Beeline Velo 2

[chr15b]

Beeline commenced sales for their new Velo 2 device today. I thought it looked pretty good and at £79.99 delivered thought I'd give it a go. Is anyone else giving this a go? My friend uses the old one and likes it a lot.

I've previously used Garmin devices and enjoyed those but have been happy using my Apple Watch over the last year for everything. The only gap has been navigation - I'm hoping that the Velo 2 will do this well enough and think it will.

Full details here; https://global.beeline.co/products/beeline-velo-2

 

[steveindenmark]

I have not used it but my mate has got the original Beeline and used it to get from Bulgaria to the UK and he loves it. He also has a Garmin 1030 which he never uses.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

I've got a Beeline. Simple to use, reliable, accurate once you're used to it. Everything you'd want. Great bit of kit. Only regret is, I haven't got the Velo2.

 

[cyberknight]

only issue for me is the need to have a smartphone connected to make it work which i know isnt an issue for a lot of people

 

[chr15b]

I almost never bought one out of principal, in additon to my bicycle I also ride a motorcycle and feel like one device should cover both. They do a Beeline Moto (I don't like the massive bezel on it) but I still think this will be a good one.

 

[ricknmorty]

Beeline commenced sales for their new Velo 2 device today. I thought it looked pretty good and at £79.99 delivered thought I'd give it a go. Is anyone else giving this a go? My friend uses the old one and likes it a lot.

I've previously used Garmin devices and enjoyed those but have been happy using my Apple Watch over the last year for everything. The only gap has been navigation - I'm hoping that the Velo 2 will do this well enough and think it will.

Full details here; https://global.beeline.co/products/beeline-velo-2

I have just ordered one. No experience of previous beeline products.

Whilst waiting for delivery, I have downloaded the app and searched for a route I know - Yatton to Cheddar on National Cycle Route 33, otherwise known as the Strawberry Line. The app gave me a route completely avoiding the cycle path, taking me on A roads. I'm now regretting my order!

Does anyone have experience of getting beeline to use proper cycle routes outside of London?

 

[cycling_eejit]

I have just ordered one. No experience of previous beeline products.

Whilst waiting for delivery, I have downloaded the app and searched for a route I know - Yatton to Cheddar on National Cycle Route 33, otherwise known as the Strawberry Line. The app gave me a route completely avoiding the cycle path, taking me on A roads. I'm now regretting my order!

Does anyone have experience of getting beeline to use proper cycle routes outside of London?

I downloaded the app too to have a look, the routing didn't look great to me either.

Up to now I've been using Komoot or https://cycle.travel/map to create routes.
From Komoot you can export your route directly into the Beeline app.
From cycle.travel you can export to a .gpx file and then open that in the Beeline app.

I've ordered one too based on the ability to use other apps to create the routes if I don't like the ones created by beeline.

 

[chr15b]

My intention was to use routes created on Strava with this. While I wait on the Beeline I've also downloaded the app for a look at the routing - I tested the Strava GPX first and confirmed the route came over exactly as I'd planned online which I'm happy about. I didn't connect my Strava account as I don't want Beeline pushing activities to Strava, I'm happy with how my Apple Watch does all that.

I also tried the Beeline routing and for one route it was perfect, the Fast/Balanced/Quiet adjusted the route exactly like I'd have expected. For the other, it planned a pretty good route but I'd have taken a slightly different approach. It did find a negatively rated road (screenshot below) which was helpful. In the screenshot below you can see this and I'd agree - the fast route suggested I join a very busy roundabout with motorway traffic. The balanced route took another approach totally avoiding the negatively rated road.

I was able to easily resolve this though with the fast route, I added an additional stop in the route and rearranged it so that stop was between the start and end and it instantly took the route I'd have planned myself. I look forward to playing with it a bit more.

 

[MickInMerton]

I have just ordered one. No experience of previous beeline products.

Whilst waiting for delivery, I have downloaded the app and searched for a route I know - Yatton to Cheddar on National Cycle Route 33, otherwise known as the Strawberry Line. The app gave me a route completely avoiding the cycle path, taking me on A roads. I'm now regretting my order!

Does anyone have experience of getting beeline to use proper cycle routes outside of London?

I use Komoot to plan rides (RideWithGPS also works) then export as gpx and import into Beeline. I've got the Beeline as the default gpx device so it is very quick and easy to import. The Beeline App has different planning modes but I rarely use them.

 

[chr15b]

I received the Velo 2 yesterday, completed a short cycle this morning with it and it worked pretty well.

The device itself feels a bit light/cheaper than I had anticipated, but the connection to my phone, the route planning and tracking as I went was flawless. Look forward to trying more.

 

[cycling_eejit]

I received the Velo 2 yesterday, completed a short cycle this morning with it and it worked pretty well.

The device itself feels a bit light/cheaper than I had anticipated, but the connection to my phone, the route planning and tracking as I went was flawless. Look forward to trying more.

Got mine today, want for a quick ride and all seems to work well. Easy to follow navigation directions, but this is a route I cycle regularly. Will see how it does on a route I'm less familiar with in the next week or so.

 

[Glasgow44]

Hi there

I'm thinking of buying a Beeline Velo 2 and I have been watching this threat with interest. My understand is that you have to either download the Beeline app so that it pairs with the device on the bike and/or you use it in conjunction with Komoot - is that correct? Also, can you use it with Strava?

Lastly, has anyone bought a Beeline product and what was your experience?

 

[EltonFrog]

I’m curious about this too, though bike radar didn’t give it a glowing review. https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/training/gps-computers/cycle-computers/beeline-velo-2/

 

[Dag Hammar]

I looked at Beeline Velo 2 a little while back and they were £79.99. They then increased the price to £99.99 but today ( 28 Nov 2022 ) they are priced at £84.99 so if anyone is about to jump in and make a purchase I guess price-wise now is as good a time as any.
I haven’t bought one ( yet ) as I use cycle.travel to plan my routes as I like the fact that cycle.travel plot a route avoiding the busier roads. I study the route before I leave home, make a few notes on a piece of paper and I have been known to take an O.S. Map with me too and that has saved me on a couple of occasions.

 

[cycling_eejit]

I've had the Beeline Velo 2 for around a year now and have found it OK, but have had some issues with it.
I wanted a simple device that would allow me to create a route and then follow it.

If you create your route on the companion app everything works reasonably well. I'm not a big fan of the app, it's fine for point-to-point routes but I find it a bit of a hassle to create round-trip routes. I prefer to use cycle.travel or Komoot.
You can create your route in another app, save as GPX route and then import into the Beeline app - the route then appears in the app and all looks good.
The problem is, I've rarely had the device correctly follow an imported GPX route. It usually works for a while and then at some point it tries to send me on a non-existent turn and then it loses the route.

Positives: It's small, attaches securely and neatly to the bike. Fairly easy to use. Readability is decent (slightly more difficult in bright sunlight). Once you get used to it the routes are generally easy to follow and it beeps when you need to turn.

Negatives: The routing issues explained above. The screen smudges easily and makes it difficult to read, you really need to remove the device to clean it, if you try to clean it while attached to the bike you will accidentally press one of the rocker buttons. There are some other functions such as marking roads as good/bad which I don't use so won't comment on those.

Overall: If the problems with following imported GPX routes were solved then this device would be ideal for my needs. As it is, it's a bit more work to create a route in the Beeline app but I'll persevere with it and hope that at some stage I'll figure out how to get it to work or they fix the problem.

If anyone is using the Velo 2 - any suggestions on what (if anything) I might be doing wrong?