Wired or Wireless Computers

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

Just to make sure I understand you - are you saying your wireless computer never suffers from interference of any kind? If so, please tell me the make and model and I'll buy one. If I do actually get problems then I'll name and shame on this forum

BTW, I don't need all the other functions you mention on a computer. I have these and many more on my Garmin eTrex Vista. I want my computer to do a few things (dist., av. speed, time, odo) but do them with complete reliability.

EDIT: Actually, don't bother. I've just looked on Wiggle and Polar comps seem to cost between £50 and £450.

I've never known either of them to play up.

I don't strictly need all the functions of the Garmin, but at the same time, I kinda do

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i prefer wired. i had a wireless halfords one that ate batteries and was affected by everything.

i put that down to the cheapo halfords bit, but when borrowing a bike with a decent name wireless comp (cateye i think) i went over the forth road bridge and at one point my speed suddenly dropped by 6mpg, then shot up by 90mph!

my wired sigma bc1600 is excellent. swaps between bikes without a problem, has been caught in the rain with no ill effects.

 

[mr Mag00]

im having a mare atm with a vdo cs1d or whatever its called wireless, it works in my hand but not on the mount!!!!

 

[xroads]

The aldi bikemate computers are back in this week for a fiver each.

 

[goo_mason]

A Halfords wired computer on the MTB and a Cateye Strada Wireless on the road bike. Only been using the Cateye for 2 weeks, but no problems with it so far.

The Halfords wired one was liable to show me doing 100+ mph every now and again (think there was a problem with the contacts corroding or being wet), but easily resolved with a clean later.

 

[col]

Iv had an avinir wired one for years,used it a couple then stored it,now using it again,only thing is the battery died and i havnt replaced it yet,but its about 7 or eight years old now,hate the thought of paying a fiver for the battery though.

 

[briank]

" and at one point my speed suddenly dropped by 6mpg"
Per gallon of what?

My Polar HRM doesn't upset the Sigma wireless: it's the other way round!
(Either that or I'm having more "cardiac events" than I realise.)

 

[bonj2]

A Halfords wired computer on the MTB and a Cateye Strada Wireless on the road bike. Only been using the Cateye for 2 weeks, but no problems with it so far.

The Halfords wired one was liable to show me doing 100+ mph every now and again (think there was a problem with the contacts corroding or being wet), but easily resolved with a clean later.

There's no real point in having one on your mtb, but if you must, why not just have a transferrable one, with two cradles, then you get your total ODO for both bikes?

 

[goo_mason]

There's no real point in having one on your mtb, but if you must, why not just have a transferrable one, with two cradles, then you get your total ODO for both bikes?

Why was there no point of one on the MTB ? I used the bike to commute to work for 2 years and did 4,600 miles. I only know that because the computer says so ! In addition, it was a useful guide to seeing my fitness and speed / commute times improve as I dropped from 18 stones downwards. I had PB times to try and beat

Had it been smaller and wireless, I would have bought another cradle and used it on both bikes - but I treated myself to a sleek, small wireless Strada to go with my sleek new road bike. And all I need do is add the two mileages together to get the total ! Easy.

The MTB is still here - it'll be the winter bike and general muckabout bike now so still worthwhile keeping the old computer on.

 

[Zoiders]

There's no real point in having one on your mtb, but if you must, why not just have a transferrable one, with two cradles, then you get your total ODO for both bikes?

I have one on mine

Which has slicks, and has recorded a top speed of 36 miles an hour on a short half a K hill near my house, there is another not far away that I have touched 40 on

Snobbery again...

 

[bonj2]

Why was there no point of one on the MTB ? I used the bike to commute to work for 2 years and did 4,600 miles. I only know that because the computer says so ! In addition, it was a useful guide to seeing my fitness and speed / commute times improve as I dropped from 18 stones downwards. I had PB times to try and beat

Had it been smaller and wireless, I would have bought another cradle and used it on both bikes - but I treated myself to a sleek, small wireless Strada to go with my sleek new road bike. And all I need do is add the two mileages together to get the total ! Easy.

The MTB is still here - it'll be the winter bike and general muckabout bike now so still worthwhile keeping the old computer on.

well, mainly because you're not going to be going that far on a mtb anyway, in fact even if you are i don't really see the point of the odometer functions at all to be honest, if you want to know how far you've gone you can look at a a map and it'll tell you how many miles the route is - if you want to then know total, just multiply that by how many times you do the route.

In terms of speed, if you're doing proper mtbing then you either aren't going very fast anyway (going uphill), or you've got better things to look at than the computer (like your line), or you're wasting altitude. One of the three!

 

[Zoiders]

A lot of MTBers have a fave forest or route, they know it like the back of there hand, but with odd tist and turn, unless you are living and riding every weekend in one of the few wilderness areas of the UK then its unlikely that you will be using a map, if you have travelled to a new area for a ride then yes a map is good though, how ever a speedo with an odometer is still a good thing as it tells you how far you have travelled on a route or on a bearing from a compass, this "check pacing" helps you find your position on map

A lot of forests or moorland areas look like just a hell of a lot more forest and moorland

With the right bearing and knowing exactly how far you have travelled you can find your way in the pitch dark if you need to, its like flying a plane just on instruments when visibilty is nill, in some places the weather can close in and make that exactly the case for cylists

Any more pearls of wisdom bonj?

And by that I mean ones that wont get you dead from exposure

 

[bonj2]

If you're combining MTBing with orienteering, then yes i suppose that could be useful. But if your'e doing orienteering or exploring the back of beyond that you don't know very well then you're probably better off with a garmin.

 

[Zoiders]

Garmins dont work in valleys

A odo and a compass do

 

[goo_mason]

well, mainly because you're not going to be going that far on a mtb anyway, in fact even if you are i don't really see the point of the odometer functions at all to be honest, if you want to know how far you've gone you can look at a a map and it'll tell you how many miles the route is - if you want to then know total, just multiply that by how many times you do the route.

In terms of speed, if you're doing proper mtbing then you either aren't going very fast anyway (going uphill), or you've got better things to look at than the computer (like your line), or you're wasting altitude. One of the three!

The MTB was for commuting, and has never done any mountain biking. Got it when I decided that I was overweight and unfit and had to sort myself out. At the time I had no idea about bikes and so I just got the Carrera Vulcan through the Bike2Work scheme. I got free vouchers to spend on accessories so I got the computer, which was a useful guide to how far I'd gone and how much quicker I got as I got fitter.

Obviously, had I got the bike for MTB'ing, I'd not have bothered with a computer.