Quad locks.

[Ming the Merciless]

If you like fartarsing with cables and drivers and trying to GPX files on the thing, they are great

It’s not the 1990s anymore, bike computers have moved on.

 

[icowden]

It’s not the 1990s anymore, bike computers have moved on.

My BiL got a new bike computer 2 years ago. It is a Garmin. It hasn't moved on.

 

[Alex321]

I mostly use a Wahoo Bolt for navigation (which I'm happy with), sometimes a phone + Quadlock (which I'm also happy with), sometimes both.

If you don't need/want all the extra bells and whistles from a dedicated cycling computer, then the main drawbacks of a phone are mounting, protection and battery life. These can all be soved with quadlock + a powerbank + a top tube bag to put the powerbank in. All of that comes to maybe £100 - less than the cost of a cycling computer and a lot more user friendly if as you say you are not the best with technology.

But, since you already have a Bolt, maybe get a friend to show you how to upload routes?

p.s. one extra drawback of the phone is they get more upset by heavy rain - how much this matters depends on whether you keep riding in such conditions

A couple of other drawbacks I found when I used to use my phone were visibility in bright light, particularly when tyrying to use for navigation, and the fact it was touch screen, which didn't work well with gloves, or if it was wet. I know some bike computers are touch screen, but I wouldn't buy one of those.

The only problem with that is that I agree with the OP, Bike computers tend to be shockingly badly designed from an end user point of view. If you like fartarsing with cables and drivers and trying to GPX files on the thing, they are great. Compared with just loading a route on Strava or plotting one with google maps, they tend to be massively more complicated. Hence I just use the phone but inside a see-through handlebar case.

You can't have tried any of the modern bike computers then.

I have a first edition Wahoo Roam (released 2019), and I have never had to do anything at all with cables or drivers (except plug it in to a micro USB for charging). And if I do route planning on my PC using Strava or RideWithGPS (other route planners are available and I believe similar for loading, I just prefer those), it just uploads automatically to my bike computer the next time I have the app and computer turned on at the same time. No faffing, nothing complicated.

I also use a cadence meter and heart rate sensor, and it took less than a minute to pair to them initially, after which it just connects automatically whenever they are in range. It would also connect with similar ease to a powermeter, to Wireless Di2, and to the Varia type radar if I had any of those.

I haven't tried Garmin/Hammerhead/Bryton, but I am sure the latest ones are very similar in ease of use.

 

[Dogtrousers]

My BiL got a new bike computer 2 years ago. It is a Garmin. It hasn't moved on.

Sure it was it new? Or perhaps it didn't come with a manual.

In 2021 pretty much all cycling GPS models on the market, regardless of brand, had Bluetooth and in most cases WiFi for download of routes and upload of rides. Cables and drivers for GPX file transfer? You need to have failed to use it correctly pretty badly for that to be an issue. The newest device I have that does things that way is a 60CSx circa 2005. Even my Oregon from 2012-ish syncs via Bluetooth. And neither of those are cycling computers.

I think you may run into driver issues if you are using an ANT+ device like a HRM alongside a PC based static training app like Zwift or Rouvy and anANT+ dongle. That's the last time I read about such problems.

 

[icowden]

I haven't tried Garmin/Hammerhead/Bryton, but I am sure the latest ones are very similar in ease of use.

If you have only used Wahoo, then I wouldn't make bets about the other brands. Wahoo specifically designed their device to be a mobile phone front end extension, leaving all the complicated stuff including the processing to the phone. That's still broadly the case. Garmin is not the same.

My BiL got a Garmin 530 a couple of years ago and we spent hours trying to get a GPX file from his MacBook onto the Garmin. He's now trained himself in the process and finds it easy, but it was fiddly and unintuitive.

 

[icowden]

In 2021 pretty much all cycling GPS models on the market, regardless of brand, had Bluetooth and in most cases WiFi for download of routes and upload of rides. Cables and drivers for GPX file transfer? You need to have failed to use it correctly pretty badly for that to be an issue.

Nope. The file was on an oldish MacBook. It didn't want to transfer and when it had transferred we discovered that actually it wasn't going into the folder that we had expected it to go to because the UI is poorly designed.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Nope. The file was on an oldish MacBook. It didn't want to transfer and when it had transferred we discovered that actually it wasn't going into the folder that we had expected it to go to because the UI is poorly designed.

Fair enough , Garmin UIs are notoriously baffling. But I imagine if I had a GPX file on an 8" floppy disk transferring it would be a challenge too. Most people transfer to and from web services like Strava, RWGPS etc these days.

