No, they’d start, as Tourist in MSN noted upthread, when the wheel magnet spun past the sensor. Also, they didn’t record anything other distance on an odometer and trip odometer, so nothing needed cleared unless the trip odo function was desired.

The Cateye Quick posted upthread works exactly that way, too.

Not according to several posts above. Surprised me. Thought the battery would drain if it’s constantly in pause mode (when sitting in the garage, etc) waiting to go.

The OP says:
I don’t need to be able to download info to the instagrams for likes, I just want to be able to look and see I did x amount of miles per week/month/year and plan oil changes… and McDonald’s drive thru visits..

(I'm not sure what the "oil changes" are for...)

My Garmin keeps track of monthly stats, I think, but I don't look at the totals in it's history, so I'm not sure.

We do not know if the OP has a bike with a Pinion drive or a Rohloff IGH, those have regular oil changes for X number of km ridden or time intervals, typically annual for time.

I am using this one, basic and works well: Cat-Eye 7

Thx, it’s been about 15 years on Garmin’s and such, don’t remember the Cateyes anymore,

I do not recall if my vintage Peugeot computer would auto start or not, bought it in the 1980s, discarded years ago. A quick google search found a photo at:
Vintage Peugeot Sport Computer

It was huge, used two AA batteries, roughly 4 inches wide. Bike computers have changed a lot, just like all electronic devices have.

They’re not paused when sitting, they’re powered off. When the wheel magnet spins past the sensor, a turn-on signal is sent. When the wheel magnet stops spinning past the sensor, the unit switches off. The batteries last for years.

When I get into my car I'm not pushing tracking buttons and numerous carp before I drive, I don't see why it's acceptable on a bicycle.

I found a GPS computer that may do what I need, I read the manual, and it looks like other than turning it on, I don't have to do anything else..... and it shuts off automatically when not in use... we shall see... it's due in Friday, and I'll post the results....

IF that doesn't work out I think I will get the Cateye velo 7.

I wanted to avoid magnets but it looks like the best choice for wired.

A "wireless" that still uses a magnet and sensor isn't appealing...

Every vehicle I've owned required me to 1) press the brake pedal 2) start the engine via key or start button, and 3) shift the transmission from park to drive or reverse. Seems like more steps than pressing a start button on a bike computer ...

I found a few of these on ebay, it looks interesting, I would assume they are wired with a wheel sensor? I'm not finding much since it looks like they appear to be discontinued.

I guess I'm not understanding why, when one has nothing to contribute, they insist on crapping up someone else's thread, But good news, I have my first person on the ignore list after 14 years.

You stick a key in the ignition or maybe hit the start button ?. Car ain’t going nowhere without you starting it

And yes, numerous people have told you that most GPS units have an Auto-Start function, why is this a question. Recall as well that the GPS can do more than just track and record a ride, they have navigation features which work very well and can give you turn by turn instructions. That does require you to touch a button to start as it needs to be a separate function than tracking a ride.

And as BTW to the OP, pretty much every one of your posts has an annoying whining tone, getting tired of reading anything you have to say at this point, good luck with your choice.

I really have no trouble with the magnets, but the sensors are often attached to the fork with zip ties and the sensor can get out of adjustment easily.

I have wireless on some bikes, but I have to wake up the receiver (push a button) to make it work. And I often forget to do that. Only the wired ones will autostart.

I don't think that "pause" mode induces more battery drain than a typical Garmin computer that has been "turned off" by pressing its power button. The Garmin device does not actually turn off when you short-press the power button, it simply goes into a low-power standby mode.

Well, for one thing, as people have pointed out, bikes can be transported so if it's a GPS unit it will read the distance/speed of the drive to the start of the ride and the drive home as part of the ride. And frankly, it's no big deal to push a button. When I ride, I have to turn on all my bike lights, so activating Strava at the beginning of a ride and then shutting it off at the end is no big deal.

