Bike computers are worthless. Change my mind.
 

the only use for a garmin or wahoo would be a hard ride or race , as far as functions go , a 30 dollar android phone can do everything you need while cycling , and if strava brought back heart rate i might be tempted to pay and use my phone to record races .
i guess dedicated computers can be a bit more accurate with gps , maybe cyclocross or MTB races would be best recorded with a watch ( a few cx racers in the pros had those watches ) , some are kind of more compact than a phone , BUT compare a 30 to 200 phone to a 100 to 400 dollar cycling computer and over all the phone wins every time . reply with any reason to choose a gps computer over a phone .


RANT : i mean does the 400 dollar wahoo roam even have a sd card slot to store and load maps and routes , i personally bought a garmin 520 because ti was in my price range, i thought it would be great for nav and routes but this thing sucks the battery only lasts 8 hours and it cant even hold 100 MBs of map data , doesn't have official functionality for map loading , i have to make separate folders and swap out my map sections just to get a map on screen and there is still no real time navigation , it cant play music or do turn by turn as well as my phone can but on my 30 dollar phone i have a full gps for free , why do these gps computers even exist , it would be beyond easy to add an SD card slot and expand storage , ok rant over , i still feel i should have spent the 150 on a new phone dedicated to my bikes :(

Tell me again, which phone not only allows 14 hours of screen-on-time...but will not suffer image permanence, AKA burn-in, from doing so?

Which phone will survive a bike crash on the handlebars, and not have a shattered digitizer?

My wife has no bike computer and leaves her phone at home when she rides.

So she doesn't even need your $30 android phone.

So what's your point?

What ever happened to using capital letters at the beginning of sentences to make reading your diatribe easier? You know what capital letters are, you actually use them in your in your paragraphs.

So lets change this up with a product you own. Carbon bikes are useless change my mind.

Who needs a carbon bike? You can do everything on your carbon bike that you can do on a Wally World BSO. blah blah blah, spew garbage etc etc.

Everyone one of us purchases products that suit us, not you, but us. I am not here to change your mind (well except for using capital letters in sentences). Buy what ever you want, but to come on a forum and tell us what you don't want is ludicrous.

For a few "change my mind" starter package, I will save you the grief and give you some.

Derailleurs are for wimps, change my mind.
No one needs disk brakes, change my mind.
Fatter tires, run faster, change my mind.
Brifters are overkill, downtube shifters rule, change my mind.
Why buy carbon, steel works fine, change my mind.
Aero bikes are useless for most people change my mind.

I’m not going to try and change your mind. If you don’t feel you need one then you don’t.

I am happy with my CatEye computer. When you are touring in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception for days and need to make sure you don't miss a turn, knowing how far you've ridden is important. It's also nice to know how far you have until camp and what time of day it is. And I don't need to charge it.

So...My bike computer is not worthless to me, and it's far more valuable than this thread.

Rant over.

+1. Maybe he is in dire need of attention. Or maybe he really wants one of them fancy gadgets but cannot afford one and is hurting inside.

Since Covid19 I don't use my phone or my garmin 520.

people just don't need to know where I am, where I am going, and where I've been.

A GPS would be more likely to survive being bumped off that freshly painted aluminum bike of yours. Just curious do you have a Trek 720 with a 920 rack?

You know what's really useless? Broccoli. I hate it.

A 30 dollar android phone runs out of battery on long rides, isn't visible in bright sunlight, is unusable for navigation in the rain with water registering as touches, and doesn't have water sources as points of interest for navigation.

A refurbished Garmin Edge 800 wins every time.

Which is much longer than a phone running navigation software, especially with the screen turned on.

"Change your mind?" Well, there's always the Ludovico Techique.
(...although there is a small risk of recidivism.)
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db1d171b17.jpg

Don't really care if I convince you of anything but I like my GPS as a GPS. I travel all 48 states and have no clue wherever I pull my bike out of my truck good bike routes. My Garmin will give me several bike loops to consider for whatever distance I want to ride. Or routing to lakes, rivers, parks and places to eat. Then get me back to my truck. Phone and gps and I have a great time exploring.

I've found that I do just fine with my phone and a small battery charger, and that my phones have survived multiple mishaps including getting hit by a car and just plain getting dropped on the road. I feel I have to carry my phone anyway for various reasons having little to do with bicycling, so I don't want to add another device.

I can't for the life of me imagine wanting to pick an argument with someone who likes and/or needs their GPS--I don't care what they think I need, and I have no idea what they do or do not need so why should they care about what I think on the subject?

This is like someone chose as a debate topic: "Resolved: Starkist is Superior to Chicken of the Sea."

They make little GPS receivers I have one I keep in my Jeep for when there is no cell signal. It's pretty small, doesn't weigh much and has straps to attach it to your body if you so choose. Granted I probably wouldn't carry it on a race bike but for touring is just about perfect.

