bike computer

[Jurgenbike]

I am looking for a new top of the range bike computer. I have looked at the garmin 705 and at the polo cs600x and polo rs800cx, have also looked at the suunto range.

 

I am looking for a big display, like the garmin, but I have heard that the garmin is not very reliable when it come to storing information as well as reciving information when it is cloudy etc.

 

The suunto seems to have accurate digital information about your heart rate etc, but has a small screen.

 

the bike mount is also important as I lost my last computer in a race last week.

 

What do you guys think, If money was no option which cycling computer would you buy?

 

[EZRider]

I don't know about Garmin not being reliable. A lot of us riding in Tzaneen use 305 and 705 models and we have had no problems at all.

The GPS receiver is very sensitive, much more than the one in my car, and even if you lose signal the cadence unit wirelessly sends speed and distance info to the unit.

The heart rate function works very well and as for data management, you can use either the software, which works on my mac but isn't great, or Garmin's online service which is good.

I heard about the 305 units losing battery connection here on the the Hub but none of us have experienced this. Perhaps it's because we are using later models and they have fixed the problem.

If money was no object I would have the 705.

I had to settle for the 305.

 

[Jurgenbike]

 

Thanks for your input. I have heard that under trees or in cloudy conditions it losses signal.

 

Further I would like to ask you how the clasp is to connect the unit to the bike. I ride road as well as MTB. I ride quit hard in the mountains and hardly use breaks on the down hill single tracks, would this device stay on the bike?

 

And have you ever gotten your unit wet or have your friends 705 ever been wet.

 

In winter I race MTB and often its in the pouring rain.

 

Sorry about all the questions but since the 705 costs R 6000 + I don't want to discover after I bought it that it does not suit my style of riding.

 

[AndreZA]

I am looking at the Polar RS800 as my replacement. I really don't care about plotting routes and stuff so that feature is not a selling point. I will be looking at getting the GPS pod aswell. That way you do not need any sensors on any bikes and you can use it with any other sport aswell, apparently swimming aswell. It will be about 5k for watch and GPS sensor.

[Jurgenbike]

I looked at that one as well but the screen is a little small compared to the garmin. I also don't care too much about plotting routes, (if I get lost then I know I had a good ride)

 

However the screen and technology seem better in the garmin.

 

I am organizing to check out the polo cs 600x. Which is there top of the range unit at present.

 

In mid 2010 polo is coming out with a 500 which in my opinion will knock all the competition out of the water. Unfortunately I can not wait that long.

 

[Minion]

The Edge system has a number of flaws that, while simple to correct, are disappointing in a product costing over R6000.

 

The Edge 705 is waterproof, the GSC10 speed sensor is not. There's a small hole in the bottom where water gets in and damages the circuit board. It is, however, very simple to plug this hole with silicone sealant.

 

The Garmin occasionally produced corrupted data files, though they appear to have fixed this problem in the latest 2.9 firmware update (touch wood). It was, however, reasonably straight-forward to manually edit the corrupted files to fix them.

 

The bike mount for the Garmin is not a particularly robust design and has been known to break at inconvenient times. It looks like you can overcome the problem by epoxying the top and bottom halves of the mount together.

 

[RobG]

I think it is Garmin that is bringing out the 500 model.  I was told that it would be available in SA in Jan 2010?  Already out in USA?  Available from CRC in Dec 2009?

 

[Jurgenbike]

It is definably the polo 500. If you go to their web site it is displayed on their front page near the bottom.

 

Interesting that they may be a garmin 500 coming out soon. I will check that out as well

 

[EZRider]

 

 

Thanks for your input. I have heard that under trees or in cloudy conditions it losses signal.

 

Further I would like to ask you how the clasp is to connect the unit to the bike. I ride road as well as MTB. I ride quit hard in the mountains and hardly use breaks on the down hill single tracks' date=' would this device stay on the bike?

 

And have you ever gotten your unit wet or have your friends 705 ever been wet.

 

In winter I race MTB and often its in the pouring rain.

 

Sorry about all the questions but since the 705 costs R 6000 + I don't want to discover after I bought it that it does not suit my style of riding.

[/quote']

 

I bought the 305 which I got for R 3000. It doesn't have a colour screen, which you don't need and street maps, which you wont use.

The unit is water proof, I have completed a MTB race in the rain with no hassles.

It comes with 2 bike mounts which, so far, seem to hold up well. I only ride MTB over some pretty rugged terrain and haven't had a problem. Just make sure that you clip it in properly. It is easy to transfer between bikes as you can use it without the speed sensor thing.

Even in the rain in magoebaskloof, under the pine trees, I get signal.

Don't know about the speed sensor not being water proof, gone through puddles and rain with mine but will plug that small hole as advised.

TZmtb2009-10-28 02:02:17

[FanieFiets]

cs600, but i have no experience with the others.