Lezyne GPS, any good?

londoncommuter

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Think I am still confused about what I need, so I have bought a second hand Edge 200 for 30 quid on Ebay to see if breadcrumbs is fine for me or I need the full monty.

In the days it was a well reviewed device and it might well be all the GPS I ever need... or maybe not, in which case I will look at more luxurious units

Breadcrumbs are fine and work amazingly well for what they are. I managed to go miles with my 500 without too much trauma. The only occasional issue is with 100 lane London roundabouts and if you go wrong somewhere and then can't really tell how to get back on the right track.

Garmins do scream "off course" quite a lot though even when you're not and it does panic you slightly more without a map showing there are no other roads it could possibly have been and it's just the stupid unit. Give it a few seconds and it's "course found". On that, get used to looking like a lunatic swearing at your stem.......

myideal

The new Bryton unit looks amazing at a good price ... However depends if you want to buy that brand.

My rider 50 is still decent but thankfully never needed Bryton support.

carl_p

Unfortunately if you want TBT navigation on a nice colour screen format as in car nav systems then unfortunately Garmin has pretty much got the market covered. I run a 810 and it's a bit glitchy to say the least especially on TBT navigation!

If battery life concerns you then get one of these and give your device a charge at each food/control stop. I did a 12 hour ride and still 68% battery left...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerCor ... er+charger

Garry H

You can get an etrex 20 for about 140 quid. I think it would suit your requirements. It's an excellent unit, although I haven't used it on a bike yet.

myideal

Even Bike Radar rave about this and believe me I'm tempted to replace my 50 when it goes with this

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... iew-50903/

Just worry as they came and looked serious in the market and then seem to have been away for years until coming back with this.

tenohfive

redhanded wrote:

What is 750m as a percentage of the overall route length? If it is under a few percent then I don't think it is worth worrying about.

Theoretically, the distance measurement based upon the speed sensor should be more accurate than GPS readings provided the wheel circumference is correct. Some GPSes default to using the speed sensor for speed and distance measurements rather than GPS readings if there is a speed sensor present but I don't know what Lezyne's approach is.

A distance calculation based upon GPS readings is the sum of lots of smaller readings and there can be an accumulation of errors as you can see for yourself when viewing a ride as sometimes the GPS trace wanders all over the road or strays into buildings when there may be difficulty receiving a GPS signal near buildings or under tree cover.

I stand to be corrected about this, but I think Strava may use the GPS data hence the difference between distances based upon GPS readings and speed sensor readings.

That all makes sense. It was 750m variance out of 30km, which to me seems pretty steep. I'm wondering if wheel circumference comes into it. Lezyne in their guide suggest 211.1cm for a 25c tyre as a rough idea. Ride with GPS however suggest 210.5cm. They're Michelin Pro4 Endurance V2 25c's if anyone is able to enlighten me. If one or the other isn't accurate I could get off my backside and measure the wheel in fairness.

I'm just putting together a few routes on Ride With GPS now and I'll get them shunted across later today and try to get out tomorrow to test that side of it out.

SME

My Schwalbe Lugano measured 2105mm. I checked my tyre pressures, put about 7mtrs of masking tape on the hallway floor, put a mark on the tyre and sat on the bike and 'rode' forward for 3 tyre revolutions. Marks the tape opposite the marks on the tyre at the beginning and end, and measure the distance... divided by 3 is wheel circumference.

ugo.santalucia

SME wrote:

My Schwalbe Lugano measured 2105mm. I checked my tyre pressures, put about 7mtrs of masking tape on the hallway floor, put a mark on the tyre and sat on the bike and 'rode' forward for 3 tyre revolutions. Marks the tape opposite the marks on the tyre at the beginning and end, and measure the distance... divided by 3 is wheel circumference.

Do you really make a big error by measuring the height of the wheel with tyre against a wall... in the same way you measure human height and multiply by pi ?