See, this is why this is such a stupid thread. Those are all really valid points, yet my workarounds suit me just fine. I'm sure you'd hate my workarounds, and I'd hate having to pay for an extra piece of equipment I don't really feel the need for.

I think it's great that we both have the gear we deem necessary.

My GPS isnt meant to play music, thats why it doesnt play music.

I have a $150 Lezyne GPS and this is year 4 of using it.
- I use it every ride just to record total miles because I like to track that stat for the year. It holds something like 100 rides, so I can then upload when I want.
- On solo rides I like to look at my average speed, total climb, and distance ridden- these are easily recorded with the GPS unit.
- I use the navigation probably 3x per month. Not often, but its because even though I ride different routes most every time Im on my own, I know what links up with what.
- When I use the route function, I create a route then save it. The route goes to my GPS and I follow it thru written prompts and drawn line. Its dead simple. In the thousands of miles Ive ridden, I have not come across a need for an SD card or expanded storage.
- My phone stays in a jersey pocket. It does not have the battery life of my GPS unit and I can save the phone battery for when I want to use it.

Your situation seems to be much different than mine when it comes to GPS units. I would say that I have easily gotten my money's worth over these last 4 years.
Perhaps a GPS unit isnt for you. Not everyone wants a road bike, some instead need that 3 wheeled trike thing with a basket I used to ride around my grandma's community in Florida.

I like riding with my Apple Watch, change my mind

No ANT+ on a smart phone, and that’s a deal breaker for a lot of my older sensors and HRMs.

Also the bike computer will work under more extreme temperatures and weather, as most smart phones will start to overheat and shutdown at around 95’F, which is easy to do if it is sitting in the sun on your handlebars on a hot day. The Garmin edge has an operating temperature of 140’F, which is way past mine. The same is true at the low temperature end as well where a smart phone ‘gives up’ around 32F while most bike computers operate at far lower temperatures.

Phones are just not made to sit out in difficult environments like on handlebars for a long period.

But to each his own I suppose.

Don't worry. All that facial recognition infrastructure tells us exactly where you've been. Mask or no mask.
:innocent:


:D

Just ask any mermaid you happen to see.

I'm very pleased with my Garmin 235 basic running watch. It's been with me for about the last 6000 miles. Speed, average speed, elevation, elevation gain, and it easily connects to an external heart rate monitor and cadence dongle which I use sparingly.

It has smart watch features but I disabled them, I find that pretty annoying.

I use it cross country skiing as well. My wife takes it running, so Strava thinks I am a runner.

The model I have would not connect to a power meter. It also doesn't have maps. Garmin and Suunto have options for that if you need it.

My handlebar is clean. I'm not inundated with data but it's easy to glance if I need it, fun to look at when I get home. I get 12 hours on full GPS mode. I usually leave my phone at home.

My only complaint is that when just using it as a watch, I frequently accidentally push buttons. Never happens on rides though. I've been wearing my Raymond Weil off the bike lately, kind of nice to go analog once in a while.

I did forget my watch the other day. I just turned on Strava on my phone and stuck it in my pocket. It worked great if you can handle no feedback until the ride is over.

I like riding with a Casio MRW200 analog dial quartz watch. The "display" is always ready and it's easy to read time at a glance. The battery runs the watch for over a year with no recharging needed. Super light on the wrist with day, date, and a rotating bezel useful for start or stop times. Only $20 lost if I destroy it, or it dies.

But that's just me. Avoiding Big Brother in a curmudgeonly way.
:50:

the 520 compared to the 500 has a FAIL battery life!

and Garmin really skimps on memory, I am sure it is intentional.

I used the Turn by Turn bread crumbs once on the 520, and I'll never do it again it was a day late and a dollar short. So I reverted back to the ride 3.6 miles turn L , ride 5.8 miles and turn right. cue sheets

I quit buying Garmin chest HR straps after the 4th one. Interesting enough the one that never got washed lasted the longest. So now I ride without a HR meter. $120 in HR straps... not worth it.

So I hear you!

I mean I can get an out front mounted non GPS Cateye for like $60, that is accurate as accurate as you measure your tires circumference. As for recording, a phone can do that with the screen off and it doesn't take much battery if you are not using the screen.

Garmin has some seriously lousy integrity and ethics as a business. its Always been about leaving the customers a dollar short, and wanting.... while they continue to roll out new models that continuously leave customers a dollar short. It's planned residual income. Cyclist are stupid enough to keep throwing Garmin moneythough. Of Course Garmin has one hell of a shill in their pocket pushing their products.

I am still Miffed that my 500 was fine one day, Garmin drops a 510 on the market, gives my 500 one last update, and it starts malfunctioning the very next ride. I erased it reinstalled all of the old software builds to no luck with any of them. Lesson learned if your electronic stuff works, DO NOT UPDATE!!!!!!