bikermanlax

The new Cateye Adventure offers many components not available on any other cycle computers at this price.

The two features that drew me in were the altimeter and slope measure. Both work fairly well.

I tried setting the altimeter to the my current altitude as determined by a nearby helipad's altitude. The way to do this is a bit confusing but I eventually did it. However, the altimeter came to rest at a slightly different altitude after a few trips. The difference was minimal in my estimation, maybe ten feet.

If you use the altimeter not for a dead on accurate measurement of the altitude, but for comparison purposes between rides, the altimeter is useful.

In addition to measuring trip altitude, the computer also keeps a running total on the screen with the total odometer reading.

The slope meter measures the angle of a slope in percentage terms; the percent compared to 45 degrees.

The slope meter does a good job of measuring slop although there is a delay of a couple of seconds. Once you know this, the delay can be useful because you can look down after that steep stretch, rather than in the middle of it.

Another useful feature is a thermometer. Compared to my mirrcycle thermometer/bell combo, this one is fairly accurate.

I went from the Cateye cadence, so I was used to cycling through the screens by tipping up the entire unit. This one works the same way, although if you are on a couple of the screens, and hold on a bit too long, you go into a setup screen. There are also a number of screens, so cycling through them takes a bit longer.

The unit represents a compromise between a super accurate unit (that would likely be much more expensive) and the regular Cateye Cadence series.

RossThompson

I would assume the altimeter corrects itself for barometric pressure. 10' is about 0.01" Hg in pressure change that could be associated with a high pressure ridge or low pressure depression. Most watches and electronic gizmos that show altitude are realitive altitude based on barometric pressure. P-bar is easier to measure with small electronic devices than altitude based on mean sea level. Altitude at the heli station is most likely altitude feet MSL.

bikermanlax

Yes, the directions do say that measurements are made based on barometric pressure. I'm liking the reading more for comparing different rides. Harder rides have a greater overall altitude number than easier ones.

A couple of other points I left out in my initial review:

The thing is pretty thick. It isn't sleek like the Cateye Cadence.

When climbing the slope indicator can be off if you swerve into the hill a bit. It sees the incline as smaller. This is pretty easy to do when climbing on a curve.

It has a "distance to go" reading. You plug in a mileage number (<100) and it counts down from that number. Seems pointless to me but maybe there are uses I haven't thought of.

Namenda

Thanks or the review. I'm thinking of buying one of these, possibly today or tomorrow, with some Father's Day cash I received. I've always wanted a computer that tracks altitude/total gain/slope, but don't want to shell out big bucks for a gps unit. This sounds like a good compromise.