Novice Cycle Computer Advice

[BritniPepper]

I'm sticking my toe into the cycle computer waters here.

I have a Merida Crossways 10 though I'm thinking of something better in due course.

I use my bike for getting around within around 12 km radius. Sometimes to do stuff, sometimes just for fun and exercise.

I have a Quadlock phone mount.

I'd like to get more of a handle on my cycling, especially with regard to fitness. I have a heart rate monitor - a Wahoo Tickr - and while I want to get my heart rate up I don't want it to get too high and bust something.

Do I need a dedicated cycle computer? Is there a good app for an iPhone? I'd like the screen to display useful info such as heart rate and speed but the apps I've tried shut the screen off or aren't helpful and I suspect they drain my battery extra fast.

Do I need things like speed and cadence sensors?

I'm not averse to spending a few hundred dollars for a useful setup. I don't want to go overboard with features I won't use or don't need but nor do I want something so simple I'll get frustrated and be wanting the next model up or something.

The market looks rather bewildering at first glance, full of acronyms and the possibility for expensive mistakes.

Britni

[mikgit]

If you buy a GPS unit, then you don't need speed/cadance sensors...you can, the speed will make things "more" accurate...depends on how accurate you need, but normal cruising around, not necessary. Cadance, you only need if you want to know cadance.

How about something like this, which i think will connect to the HRM you already have:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/04/gar ... eview.html#

You could just use and app like strava on your phone, but it won't connect to any sensors like you HRM. Endomondo would have, but doesnt exist any more, btu i;m sure there are other apps that would work (I dont use so dont know)

[RonK]

If there is any risk you might "get my heart rate too high and bust something" then you should be getting a heart stress test done. If your cardiac health is good this won't happen and a heart rate monitor is not necessary - you can go your hardest.

Neither is a bike computer, unless you like to accumulate largely useless data.

There is not much middle ground with bike computers - they either show only basic speed and distance statistics or they have a plethora of features most of which you'll never use.

But if you find fascination in the world of numbers a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is a reasonably priced computer and very easy to use. The extra sensors are good if you want to see even more numbers.

Wahoo have recently released an upgraded Bolt so you may still find some the previous model at runout prices. I have the new Bolt and it is very good.

[Warnesy]

Strava will connect to your heart rate monitor. Given it doesn’t sound like you are doing crazy distances I’d keep the quad lock and the phone and run Strava, rather than getting another device.

[BritniPepper]

If you buy a GPS unit, then you don't need speed/cadance sensors...you can, the speed will make things "more" accurate...depends on how accurate you need, but normal cruising around, not necessary. Cadance, you only need if you want to know cadance.

How about something like this, which i think will connect to the HRM you already have:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/04/gar ... eview.html#

Wow, talk about an in-depth review! That guy talks fast.

Actually, in my initial research this unit jumped out at me. There's nothing to rule it out, which is the main thing I'm looking for. I use my iPhone for navigation but don't need it on all the time draining the battery and there are touchscreen and rain and glove issues to consider. I like that this unit does everything with buttons.

Thank you.

Britni

[BritniPepper]

Strava will connect to your heart rate monitor. Given it doesn’t sound like you are doing crazy distances I’d keep the quad lock and the phone and run Strava, rather than getting another device.

I don't have heart issues but I like to get my heart rate up to a rate where I'm working comfortably rather than idling along or sprinting. Burning fat and maintaining fitness - otherwise I might just as well take the bus.

Strava seems to be about analysis after the event rather than real-time monitoring. Apart from heart-rate there are some shared-zone areas where I have to be careful about my speed. Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see how to get Strava to show these figures on the bike, and I want at least these two figures to be constantly available without draining my battery.

Britni

[BritniPepper]

If there is any risk you might "get my heart rate too high and bust something" then you should be getting a heart stress test done. If your cardiac health is good this won't happen and a heart rate monitor is not necessary - you can go your hardest.

Neither is a bike computer, unless you like to accumulate largely useless data.

There is not much middle ground with bike computers - they either show only basic speed and distance statistics or they have a plethora of features most of which you'll never use.

But if you find fascination in the world of numbers a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is a reasonably priced computer and very easy to use. The extra sensors are good if you want to see even more numbers.

Wahoo have recently released an upgraded Bolt so you may still find some the previous model at runout prices. I have the new Bolt and it is very good.

Thank you. I'm mainly interested in heart rate and speed in real time, so the Bolt is probably too much computer for my needs and the $400 price tag is something to chew over. I don't want to ride with my head buried in a phone or computer, nor do I want to be spending hours analysing data afterwards.

