Cycle computer

[PaulSB]

Is Wahoo easier to set up and use than Hammerhead’s Karoo?

I don't know as I have never seen, let alone used, a Karoo. My experience is limited to Garmin and Wahoo. I had two Garmins and found both difficult to set up and erratic to use. I'm on my second Wahoo, my first was smashed in a crash, and find them very simple to set up and utterly reliable.

For me a major advantage with Wahoo is changes made via the app are instantly reflected on the GPS unit. This means experimenting with different set ups is easily done

 

[PaulSB]

RWGPS is run


If this doesn't convince you to pay for what you use, then I guess nothing will: https://ridewithgps.com/about-us

I'm in full agreement with you on this. Several years ago, perhaps 10, in conversation with a friend I asked why he paid for RWGPS. His answer was simple, "I want them to be there in ten years time." I signed up as soon as I got home.

On reflection this is the best possible reason for subscribing. Obviously access to additional features is great but overall supporting a company that contributes to my cycling pleasure is key.

If one is a regular user then paying the subscription should be obligatory. The premium subscription is £1.20/week, that hardly breaks the bank.

 

[YMFB]

I found the Wahoo complicated compared with Garmin, however I have used Garmin sat nav’s on motorcycles for probably close to 20 years so maybe indoctrinate.

i use it in conjunction with Wahoo cadence sensor on both bikes, I use Strava for route planning and uploading to the head unit, it’s the only subscription I have.

 

[albion]

If one is a regular user then paying the subscription should be obligatory. The premium subscription is £1.20/week, that hardly breaks the bank.

99% of the work is done by OpenStreetMap volunteers so why not split it 1/99 ?

 

[albion]

Talking of OSM, this is worth a read. (About Organic maps). https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/
Note that the beta of Organic now, via the layers tab, allows for choosing both a Cycle layer and a Walking layer. Probably so you can declutter if need be.

 

[albion]

From the above we now have
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps

I will check it out later. I might be switching to that.
I guess that duality makes it harder for it to be monetised.

 

[Psamathe]

Re: What cycle computer?
I generally interpret "Cycle computer" as a lower end device that uses a wheel sensor (possible a pedal crank sensor) to measure speed and distance (and possibly cadence) from which it will also calculate average speed, ride time. some include temperature and some sort of altitude sensor.

GPS cycle computers are normally the ones with mapping, turn by turn directions and a variable range of training and other sensors covering a massive range of budgets.

People get to have favourite brands which is normally the brand they use. I use a Garmin, it does more than I want or need and I don't particularly like Garmin as a company but I got it when my Wahoo device let me down really badly middle of a 2 month cycle tour in EU. So from my personal experience I won't touch Wahoo again https://psamathe.net/wahoo-elemnt-navigation-review/. Others seem to love Wahoo.

I'd set budget first, and post looking for something in range £xxx-£yyy as even eg comparing lower end Garmin devices to higher end Garmin devices gives you very different functionality.

In terms of creating routes to follow people use different onling systems. I use and am well impressed with https://cycle.travel but there are others. cycle.travel is free and over many months and many thousands of miles touring in Europe has never given me a bad route and always well suited to cycling. When touring each evening I decide where I'll go tomorrow and create a route and on the cycle.travel website I create the route, press a single load to Garmin button and it appears on my GPS cycle computer ready for tomorrow. I have tested some other online cycle route creators and for my test route some have provided a route I can only describe as "certain death" - no way would I cycle along the A14 round Ipswich (3 lane dual carriage way with no cycle lane) - so I stick with cycle.travel which I know works.

 

[PaulSB]

99% of the work is done by OpenStreetMap volunteers so why not split it 1/99 ?

I don't know who OpenStreetMap volunteers are. I haven't heard of them before. Possibly they contribute in some way to the map creation? If so I doubt that constitutes 99% of the work. To say this would suggest these volunteers write the software, run customer services, sales, marketing, product support, systems backup etc?

Is this what the volunteers do?

 

[ColinJ]

I don't know who OpenStreetMap volunteers are.

Anybody who wants to edit the map!

I have made a few minor edits here and there. For example, I found a small one-way backstreet in Todmorden which was not marked as such so cycle.travel (which uses OSM) would route both ways down the street. I corrected the map and now cycle.travel correctly routes around the one-way section.

 

[albion]

I don't know who OpenStreetMap volunteers are.

As Colin said, they create and maintain 100% of the mapping. People like Colin keep it up to date.

 

[PaulSB]

As Colin said, they create and maintain 100% of the mapping. People like Colin keep it up to date.

That's excellent and a credit to every individual who helps in this way. It doesn't though seem to be 99% of the work as you suggested.

 

[albion]

That's excellent and a credit to every individual who helps in this way. It doesn't though seem to be 99% of the work as you suggested.

I would suggest 99.5% is the mapping, that being forever in flux. You can often simply have one single paid programmer maintaining an app. However much coding is a collaboration of volunteers from the open source community.
That is how you get a fork of two near identical products such as the two I posted.

 

[PaulSB]

I would suggest 99.5% is the mapping, that being forever in flux. You can often simply have one single paid programmer maintaining an app. However much coding is a collaboration of volunteers from the open source community.
That is how you get a fork of two near identical products such as the two I posted.

As you wish. You chose to pick on my post suggesting anyone who chooses to use RWGPS regularly should pay for it. I feel this is a reasonable point of view. I'm not someone who takes something for nothing. You obviously have reasons for picking this out.

Possibley you have an axe to grind and have an issue with RWGPS using OSM. I don't have any knowledge of how OSM operates, it's relationship with RWGPS or any other business. Therefore I'm not going to debate this with you, it would be pointless to do so.

 

[blackrat]

As you wish. You chose to pick on my post suggesting anyone who chooses to use RWGPS regularly should pay for it. I feel this is a reasonable point of view. I'm not someone who takes something for nothing. You obviously have reasons for picking this out.

Possibley you have an axe to grind and have an issue with RWGPS using OSM. I don't have any knowledge of how OSM operates, it's relationship with RWGPS or any other business. Therefore I'm not going to debate this with you, it would be pointless to do so.

My opinion of this forum is that many contributors argue for the sake of arguing - which really makes one lose interest in it. It's a shame there isn't a more robust weeding out of such pointless thread deviations. Still, I suppose one can always ignore them. There is really no value in talking to a brick wall and expecting a sensible coherent reply.

 

[albion]

As you wish. You chose to pick on my post suggesting anyone who chooses to use RWGPS regularly should pay for it. I feel this is a reasonable point of view. I'm not someone who takes something for nothing. You obviously have reasons for picking this out.

Possibley you have an axe to grind and have an issue with RWGPS using OSM. I don't have any knowledge of how OSM operates, it's relationship with RWGPS or any other business. Therefore I'm not going to debate this with you, it would be pointless to do so.

I suggested also supporting the central map repository, though Wikipedia with its massive bandwidth requirements might just be more in need. I would also say that most map type apps now use OpenStreetMap, all for free.

Maybe they too should be supported 'mandatory'. That word, as you can tell, I found slightly puzzling.