[Closed] anyone still use bike computers?

I've got both on different bikes.

The gps is good, but not as accurate as the computer, but thinking of getting a speed sensor to resolve this.

Shop arround and a cmputer with cadence and speed is £30, but if you want cadence + speed + HR and you may as well pay a few pennies more for the GPS ones 2nd hand.

I ended up buying a Forerunner 405 and use it for running and chuck it into my bag to log my rides. It's all about convergence baby!

GPS v Bike computer

GPS - expensive to loose / break, eats batterys, gives you altitude gain which is gool, can link to a PC which is cool the first time you use it.

Bike Computer - cheap as chips, batterys last ages, gives you distance and speed.

I have both, I prefer the bike computer but take the GPS (and a map and compass) if its somewhere I dont know!

Bike computer and a map. Going riding with GPS user seem to be a constant succession of reailising you are going the wrong way and riding back to the trail you passed a few hundred yards ago. However GPS user in question admits thta it is an older model intended for walking. Things may have moved on.

"gives you altitude gain which is gool"

asside form the innacurate spelling, the altitude gain is usualy crap as well, if fluctuates by +/-5m every time it takes a reading (the engles are much shallower in that dimension compared to the ones its looking at to fix your position so any error is magnified), so over a ride with say 1000m of climbing (measured off the OS maps) it often says 1500m+.

I took my computer off a few years ago, decided I'd rather be looking at the view than a screen. I don't care how far I've been or how fast I went or what my average speed was, none of those have any bearing on whether I'm enjoying myself or not. My riding is all from the doorstep and after 24 years I don't need a GPS to tell me where I am. I think your right though and if I did want something to look at other than the view then it might as well be able to tell me where I am.

asside form the innacurate spelling, the altitude gain is usualy crap as well, if fluctuates by +/-5m every time it takes a reading

Quite handy for navigation sometimes to know what altitude you are at though.

Thisisnotaspoon, if you download your tracks after a ride, then there are various altitude corrections available - I use a plugin for Sporttracks when running and it seems to tally up pretty well with OS map calculations.

I've got an Edge 500, which is very good. It's not really a GPS though (you can follow a breadcrumb trail on it, but it's not navigation as such), so much as a bike computer that uses GPS instead of a wheel sensor to provide speed/distance etc.

Andy

asside form the innacurate spelling, the altitude gain is usualy crap as well, if fluctuates by +/-5m every time it takes a reading

Indeed, I seem to full of fail in my posts today - too much coffee and excitment about moving house on Friday is making me all jitery...

I have one with a barometric pressure sensor for altitude, it uses this along with the GPS signal for accuracy. It also has a temperature sensor etc for accuracy.

However there is something about a map that I just like more. I dont know why, I just like a map and compass to see where I am.

Forerunner 405, its about where i went....

I know where i am going.

I've just fitted a computer to my FS as i fancy knowing how far i've gone.

I fancy a GPS but don't fancy breaking it in a crash, on the road I can see the point in all the gadgets like cadence, heart-rate zones, etc etc, but not on your average MTB ride.

Did however download a little app for my iPhone the other day and used it for the first time today - Bike Mate - it gives you max speed, average speed, distance and elevation, pretty accurate too, it even automatically overlays your route onto google maps for ya 😀

The gps is good, but not as accurate as the computer.

Really - how do you know?

Got two in LiDLs for £2.99 each. Do the job just as well as ones I've paid ten times that for. Worst I ever had was some fancy Cat Eye wireless thing that wished you a happy birthday. About £70 rrp I think. Utter shit. Now lying on the bed of the River Lee.

Computer would be more accurate as it's measuring the actual revolutions of the wheel = distance travelled, rather than a more vague GPS measurement, surely? Can't be much in it I wouldn't imagine though.

I always take my Edge with me to record the data but seldom use it for route finding as such.
Also the data is not something I will religously go over but it nice to see how far you have cycled each month or maybe how fast you did a certain route last month etc.....
The issue with batteries is pretty much dead now I think with internal ones fitted.

It has also survived a number of over the bars moments with the worst damage being a ripped screen protector !!!

Got two Cateye Stradas and one Cateye Micro - all three are good.

I always take my Edge with me to record the data but seldom use it for route finding as such.
Also the data is not something I will religously go over but it nice to see how far you have cycled each month or maybe how fast you did a certain route last month etc.....

Really - how do you know?

I was going to ask that. I was using the GPS on the phone to calibrate the cycle computer, amending the initial wheel measurement on the computer so that they're some bit like close. Is that a bad thing to do?

I can leave my cateye on the bike and forget about it. It works whenever I ride the bike. It needs a new battery about every two years.

I bought a GPS about a year ago, it lives in a drawer as I never remember to charge it. After the novelty of the first few rides I kind of forgot I owned one.

