So my older style Ultegra shifters say "flight deck" on them.

Supposedly they interface with the computer - but how ?

And does this mean i should get the shimano computer or should i still get cat eye or something ?

i want a really basic computer for cheap. just as long as using it won't make me crash trying to press some tiny buttons or reading tiny numbers or something.

You need to get a Shimano Flight Deck computer and wireless harness. I think it ran about $120 in total when I bought it.

I'm getting rid of it next time replace my bar tape and brake cables. It ends up useless to me because I always end up hitting the buttons when I'm on the hoods, which either puts it on a function I don't want to see or stops recording my ride entirely. Showing gears and virtual cadence is nice, but not worth the hassle. I'll replace it with a Cateye Strada Wireless or Double Wireless (or maybe a garmin edge 500 if I feel like spending money).

I've had wireless Flight Deck for ages. Nice to have the buttons on the hoods. I check gear and cadence only because I'm lazy. They're not things you can't live without. Uses up batteries pretty quickly. Next bartape change I'll be taking it off.

Shimano has invested next to nothing into upgrading this product since it's introduction. Great idea at the time, and I've had two of them, one still in use on my spare roadie. Today there are much better options out there for less money.

yeah, it's kind of outdated. at this point they should have a heads-up-display built into your Oakley's...not little buttons on the hoods.

get a Cateye, or Garmin.

I still really like my flight deck and use them on three of my bikes. I've invested a lot in this setup. Maybe too much. If I were to do it over again, I think I'd go garmin 705. But right now I can't justify the expense.

Came on my used trek. I've never used any other computers, but as a newbie, all I'm really looking at is my mileage, gears, and speed anyway. Did somebody say there is a way to keep track of cadence with it?

OP to actually answer your question you can use whatever computer you like.

The flight deck computers have buttons that can be attached to your hoods so you can scroll through the screens without moving your hands (the 5 inches), they also have a gear indicator which tells you what gear you are in and calculates your virtual cadence.

There are many better computers on the market.

A buddy of mine has flight deck installed in the hoods and he hated it because everytime he rode on the hoods he was inadvertantly pressing buttons and changing his displays when he didn't want to.
I think he ended up taking the system off and going with a Cateye.

It'd be awesome if Cateye or someone else would make a computer that worked with the flight deck buttons.

I like mine and the fact that it shows cadence based on the gear you are in, helps you select the ride gear when you are rolling down hill.

The batteries seem to last for ever.

+1. I just want gear and power, that's all. Not too much to ask. With Ant chips as small as they are it's possible, just need an affordable display. Heck, I'll take unaffordable at this point.

I use my wired FD with Sram Rival. The gear indicator obviously doesn't work with Sram, but I only use it for speed, milage and time. For gear indication I use the inline DuraAce glass bubble.

Power ? How could a computer calculate watts without measuring the force at some point ?

I picked one up at a liquidation sale, along with a lot of other parts. Still haven't decided on a frame to put them on, though.

Cateye does, sort of. They hada button kit for the double wireless that fit into the hoods. You just had to remove the button contact for the flightdeck and replace it with the one for the Cateye. It worked ok, I used it for a while until I went to the Edge.

You can get power meters which measure the torque (at the hub or crank) and the computer calculates power from that.

Now a power meter seems like a big expense for a exact measure of watts to what end?

I guess you can use it for training but I know when i am getting better and don;t need the exact detail of watts.

I suppose that if you really want to know about power meters, umd is the guy to ask. But being belligerent about it is like asking Ghandi, "What's this 'nonviolent resistance' crap?"

Ahh. You've opened a whole new can of worms by questioning training using power.

This could get good...

Good for you. Do you want a parade?

wowwww, I'd love to see what that guys cadence is.

I just realized what it had...

Maybe this is one of those experimental bikes with ten chainrings and two cogs.

I am wondering if I can find the computer cheap enough on ebay if this is worth getting. I just got my first road bike, it has flight deck and I think it may help me understand where I am in the gears and my shifting. As it is now I have no idea what i am doing, but thats par for the course of life for me.