Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - How long should a cyclocomputer last?

Good afternoon!

I have a Sigma dts 1606L computer on my bike. I've had it for about 3 years, and it has traditionally worked flawlessly. But, lately, it seems to have gotten squirrelly. It will occasionally stop recording cadence, or mileage/speed. This is a wireless model, and I have replaced all of the batteries recently thinking that might be the issue.

Any thoughts? It really has not been exposed to the elements in any extreme, so it seems that it is just dying. Or, I just can't figure it out (not ruling that out as an option).

Is it time to get a new one?

If you have your receipt, or (possibly) if you bought it with a credit card: Sigma has a five-year warranty. http://www.sigmasport.com/us/service_center/produkt_support/bikecomputer/antwort/?produkt=1&jahrgang=4&frage=170&gruppe=1&sprache=2&typ=bikecomputer&id=129

Well, that is great information! Thanks!

Try cleaning the computer contact points with a pencil eraser. If that doesn't fix it, do the same with the battery contacts. That usually works for me.

LED lights can also cause problems with wireless setups..

I have a Planet Bike Protege 9, wired (I won't do wireless, I just don't see the point of the extra complexity involved). It's 5 years old and no problem so far. I have also had a cheap $10 KMart computer in the past, and it only died because it really wasn't waterproof and it was out in a storm once. It worked fine for 4 years before that though.

I did have a computer where the sensor died once, so I cut the sensor off of the KMart computer's mount, which I saved, soldered it onto the other computer, sealed it with liquid electrical tape and used that until I bought the Protege.

I see that I am very late to this thread but I have had some problems with my wireless bike computer (A Vetta) and just had to post what I have discovered.

First off, the wireless models required more battery power. I realize that it was stated in the original post that all the battries were replaced but I thought that it was worth mentioning that I have had times when the head unit battery still worked, for the display but did not have enough power to pickup a signal all the time. This can be frustrating because you think that the batteries are still OK in the unit itself but you still need to replace them to receive a signal.

But here is the thing that I really wanted to mention. My Vetta is about 3 years old also and there were times that it would stop working even after I had replaced the batteries in the unit and in the transmitter. I was about to give up and replace it but I kept tring to get the transmitted on the fork closer to the magnet on the wheel (an obvious thing to try) and since it is just mounted with a plastic tie it is easy to make adjustments like that.

What I found was that if I moved the transmitter so that it actually hit the magnet while I was riding (I would hear the clicking each time it passed the magnet as I rode) it would start working again and then I could reach over and pull it back a little so it was no longer hitting the magnet. It still worked!

This still happens occasionally and this little trick still works every time! I am still using the Vetta and other than that little problem that I can work around it still works great.

Well, it may not work for everyone or it may just work on my own individual unit but if anyone else is having silimar issues, I think that might be worth a try.

I've had a Cat Eye MSC3DX for about a dozen years and I don't expect it to die tomorrow. My wife has one too and has had it about half that time. The bike mounts are unfortunately not as reliable as the computers have turned out to be. The plastic retaining clip breaks and so my computer occasionally goes tumbling down the road. Still, they keep going.

Yeah, there's actually no reason for a bike computer to ever break. You may occasionally have to buy a new mount for it, but that's not a big deal as everyone sells "second bike" mounts. Either the mount will break, or the sensor will break or the wires will get broken. And it'll need a new battery every year or two.