? Are there any problems with signal interference or alignment problems etc?

Another question, do you think heart rate or cadence is more useful - it is one or the other if I want the altimeter function.

I'm not totally put off the Garmin... Just feel that the GPS option is a bit overkill, and I don't fancy having to charge the unit all the time.

I have the Wintech HR plus Cadence. Used it for over 18 months. Would have to be the best on the market. NO interference no strange readings nothing.

And I can leave it on the bike at all times.

aracer

Pirahna wrote:

One thing to check. Make sure the computer displays the height units etc in the way you want. I've got a VDO altimeter/temperature computer and it switches between metric and imperial and that's it. I like distance/speed in miles with height in metres and temp in C, so want a mix of imperial and metric and the computer doesn't do it.

Such are the perils of living in the UK where we can't decide whether we're metricated or not! Since I understand km for distance (and choose that as units for MTBs where the computer is largely a mapreading aid) but not ft for height, I set my Polar to metric, despite all my other road bike computers having distance in miles.

Also, the altimeter will run on air pressure and at best is only a very rough guide. You'll need to know the exact height above sea level of your house as a reference, but even then it can move up or down quite a bit, variation can be in the region of 100 meters or so. This can happen very quickly as well.

Doesn't change that quickly in my experience - only tends to be the case if a front comes over, and you'll certainly notice that. Unless you do get a front, the short term variation is small enough that a baro altimeter is quite accurate for recording height gain (I got <10m difference from the map for a 340m climb yesterday)..

pware

I've just purchased the Garmin 305 with cadence & HR sensors.
Halfords are doing it for £140 and if you really want the cadence sensor you can pick it up via ebay for about £30.

I think it is very easy to use, and downloading the data to the PC is brilliant. Getting to see your heart rate vs. distance/gradient etc...

You can also get it to help with your training (although I haven't used this bit yet - see another post!

You don't have to plug the unit into a PC to charge either - as it comes with a wall charger...

I think if you are getting a HR monitor for your bike, you are probably interesting at seeing the detail throughout the ride, not just your max and average HR??? no?

I think the polar is WAY overpriced, its not GPS, and have issues with the wireless.

Garmin 305 £140 for HD/GPS/Altimeter!/mapping/virtual partner/training... bargain!

Phil.

nic_77

After more umming and aahing, I think I am drawn to a Pro Scio comupter - here on wiggle

I've never heard of this make before, but it costs £72, and has an endless feature list including altimeter and heart rate functions:

199.9Km/h Auto start Speed bar (% of max. speed) Average speed Speed comparison Distance 1 Distance 2 ODO 1 ODO 2 ODO 1+2 Ride time Total ride time Distance countdown Time to arrival (Arrival time/time remaining) % to arrival (Bar display) 2nd wheel size Time (12/24hour) Auto sleep Heart rate Max heart rate Average heart rate Upper/Lower Limit with visible alarm Colorie Fat burn Stopwatch Auto lap (time/distance) Altimeter Home altitude storage Altitude gain/loss % gradient Power Temperature (C/F) Max temperature Min temperature Easy calibration Service interval reminder EL backlight Smart el backlight Low battery indicator Speed transmitter Heart rate belt Handlebar bracket Speed magnet

Has anyone used one of these?

Thanks
Nic

nic_77

Just to follow up on this post... I went for the Pro Scio 4.1 in the end, and I took it out for the first time today.

My first impression is very good - It was easy to set up and it seems simple to navigate around the various screen options. I particularly like the fact that I can clearly display several different stats at once, as well as a distance/time countdown. The altimeter appears pretty accurate, and it is nice to have a built-in HRM rather than using a separate watch.

Here are a couple of pictures of the device... (also debuting today was my new white FSA stem - bought especially to match the white frame - how vain!!)

buspassman

Have a look at bikediscount.de - it's a German shop, but the site is available in English. I'm using a Ciclosport altimeter computer that I bought from them for a whole lot less than they are sold for in this country - if you ring the shop, they speak English and are vey helpful. The Ciclosport is an excellent piece of kit for the money - you can either ave a basic model or one with all the bells and whistles including HR monitor and down-loadable memory. The altimeter function I find is very accurate - you just need to adjust it every day for the altitude at home, but given that you can pre-set this it's not a problem, aqs it happens automatically when you zero it. If you are away, just find find out the altitude of your start point (usually very easy), input it, and away you go By far the cheapest quality altimeter on the market.

normanp

Has anyone tried the Blackburn Neuro 6? It looks very good for the price - I can't find out if it has gradient... or google the Blackburn web site!

coulcher

I can backup the Ciclosport recommendation. I've had a Hac 4plus for 4 years now and it's never had any problems. More data than I know what to do with but climb rate, gradients and total climb have been great on training for Etapes and Marmotte. I've used it in conjunction with a Cateye Mity so I have all data I want showing at same time. Speed & cadence on Cateye (Hac does these as well), HR & climb speed/gradient on Hac4.

In contrast my mates new Garmin in the Alps a couple of weeks ago was very unreliable, turning itself off on any bump. Needless to say he's sending it back, hoping it's just a duff model. Note that Garmins use a lot of power and need regular charging. Something a friend had issues with last year. GPS seems to fail regularly in the mountains and trees. Although the Garmin uses a barometre as well for altitude his figures were way out and the gradient reading would occasionally go berserk as well as with speeds up at 120 kmh (he's a good descender but not that good).

Hac 4 and now Hac 5 never seems to get much of a look-in the magazine reviews. Perhaps their advertising spend isn't a big as Polar & Garmins.......

stoobydale

I have a HAC5 for sale with a second set of sensors for another bike. Was going to stick it on Ebay but never got around to it. if nayone is interested send me a PM.