dekindy

I saw AFAN's review on the Garmin/Sigma Sport thread on this sub-forum and am seeing a few reviews now on Roadbikereview.com and almost all are very favorable.

Is there anybody else that has purchased this new model and have used it enough to give some feedback. Also where purchased and price. Thanks.

mds2004

I ordered one last night after browsing the internet and reading its reviews. I dont think I would have splurged though with the beers in me, but Il let you know when it arrives and I use it. BTW, its only $158.50 shipped on Tree Fort.

Edit: Id also like to add I do not know how well my review will be as this will be my first computer and I am getting my first road bike this week meaning my judgement will be poor in comparison to an experienced rider.

dekindy

I am sure you can give a good review. It will either have good instructions and be easy to install or not and it will either be easy have good setup instructions or not and it will either work the way it is advertised or not. Sometimes it is even better for a novice to review something because someone with lack of experience looks at it with totally different expectations. I am anxious to read your thoughts.

mds2004

Ok so Ive used it twice so far.
Here are my initial impressions...


Installation
Installation was easy and was no different than any other computer it seems. There are the main computer, the cadence, and speed sensor to install. The kit even includes more than enough zip ties along with o-rings or rubber bands for a temporary install if you wish.
Im not sure the reason of the HR monitor being worn around the chest instead of one for the wrist except for it may be more accurate but it looks like a bra strap.

Settings
I played with the computer and wow, there sure are enough functions for this thing! I am not too sure how the three home altitudes come into play as I do not believe you choose which one you are currently starting from. I like how you input your age and weight and it calculates your heart rate zones for you too.

One complication for me was choosing the wheel size and looking at their reference chart. I measure the tires manually by rolling it on the ground and it was quite off so I searched on the internet for other's measurements and theirs come real close to my measurements.

Also I am not sure if there is a way for it to turn off. It seems that there is only a standby mode when being idle.

Oh and if you do not wish to due the settings on your bike computer you can always input it through the program on your computer which was nice. I tried it via both and they are almost identical except for when doing it on the bike comp you can change the format of the date which I liked. Of course you can also just input everything on the PC and change it later on the small computer.
Other than these I believe everything was simple as I cannot remember what else to comment on.

First bike ride
I fell in love right away seeing how it started up perfectly when rolling the bike out the door. What i did forget though was the start the logging until I was about .5 mile out which was no problem. It is a simple holding of a button for a few seconds. My heart rate was always working even when off the bike and when near it. The bike timer of how long my ride is stops when I stop and I am not sure if that is how it is on other computers. So it just calculates ride time and not overall time. You can do overall time though but you have to manually start the stopwatch feature each time.

When I had arrived home everything was working flawlessly and the computer was easy to switch back and forth between settings if I wanted to browse everything that was not in my "Favorites A" section.

Ride #2
I had the bike computer and ready to go. This time I was loading up the bike to drive somewhere instead of riding from my home. I knew the computer was ready to go because when rolling to the truck it was always calculating the MPH.

When I arrived at my spot to start biking I hopped on the bike and did not pay attention until about a 1/4 mile and noticed the MPH was not working. I stopped and still could not figure it out. Because of this there was not MPH and the odometer was not working. Although my HR was working it was not counting calories either because it was not able to tell how much I was riding. The ride time did not also work because it did not say it was rolling. The only functions it really left me with then was cadence and HR.

Overall impression
I like it and think it was worth it. I am sure it is user fault that it was not working. I also have not plugged it into the computer since the initial settings so I have not compared logs. I would except for the fact I lost the computer a few hours ago...

Yup, after 2nd ride and it is already gone. I was looking at the computer after I had finished the ride and I think I set it on top of the truck while changing some clothing. I went back and I could not find it ANYWHERE. I even redid my route from the bike spot to my house several times. I am praying that someone will find it and turn it in to either the park people or the police. Luckily I was in the park parking lot when it was set on top so maybe more people are likely to find it. I just hope someone nice finds it.

Now will I buy it again if I cannot find it? I am not sure. I do like it a lot but as a college student it is hard to spare another $160. Perhaps I can find it cheaper though as all I need is the main computer. Does anyone have any ideas?

pedaljeeps

Wow.... that totally sucks.... Sorry, maybe someone found it and will post a sign??

dekindy

Thanks for the review and I am so sorry that you lost it. I hope you find it but it is probably a long shot. I lost a garage door opener on a ride and could not find it anywhere. But it was an extra and not nearly as expensive as your computer.

Does the HR synch up automatically when you get on the bike and start riding? Did the computer automatically reacquire the heart rate when you went out and came back into range or did you get a chance to test that?

mds2004

Yeah whenever I am wearing it will sync automatically. So if I decide to use the restroom while someone is watching the bike or whatever and then when coming back it will autosync again.

dekindy

That is a great feature and a weakness of the Blackburn Neuro. BTW, if you find it to make it more accurate you should do the wheel measurement exercise over with tires inflated to your normal riding level and putting your weight on the bike.

mds2004

That is exactly how how I did measure in the first place. I thought I was way off going by the reference chart from Sigma, but after comparing it to other people's measurements online it seemed just about right. Thank you for your input though.

Also it seems I like this computer enough as I just ordered it again a minute ago. Lets hope I don't lose it again. A more thorough review will come once it arrives and I play with it a few more times.

JCoop

Sorry you lost it...Hey, don't feel so bad, I lost a Chronoswiss Opus ($12,000) this way.

BTW, I love my Sigma Rox 8. The only thing is, there are so many bugs with the downloading software. I bought the docking station, then attempted to download the software (this is the only way you can buy it) from the German site.
1. I couldn't finalize my order because it said it needed the state field in my profile. There was no field for "state" in the profile form.
2. I tried to contact them, again it needed the state information. Finally, I logged in as guest and sent an inquiry about the problem.
3. I was finally contacted by the US ddistributor, who offered to "walk me through the process". I sent them screen shots of the missing "state" input field.
4. I got a response after a week that the problem was with PayPal ??? and it was being resolved. In appreciation of my bringing it to their attention, they sent me a free download coupon.
5. I redeemed it, there STILL wasn't a field for "state" hoever, it allowed me to download the software. (for Mac, as I have all Macs)
6. It would not run on my Powerbook laptop. I reloaded it to my tower Mac and it finally booted up.
7. When I attempted to download data from my Rox via the docking station, it gave ma another error saying there was a failure to connect to server.
I brought it to their attention via the US distributor again and I haven't gotten a response; its been about 5 days...

I'm tempted to go back to my Polar system, inspite of the cumbersome interface...

JCoop

...got it to work.
Software is painfully slow, but functional. I was disappointed in that the statistics feature for heart Rate data does not graph the times spent in each zone. To me, this is a very important, if not the most important piece of information for any serious training program. I think it offers that capability if you have a Rox 8 hooked up, and now that i look at the pricing, may have been worth it to get that instead. It comes with the USB docing station for $199, while the Rox 8 is $159 plus $49 for the dock.
Oh well, I guess I still have to do an excel worksheet for my HR data...