General Cycling Discussion - Computers???

I have a avocet 50 and I must say that i don't really like it. I had to have mine repaired/replaced at the factory twice, and the batteries never lasted a full season. Additionally, after the first year of sitting in the hot garage, the display of each unit got picky about the angle you could view it.

I am now looking for a new computer. I have 35 to spend. Am i looking for some thing to cheap? Tell me what you all think i should get. Im not to picky, i just would like one that is built well and will last!

Jared

well...the Cateye Astrale I believe goes for only about $ 39.95. In addition to all the usual features, it has Cadence, a function I find very nice! It isn't wireless or anything like that, so you can expect to have wires running down your downtube, and two sensors attached to the chainstay. This doesn't bother me too much though.

Edit: I have heard of several who have taken their Cateye's into the LBS, and were given a new computer no questions asked. So I think Cateye is pretty good about warranties. :)

I have looked at that and i like it. The wires seem a bit thin. Im not to sure if that would work to wel for me. So i forgot to say that this will be for my Mtb. Thank you all for your time.

Jared

Cateye Enduro 2. About 25 bucks and has a wire about twice as thick as anything out there. It's well-suited for MTBs.

I've had nothing but hassle from wireless computers. They eat batteries and stop receiving for any excuse.

So I'd recommend one with wires from the magnet sensor to the computer. May not be as neat as a wireless but far more reliable.

Stew

I had a Cateye Astrale but it started giving me problems after less than a year.
I got a Vetta RT77 when I got my "new" road bike about 1-1/2 years ago. Cost was ~$35. Liked it so much I put one on my commuter and trashed the Cateye.
It shows all the information I'm interested in, including cadence. :beer:

http://www.vetta.com/Product_RT77.html

Astrale CC/CD100 on the Roadie - love it
Enduro II on the MTB - love it
Enduro on the commuter - love it

Just one warning - with canti's, never grab the wire and try to pull some slack towards the handlebar while you are riding if the computer wire is run with the brake cable housing inside the wrap they provide with the enduro II - yikes, you'll end up over the bars quick

I have Sigma computers and they works well. Do you have Sigma over there? I believe it´s a German product.

Anders K

I've had a cateye tomo on my mtb for the last 3 years and it's still going strong, I so happy with it last month I bought another to go with the roadbike I bought.

It does everything that I need from a comp and it handles all the misuse I can throw at it.

Yes we do have Sigma computers over here, they look nice but i think thta i am lookign more at the cateyes because my lbs cares them the most and they have them at a really good price. Not to sure what model im going to get. I will post it when i get it.

Jared

Cateye Mity 3 (http://www.bikenashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=0307&sku=1514&storetype=&estoreid=) I use a Mity 3 It's nothing fancy but I like it.

Frankly, Ihave a real cheapy, a midway I got for $14.
:beer:

Computers are evil! Don't use them!!! You brain will become awash with useless data like average speed, distance travled, time on the bike, current speed!!! All these will ad to your unsatisfaction with your performance, and you will start to judge yourself by numbers!!! And when you judge yourself by numbers you cant win! And you will suffer, and you will become obsessed with beating the numbers, and the concept of an "easy" ride will no longer have meaning, and no easy rides lead to exhaustion, and exhaustion leads to more suffering and you will fade and burn out. Your hate for the bike will conquer your love for the bike, and when hate wins, the road ahead leads to doom.....Like becoming a golfer...:rolleyes:

Some people use the numbers to increase their own fitness level. I constantly strive for higher speeds. But usually on rides I do by myself 1-3 times a weeks. Currently I am breezing along at a great pace of 23-25 MPH . I can't do this on the family bike rides, I go by the old rule of thumb. A fleet of ships is no faster than the slowest ship. So I will usually gear way down so I am still getting a little workout.:beer: :beer: :beer:

