ASTRALE 8 vs STRADA vs Panoram V12?
06-07-07, 02:32 PM
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ASTRALE 8 vs STRADA vs Panoram V12?
I'd like to get a bike computer, and pretty much narrowed my choices to those 3. First two by Cateye, and the V12 is by Topeak.
What's better? I like codence features of first two, and I can't figure out what's the different between the first two. I like the large display of V12.
What's better? I like codence features of first two, and I can't figure out what's the different between the first two. I like the large display of V12.
06-07-07, 08:21 PM
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'Fraid I can't do that
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Never had a problem with a cateye. One of my wife's bikes has a cateye (mity 3, I think) that is from the late 1980's and still going strong. Our road bikes both have Astrale 8s, which have been reliable computers.
06-07-07, 10:34 PM
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The Strada has a universal mount that can be used on either the handlebar or stem.
06-19-07, 12:28 PM
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I just put a an Astrale 8 on my GFs bike. Sweet and easy setup. Looks great too. I plan on getting the Strada Cadence for me. Looks like the Strada has bigger readouts on it's display. Both Cateyes have nice, secure mounts.
06-28-07, 10:05 AM
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I bought the Strada Cadence recently. A friend was asking about it so I wrote up my initial impressions, thought I'd share:
So I've had it a week now, used it for my normal commute plus a 30 mile ride over the weekend. Some random thoughts about it:
The display is smaller than I thought it would be. Doesn't hurt readability, I was just a bit surprised.
The top part of the display shows your current speed in big digits and the bottom shows either the current time, ride duration, cadence, distance, average speed, max speed and cumulative odometer in smaller digits. There is no button to press, if you want to change the bottom display, you press the bottom of the unit. I think this is a clever design, makes it easy to switch modes while riding, no fumbling with little buttons.
Installation is easy. You just zip-tie two sensors to your left chainstay (one for wheel rotations, one for cadence). Plus, you screw a magnet onto a rear wheel spoke and zip-tie another magnet to your left crank. The magnet on the crank was a bit touchy to align since the gap between the crank and the chaninstay is a lot more than the gap from the chainstay to the spoke. Also, if your crank arm is dished in on the inside (not flat) mounting the magnet might be difficult. I wanted to mount it close to the BB but couldn't, so I have it out by the pedal spindle.
There is no on/off switch, the unit is always on. This means the distance counter will increment even if you are walking with your bike. Not a big deal unless you're real anal about tracking your mileage.
The display is mounted using a Flextight bracket, which is basically a plastic worm gear clamp. It can be oriented different ways so you can mount it on your handlebar, stem or even top tube.
Cateye service is incredible. I originally mounted the display on an accessory bar so I had the Flextight adjusted for that (and snipped off the excess plastic). But this turned out to be too low so I wanted to mount it on my handlebar. For this I would need a new Flextight bracket. No problem, you can order a variety of small parts from Cateye's web site. So I ordered it on Saturday night and somehow it arrived in Monday's mail! Don't know how they did that.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the Strada Cadence. I can't compare it to other cyclocomputer but it does everything I expected it to do. I paid $45 for it but looks like Nashbar has it on sale right now for $35, quite a bargain. https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...Cyclocomputers
There's also a wireless version if you don't want to run wires on your bike (but it lacks cadence).
The display is smaller than I thought it would be. Doesn't hurt readability, I was just a bit surprised.
The top part of the display shows your current speed in big digits and the bottom shows either the current time, ride duration, cadence, distance, average speed, max speed and cumulative odometer in smaller digits. There is no button to press, if you want to change the bottom display, you press the bottom of the unit. I think this is a clever design, makes it easy to switch modes while riding, no fumbling with little buttons.
Installation is easy. You just zip-tie two sensors to your left chainstay (one for wheel rotations, one for cadence). Plus, you screw a magnet onto a rear wheel spoke and zip-tie another magnet to your left crank. The magnet on the crank was a bit touchy to align since the gap between the crank and the chaninstay is a lot more than the gap from the chainstay to the spoke. Also, if your crank arm is dished in on the inside (not flat) mounting the magnet might be difficult. I wanted to mount it close to the BB but couldn't, so I have it out by the pedal spindle.
There is no on/off switch, the unit is always on. This means the distance counter will increment even if you are walking with your bike. Not a big deal unless you're real anal about tracking your mileage.
The display is mounted using a Flextight bracket, which is basically a plastic worm gear clamp. It can be oriented different ways so you can mount it on your handlebar, stem or even top tube.
Cateye service is incredible. I originally mounted the display on an accessory bar so I had the Flextight adjusted for that (and snipped off the excess plastic). But this turned out to be too low so I wanted to mount it on my handlebar. For this I would need a new Flextight bracket. No problem, you can order a variety of small parts from Cateye's web site. So I ordered it on Saturday night and somehow it arrived in Monday's mail! Don't know how they did that.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the Strada Cadence. I can't compare it to other cyclocomputer but it does everything I expected it to do. I paid $45 for it but looks like Nashbar has it on sale right now for $35, quite a bargain. https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...Cyclocomputers
There's also a wireless version if you don't want to run wires on your bike (but it lacks cadence).
