Ant+ Cycle Computers???

hardyp
hardyp Posts: 86
edited March 2014 in Road beginners
Just bought myself a new (used) bike today which has a dual cadence/speed sensor on the back wheel. Its says iBike ant+ on it. The guy said he used it with wahoo/iphone and also left the mount on but I have a galaxy S3 which doesn't seem to be compatible with ant+ technology out of the box. The guy also recommended garmin edge 500 which he said would be compatible but didn't really want to spend loads. Can anyone recommend any cheap ant+ compatible computers that are okay? Doesn't matter if it comes with a sensor as I can put it on my mtb and switch between the two.

Cheers in advance :D

Comments

  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Bryton are ant+ and generally cheaper than their Garmin eqivalents.

    I have a Rider35 (Garmin 500 like) and it is a great little unit.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • hardyp
    hardyp Posts: 86
    Thanks for the reply. They look okay and reasonable value, £89 at cycle surgery. I'm guessing its only the head unit at that price though.

    Was maybe thinking of getting a cheap faulty iphone and using ipbike or wahoo on that. Does Iphone use ant+ out of the box? If spending more than £100 then its more tempting just to upgrade my s3 to an s4.

    Also found these cheaper more basic units for around £40, any thoughts? Not sure which is the better.

    Giant NEOS
    Bontrager node 1.1
    O-Synce Macro X
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    You need an iphone 4s i think to have Ant+ ?

    What about the Cateye Stealth 50 ? £90 or so.
  • cougie wrote:
    You need an iphone 4s i think to have Ant+ ?

    quote]
    +1 on this
    I have a garmin 500 and bought the ant+ stick for the pc and trainerroad.i too have the s3and downloaded an app thinking that I could get it all on the phone......wrong.wasnt compatible with the s3. :(
    Lapierre Aircode 300
    Merida
  • hardyp
    hardyp Posts: 86
    Decided to give the rider 35 a go as got it for £98 with HRM and cadence sensor plus hopefully 7% quidco cashback on top of that too. :mrgreen:
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    hardyp wrote:
    Decided to give the rider 35 a go as got it for £98 with HRM and cadence sensor plus hopefully 7% quidco cashback on top of that too. :mrgreen:

    Good choice. Once you have installed the Bryton Bridge software just download the files (as gpx) to your pc and then upload them to strava. Dont bother with uploading onto the Bryton Bridge interface, it is deathly slow and unreliable. The Rider35 though is great and at that price a positive bargain.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • hardyp
    hardyp Posts: 86
    Thanks for the advice.
  • hardyp
    hardyp Posts: 86
    Well they sent me just the head unit model so sent it back and they can no longer get the 35 with sensors from their suppliers (so they say) but offered me the rider 40 for £36 more. Whats the difference between the 35 and 40? Is it just the training functions? Is it worth the extra £36 as didn't really want to spend that much? I've got a nexus 5 coming tomorrow, should i just get a refund and get some bluetooth LE sensors and use with something like ipbike?
  • A lot of Sony phones are Ant+ compatible. May be worth having a look into a second hand phone, using it just for the ant+/gps functions?
    This is a good site for all info on Ant+ - http://www.thisisant.com/directory/filter/~/60/~/
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    hardyp wrote:
    Well they sent me just the head unit model so sent it back and they can no longer get the 35 with sensors from their suppliers (so they say) but offered me the rider 40 for £36 more. Whats the difference between the 35 and 40? Is it just the training functions? Is it worth the extra £36 as didn't really want to spend that much? I've got a nexus 5 coming tomorrow, should i just get a refund and get some bluetooth LE sensors and use with something like ipbike?

    It's worth looking at alternative suppliers as you might get the 40 for less of a hit. It is a better device than the 35. The case is more compact and the buttons more durable. It is the same hardware as the 35 but with extra functionality enabled. The main differences that I appreciate (!) are the pause function and superior breadcrumb trail navigation. I think it is rather good.

    Any proper bike computer will be better than a phone.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • g00se
    g00se Posts: 2,221
    hardyp wrote:
    Well they sent me just the head unit model so sent it back and they can no longer get the 35 with sensors from their suppliers (so they say) but offered me the rider 40 for £36 more. Whats the difference between the 35 and 40? Is it just the training functions? Is it worth the extra £36 as didn't really want to spend that much? I've got a nexus 5 coming tomorrow, should i just get a refund and get some bluetooth LE sensors and use with something like ipbike?

    The 40 is a decent upgrade over the 35. I had a 35 from Sportspursuit which started playing up. I sent it back and they replaced it with a 40 (have to say, customer service at sportpursuit is really excellent - which you would guess would not be the case for a company selling off old stock at discount). True - it has better training programs - but it also better integrates with the Bryton website for uploads and downloads and allows for better customization.

    The battery life seems a little better too and the case a little more resilient.

    I used to use an android phone for strava and the like but it killed the battery. I would think an iphone with added ant+ sensors fitted - and tracking software - would die in a few hours. You'd also need to mount the phone on the bars with the display running constantly for full use and that would be risky and drain the battery too.
  • using sony experia s mobile phone...has built in ant+...and i use the excellent IPBIKE android app...recorded a 100 mile sportive with it so battery lasted 7 hrs...had the phone in airplane mode ...and stopped many other functions to extend battery life
    riding a canyon endurace
    spesh allez
  • I'm using a Sportxxtreme Mycyclo 580P. You can find it for 100 €, more or less, mithout sensors. It's OK.
    It does the same things of the Garmin Edge 500.

    Maybe it's the same of a Bryton except the case
  • z2z2
    z2z2 Posts: 1
    If you have rooted nexus 5 or nexus 10, try this app. It enables the built-in ANT+ radio in nexus 5 and nexus 10.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.z2software.antplus
  • John.T
    John.T Posts: 3,698
    You don't need a speed / cadence sensor. You got one with the bike. Any Ant+ HR strap will work.
  • PhunkyPhil
    PhunkyPhil Posts: 143
    If you have an iPhone you would need to purchase a Wahoo Ant+ dongle to fit in the bottom of the iPhone to be able to receive the Ant+ signal.

    This makes the iPhone quite long and will also need an adapter if you have a newer iPhone connector.

    I would purchase a garmin with built in navigation if I were you especially if you want o get out an explore rods you aren't familiar with. These are the Gold standard of cycle computers and everything else unfortunately is a compromise...