Question for Bryton Users

colin267
colin267 Posts: 8
edited December 2012 in Road buying advice
HI, looking at buying a GPS unit and have been comparing Garmin v Bryton. having downloaded the appropriate manuals, have a question for Bryton users.

Q. Do the Brytons use 'non-zero averaging for cadence data'? eg do they (like the Garmins) exclude zero values to take into account when you're not pedalling.
Bryton manual does not specify if such a feature is implemented. (mind you, the Bryton manuals are next to useless!).
Their website is similarly unhelpful and I'm still waiting for a reply from their support team (not holding my breath on that one!).

Cheers,

Colin

Comments

  • Bobbinogs
    Bobbinogs Posts: 4,841
    Good question and I don't know the answer, but in true BR forum style, that won't stop me having an opinion :)

    I think Bryton units do cadence averages the right way (as in they do not include long spells at zero). My average ride (when not struggling with injury, as per the current moment) shows an average cadence of 90-100 over 3 hours which is about right as I try to keep my cadence around that level. I figure that a prolonged traffic light stop would bring the average right down if it was included. Here's an example: http://app.strava.com/activities/29284785. If you look at the performance tab and just select cadence I think it proves my point, but I could be wrong.

    The Bryton support team have responded to me before when I had a query about the cadence/speed sensor, btw, but they just took a couple of days.

    I have a Bryton 20, FWIW.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    I have tested this one myself and the cadence doesn't count non pedalling time. I think it may have done in earlier software versions but I recently proved it by checking it at the start of a journey - it's very obvious if you have both cadence and average cadence on display at the same time. Stop pedalling and the cadence goes to zero and the average remains constent.

    Mind you, this gets me paranoid and I'll recheck next time I'm on one of my cadence fitted bikes (no chance this week!).

    @Bobbinogs. I doubt that a long stop at a traffic light would have any obvious impact and that's not the problem anyway. The big issue is taking into account coasting time - ie still moving on a descent but not pedalling. The easy test is to start the computer near a descent, pedal a bit to generate an average cadence and then roll down the hill and see if the average cadence changes. Besides, it takes quite some time to affect the average significantly - unless the ride is short or entirely in a city, parked time isn't generally that great and the impact would probably be rather less than the variance of between 90 and a 100 that you expect anyway.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • Bobbinogs/Rolf F - thanks for info. I suspected that this would be the case, but good to have it confirmed from personal experience.

    Cheers,

    Colin