Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: julian on September 22, 2009, 09:12:29 PM
-
Years ago I used to use Avocets. Had all shapes and sizes over the years. Showing my age now. But what is a good basic cycle computer these days? Happy to have wired but I guess they all run wireless now? All I want are basic features, speed, ave speed, distance, trip distance etc. If it laughs at my jokes so much the better. Any reccomendations?
-
any of the cateye models nothing flash keep it simple,should pick one up handy enough.
-
+1 for Cateye. The basic models are good quality & reliable.
-
I found the Cateye clip a little weak and lost one while cycling on a bumpy road. The VDO clip looks much better, and the basic VDO models get good write ups (http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/accessories/gadgets/cycle-computers/product/a4-31633). Kevin
-
-1 for VDO wireless, based on experience - went haywire with the remotest electronic interference, mobile phone, wires overhead, so much so that it was effectively useless. Also had problems with previous VDO (non wireless) which occassionally failed to cope with speeds over 30mph. No such problems with Cateye wireless.
-
My Cateye Micro Wireless worked very well, until I cycled through Dunstable in a 6" rainfall event. I think this tested its waterproofing a bit far. It did sometimes get interference from my Cateye Singleshot light on full beam, but rearranging light and computer would probably have dealt with it. Its real pluses were on simplicity and visibility. Its auto mode resets the trip meters etc if the wheel hasn't gone round for a certain period, so you could rely on what it was telling you without doing maths
To replace the waterlogged cateye, I recently bought their double wireless HR-200, with a heart monitor: becuase I thought it might help me shed a few lb's, and thus save my Overpriced Brooks saddle from breaking. I am not so impressed with this computer. It seems overcomplicated, the heart monitor is not giving a reliable signal, and the reset is less straightforward.
-
My Cateye microwireless ate batteries and stopped working within a year. I've now had a Cateye strada -wired for 2 years and it has been excellent.
-
I have the same model as Geocycle.
I've had it for about 8 months and it has been very reliable.
One "feature" i have been made aware of is that it will stop recording a single ride over 27 hours. It starts afresh. I can't say that it will cause me a problem anytime soon, but nice to be aware of it!
-
Thanks to all for the ideas. Anyone used Sigma with any positive results?
-
Thanks to all for the ideas. Anyone used Sigma with any positive results?
Hello,
4 bikes all Thorn all have Sigma Computers. All OK.
John.
-
echo hard wired - as used in the 80s by Pantani and many others; now sold by Dyason inmotion products. Solid, reliable and miserly on batteries, all you need really.
-
Thanks to all for the ideas. Anyone used Sigma with any positive results?
I use the Sigma 506. I bought it for three reasons. One, after a Ciclosport HAC4 broke the day after the guarantee ran out, costing me about a 100 Euro a year for the three years it lasted, I wanted something reliable and the most reliable bicycle instrument I have ever owned turned out to be a Sigma PC9 heart rate monitor on another bike. Two, all Sigmas including the least complicated have autostart whereas comparable models of Cateye don't; this is such a basic convenience that I really don't want to be without it. Three, I went off Cateye after in little more than a year I had to spend near enough 200 Euro on blinkies that fell apart or proved to be inadequately waterproof.
I've also found the ergonomics of Sigma instruments excellent. The 506 for instance has a single large button that operates all functions. and it also has autoscan which essentially means you don't bother to operate even the big convenient button unless you switch off the autoscan, and even the five buttons on the PC9 HRM are easily operated while wearing dress gloves. All Sigma known to me have larger digits than any Cateye I've ever seen.
Note though that the inexpensive 506 is very basic indeed: it doesn't show average speed or maximum speed; it shows current speed, trip distance, time elapsed, total mileage, present time clock; it does either kilometers or miles. I wear my old flying watch as a cycling watch anyway, so I can compute these matters on the slide rule bezels if I want more precision than available through mental arithmetic. But, based on my experience of the two Sigma instruments I own, I have no hesitation recommending a Sigma, even if you go for something a bit more completely specified than the 506.
Sigma also offers a feature worth having on even their basic models, whereas Cateye doesn't offer it until you spend real money: this is the ability to start the odometer (total distance) from a non-zero number, a capability I consider essential for anyone with more than one bike and also when you put a new computer on a bike which already has some miles on it so that you can, for instance, keep track of service intervals.
From the very complete Ciclosport HAC4 the features I actually miss on my current Sigma 506, which cost only 5% as much as the HAC4, are surprisingly only two. There's the average speed you mentioned (not a big deal unless you're in training but useful all the same) and max speed recall, which isn't actually useful but which I like to know all the same as I have some good downhills. At first I also missed the altimeter functions of the HAC4 but now I just enjoy the ride.