Originally posted by fubar5
Computers are evil! Don't use them!!! You brain will become awash with useless data like average speed, distance travled, time on the bike, current speed!!! All these will ad to your unsatisfaction with your performance, and you will start to judge yourself by numbers!!! And when you judge yourself by numbers you cant win! And you will suffer, and you will become obsessed with beating the numbers, and the concept of an "easy" ride will no longer have meaning, and no easy rides lead to exhaustion, and exhaustion leads to more suffering and you will fade and burn out. Your hate for the bike will conquer your love for the bike, and when hate wins, the road ahead leads to doom.....Like becoming a golfer...:rolleyes: Fear leads to anger...Anger leads to hate...Hate leads to suffering... The Dark Side know you not..use the Force for good you must. A slave to the computer you must not become. A tool it is, no more no less, the path you follow with it: you must choose.:p

well i went to the LBS and was there just for a $2.00 patch kit and say the enduro2 there. It was calling me. They had all the same stuff as bike nash bar (well some comps they didnt have but they had the nice ones) I feel that i would rather pay the rather high mark up's so that way i can still have the people there to fix my bike. In the end i walked out $35 poorer. I like it. It is much better than the other comps that i was lookign at. When i get some more money i will replace the avocet 50 with some thing else but for now it will work fine. Thank you all for your help!

Jared

Computers are evil! Don't use them!!! You brain will become awash with useless data like average speed, distance travled, time on the bike, current speed!!! All these will ad to your unsatisfaction with your performance, and you will start to judge yourself by numbers!!! And when you judge yourself by numbers you cant win! And you will suffer, and you will become obsessed with beating the numbers, and the concept of an "easy" ride will no longer have meaning, and no easy rides lead to exhaustion, and exhaustion leads to more suffering and you will fade and burn out. Your hate for the bike will conquer your love for the bike, and when hate wins, the road ahead leads to doom.....Like becoming a golfer...

Just as you can condition yourself to know the time of day without a watch, or to wake up at a certain time, or to remember your dreams ~ you can become intuitive about your cycling, more connected to your bike...as if you were riding a horse you knew well?

Originally posted by Raiyn
Fear leads to anger...Anger leads to hate...Hate leads to suffering... The Dark Side know you not..use the Force for good you must. A slave to the computer you must not become. A tool it is, no more no less, the path you follow with it: you must choose.:p

DUDE!!! That is so whack! I authored my post a few minutes after I got home from seeing Star Wars, Attack of the Clones! Have you seen it yet? Besides bad acting and shallow dialogue I thought it was good.

Seen it I have. Liked it better than episode one I did.

Meesa tink Jar-Jar must die!

Originally posted by Raiyn
Seen it I have. Liked it better than episode one I did.

Meesa tink Jar-Jar must die!


Die Jar-Jar must, boring episode one was.

Sygma has got the convenient interface. And it looks nice.

Originally posted by Alexey
Sygma has got the convenient interface. And it looks nice.


WHAT?!?!?! Back on topic??? No way!!!

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA how did that happen. . .thought that is was going to die as a starwars topic :)

Jared

I haven't used a computer in almost a month.

Originally posted by Ouch !
I've had a cateye tomo on my mtb for the last 3 years and it's still going strong, I so happy with it last month I bought another to go with the roadbike I bought.

It does everything that I need from a comp and it handles all the misuse I can throw at it.

It had to happen, I went to check my bikes today just to make sure they are okay and the battery had died in my comp, so now I've lost all those hard earned miles on the odometer.

It looks like I'll have to start again.

Not like you needed an excuse. Right?

I used to have a CatEye CC-8000 "ATC" (All-Terrain Computer |8^) on my hardtail/hardnose MTB. It was a nice computer... it even had 10 memory slots. But the best part was that it was pretty well armoured and the sensor cable was really thick. It survived many crashes... one which had even sent it flying into the bushes and took me a half-hour to find it. I think the modern equivalent is the Enduro 2. Downsides to the 8000 was that it was fairly expensive ($80 at the time as I recall), didn't have cadence and only supported one bike. Currently I have a Flightdeck (3 years old) with the wired kit for my MTB and wireless on my RB. The sensor wires (on the wired bracket) and the head unit itself don't seem as rugged looking as my old 8000 but it's also come through the crashes on my MTB fine. I will have to say that for mountain biking and unless you care about the special Flightdeck features (gear indicators and whatnots), I would go with the Enduro 2. It's cheaper and provides all the other functions. For a basic computer or for RBs, I would also suggest the Velo and Mity series. A friend of mine has a Cateye OS which she found for a really good price and is pretty happy with it. Now if you're looking for all the bells and whistles, I'm certain you can spend a few hundred on ones with HRMs, PC interface kits and more gizmos you can shake a stick at. I've also seen people using their PDAs as bike computers. I think there's a few companies that sell sensor attachments for Palms. I'm not sure I'd ever go that far though.

