Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - OK it's gonna be Sigma - now - wireless or wired?

I have an old wired Sigma that I gave to my daughter. It still works. Both of the wireless computers that I've tried since are shot. So which way do I go, wired or wireless?

Wireless.

I'm on my second wireless. Both have been without trouble.

Neither are Sigma, but I've had wired Sigmas in the past, and they are very good computers.

Wired.

More reliable and easier on the environment too.

I used to have a wireless Sigma. It didn't break. I sold it along with a bike to my cousin. I'd go with the wired version and save yourself a little cash.

so what model did you settle on?

Personally, I prefer the wireless. I was always worried about snagging the wires back when I had one, and I'm too compulsive and paranoid to cut the wires. My current is a Cat Eye, but because of the HRM interference, I'm upgrading to a Sigma Rox 9.0.

I suppose that if I put a lot more use on the bike, I might get tired of changing batteries, but at my current levels, that's not an issue.

Wired - if your use a LED flashing front lamp. My wireless comp read 17kmh when stationary when my light was on. Had to ditch it in favour of wired.

You folks are just great! You're split evenly down the middle!

Just think about it, the only advantage of wireless is saving a couple of minutes when initially fitting it.

The disadvantages are complexity, weight, reliability, connection problems, lost data, battery usage, susceptability to radio interference.

Wired wins hands down.

:)

... and aesthetics ... wireless wins!

I've never had lost data or connection problems with my wireless. I've had interference problems, but not manifested on the bike computer. My HRM won't work with it, and will show an absurdly high pulse, but the computer itself still reads fine.

The only real problem I've had is with the cadence signal, but that's because of the tolerance for the gap between the magnet and sensor, and perhaps the design of the one-piece Cat Eye sensor makes it easier to knock the sensor away. But that's only an indirect result of it being wireless, and won't be a problem on the Rox I'm getting as a replacement.

id go with wireless. i picked up the sigma BC2006 last year and it works great! i ride in the city and have no interference at all. Recently its been dropping the signal to the fork so i brought it in to get looked at. turns out the battery just died. $6 fixed that and im good to go!

I've got 5 years/30,000 miles on a Cateye wireless. And an additional 3 yrs/10,000 on another, older Cateye wireless computer which was moved to some garage art - it still works fine.

They work as good as the wired models I used to use (actually better). Main downside is you have 2 batteries to fail instead of 1, but the batteries do last a long time - like 2 years.

I recently dropped the receiver (head) unit for perhaps the 10th time onto concrete floor, and somehow the external start/stop button was dislodged, rendering the unit inoperable (it broke). I could still stick a toothpick into the new hole and press the real button inside the housing, but I didn't want to try that on a regular basis.

Replaced it with a new Strada wireless for under $40. I have ~600 miles on it so far, it works fine. Numbers are a little easier to read.

I've bought small computer parts (magnet, head unit mount) from Cateye twice in the past - they ship out $10-$20 orders from Denver for only 3-4 bucks USPS Priority postage, I get them in a couple days. The parts were for a long discontinued model, too. First rate Customer Service, plus reasonable prices. I wish all bike parts makers were this good.

I owned a Sigma wireless way back in 1998, one of their first models I think. It worked fine till a collision broke the mounting unit. Back then a spare mount cost more than half as much as an entire new computer, so I got a new computer (the old Cateye mentioned previously). So, I've been wireless for about 12 years now.

Some folks don't heed the instructions and have bad experiences with wireless, then they bit@h about it forever. It's just nonsense, wireless computers work fine. I recommend you stick with the basic models too. HR and cadence are not critical to most bicyclists, and adding these features tends to complicate the ownership experience.

Just think about it, the only advantage of wireless is saving a couple of minutes when initially fitting it.

The disadvantages are complexity, weight, reliability, connection problems, lost data, battery usage, susceptability to radio interference.

Wired wins hands down.

:)

Ditto.

The one drawback of installing a wired speedometer is that if you do it yourself you have to make sure there's no loose wire hanging around to get snagged on something. I'm lazy - I have the bike shop do it. Haven't had a single wire problem on a speedometer installed by a bike shop.

id go with wireless. i picked up the sigma BC2006 last year and it works great! i ride in the city and have no interference at all. Recently its been dropping the signal to the fork so i brought it in to get looked at. turns out the battery just died. $6 fixed that and im good to go!

I bought a wired speedometer 5 years ago and it works great! I ride in the city and have no interference at all. Recently it's been working just fine and I went for a bike ride on a sunny beautiful day rather than having to screw around with talking to my bike shop and getting a battery replaced. I've done absolutely nothing - and I'm good to go! :D :D :D

Also, wired speedometers tend to turn themselves on and work as soon as the wheel starts turning, while I've heard that wireless speedometers often require you to press a button to get it out of sleep mode.

The question should be "What's the advantage to a wireless speedometer over a wired one?" Wired and wireless do exactly the same thing.

There's been a couple of nice cases where wireless is better, though they're rare - for example there was a thread from somewhere who left his bike sketchier area. He wanted to track his mileage, though his bike was was a beater and he locked it up. He didn't want to leave his speedometer on his bike during the day and he didn't want to take it on and off the bike all the time, but he could just keep his wireless speedometer in his bag. Don't know if he found one that didn't need to have a button pressed to turn itself on.

Also, wired speedometers tend to turn themselves on and work as soon as the wheel starts turning, while I've heard that wireless speedometers often require you to press a button to get it out of sleep mode.


Specialized Speedzone Wireless - Turns itself on automatically.

Cateye MicroWireless - Turns itself on automatically

Specialized Speedzone Wireless - Turns itself on automatically.

Cateye MicroWireless - Turns itself on automatically

I kid you not, I was searching for something entirely unrelated (looking for bikes in my area on ebay) when I ran across this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Specialized-sport-wireless-cycling-computer_W0QQitemZ310133150554QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCycling_Parts_Accessories?hash=item310133150554&_trksid=p4011.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Specialized-sport-wireless-cycling-computer_W0QQitemZ310133150554QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCycling_Parts_Accessories?hash=item310133150554&_trksid=p4011.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318)

SpeedZone Sport Wireless Computer
"Computer has 64 miles on it. I did not like the design in that it required pressing a button to turn the computer on. Otherwise it is an excellent computer--functional, user friendly and easy to read. Magnet is also included but not pictured."

I kid you not, I was searching for something entirely unrelated (looking for bikes in my area on ebay) when I ran across this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Specialized-sport-wireless-cycling-computer_W0QQitemZ310133150554QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCycling_Parts_Accessories?hash=item310133150554&_trksid=p4011.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Specialized-sport-wireless-cycling-computer_W0QQitemZ310133150554QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCycling_Parts_Accessories?hash=item310133150554&_trksid=p4011.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318)

SpeedZone Sport Wireless Computer
"Computer has 64 miles on it. I did not like the design in that it required pressing a button to turn the computer on. Otherwise it is an excellent computer--functional, user friendly and easy to read. Magnet is also included but not pictured."

Dohh ... You're right. Once the Speedzone goes to sleep, you do have to manually turn it back on.

Wired, unless the Sigma is encrypted to get rid of interference. My one experience with wireless let me down as I would get interference from just about everything in the city. I've never had an issue with a wired computer.