The 506 and presumably the other Sigma too have a design where the mounting is just that, a mounting; some bike computers radio or wire the information to the mounting and then transfer it to the computing head, so that the mounting itself is valuable and gets stolen (there used to be a flourishing trade in expensive HAC4 mountings on Ebay). An active mounting is something else to go wrong or let in water. Sigma guarantees the supply of spare parts, and the mounting is cheap.
By the way, the mounting itself is light enough to bend under force. I discovered this by accident and then used it as a "feature" by bending it open to fit over the big black plastic ring of the Rohloff twist-shift, so that the computer doesn't take up valuable space on my handlebar or stem. Another good place to mount the Sigma computers, made possible by the halfcircle mounting design, is on the brake clamp ring to the handlebar. (There, in a crash the cheap computer gets trashed, not more expensive components.)
You can see I'm impressed and think I got value for money from Sigma. Their 506 is altogether a cycling computer (and the PC9 HRM too) designed by cyclists for cyclists.
Hobbes
-
Update to an old thread...
I can recommend a wired Planet Bike Protege 9.0, with reservations. I like everything about it except for one undocumented "feature" I discovered on a 400km day ride -- the average speed calculation is figured on a maximum 10-hour time base. Any attempts to determine average speed beyond the 10-hour mark results in a "E" error reading. What a disappointment on long rides! Still, my units have been stellar otherwise, remaining waterproof with a four-line display and no external buttons. Modes are switched by sliding the spring-loaded case forward on the mount. I have even found the thermometer to be accurate within a single degree, and the computer can be set for two wheel diameters -- ideal for fitting skinny and fat tires to the same bike to accommodate the seasons or terrain.
The cases on the Protege 9.0 used to be a nice clear plastic, but are now only available in a sunlight-blinding white. Still good though, except for the 10-hour average speed limitation.
Best,
Dan.
-
+1 for Sigma, good solid weatherproof computers unlike Cateye from my experience, unless I got a bad one.
-
Anyone got an update on a GOOD cycling computer ?
-
I would echo what has been said above about basic Cateye Models. For £15.00 or so the Cateye 5 or 8 are very reliable, the battery lasts for years. I use one in addition to my GPS as its so easy to have basic functions like time/speed/milage displayed simply. I switch one between three different bikes and it gives me a simple log of my riding that I keep on my PC.
-
I use a Cateye Adventure.
Took a bit of working out to set up and move from one setting to another.
Had it 9 months - no issues apart from when batteries went dead. Instructions say there should be warning flashing numbers and another symbol, but nowt came up. Just dead. I now carry x2 spare batteries in the bar bag.
I do like the altimeter. Thought it was a bit of over kill, but now pay attention to it for hills etc,
I would buy another one - so sums up my opinion.
Matt
-
Five years after my last post on the subject, above, both my Sigma instruments, the 506 computer and the PC9 HRM, keep on soldiering on. If they were to die, I'd buy the same again. Nothing more about them needs saying.
-
I'll recommend the Cateye Enduro which is what I have on my Sherpa.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-enduro-cycle-computer/
I have the previous version, inherited from my son when his bike was stolen but spare fitting kits are available: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/computer-spares/.
The heavy duty wiring is robust and avoids the need for a sender battery. It is a simple to use device and does pretty much everything you need.
I also have had good experience with Polar computers, but they are more 'sport' oriented and so possibly OTT for a tourer.
hope that helps
sdg.
-
Just to add to this thread, I've really been enjoying my Garmin Edge 200. Not so GPS-y as it sounds.
No clock, no altimeter, but I like to load my trip into my computer later and look at my route on the street maps. No wires, and I can mount my front wheel backwards, and it still gives me my speed and mileage ;D . (been there-done that). I charge it with my Plug, USB or A/C and I can switch it between my 700c and 26" bikes without fuss.
Holly
-
We used the VDO 1 and liked them. It comes in wireless and wired.
Mainly picked them because they had the altitude feature and met a few other tourers who used them.
It did take a bit of getting used to but then again, I hate change
-
yeah i'm unlucky with computers my polorcad200 was replaced twice on my spin yesterday it stopped working for some strange reason.on the sherpa i have a blackburn dont like it either.
i think the cateye computers are probably best well they used to be top's i'm sure there better that the expensive junk i'm useing. ;D ;D
-
+1 for Cateye Strada no buttons on the top ,but there is a risk of inadvertently zeroing it.
I use one on the front of my tandem and a wired Cateye Mity on the back.
My wife likes to know how far we have been and how far to go etc.
-
Hello there,
I bought a Cateye Velo 8 which gave me a few problems in the wet.
It stopped working for a few days a couple of times and also reset the Odometer with a battery change.
It was not possible to enter an ongoing mileage total.
Eventually it just stopped working.
After this I tried a Sigma BC1009 and this has worked very well with no problems so far.
It warned of a low battery last week but retained all the settings including the total mileage after the new battery was inserted.
If the total mileage figure is lost it is easy to re-enter the total.
My limited experience is that the Sigma has been a better product.
Barry.