Looking to add a new computer to my bike and am not sure what is a decent model for what I need. i don't need all the frills that a garmin has. My basic needs are

-basics like speed, distance, average speed.

-I'd like the function that tells me how many feet of climbing i've done and current gradient I'm on real time.

-I'd like HRM readouts as well.

I don't need any of this info to be uploaded to a computer or anything like that. I just want to be able to view it while i'm out on the road when I look down.

so what are my options?

thanks,

You apparently really want bells and whistles which is what HRM and Altimeter are , as opposed to a simple bike computer that just counts wheel rotations,

then uses that input to read out distance and speed..

Ok but are there other options out there besides the garmins which are several hundreds of dollars and have features i won't use like maps, bluetooth compatibility etc. I mean i'll pay to get the HRM and altimeter if I have to, but it just seems that the majority of the other functions will be wasted on me.

Bontrager and Giant, among other manufacturers, make computers that do such, but they aren't 'cheap', usually in the $100 range. Altimeters on cycle computers that aren't backed up by GPS data tend to be fairly inaccurate, since they rely on barometric pressure.

Whether or not you're happy with that depends on what kind of accuracy you're looking for.

+1 you are describing bells and whistles. barometric altimeters are unreliable for anything accurate and won't give you the grade or rate of climb. you need some sort of GPS for that. they aren't cheap.

you can get an altimeter watch fairly cheaply and another HRM watch also cheaply, then just strap them on your bars. it won't tell you the grade/rate of climb however. you can look that stuff up before or after the ride using strava or mapmyride

Or even a Topographic Map.

ok thanks all, looks like I will need a garmin after all.