I think that it's such a silly conversation for members to come up with a device solution for somebody who doesn't want to have to push a button to start a ride, and also comments on not needing or wanting to push a button/turn a key to operate a car, push some buttons to operate a microwave, push buttons on a TV remote, on a phone, etc..... Kind of odd really, the world is now full of electronic devices that all require button pushes, maybe the OP is just old and cranky like me and is tired of all the intrusive technology in our lives. I used to write down in a book, the particulars of a ride as generated by my old style cycling computer. Then in the early 2000's migrated to a cloud based activity log that was much more useful, then discovered that a Garmin could track the activity and upload automatically to the cloud, I could view my information and go back and add data like "charged Di2", which then told me how many miles ridden between charges. A crap ton of useful and sometimes useless data. Having be able to give me TBT on roads I was not familiar with was a game changer and made the device worthwhile and I'm perfectly happy to push buttons to gain that utility.

Maybe OP will be eager to get a neurolink brain implant so he can turn on his devices by just thinking about them...

What you say makes sense. Yet I do forget to hit "start recording" fairly often, and I annoy myself with that. I would like to know why I forget it! Maybe it's because starting a ride is overloaded with things such as checking my brakes and tires, putting on helmet and gloves, queueing my podcasts. What makes "start recording" hard to remember?

I occasionally forget to hit "stop recording" but far less often. And since I use ridewithgps on my phone, I can go to my ride on the web and cut out the extra portion. This is too much trouble for me to do, but leaving it as it is doesn't really mess up my statistics, so it doesn't trouble me much.

And to be fair, forgetting to record a ride doesn't mess up my statistics much, either since I mostly look at them on a monthly and annual basis. The day-to-day variation of speed etc are often not significant. For example, speed differences are the result of wind speed and direction.

I have a friend whose Wahoo computer does start recording when the bike moves. I'm pretty sure the computer doesn't record when she transports the bike in her car. It must have a wheel sensor. I think I'll ask her.

An older used Garmin Edge would provide enough features. No updates from Garmin but for your use those not needed.

I’ve had Cateyes and still have one on one of my bikes. I did need to start it since it would go into “sleep” mode when not in use. Battery generally would last for years.

Bought a new bike last year at my LBS and had them add a Cateye. I had nothing but issues with it and the LBS wasn’t real helpful. I was instructed to change the battery, which they gladly sold me. Told me if that didn’t work to change the battery in the sensor. So, it didn’t work so I purchased another battery for the sensor. It would still show me going 62+ mph at times and trust me, I can’t ride that fast and wouldn’t want to. So, I don’t know if Cateye’s quality has diminished or if I had a bad one. I recently “donated” the unit back to the LBS where I purchased it and expressed my disappointment with their service. No wonder the LBS’s are disappearing since I can get that service from most companies online.

So much for my rant. I downloaded the Supercycle app on my Android phone and have been using that with no issues. You do need to start it when you begin, but it does auto-pause during a ride. Phone stays on the entire time, but it doesn’t seem to drain the battery too quickly. I’ll ride 1.5-2 hours and if I start with a full charge, it might be somewhere around 80-90% left when I’m done. You do need to end the ride to complete it. It keeps track of what I’m looking for and it was free, so there’s really no risk.

Hope this is helpful. My reason for the rant was that I’d be hesitant to use a Cateye again based on my recent experience.If money didn’t matter, I’d probably buy some Garmin unit since they tend to just work.

Have you checked the wheel size in your CatEye computer? It should match the size of your bike's wheel.

On Thursday last week one of my vintage VDO computers (wireless, has speed and cadence magnetic sensors, over a decade old) kept stopping recording distance and cadence. I changed the three batteries in the sensors and the computer part on the handlebar on Apr 26. Thus, about ten weeks on the batteries.

Last year I used that bike for a bike tour, the computer was outside the whole time, and several days of rain. And it was showing a lot of moisture inside the screen for the rest of summer. By end of winter the moisture condensation was no longer present inside the screen, but I think my computer is toast. Have the same one on two other bikes, so far those are still waterproof.

I found this today on Amazon, looked like a great replacement for my VDO computer at a fantastic price, until I read the reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B083SJYL9K/

Reviews told me to not buy it. I like having a separate computer from my GPS, I often leave the GPS at home for rides near home. Looks like I might have to start putting more user time on my Garmin GPS.

I have some wired ones in storage that should still work, but they lack cadence which I would like to have.