OTOH, I like to have some structure to my exercise rather than just riding by the seat of my pants. Having a target heart rate where I'm burning fat helps me do it rather than just idling along and pretending I'm doing something useful. Nor do I want to arrive exhausted and covered in sweat because I'm chasing numbers. Finding a sweet spot where I'm enjoying the ride and it's helping my health and fitness is my aim.

Britni

[Tim]

I've owned a Garmin Edge 130 for around 18 months now and been very happy with it.
Having lived with several other Garmin devices I was a little wary of buying another. Garmin are well known for releasing buggy products and relying on the public to unearth the problems then slowly solving them with multiple firmware updates. The process sometimes taking well over 12 months.
This time around, no problems.
Probably nothing much I can add to DC Rainmaker's review other than to say the display is clear and bright in full sunlight so no need for the backlight and saves battery time. Very easy to read with my declining eyesight despite it's small, matchbox sized display.
It was relatively cheap, does everything I need accurately and without fault.
Small, light and inconspicuous, it suits my retro-modern steel bike, and me.

[BritniPepper]

I've owned a Garmin Edge 130 for around 18 months now and been very happy with it.

Thank you, Tim. It's one thing to read the manufacturer's blurb, another to hear reports from satisfied users. That counts for a lot. The size is a big factor. So long as I can read the figures I need, that's really all that matters.

I'm certainly leaning this way.

Britni

[warthog1]

A few I ride with have these
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/c ... n-edge-530
Can pick them up for under 400.
Plenty of functionality and shouldn't leave you wishing you had bought a unit with more features.
A few have the wahoo bolt that Ron mentioned and it is well rated too.
My eyesight aint what it was and I like to view alot of data.
Have a garmin edge 1000 I got on special a few years back.
Bigger screen and good battery life.
I run 8 data fields on my main screen along with a varia radar that is shown on the R side of the screen.
You can choose to display less fields with a bigger display and scroll through multiple screens with different fields and mapping.
It has been a ripper.

[find_bruce]

You could just use and app like strava on your phone, but it won't connect to any sensors like you HRM.

I am not sure when it changed, but the Strava app will connect to an HRM through Bluetooth- works fine for my wahoo hrm.

[RonK]

I don't want to ride with my head buried in a phone or computer, nor do I want to be spending hours analysing data afterwards.

Having a target heart rate where I'm burning fat helps me do it rather than just idling along and pretending I'm doing something useful. Nor do I want to arrive exhausted and covered in sweat because I'm chasing numbers. Finding a sweet spot where I'm enjoying the ride and it's helping my health and fitness is my aim.

Yes, watching a computer screen while riding can be dangerous.
A fitness watch which emits audible tones may be a better way of achieving this.

[Andy01]

I'm sticking my toe into the cycle computer waters here.

I have a Merida Crossways 10 though I'm thinking of something better in due course.

I use my bike for getting around within around 12 km radius. Sometimes to do stuff, sometimes just for fun and exercise.

I have a Quadlock phone mount.

I'd like to get more of a handle on my cycling, especially with regard to fitness. I have a heart rate monitor - a Wahoo Tickr - and while I want to get my heart rate up I don't want it to get too high and bust something.

Do I need a dedicated cycle computer? Is there a good app for an iPhone? I'd like the screen to display useful info such as heart rate and speed but the apps I've tried shut the screen off or aren't helpful and I suspect they drain my battery extra fast.

Do I need things like speed and cadence sensors?

I'm not averse to spending a few hundred dollars for a useful setup. I don't want to go overboard with features I won't use or don't need but nor do I want something so simple I'll get frustrated and be wanting the next model up or something.

The market looks rather bewildering at first glance, full of acronyms and the possibility for expensive mistakes.

Britni

I use a Bryton Rider 410 as my bike computer, and between my wife and I we have used the Rider 10, 330, 410 & 420. We both have iPhones. They are good value and work well. The app is probably behind the Garmin & Wahoo apps, but it does what you want. They are quite a bit cheaper than the equivalent offerings from Garmin and Wahoo.

We both have Polar OH-1 armband heart rate monitors, I have a Bryton cadence sensor and my wife has a cheap $30 Magene cadence sensor. They all connect seamlessly to the Brytons. The armband style HRMs are IMO much more comfortable (especially for women I might guess - my wife has only ever used the armband style) than the chest type monitors.

On my basic exercise bike I fitted a cheap Magene cadence sensor in speed mode (it is a "dual" sensor that does either cadence or speed - only one at a time though), and use the iPhone Wahoo app to connect the Polar HRM and Magene speed sensor. This gives me a screen which displays Speed, Heart Rate, Time, Distance etc. It also can save the ride and also share the ride data with other apps like Strava. The phone screen stays on for the duration of the ride (it doesn't go to sleep - at least not on my iPhone X). Because I am using it on an exercise bike indoors I cannot say that the Wahoo app will use the phone GPS to display speed, distance etc - it might, but I have never tried. On the app under settings / data sources, it has an option for GPS, which might use the phone GPS, but not sure.

