Which Computer/HRM?

campagsarge

OK, I am on the hunt for an all round computer/HRM and my budget is £100, so sadly, the Garmen 305 is way out of my league!

I am wanting wireless (coded) transmission and although it would be useful to have cadence, it is not a necessity. An altimeter would be a bonus too but feel I might be pushing the envelope a bit with that feature!

I would prefer everything to be mounted on the rear end so I can swap the unit round to my Turbo Trainer bike.

The shortlist:

Cateye V3
Polar CS200cad
Sigma BC 2006 MHR

From my list of feature 'wants', the Cateye V3 tops the list. However, I would be really interested to know if anyone has had experience of any of these devices, good or bad.

iga

I've got the Polar CS200cad, had it about 12 months and it's a well built, reliable bit of kit. Big, clear display that's easy to read at a glance and I've not experienced any significant drop out (lost about 4 miles of distance on 50 mile ride in torrential rain). Although it has separate speed and cadence sensors that you couldn't use on a turbo trainer you can upload your training data to the Polar website which makes it more useful than the Cateye in my opinion. You might want to look at the Blackburn Neuro 6.0, don't know if it's a rear sensor but it has everything else you want, plus altimeter for about £100, doesn't look like it has training software though.

campagsarge

Cheers iga. Mmmm, had not thought about training software which I guess Polar has. Do you need to purchase a separate interface to hook it up to your PC?

nic_77

Have a look at this thread... I ended up with the Pro Scio - it's been really good.
Meets most of your requirements (with the exception of having a fork mounted sensor), and is well under budget!

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/forums/vi ... t=12564459

campagsarge

Thnaks nic_77 will have a look. How you getting on with the Pro Scio? I notice that Wiggle have all sold out until the end of July. B*gger...

...but plenty of other places sell them. I see they are branded 'Pro'. I wonder if these are made by Shimano?

blorg

PC World have the Garmin Edge 205 for under £50 and the 305 for under £100. Found that from the bargains thread.

That is crazy pricing if you can actually get one (collect in store only.)

linky

campagsarge

Really? Thanks. That is cheap as chips. Wonder why they are selling them cheap? Is a new iteration of the 205 and 305 coming out?

nic_77

campagsarge wrote:

Thnaks nic_77 will have a look. How you getting on with the Pro Scio? I notice that Wiggle have all sold out until the end of July. B*gger...

It has worked perfectly from the start... and I've cycled more than 1200km with it already. The readout is very clear, and I like the fact that I can see my heart rate, average speed, current speed and elapsed time all at once. The altimeter seems reasonably accurate - although it won't have a proper test until I take it on La Marmotte in a couple of weeks time!

blorg

campagsarge wrote:

Really? Thanks. That is cheap as chips. Wonder why they are selling them cheap? Is a new iteration of the 205 and 305 coming out?

Yes, the 605 and 705 are out - colour screen and maps on device.

PC World are just selling off the last of the old stock- reports are that it is very difficult to actually get hold of them at that price, I think you have to find one in your local store although from reports they may be coming back into and out of stock on the website.

You can however pick the Edge 305 up for not much more than £100 on eBay.

iga

campagsarge wrote:

Cheers iga. Mmmm, had not thought about training software which I guess Polar has. Do you need to purchase a separate interface to hook it up to your PC?

Nope, all you need is a microphone on your PC as the data is transferred as sound (a series of beeps and squeeks like an old ZX Spectrum). You download the interface software itself from the Polar website. It can be a bit hit and miss at first but once you figure out how close to hold the unit to the mic and on which side it's pretty reliable.