bikebikebike

What is your bike computer's personality ?

1. New puppy that has its personality born in, and will get real big, want to be the alpha dog and chew up your furniture. Frequently runs off.
   
2. Sweet girl next door. Available, not hugely capable, but neither of you ask very much of each other.
   
3. Flirt who peaks in high school with overflowing expectation that never seems to mature. High maintenance. High expectation. More maintenance.
   
4. Needy , never seems to get it right.
5. School librarian, gets the job done, and just looks over their glasses at you when you ask for something they don't approve of.
   

canklecat

Librarian. Or accountant. Mine are XOSS G+. No frills, just does the job. No navigation aids, no maps or breadcrumb trails. It's basically like a Cateye computer, but with GPS and compatible with ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors.

I'd guesstimate about 95% reliable. There are occasional GPS sync glitches, possibly due to atmospheric conditions and radio frequency interference. Direct uploads from the XOSS computer to Strava are routed through the XOSS servers, so there are occasional glitches or slowdowns. But overall it's been fine this year. I've used 'em since January, no serious complaints.

Iride01 

My bike computers do not have any personality. They are machines.

Now if you turn it around, there are times when they get a bit of my personality. But for the most part, they work as advertised for me. I'm always perplexed when others have issues with features that work so well for me.

mdarnton

Mine is comparable in utility to a six-pack of Budweiser's position in the beer world: cost me six bucks, tells me the speed, how far I've gone, and the time. Doesn't do much else, and I don't need it to.

tntyz

None of what you have listed. Mine is fast, solid, capable of more things than I will ever use.

bikebikebike

It seems contentedness correlates strongly with having one bike and configuration.
As I have added stuff , Powermeter, Varia and used for indoor sensors with classic trainer
things began to require lots of maintenance, and have poor reliability/stability attributable to conflicts.
For some folks , with all same sensors and stable configuration, it may be real nice, walk in the park.
For some very much just an exercise in frustration for anyone not a professional or hobbiest programmer/debugger.
I fear that is many


Today I went to go for a ride. my sensors were buggy and down, speed showed without distance
took an hour of stuff to get working. That happens regularly.
I'm pretty savy. This is not a system ready for prime time
Going for a ride. May carry my phone. May use the varia app
May not bother

tntyz

This sounds like my experience with the Garmin Edge 520. Sensors would drop and reconnect in mid-ride. I even had a firmware update happen in the middle of a ride. I finally stopped connecting to my phone and the bulk of the issues disappeared.

This year switched to the Edge 530 and it is rock solid. No sensor drops, phone connection works great.

mrv 

what's a "bike computer" ?

bikebikebike

Please don't remind me I could have had a Brooks and those pedals for what I paid for my bike computer.

Two Brooks

and the Schwinn thrown in.

mrv 

- probably it's worse than you think - I got the Brooks used here in the BF for about $60 I think. The Crank Bros 50/50 from TheFaceBooks for $40. The bars from Bianchigirll for maybe $30. The ol' Schwinn (Japanese lugged steel!) $50.
Anyway, many years ago I quickly adopted heart rate monitors and cadence sensors and what not (long before power meters were feasible). That stuff become tyrannical. A person just becomes a slave to the training plan. A slave to the numbers.
I saw a guy on a very price bike pulled over trying to get his sensors to work. He must have had his tail light tied into the whole deal as it kept starting and stopping as I approached. I asked if he needed help - nope, a sensor problem. Just a slave to the numbers and the gadgets.
No thanks.

GusV

Mostly like a librarian that has the basic info but also needy, mainly because it won't shut up when I'm done and it has to beep continually before it shuts down.

bikebikebike

I suspect the Garmin GroupTrack is just there to help you find your buddies after you pulled over to fiddle with the device.
I use data for fitness training, but 95% of the data is just noise and the device has some issue 15-20% of the time
For a lot of use a cell phone is plenty,for my use. It took cars a while to get things right.