I would suggest that you try the Wahoo iOS app and pair it with your HRM first up and try it and see if you can get it to display speed & distance (as well as heart rate).

If it doesn't work, you could get cadence or speed sensor (like a Magene sensor off eBay for around $30) and try to get that to work (in the same way as I have on my exercise bike).

Failing that I could recommend the Bryton computers - the cheapest is the Rider 15 for under $100, and then the 320, 420 & 750 - depends on how many "fields" you want to display on one screen and what extra features (like navigation) you want.

[blizzard]

I'm sticking my toe into the cycle computer waters here.

I have a Merida Crossways 10 though I'm thinking of something better in due course.

I use my bike for getting around within around 12 km radius. Sometimes to do stuff, sometimes just for fun and exercise.

I have a Quadlock phone mount.

I'd like to get more of a handle on my cycling, especially with regard to fitness. I have a heart rate monitor - a Wahoo Tickr - and while I want to get my heart rate up I don't want it to get too high and bust something.

Do I need a dedicated cycle computer? Is there a good app for an iPhone? I'd like the screen to display useful info such as heart rate and speed but the apps I've tried shut the screen off or aren't helpful and I suspect they drain my battery extra fast.

Do I need things like speed and cadence sensors?

I'm not averse to spending a few hundred dollars for a useful setup. I don't want to go overboard with features I won't use or don't need but nor do I want something so simple I'll get frustrated and be wanting the next model up or something.

The market looks rather bewildering at first glance, full of acronyms and the possibility for expensive mistakes.

Britni

I use a Bryton Rider 410 as my bike computer, and between my wife and I we have used the Rider 10, 330, 410 & 420. We both have iPhones. They are good value and work well. The app is probably behind the Garmin & Wahoo apps, but it does what you want. They are quite a bit cheaper than the equivalent offerings from Garmin and Wahoo.

We both have Polar OH-1 armband heart rate monitors, I have a Bryton cadence sensor and my wife has a cheap $30 Magene cadence sensor. They all connect seamlessly to the Brytons. The armband style HRMs are IMO much more comfortable (especially for women I might guess - my wife has only ever used the armband style) than the chest type monitors.

On my basic exercise bike I fitted a cheap Magene cadence sensor in speed mode (it is a "dual" sensor that does either cadence or speed - only one at a time though), and use the iPhone Wahoo app to connect the Polar HRM and Magene speed sensor. This gives me a screen which displays Speed, Heart Rate, Time, Distance etc. It also can save the ride and also share the ride data with other apps like Strava. The phone screen stays on for the duration of the ride (it doesn't go to sleep - at least not on my iPhone X). Because I am using it on an exercise bike indoors I cannot say that the Wahoo app will use the phone GPS to display speed, distance etc - it might, but I have never tried. On the app under settings / data sources, it has an option for GPS, which might use the phone GPS, but not sure.

I would suggest that you try the Wahoo iOS app and pair it with your HRM first up and try it and see if you can get it to display speed & distance (as well as heart rate).

If it doesn't work, you could get cadence or speed sensor (like a Magene sensor off eBay for around $30) and try to get that to work (in the same way as I have on my exercise bike).

Failing that I could recommend the Bryton computers - the cheapest is the Rider 15 for under $100, and then the 320, 420 & 750 - depends on how many "fields" you want to display on one screen and what extra features (like navigation) you want.

I have a Bryton GPS and am pretty happy with it. Best computer for cheap money, the App is basic but you can easily configure your data pages.

I would warm against the Magene sensors, I had the speed/cadence sensor in cadence mode and from the get go it would drop in and out. After 2 weeks it stopped working completely, changed batteries and still nothing. So back it went and I got a Wahoo sensor and it's been perfect so far.

[Andy01]

I have a Bryton GPS and am pretty happy with it. Best computer for cheap money, the App is basic but you can easily configure your data pages.

I would warm against the Magene sensors, I had the speed/cadence sensor in cadence mode and from the get go it would drop in and out. After 2 weeks it stopped working completely, changed batteries and still nothing. So back it went and I got a Wahoo sensor and it's been perfect so far.

Maybe I have been lucky - I have two, one on my wife's bike (connected to her Bryton 420) which has been there since December 2020, and the other on my exercise bike (connected directly to my phone via Wahoo app), which has probably only seen a couple of month's use. Both seem to work as well as the Bryton sensor on my bike.

[BritniPepper]

I would suggest that you try the Wahoo iOS app and pair it with your HRM first up and try it and see if you can get it to display speed & distance (as well as heart rate).

Wow. This works! I didn't think I could get an app to do what I wanted without paying for a subscription.

