tom cotter

What's the rule for getting a cycle computer wet?

I usually ride a computerless mountain bike in the rain, but yesterday was far from home on a road bike when the sky turned ominous. The thought crossed my mind; can the computer take the rain?

I made it back to the barn as the first drops started to fall, still wondering?

Louis

I wrap a piece of plastic wrap (Saran Wrap) over the computer before a ride if rain is possible. Without protection in the rain my various Cateye computers eventually quit working if the ride lasts long. They always recover soon after the rain quits, of course the ride mileage is screwed up.

BluesDawg

The Cateye Mity 3 on my bike has been rained on several times during rides, sometimes lots of hard rain. Never a problem. YMMV.

byte_speed

+1 on the wrap.

My first Garmin Edge got soaked in a hard rain and took on a lot of water, you could see fog & even some small drops of water on the inside of the display. The display quit shortly thereafter and the unit had to be replaced. This even though the Edge is supposed to be waterproof to 1 meter. A Garmin tech rep emailed me and asked if I was swimming with it after he saw it.

Since then, I always carry a plastic bag & twist tie.

Now my old Vetta has been through numerous rainstorms with no problems and it doesn't claim to be waterproof.

Retro Grouch 

I've never worried about it. I always figured that a product that's designed for outdoor use should be able to withstand exposure to rain.

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't start rides in the rain and most of the time I don't bother with a computer when I ride. I have completed some rides in significant rain storms particularly on my tandem which has a Flight Deck computer. I haven't had any problems resulting from rain exposure.

tom cotter

Thanks for the input. I'll try it wrapless and see how it goes. Then if need be I'll Saran wrap it.

jppe

I generally have never had an issue with the rain and my cyclometers.

megaman

I've had my Sigma Sport, rained, hailed and snowed on, all without protection. It keeps right on going.

stapfam

Only ever had rain trouble with a computer once and that was in 94. 100 offroad on the SDW and we did it in reverse. East to west- but the wind had changed so we had a headwind all the way of around 15 to 20 mph. Started at 6am and at 9.30 it started raining- and did not stop. Then somewhere around noon- I recorded 112 mph. The only part of the computer that water could get into was via the battery. Took the battery out and Brown water came out. Dried the inside and the battery with a Dryish corner od my shirt and it was fine afterwards. Never had the problem again either-----with that computer or any other.

solveg

As I just mentioned in a different thread, lightning has reset my cateye! It shouldn't do that. What if I was in the middle of a tour or something?

ScrubJ

None of my Cateyes seem to mind. My wireless has been a 40 mile rain ride with no problems.

robtown

My Garmin 305 GPS went through the washer in my jeans pocket this morning. It seems to be ok. I guess the low water use of a front loader helped.

leob1

It depends on the brand. I've had some that where toast after one ride in the rain. That kind of chaps my *****, bicycling is an outdoor sport, sometimes it rains out doors.
But the Cateye Micro that my wife, and now I use, seems to be able to take what ever the clouds can dump. Even if left on the bike on the back of the car.

Timtruro

generally never??WTF?

ajk03

I have two different Cateye Astrale models on two different bikes. Both work fine in the rain as long as I keep a little conductive grease on the contacts. I use the type sold in auto parts stores for maintaining contact in bulb sockets. When I don't use, apparently the computers lose contact with the base and quit working.

Last year's Illinois MS150 was done in the pouring rain the first day, and my computer stayed functional all day. I wasn't quite so happy, though.

Al