I used to have an HB 100, for three yearsm and after about 25,000k on it, i have to throw it away , its a good computer while it lasted, now looking for a good one, haven't find any yet

I use the Cateye OS1 on my road bike and like it a lot. The display is quite large so there is no having to squint to see it or shade it from the angles of the sun. It keeps some nice data for you so you can log your mileages over the last day, week, month and year and you can turn features on and off depending on what you like to use and can get rid of the things you don't.

Originally posted by Raiyn
Not like you needed an excuse. Right?

:D

If that wasn't enough reason.

The fact that the weather has been great, but I haven't been able to ride my bike for 9 days is more than enough.

35,320miles slave to the 'puter,
I grew to love my CatEye CC8000.
I reckon you couldn't get one beauter.
It didn't wear out though I wore out many trousers.
Then I hit oily tarmac in Venezuela
Landed on my hip and slid for thirty meters.
So slippy nothing ripped so I didn't need a tailor.
But CatEye disappeared and I broke my femur.
Two heros put me in their cab and bike upon their trailer,
Took me to hospital, where I was the loudest screamer.
Private jet to Caracas, where they pinned my bone together.
Morphine morphine morphine and more and more morphine....errrrrr
A little blood short, I returned to Britain paler.
Now all I want is another CC8000 CatEye meter.

I know they don't make them any more, but can anybody find one for me?

Keep the rubber side down.
Richard

I got a Supergo branded wireless computer. No problems w. it yet. had it for about 4 months.

Thread is three years old..................

Thread is three years old..................

Please thank cogrotator, heh.

As a side note, to those of you who have computers going bad real quick, make sure the magnet's not directly over the sensor when you store your bike.
The magnetic reed switch makes a contact everytime the magnet passes over the sensor. But if the magnet rests over the sensor, it's a constant short and will drain your tiny battery like nothing.

My computer has a 17" flat screen monitor. I love it.

Please thank cogrotator, heh.

As a side note, to those of you who have computers going bad real quick, make sure the magnet's not directly over the sensor when you store your bike.
The magnetic reed switch makes a contact everytime the magnet passes over the sensor. But if the magnet rests over the sensor, it's a constant short and will drain your tiny battery like nothing.

Good one. Stop being so darn smart. :)

Please thank cogrotator, heh.

As a side note, to those of you who have computers going bad real quick, make sure the magnet's not directly over the sensor when you store your bike.
The magnetic reed switch makes a contact everytime the magnet passes over the sensor. But if the magnet rests over the sensor, it's a constant short and will drain your tiny battery like nothing.

Wow, never thought of that... interesting.

Please thank cogrotator, heh.

As a side note, to those of you who have computers going bad real quick, make sure the magnet's not directly over the sensor when you store your bike.
The magnetic reed switch makes a contact everytime the magnet passes over the sensor. But if the magnet rests over the sensor, it's a constant short and will drain your tiny battery like nothing.


Interesting of you to find that out. Do work in the industry or something? I don't think it's ever happened to me or my cc, but then again, I almost never store my bike with the main unit still mounted. So now I'm thinking that that's good, because I won't have to go all anal and check that the magnet and sensor aren't lined up whenever I leave the bike for a while.....
Please forgive me for my resurrection job on this string. Have people just stopped having problems with their cc's, or have they just stopped using them all together, as some people advised earlier in the string?

The metal horse be with you.
Richard

I too have always made sure to never leave my magnet and sensor lined up when storing the bike partially because I knew how the sensors worked and also because I think I recall seeing that warning in early CatEye manuals.

My how time passes!! And I still haven't found a replacement for my long, lost CatEye CC8000. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

Love the Cateye Strada

I've had nothing but hassle from wireless computers. They eat batteries and stop receiving for any excuse.

So I'd recommend one with wires from the magnet sensor to the computer. May not be as neat as a wireless but far more reliable.

Stew

I was actually thinking about going to a wireless computer before reading the horror stories on this thread. Now that little, thin black wire does not look so annoying. Maybe when the technology has been perfected, I will reconsider.

My wireless friends don't have such horror stories if you exclude the occasional 100 km/h display, but they certainly eat more batteries than I do.

My wired commuter, a Cateye Mighty, has been running on the same battery since I bought it in 2002 or 2003. I run the wire along the brake cable so it doesn't look bad. Not perfect, but between that and the huge sensor/transmitter of the wireless systems, I'm not sure which is uglier.