I was able to pair my HRM with the app, initiate a ride, and see speed and heart rate, time and distance in nice big bold numerals.

And cadence, much to my surprise. I guess this uses the iPhone's motion sensors to record the slight side-to-side movements of pedal strokes. I see cadence as being useful in finding a sweet spot of rhythm and heartbeat so as to be reasonably efficient on exercise rides.

[mikgit]

Well thats great! I figured they'd be an app...but I haven't used on for over 10 years.

You could just use and app like strava on your phone, but it won't connect to any sensors like you HRM.

I am not sure when it changed, but the Strava app will connect to an HRM through Bluetooth- works fine for my wahoo hrm.

Yeah they stopped sensor support a while back due to it crashing the app or something...but is highly liekly they put it back when they changed the pay model less long while ago...not sure (I only use the app in an emergency)...

[Andy01]

I would suggest that you try the Wahoo iOS app and pair it with your HRM first up and try it and see if you can get it to display speed & distance (as well as heart rate).

Wow. This works! I didn't think I could get an app to do what I wanted without paying for a subscription.

Glad it works for you.

I was surprised that it worked for me on my exercise bike (which generally I only use if it is raining & I want to ride, but using it daily now to get back into cycling after my bike was written off going head-on with a SUV - no stock of a replacement right now) - I don't even own anything Wahoo.

[trailgumby]

I would suggest that you try the Wahoo iOS app and pair it with your HRM first up and try it and see if you can get it to display speed & distance (as well as heart rate).

Wow. This works! I didn't think I could get an app to do what I wanted without paying for a subscription.

I was able to pair my HRM with the app, initiate a ride, and see speed and heart rate, time and distance in nice big bold numerals.

And cadence, much to my surprise. I guess this uses the iPhone's motion sensors to record the slight side-to-side movements of pedal strokes. I see cadence as being useful in finding a sweet spot of rhythm and heartbeat so as to be reasonably efficient on exercise rides.

I think your initial bias towards getting a separate unit is the right one. I'm not a fan of having the phone on my bars - they're not cheap to replace and they are very vulnerable sitting up on top like most do. And then there are the issues you mentioned like rain, battery life, usage with gloves, et cetera. My iPhone 11 is useless with gloves.

Now, much of this is informed by so much of my riding being off-road on a mountain bike, where little slips and occasionally trips and tumbles into the shrubbery happen a bit more often. Plus, spending time being some distance away from help should something dire happen, I prefer to keep my phone safely tucked away in my rear jersey pocket or Camelbak, with as much of my phone battery capacity in reserve for emergency use as possible, simply as a risk mitigation measure.

Garmin and Wahoo make some quite decent entry level GPS bike computers now, that are very robust, reliable, and shrug off the worst weather you can throw at them. I agree with you that cadence is important for exactly the reasons you mention.

One of the things I like about my particular Garmin model is the training effect and fitness metrics and charts. Once you have bought the unit, there is no need to pay any additional monthly subscription to be able to see the data you need. Those "little monthly fees" tend to add up rather quickly without you noticing - exactly as designed - so I prefer not to let them put their vacuum cleaner in my hip pocket in the first place. Garmin Connect is free.

I hope you find this perspective useful.

[BritniPepper]

I think your initial bias towards getting a separate unit is the right one. I'm not a fan of having the phone on my bars - they're not cheap to replace and they are very vulnerable sitting up on top like most do. And then there are the issues you mentioned like rain, battery life, usage with gloves, et cetera. My iPhone 11 is useless with gloves.

I hope you find this perspective useful.

I do. I'm aware of the problems and I'll see how the Wahoo app works for me for the next couple of weeks. The cheaper computers mentioned above might be my eventual solution, though.

Your input - and everybody else's - much appreciated. This is one area where having the advice of people who have used the kit and know how it works means a lot.

Britni

[Andy01]

I am inclined to agree with Trailgumby above. I would be fairly certain that if my iphone X had been on the bars when I had my head-on with the SUV 2 months it would not have survived unscathed (because the sport bracket for the Bryton was rotated back on the bars so there had been some contact in that area). Instead it was tucked away in a top-tube bag and I could use it (with the help of a bystander because facial recognition did not work due to injuries) get call a friend to come and get my gear, meet me at the hospital and contact my wife (who was starting a new job that day). I could not remember his number (because I never dial it anymore - just use contacts), so without a working phone, I would have had to get them to call my wife and disrupt her first day at work.

I would rather trash/lose a $200 GPS than a $1200 phone.

As an aside, I also realized that day the importance of having an accessible (via a locked phone) emergency contact on the phone. I was fully conscious through the accident and treatment, but if I hadn't been they would have not known who to contact (I was cycling alone). I have now set up the emergency contact in Apple Health on my phone (and my family's phones).