garmin 500 or sigma rox 9.0 or?

kamil1891

I want to upgrade my pretty basic cateye computer that will be moved on my track bike and want to upgrade for something which would allow me to analyze the data such as speed (maximum, ave etc), cadence (maximum, current, ave), heart rate (all functions + preferably showing when I'm changing through zones), alitude and slope would be an advantage but it's not necessary as I don't think even the best computer on the market would do that properly.

I was thinking of garmin 500 with cadence and HR which costs around £250, and that's quite expensive for me, but I could stretch. I have also seen Sigma Rox 9.0 and has good compability with two bikes (training + racing). It is easy to swap over the garmin between two bikes too? Sigma is way cheaper but doesn't have gps, which is btw. cr@p as far I as know from various reviews - it only tracks.

Which should I go for? Anyone can share experience with any of these two? Are there any other quality or cheaper alternatives ?

and well, garmin would allow me to use a powermeter of any kind, if I decide to get one in future...

kamil1891

Doesn't apply anymore. I went for the garmin in black/red, at Hargroves Cycles - cheapest I could find. Will match my bike too

Anyway, I would appreciate all the reviews.

warrerj

My wife has a Garmin Edge 800 and I'm really quite impressed. It's VERY accurate even down to showing movign up and down the bank on the velo. She went for the 800 because we do a lot of MTB as well so the OS mapping is of use (I have a copy of the GB 1:50k OS map and have managed to get it to work so didn't need to spend £200 on it). From what I gather the 500 is the same unit without the mapping function. Not seem or tired the Sigma tho.

PS check out handtec they are good to deal with and cheap.
http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/2336/garmin-edge-500

small_steps

I own both, having used the ROX for a year, then replaced it with a Garmin. There is one clear plus for the ROX - it's battery life, compared with needing to charge the Garmin after nearly every ride. On the other hand, although the native SIGMA software is good, the device will not feed any other sites, whereas Strava, Training Peaks and many other sites accept Garmin files.

There is one highly annoying feature of the Sigma, too, which is that it does not always record data - you need to actually remember to ask it to log data every time, otherwise you can find that you have had live data all ride but captured none.

The GPS on the Garmin is now invaluable to me - and I thought that it might be a gimmick.

So, my view, after more than a year with each device, is a big vote for the Garmin, unless you are planning on regular 24-hour TTs, in which case the battery life will be too short, so the ROX would be better.

kamil1891

Thanks warrerj for that but I have already purchased it from hargroves cycles, it was in stock and only few pounds more expensive.

small steps
great review of both, most useful features. I'm not planning anything longer than 8h I think, so I would be fine with charging the battery. Can you replace the battery during the ride if you have another one? The garmin would also look nicer on my bike

RDB66

Ive had my Garmin 500 for about a year now...love it, does everything i need very well. I dont need maps as i tend to know where im going when riding!
As for charging the unit, ive never had to charge mine after just one ride, id say i get about 200-250mile out of a charge. And you cant change the battery its built in.
You'll enjoy using it, the worst bit is setting it all up. The Garmin Connect site is a pretty good tool too.

RichB.