 

[icowden]

Fair enough , but I imagine if I had a GPX file on an 8" floppy disk transferring it would be a challenge too. Most people transfer to and from web services like Strava, RWGPS etc these days.

We couldn't get it to transfer directly from Ride with GPS (which he was using on the MacBook). Instead we had to export the route to a GPX file and then transfer that.

Notwithstanding that, my experience with the Garmin is that I wouldn't buy one. Compared to just loading the RWGPS app on my phone it is inordinately more complicated and an unnecessary expense of several hundred pounds to so something that a device I already own can already do better.

I am better disposed towards Wahoo precisely because it is designed to be an extension of the phone, and thus allow the phone to be better protected.

 

[Dadam]

Nope. The file was on an oldish MacBook. It didn't want to transfer and when it had transferred we discovered that actually it wasn't going into the folder that we had expected it to go to because the UI is poorly designed.

The UI on the Garmin itself (I have a 530) is pretty naff but loading a GPX file onto the device is 2 mouse clicks from the Garmin connect website. The next time the device is turned on and syncs, bosh there's your route. Importing a gpx into the site in the first place is drag and drop. You don't need to faff around with folders.

 

[icowden]

The UI on the Garmin itself (I have a 530) is pretty naff but loading a GPX file onto the device is 2 mouse clicks from the Garmin connect website. The next time the device is turned on and syncs, bosh there's your route. Importing a gpx into the site in the first place is drag and drop. You don't need to faff around with folders.

No - you need to faff about with the Garmin website and Garmin Connect. I rest my case :-)

 

[Dadam]

No - you need to faff about with the Garmin website and Garmin Connect. I rest my case :-)

🤷‍♂️ Faff? Click import, drag in file, edit title if desired, click send to device. Probably takes about 20 seconds. Case dismissed.

I guess it would be technically feasible to use the device without a Garmin Connect account but why would you want to put yourself through that? It's all designed to work in an ecosystem. I'd rather "faff around" with those than cables and drivers, it's 2023!

 

[Dogtrousers]

The UI on the Garmin itself (I have a 530) is pretty naff but loading a GPX file onto the device is 2 mouse clicks from the Garmin connect website. The next time the device is turned on and syncs, bosh there's your route. Importing a gpx into the site in the first place is drag and drop. You don't need to faff around with folders.

Indeed. I've been using Garmin devices of one kind or another since about 2000 so I'm institutionalised but even I am struck sometimes by the naffness of the UI.

Transfer of routes (or "courses" as Garmin insist on calling them, just to be awkward) on my 530 is seamless from RWGPS, my preferred route planner. Just a couple of menu taps on the GPS. No need to go via the Connect website. (You just need to know which menus to tap - that's the tricky bit* )

Ride upload to RWGPs is automatic.

My only gripe is you can't download a route (sorry, "course") while recording a ride. So if I'm out on a ride and want to change my mind about my current route and download a different one I have to stop recording, save the ride, do the download from RWGPS, then start recording a new ride. A minor point maybe, and probably not many other people ever do that, but it's a bit annoying.

If I get lost, or want to replan, or just want a "big picture" awareness of where I am, I use the RWGPs app on my phone as it's so much easier to pan and zoom.

*From memory it's : Menu / Connect IQ / RWGPS / Recent Routes / select the route / Download (or Download And Ride)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My BiL got a new bike computer 2 years ago. It is a Garmin. It hasn't moved on.

A friend bought a Nokia style phone recently, does that mean phones haven’t moved on?

 

[icowden]

Transfer of routes (or "courses" as Garmin insist on calling them, just to be awkward) on my 530 is seamless from RWGPS, my preferred route planner. Just a couple of menu taps on the GPS. No need to go via the Connect website. (You just need to know which menus to tap - that's the tricky bit* )

Yep. Once you *know* how to use the Garmin, it's not too tricky. However I can see why new users would wonder what the heck they had gotten into.
Quite often the problem with things designed by people with a specialist interest for people who have a specialist interest is that they are unusable or at least difficult to use for people coming from a different angle.

A good UI is intuitive and needs no instruction.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yep. Once you *know* how to use the Garmin, it's not too tricky. However I can see why new users would wonder what the heck they had gotten into.
Quite often the problem with things designed by people with a specialist interest for people who have a specialist interest is that they are unusable or at least difficult to use for people coming from a different angle.

A good UI is intuitive and needs no instruction.

Garmin have the curse of being the early leader in the field and maintained backward compatibility. I can see great similarities in the UI between my ginormous 76S (circa 2000, connect with RS232 serial cable) and my teeny Edge 530 ( circa 2020 Bluetooth and Wifi)

The latest x40 series have, supposedly, a much revamped UI. And not before time.