I can see the time coming, when "network externalities" have occurred and everybody has a GPS on the bike, where you show up for the organized century ride, and instead of getting a map and cue sheet, you dowload the route from a wi-fi or bluetooth appliance when you register, and away you go. Maybe you can even do that now (you can download onto your GPS from your computer the night before), but so far I've been a later adopter of this technology. I'm waiting for the device that occupies minimal space on the handlebar/stem, is totally waterproof, and can go the distance in PBP (or at least go for at least 16 hours between battery changes).

In the meantime, I've been very happy with the cheaper ($25-35 range) Sigma computers. I place a very high premium on reliability, and Sigmas have been very reliable over the past fifteen years; I've only had two or three of them fail or reset unexpectedly. I used a Cateye for about a week and stopped using it when I found it was way too easy to reset. Just touch the wrong button and all the data is gone! Very poor human factors engineering. With a Sigma, you pretty much have to want to reset, and it's a process of first resetting the current setting, then holding on to reset everything. I also like being able to see the text in German. Things seem somehow more precise and efficient! "Hier ist der exactisches Fahrzeit, dummkopf!" The -06 series (2006 and later) series speedo is accurate to .5 km; the current -09 series is accurate to .1 kmh!

L.