I get the tyre squashes slightly under weight, but surely the difference is insignificant

SME

ugo.santalucia wrote:

SME wrote:

My Schwalbe Lugano measured 2105mm. I checked my tyre pressures, put about 7mtrs of masking tape on the hallway floor, put a mark on the tyre and sat on the bike and 'rode' forward for 3 tyre revolutions. Marks the tape opposite the marks on the tyre at the beginning and end, and measure the distance... divided by 3 is wheel circumference.

Do you really make a big error by measuring the height of the wheel with tyre against a wall... in the same way you measure human height and multiply by pi ?

I get the tyre squashes slightly under weight, but surely the difference is insignificant

Yeah, Pi*dia gives the circumference - I admit it, I'm just OTT/OCD/some other Osomething! But it works for me.

tenohfive

Well I switched to 2105 and it was still out by a similar amount (500m over 20km.)

And ascent. I can't work this one out. It's got a barometric altimeter. Strava gives one figure. Lezyne give a different one. About a 15% difference (Strava going high.) Strava gives me the option to correct it, so I did - but the revised figure wasn't Lezyne's, it was something else (and ended up about a 25% reduction on the original Strava figure, below Lezyne's number.)

I can't work out why there's such a variance between Strava and Lezyne and which to trust. It shouldn't matter massively, but the distance thing has a bearing on my average speed which I use as a metric for comparison when cycling the same route.

ETA:
Just read this, it would appear that the ascent issue is down to Strava and the way they 'smooth' the data:
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/art ... r-Activity

durhamwasp

I think im after exactly the same thing as Ugo...

Gps computer with:
- Turn By Turn
- Breadcrumb
- Speed/Distance/Time
- 15hr Battery life minimum

- Ability to upload a route from my laptop to the GPS Computer, and be able to follow that route on a 10-12hr ride is the main thing I am after.

Maps would be useful but I think TBT and breadcrumb is enough.

Wondering whether the Lezyne Macro, Garmin Touring or Bryton 330 are best, or if theres another worth considering?

durhamwasp

myideal wrote:

Even Bike Radar rave about this and believe me I'm tempted to replace my 50 when it goes with this

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... iew-50903/

Just worry as they came and looked serious in the market and then seem to have been away for years until coming back with this.

You like your Rider 50 then? I have two Brytons which ive been very happy with, another one of our group has a Rider 50 but ive never used it/looked that much into it.

What do you use it for, navigation wise, mainly?

ugo.santalucia

My 30 quid Garmin 200 arrived yesterday. I made a TCX file with ridewithGPS (free one) and uploaded it in the new files folder. I deliberately included a few mistakes, like a turn right and then 180 degrees turn to get back in route to see how the GPS behaves if I ignore the glitches.

All seems fine, the crumb trail is very easy to follow. Arrows turn up when you have to turn and the GPS seems to discriminate between turns and bends, despite the lack of maps. It also gives you a rough (very rough) time to the next turn, which is probably based on average speed...

All in all, it's probably all the GPS I need... being second hand I suppose the original 14 h battery life has been eroded, but it's likely still better than a new Garmin 20, which only has a tiny 8 hours.

You can keep the backlight on should you wish to cycle at night... all is good... and it's very little which means I don't go around with a tablet sized thing on my bike

londoncommuter

ugo.santalucia wrote:

My 30 quid Garmin 200 arrived yesterday. I made a TCX file with ridewithGPS (free one) and uploaded it in the new files folder. I deliberately included a few mistakes, like a turn right and then 180 degrees turn to get back in route to see how the GPS behaves if I ignore the glitches.

All seems fine, the crumb trail is very easy to follow. Arrows turn up when you have to turn and the GPS seems to discriminate between turns and bends, despite the lack of maps. It also gives you a rough (very rough) time to the next turn, which is probably based on average speed...

All in all, it's probably all the GPS I need... being second hand I suppose the original 14 h battery life has been eroded, but it's likely still better than a new Garmin 20, which only has a tiny 8 hours.

You can keep the backlight on should you wish to cycle at night... all is good... and it's very little which means I don't go around with a tablet sized thing on my bike

Glad you like it. There's lots online about replacing the battery if you do eventually need to although at £30 you could have two and turn the second one on when the first dies!

