What (if any) bike computer?
Discussion
I have got into road cycling in the last few months. I have been using Strava for navigation and to monitor my average speed. The problem is that the navigation is primitive and, if I leave the screen on, it dies after about 30 minutes. That's not much use when I have signed up to ride 100 miles! It looks like I need a Garmin Edge Touring but reviews of that are mixed. Any advice welcome....
I was in the same boat as you and, after getting lost when my iphone died miles from home, I decided to get a Garmin. I went for the 820, which is probably overkill, but I got it for £250, so not much more than the 'lesser' models.
The mapping and searching is clunky as hell. It runs like a sat-nav from the early 2000s, not 2017. Searching is pretty rubbish and I have yet to had to search on the fly and use the route (I'm not convinced it would send me the best way, although is supposedly configured for a road bike).
What I do like is the syncing to strava as soon as I hit wi-fi/bluetooth and also uploading routes to it from my computer - you can plan a ride at your desk then dump it onto the Garmin. Battery life seems decent and it's been reliable - although did take about a mile to find a satellite after an update this week.
The mapping and searching is clunky as hell. It runs like a sat-nav from the early 2000s, not 2017. Searching is pretty rubbish and I have yet to had to search on the fly and use the route (I'm not convinced it would send me the best way, although is supposedly configured for a road bike).
What I do like is the syncing to strava as soon as I hit wi-fi/bluetooth and also uploading routes to it from my computer - you can plan a ride at your desk then dump it onto the Garmin. Battery life seems decent and it's been reliable - although did take about a mile to find a satellite after an update this week.
I decided to avoid Garmin given their 50/50 reputation - people tend to either love or hate them based on their experiences with their unit and the current software. So I went for a Lezyne Super (Enhanced i.e. newer) version. I took a bit of a risk with it being fairly new when I bought it, and with fairly flaky software to start with, gambling on Lezyne's reputation not allowing them to ignore the software issues for any length of time. That gamble appears to be paying off as there have been a couple of firmware updates and weekly app updates which seem to have steadily erased most of the initial issues. And I've been in contact with their technical support team - you don't get ignored, and you appear to be talking to a human being rather than a corporate robot singing from the company hymn sheet.
Features wise it's got everything I want - turn by turn nav, barometric pressure sensor, customisable fields, physical buttons, light/small, ANT+ and BT sensor compatibility, GLONASS, Strava Live segments, smartphone notifications (texts and emails only atm) and a beacon/notification setup so the wife can track me and put the kettle on at the appropriate time.
Nav wise you can either use pre-planned routes (RidewithGPS files in my case) or for simpler directions you tap in an address in the smartphone app (Google maps based address searching) and it wings across to the GPS. To be clear - it doesn't rely on the phone for nav, just for entering in the destination.
I've not used the pre-planned routes in anger yet but it appeared to be working when I ported one across last week, and I wandered off into the arse end of nowhere and tapped in home and for one-way directions it worked exactly as it should.
For normal stuff it's all good - the screen is clear and easy to see (with or without the backlight on,) it charges by microUSB, the buttons are easy to use with thick winter gloves on and everything is intuitive. And rides sync with the Lezyne website (and from there to Strava) seamlessly. Quoted runtime of 24 hours (which I don't think is an outrageous claim.) And a silly little thing but it tells me battery life of my phone, HRM, S&C sensors - the latter I'd have no way of knowing otherwise.
Minor gripes? I'd like to see support for WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger eventually.
The Strava Live segments are basic - you don't get a ghost rider like on the Strava app or Garmin's, just a distance left/current time/target time type thing. And whilst it pops up when you enter a segment it doesn't default back to your previous screen. (Pressing one of the buttons twice does takes me back though.)
It's a hell of a lot of GPS with a lot of high end features in a unit that's available for £115. And the Micro which I believe is just missing GLONASS and barometric pressure sensor and has a smaller battery is £85.