Edge 305 is all I use now. Barometric altimeter works well, but only if you turn it on 25 min or so before you start. If I'm going somewhere new, I'll plot a route using www.bikehike.co.uk and use it for navigation. I now very rarely have to refer to a map, and it's great to be able to confirm at a glance that you're going the right way.

I have a mount on all three of my bikes, no wires, no mucking around with different wheel sizes.

There are a couple of police half mile markers near where I live & I callibrate my cycle computer from that. None of the GPS units I've used seem to be accurate for distance over the half mile. GPS is a brilliant device but it ain't perfect.

But aren't GPS only out by 10 to 20 metres - over i/2 a mile that is alot but over 20 miles it is a pretty small percentage compared to a wheel circumference measurement when the wheel has gone round 16,000 times.

But aren't GPS only out by 10 to 20 metres - over i/2 a mile that is alot but over 20 miles it is a pretty small percentage compared to a wheel circumference measurement when the wheel has gone round 16,000 times.

I've found gps, even a good one, for my commute fluctuates by about .4 km over 26 km. cycle computer is usually the same every time.

Joe

I've got computers on my road bikes. They stay on there so I can see exactly how many miles I've done in a year or in the lifetime of the bike. Computer is dead cheap, batteries last 5 years +. The only time I use a GPS (Edge 305) is for Sportives or if I'm working out a new route. I just can't be bothered swapping the GPS around each time, much rather just leave a tiny little computer on there.

all my bikes except the singlespeed have computers on. I have three mounts for the edge 305 scattered around, again single speed has no mount.

tbh though, the computers are mainly there for the clock...

Several Cateye Micro wireless units - one on each bike. Fit and forget to some degree and no anxiety over crash damage, less space used up on the bars, not end of the world if I forget to take the main unit off and it gets nicked, no need to remember to swap between bikes. Been very happy with them, hence several. Also have a Garmin 305 GPS which I occasionally use for walking and biking info (wear on wrist) but really the micros are more convenient for casual stuff. I am not worried about route finding or getting lost.

But aren't GPS only out by 10 to 20 metres - over i/2 a mile that is alot but over 20 miles it is a pretty small percentage compared to a wheel circumference measurement when the wheel has gone round 16,000 times.

Fair enough - never used a gps speedo.

Forerunner 305 on the bars is all I use these days. Been thinking of getting a computer for the road bike though, as I tend to plan out a new route (I get bored of the same old) and stick it on the GPS - which means it'll be on the screen with the arrow and black line rather than showing speed/distance/etc.

However GPS user in question admits thta it is an older model intended for walking. Things may have moved on.

thats down to how they plot the route on the pc not the unit.

I only use a computer on my Road bike for commuting, as it's a regularly covered journey, therefore handy to plot fitness as time taken over the same set distance, the computer is only there showing start/finish time (so I can put journey time into Excel) and current speed as a bit of a motivator when required...

As much as I fancy a Garmin, the 2 people I know who have them (both 705s I think) spend ages faffing with them on rides, and while they can tell you the groups Average speed and their own Cadence at any point during the ride that's nothing a decent computer can't do.

The ability to track the whole ride and load it up to Google Earth after is nice, but given the fact that half the new mobiles sold this year and next year have similar tracking apps available, I can't really see the point in getting a garmin now...

My next mobile will most likely have GPS built in and so I will probably try using that for "Sports tracking" purposes...

The ability to track the whole ride and load it up to Google Earth after is nice, but given the fact that half the new mobiles sold this year and next year have similar tracking apps available, I can't really see the point in getting a garmin now...

Once the mobile falls off the bars or get soaked in your backpack or squashed etc you will wish you had a nice solid Garmin that was designed to take that kind of abuse.

I got Edge 705 - very accurate distance wise - My cateye cordless in now in a box !

Got a handful of computers, still cheaper than gps.

Road bikes and computers go together. Distance, speed etc. are important to know.

I have one on the commuter because it was cheap <£10.

I only have one on my race bike because it's good to know how far you have been when planning laps/feedstations/next hill etc.

On the marathon type events it's good to know what your average is to help pace yourself.

I'd like to get a GPS heart rate monitor but funds don't allow.

I'd just break a GPS, and I don't really need/want any more tech in my life. There's a computer on the road bike, nothing on the mountain bike

GPS seems to lose track when in woods from my experiences (Edge 305) and can give very spurious grade percent when climbing on wooded tracks. However having accurately calibrated my cycle computer (measure on floor exactly one wheel revolution) I find that on ride GPS and computer are very very close, ie <0.2% difference. GPS can give lots of extra useful / useless data too eg HR, grade, ascent gained, time elapsed, time of day etc etc depending on how data fields are set. But bike attachment is not strongest in world so tend to keep it for road bike use, not risking MTB knocks and vibrations

But bike attachment is not strongest in world so tend to keep it for road bike use, not risking MTB knocks and vibrations

Hmm - I never loose signal with my 705 and like splash attach it to the stem. Its great and has the HRM with it. But if your on a budget a cordless bike computer has to be high up there 🙂