Man Of Lard

Indeed - straightforward process to replace the battery - https://youtu.be/DOrZym62L_4

redhanded

durhamwasp wrote:

I think im after exactly the same thing as Ugo...

Gps computer with:
- Turn By Turn
- Breadcrumb
- Speed/Distance/Time
- 15hr Battery life minimum

- Ability to upload a route from my laptop to the GPS Computer, and be able to follow that route on a 10-12hr ride is the main thing I am after.

Maps would be useful but I think TBT and breadcrumb is enough.

Wondering whether the Lezyne Macro, Garmin Touring or Bryton 330 are best, or if theres another worth considering?

I'll put in a plug for the Wahoo ELEMNT. I've had one for almost a year now after getting fed-up with the bugginess of Garmin and like any new product, it hasn't been perfect but overall I definitely prefer it over Garmin.

One thing I like is the legibility of the ELEMNT screen as I found the Garmin colour screen more difficult to read, particularly in bright sunlight. I know this will vary from person to person but generally speaking, eyesight can deteriorate with age so what is ok for someone in their 20s may not be great for someone in their 50s.

micrographia

I've learned the hard way that my Garmin 500 is an OK nav tool for short rides in conditions with good GPS reception. Anything over about 50-60km or rides with a lot of turn notifications and it is very likely to go wrong. Great unit otherwise, but it's nav capabilities aren't flagged up by Garmin for a reason and I would strongly recommend not relying on it as your primary guide on long rides in unfamiliar territory. Perhaps the Garmin 200 will work better for you.

About to spring for an 820 (and a weatherproof power bank) now the early adopters have done their beta testing, mainly for nav ability in forn parts. I need ANT+ connectivity and my wife likes the idea of live tracking as well. Wish me luck.

ugo.santalucia

londoncommuter wrote:

Glad you like it. There's lots online about replacing the battery if you do eventually need to although at £30 you could have two and turn the second one on when the first dies!

I was thinking exactly the same...

ugo.santalucia

micrographia wrote:

I've learned the hard way that my Garmin 500 is an OK nav tool for short rides in conditions with good GPS reception. Anything over about 50-60km or rides with a lot of turn notifications and it is very likely to go wrong. Great unit otherwise, but it's nav capabilities aren't flagged up by Garmin for a reason and I would strongly recommend not relying on it as your primary guide on long rides in unfamiliar territory. Perhaps the Garmin 200 will work better for you.

About to spring for an 820 (and a weatherproof power bank) now the early adopters have done their beta testing, mainly for nav ability in forn parts. I need ANT+ connectivity and my wife likes the idea of live tracking as well. Wish me luck.

For audax rides, I will still back it up with printed directions and a map of the area

graemew

ugo.santalucia wrote:

OK. What I need is to upload a GPX and I'd like step by step directions without the use of a phone... anything else is pretty much a bonus

So as I understand it does do that? 'Cause I read a review which suggested for directions you need to pair it to a phone

I'm still finding my way with this device.

I can say that you CAN plan and upload a route via the phone, commence the route with the phone, and then you don't need the phone anymore.

HOWEVER - what I'd like to know is that if you have done some routes before, and presumably (?) they are already on the GPS unit, CAN you restart an existing route WITHOUT the phone? The only way I can see that you can browse routes and start one is by hitting the big round 'GO' on the Lezyne Ally app on the phone. There is no way to select a route and start one on the GPS unit itself. Is this true? That seems rather a disadvantage. I'm cool with getting everything configured at home with phone and/or computer. But, when I'm out on the road, just following a static route, I'd like to be able to use the GPS unit stand-alone. As it doesn't need the phone to follow a route otherwise (only just to get it started), it seems like it would be an easy enough feature for Lezyne to add. Perhaps it's there, but I haven't found it?

Any advice?

All up, my impression of this device is that it shows a lot of potential, but lacks some of the polish of Garmin units (I previously had a Garmin 500).