Features wise it's got everything I want - turn by turn nav, barometric pressure sensor, customisable fields, physical buttons, light/small, ANT+ and BT sensor compatibility, GLONASS, Strava Live segments, smartphone notifications (texts and emails only atm) and a beacon/notification setup so the wife can track me and put the kettle on at the appropriate time.
Nav wise you can either use pre-planned routes (RidewithGPS files in my case) or for simpler directions you tap in an address in the smartphone app (Google maps based address searching) and it wings across to the GPS. To be clear - it doesn't rely on the phone for nav, just for entering in the destination.
I've not used the pre-planned routes in anger yet but it appeared to be working when I ported one across last week, and I wandered off into the arse end of nowhere and tapped in home and for one-way directions it worked exactly as it should.
For normal stuff it's all good - the screen is clear and easy to see (with or without the backlight on,) it charges by microUSB, the buttons are easy to use with thick winter gloves on and everything is intuitive. And rides sync with the Lezyne website (and from there to Strava) seamlessly. Quoted runtime of 24 hours (which I don't think is an outrageous claim.) And a silly little thing but it tells me battery life of my phone, HRM, S&C sensors - the latter I'd have no way of knowing otherwise.
Minor gripes? I'd like to see support for WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger eventually.
The Strava Live segments are basic - you don't get a ghost rider like on the Strava app or Garmin's, just a distance left/current time/target time type thing. And whilst it pops up when you enter a segment it doesn't default back to your previous screen. (Pressing one of the buttons twice does takes me back though.)
It's a hell of a lot of GPS with a lot of high end features in a unit that's available for £115. And the Micro which I believe is just missing GLONASS and barometric pressure sensor and has a smaller battery is £85.
Hmmm?
OK. When I moved from a basic Cateye computer to a GPS unit I ended up with a second-hand Garmin Edge 500 from eBay.
Three plus years I've had it now (I think) and apart from a couple of tantrums (always in poor weather or when using the 'breadcrumb' navigation) it's been pretty reliable.
But looking at the Lezyne unit that was linked to by 'tenohfive'? I'd be sorely tempted by that one if I were to need a replacement for my Edge 500. I like Lezyne gear anyway, but so far have only bought their tools, pumps, etc. That sort of stuff is really well made, and reliable, so if their electronic stuff like lights and GPS is anything like as well made they should be well worth a look at.
OK. When I moved from a basic Cateye computer to a GPS unit I ended up with a second-hand Garmin Edge 500 from eBay.
Three plus years I've had it now (I think) and apart from a couple of tantrums (always in poor weather or when using the 'breadcrumb' navigation) it's been pretty reliable.
But looking at the Lezyne unit that was linked to by 'tenohfive'? I'd be sorely tempted by that one if I were to need a replacement for my Edge 500. I like Lezyne gear anyway, but so far have only bought their tools, pumps, etc. That sort of stuff is really well made, and reliable, so if their electronic stuff like lights and GPS is anything like as well made they should be well worth a look at.
get a wahoo elemnt.
It's got turn by turn navigation, with LEDs to help notify you of turns.
Got a big B/W screen, which can be seen in all lights.
It's not got clunky software and crappy mapping. Takes two seconds to set up, and it's incredibly intuitive. Much much better than a Garmin.
It's got turn by turn navigation, with LEDs to help notify you of turns.
Got a big B/W screen, which can be seen in all lights.
It's not got clunky software and crappy mapping. Takes two seconds to set up, and it's incredibly intuitive. Much much better than a Garmin.
Well, contrary to my thoughts in the second post, I'm taking my Garmin 820 back to the shop. 2 rides at the weekend, both needing navigation and I spent longer trying to get the damn thing working properly than riding. I got lost, the navigation screwed up and then lost my ride.
I'll give the wahoo a try, otherwise will buy an old iphone 5 and a small powerpack.
I'll give the wahoo a try, otherwise will buy an old iphone 5 and a small powerpack.
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