Bike computer suggestions

teK--

Eats Squid
I had a Lezyne Micro GPS (enhanced). Was super reliable and small footprint so hardly took up any space on the bars. Very good battery life 10+ hours. You don't need a big screen I mean who the hell wants to see all the metrics on one screen anyway? Just show the most common one (heart rate?) and maybe one other metric,then hide all the lesser stuff on a secondary screen that you scroll to when stopped.

Now I have a Garmin Instinct watch and it is fantastic. Even less clutter on my bars without anything on there. Very reliable, a huge long feature list, super long battery life (2 weekend rides plus wear it all week including mid-week workouts). Monocrome high contrast screen. Built to be bombproof. I used to wear a g shock watch when I rode, so having something on the wrist is not an issue.
 

cameron_15

Eats Squid
I had a Lezyne Micro GPS (enhanced). Was super reliable and small footprint so hardly took up any space on the bars. Very good battery life 10+ hours. You don't need a big screen I mean who the hell wants to see all the metrics on one screen anyway? Just show the most common one (heart rate?) and maybe one other metric,then hide all the lesser stuff on a secondary screen that you scroll to when stopped.

Now I have a Garmin Instinct watch and it is fantastic. Even less clutter on my bars without anything on there. Very reliable, a huge long feature list, super long battery life (2 weekend rides plus wear it all week including mid-week workouts). Monocrome high contrast screen. Built to be bombproof. I used to wear a g shock watch when I rode, so having something on the wrist is not an issue.
I've had a look into smart watches as well, that might be the way to go as it'd be awesome to have one device for mountain, road and running as a bike computer is obviously no good for running.
 

leitch

Feelin' a bit rrranty
I've had a look into smart watches as well, that might be the way to go as it'd be awesome to have one device for mountain, road and running as a bike computer is obviously no good for running.
Got to say I really find the watch much better than computer on the MTB. I have a Forerunner 935 that I got from Rebel last year for like 40% off or something silly.

I use it for running and on the MTB. It’s light, comfortable, battery life is good. The optical HR isn’t super accurate (particularly in its responsiveness, there seems to be a bit of lag) but it’s easy to set up, comfortable and does a great job paired with a speed sensor on the front of the MTB.

I also have an Edge 810 that I use on the road bike which is also good and the navigation is handy when riding new places, but in the past I’ve killed two computers (Edge 500 and 510) by crashing the MTB while they were bar mounted. Fuck ever mounting a computer on the mtb again.

Unless you’re smashing out long kms/racing XC, not many people really need the data right in front of them on the MTB where riding tends to be more interval-based than the sort of tempo riding you’d do on the road for which you might want to be able to better monitor things like HR and cadence.
 

Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
Another vote for the watch. Use it for all your other excercise activities as others have mentioned.

I tried various computers and even the phone on the bars over the years, but for mtb I think it’s just distracting from the fun. if you’re riding at speed you can’t focus on all the metrics anyway, so you pretty much only pay attention to it when climbing.

I bought a Suunto watch and I like it; can check things easily if you want to without being distracted as you ride. Everything syncs to Strava at the end and you can check your nerdy stats when you get home. It’ll also flash up messages and phone calls if you want, so you can see if you need to stop to take the call.

A nice aimless ride with no tech or stats or distractions is still the best though.
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
Garmin Instinct is great, had mine for about a year now.

It does most of what I want it too - I do a regular lap of Stromlo and its pretty consistent, but have lost about ~300 metres on a couple of occasions and a couple hundred metres in elevation. Not sure if thats on the watch or GPS side of things.

I also can't connect the Garmin speed and cadence sensors to it - not that I bought them for that, but would have been nice.. Think I can run them all through phone though.

Otherwise its solid, and has good battery life. Can plan rides on Komoot etc. and send them to the watch which is great when I'm doing NP adventures.
 

teK--

Eats Squid
Garmin Instinct is great, had mine for about a year now.

It does most of what I want it too - I do a regular lap of Stromlo and its pretty consistent, but have lost about ~300 metres on a couple of occasions and a couple hundred metres in elevation. Not sure if thats on the watch or GPS side of things.

I also can't connect the Garmin speed and cadence sensors to it - not that I bought them for that, but would have been nice.. Think I can run them all through phone though.

Otherwise its solid, and has good battery life. Can plan rides on Komoot etc. and send them to the watch which is great when I'm doing NP adventures.
Make sure you have the latest firmware.

It adds option of watch continuously polling your phone to download known elevation data from online maps. It then uses that information in conjunction with GPS and barometer to get a very accurate elevation tracking. With this latest option I can get within about 5% of what Strava manually corrected elevation arrives at.

I am running a Garmin wheel speed sensor off mine.
 

cameron_15

Eats Squid
Now I'm just confused! Garmin alone has so many different smart watches, let alone all the other manufactures. Garmin Instinct vs Forunner vs Fenix o_O
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
Make sure you have the latest firmware.

It adds option of watch continuously polling your phone to download known elevation data from online maps. It then uses that information in conjunction with GPS and barometer to get a very accurate elevation tracking. With this latest option I can get within about 5% of what Strava manually corrected elevation arrives at.

I am running a Garmin wheel speed sensor off mine.
Cool thanks, wasn’t aware it was a manual process. On 6.6 now and can see options to add those sensors. Will play around
 

Milpool

Have knuckles, will drag
Caved. Bought an instinct already. First ride with it tomorrow. Any tips?

Seems a solid bit of gear, still got to work out a few functions. More than I'll need but cool anyway
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
i didnt expect this to actually exist. i just wanted a way to measure progress
I think they are more designed for roadies...not sure if I'd be keen on wearing close to $1k of kit in the bush with my riding style.
 

cameron_15

Eats Squid
I just saw Strava is now compatible on my old Samsung GearFit Watch :)

Will try using that for now and save my cash for the impending apocalypse!
 
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