Quite annoyingly - this morning when I went to use it, it INSISTED on a firmware update. No choice. I downloaded the firmware on the computer, found a USB cable etc., started the update. 10mins later it was still going, and by then I was at least 5mins late. I had to go on my ride with my old Garmin.

I got home 3hrs later after my ride and found the update had failed, and I had to restart (which went smoothly the second time).

Rather obnoxious feature insisting on a firmware update there and then, with no option of deferring until later.

Thanks.

itboffin

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you have to rely on the phone to talk to the gps which in turn talks to you, things are bound to get messy. If the market is the fast training group it is not a problem, but if you are in the middle of nowhere relying on the gps taking you to your destination, then I am not so sure I want that.
Way too much faff for my likes

find an old garmin 705, it'll do 15 hours with turn by turn and maps, if you buy one from the "bay" get a replacement battery as well. If i'm doing an all day event as you have coming up that what i use

ugo.santalucia

itboffin wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you have to rely on the phone to talk to the gps which in turn talks to you, things are bound to get messy. If the market is the fast training group it is not a problem, but if you are in the middle of nowhere relying on the gps taking you to your destination, then I am not so sure I want that.
Way too much faff for my likes

find an old garmin 705, it'll do 15 hours with turn by turn and maps, if you buy one from the "bay" get a replacement battery as well. If i'm doing an all day event as you have coming up that what i use

Thanks, I seem to be OK with the basic breadcrumb on the 200... battery is around 14 hours, I also got an AA USB battery charger for 2 pounds... with a pair of Duracell should easily get me through a 1000 km event or similar

myideal

durhamwasp wrote:

myideal wrote:

Even Bike Radar rave about this and believe me I'm tempted to replace my 50 when it goes with this

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... iew-50903/

Just worry as they came and looked serious in the market and then seem to have been away for years until coming back with this.

You like your Rider 50 then? I have two Brytons which ive been very happy with, another one of our group has a Rider 50 but ive never used it/looked that much into it.

What do you use it for, navigation wise, mainly?

I like my rider 50, however it's a bit slow on the mapping i think personally, but then that lag will be just normal as it's older tech.

I would like to get another Bryton as the 530 looks good, however can't work out if they are the real deal or are just going to come and go again?

Warbski

tenohfive wrote:

I've got a Super in my hand that turned up yesterday. Yet to use it in anger (and the snow gods, long may they reign, may have a say in when I can.)

I can't answer this totally but only offer some pointers.

Basically I don't think you need the phone present during the ride - you setup your route and your phone (or tablet I presume, if you took that route) running the Lezyne Ally app pushes the mapping and directions through to the GPS.
If you don't have access to a smartphone I suspect that it'll be possible to copy them on via a PC - when plugged into the PC it does have a folder marked 'Routes' but I don't know what format it takes - I don't think .gpx works (you can upload .gpx's to their website though, and it'll spit out the route into your saved routes - it just doesn't give you a downloadable file, you need the phone app to push it across.) I've seen reference to .tcx or .fit maybe..?

Unfortunately I'm having issues with getting it to sync over a route I made in the route creation part of their website - it's throwing a wobble over firmware, telling me to update it when (as far as I can see) it's up to date, prior to pushing over the ride.

I think there's some confusion over routes vs. mapping with the Lezyne's though. They are two distinct things. If you want to follow a preset route, it will push it across and you can do that before you leave. Likewise if you want to enter a destination. You'll need a smartphone, but if you're that dead set against carrying one you can leave it at home (I must be a minority in always having my phone with me judging by the Lezyne bashing.) But if - whilst out - you decide to go somewhere else, you need the phone to come up with a new route and push it across.
Personally that principle works for me. My smartphone has a nicely sized, easy to use, clear screen, so using that to enter the destination and pick out a route makes a lot of sense to me. Not that I imagine I'll be doing that often - normally I just follow routes, which can be pre-loaded (as best I understand it - when I get it working I'll confirm that.)

So I like the functionality. Where I feel it's being let down is the software - it sounds a little flaky right now. But they're still new units and at £70 less than a 520 for something so feature packed I'm prepared to take a gamble on Lezyne sorting that as time goes on. Given they want a chunk of that Garmin dominated market they have a lot of incentive to. Others may want to hedge their bets for now.

Hi

I’m new to this forum and apologies for resurrecting a 2-year old discussion but o found this while trying to do a bit of troubleshooting and hope someone may offer some advice.

I bought a Macro recently; I have used it twice and failed so far to get the TBT working properly.

I have created routes using the Ally app and Ride With GPS but on both occasions, the only turning instruction displayed was the final turn back into my road which counted down in distance from the start of the ride. I was alerted when I went off-route so the computer was following the route.

I’m guessing I have missed something when I created the routes but can’t see for the life of me what that might have been.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

kingrollo

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Thanks...

shouldn't technology be a bit more straightforward? It's a minefield... I need something I can rely on, with a battery that lasts at least 12 hours in constant use and tells me where to go unequivocally from a GPX route... if that is too difficult in 2016, then I'll probably just print a and laminate a set of directions a la Audax and carry a map in my pocket for when I get lost.

Agreed - its seems they pack these things with and more features without really caring if they work. Seems the trend with cycling tech or maybe just tech - I have a fly 12 light which is supposed to do a whole bunch of stuff, most of it is either that fiddly or just plain doesn't work...

philbar72

that strava thing happens a fair bit if the gps signal goes down (I usually find in heavily wooded areas or where its misty). it gets confused (I run a garmin 520) and you lose the distance...

maybe that's just me though.

ugo.santalucia

philbar72 wrote:

that strava thing happens a fair bit if the gps signal goes down (I usually find in heavily wooded areas or where its misty). it gets confused (I run a garmin 520) and you lose the distance...

maybe that's just me though.

Meanwhile the much older 200 seems to suffer none of those issues. I haven't had a bad file yet... and that's out of over 600 files, including some exceeding 18 hours of tracklog

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.merlincycles.com/lezyne-meg ... 15033.html has been as low as ~£150 before using any reward point discount, several decent features on paper including...
48 hours runtime
Offline map routing
Nice "big" screen

I need to test the route turn-by-turn with automatic re-routing on my Super GPS, Lezyne completely messed it up around the time firmware for the new to the market Mega XL came out, this sort of time last year. They claimed to fix it around October, but I never got around to giving it a proper test before retreating indoors for the winter.

roger_merriman

ugo.santalucia wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

that strava thing happens a fair bit if the gps signal goes down (I usually find in heavily wooded areas or where its misty). it gets confused (I run a garmin 520) and you lose the distance...

maybe that's just me though.

Meanwhile the much older 200 seems to suffer none of those issues. I haven't had a bad file yet... and that's out of over 600 files, including some exceeding 18 hours of tracklog

I had some fairly poor data from the 200 in the woods though not so bad to loose distance etc, the 520 is my commute GPS mainly because I like seeing the temp, and it sync with the phone, it has better lock than the 200 and the Touring which I had/have.

philbar72

ugo.santalucia wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

that strava thing happens a fair bit if the gps signal goes down (I usually find in heavily wooded areas or where its misty). it gets confused (I run a garmin 520) and you lose the distance...

maybe that's just me though.

Meanwhile the much older 200 seems to suffer none of those issues. I haven't had a bad file yet... and that's out of over 600 files, including some exceeding 18 hours of tracklog

I had a 200 for a while ( it was really good for my first ever Liege Bastogne Liege). It held up fine but obviously without a ant+ sensor it had limited appeal as a proper training tool. I do recall though that it gave me the fewest headaches of all my devices (before or after).

Of all my garmins it was the least flaky. I still remember one of my garmins doing a software update during my last ever race at longcross and restarting just as I was about to do a solo break….

I want to get a bolt basically, but if one of the lezyne devices was available with a wilier compatible mount (out front) I wouldn’t mind having a look at that as well..