amazinmets73

I'm looking for a computer with a max budget of $150. Willing to go new or used.

A strong navigational system is a priority

ctpres

You will have to spend some time shopping to find one under $150 like I did. Look at "IGPSPORT IG618. It does a lot for the price and I have had excellent response from their support team.

fietsbob

@ about $20, you get a wired time, speed and distance calculator ..
based on wheel rotation counting

it's the GPS for navigation .. that will cost you..

pdlamb

Or you could buy the bike computer for $20, and get a mount for your smart phone for $50 more to navigate.

rmueller

noglider 

I use my phone plus a $60 Quad Lock mounting system plus the paid version of ridewithgps (~$50/year) plus a $20 external battery to keep it powered all day long.

daveg22152

$150 for a bike computer takes me out of the "budget computer" range, but then again I'm a cheapskate. Along those lines, can anyone recommend a good basic computer for around $50 USD maximum? I'm looking for a reliable easy to read unit that is wireless and displays current and average speed, ride time, trip distance, odometer, and clock time. I'm not interested in GPS.

Thanks, all!

noglider 

The $3 wired computers on ebay work flawlessly for years. I'm not kidding. I've installed many of them.

daveg22152

rick47601

What battery do you use and where do have it place at ?
Thank you
Rick

noglider 

2_i 

Watch off by a minute after 2 days, screen crowded invisible in sunlight, screen disappearing when it gets cold, computer stopping when it rains, all accumulated readings disappearing when you change battery, obnoxious menus with useless functions that you need to toggle through to get to an elementary function, etc. When you have money to waste you can hardly go wrong with $3 computers off Ebay

rick47601

I guess, I know what i be ordering . I like listening to music , After 2 hours iphone is almost dead
Thank you
Rick

noglider 

Yeah, I use my iphone heavily, and the internal battery is in bad shape. I have to charge it several times a day. With this external one, I can leave the screen on for ours and not deplete the internal one at all. The external battery has so much capacity that I don't have to charge it every day, but I suggest that you do anyway. This way, you don't have to think about it.

noglider 

OK I know this stuff happens sometimes, but it hasn't happened to me. Sure, you shouldn't expect much when you spend $3. More importantly, you don't have to spend a lot. Cateye has been in the bike computer business for a long time, and if you buy one of their computers, you can't go wrong. I imagine a $20-50 model will be rock solid.

pdlamb

Riding a bike ain't running a railroad. If you need accurate time to within 30 seconds, you'll have to look elsewhere.

But $20 or so will get you a proven design.

2_i 

Well, you spend little and say, oh that was bad luck and sure it does not cost a lot to roll the dice again and maybe twice. They do not cost $3, but a bit more and I now have a full bin, presumably 10 or so for quite a bit of money. Only one got mounted for a more obscure use and even that one operates with a better magnet, presumably costing more than the whole computer itself, since to get a reading with the original really required 0.5mm distance from the sensor. It was a waste of time and money and all that bin has zero resale value. If you buy a better computer and do not like it, you can at least sell it back on Ebay.

Oh yeah, sure, who cares whether you are late for work or class. There was once a survey of wrist watch accuracy of passers by in the street. In some countries the watches turned out to be accurate down to 15sec (I guess Switzerland). In other they were commonly off by 15min (Mexico I think). I tried to find a link for that survey but failed so far. While people have their phone times set by the carrier, it is interesting to note that in some countries and carriers those times can be still off by 2-3min .

After the spew of purchases of cheap computers on Amazon/Ebay I spent ~$30 on a Sigma and did not need to go back to the problem since.

noglider 

OK fair points! My point of view is providing these to people such as my wife who can't even remember to zero hers before a ride. I spend $3 and am pleased it works at all. But now you make me feel silly for recommending them, because I'm sure @amazinmets73 wants his to work reliably. And I've been down that road with bike headlights and phone mounts and realized I shouldn't have been so damn cheap in the beginning. I've spent a lot on those things, largely because I was so cheap so many times. Now I finally spent the big money, and that has paid off.

2_i 

I's not so different here . The mounted computer is a solar powered one, as I thought that this provided a venue for its continued operation - the bike owner presumably would not change the battery once it drained.

Jarrettsin

Where do you keep the extra battery while the phone is in the Quad lock do you mount it also?

HerrKaLeun

I had used relatively expensive wired Cateye and sigma computers with cadence sensor. they all have similar problems:
- the magnet needs to be very close to the receiver. I had to build up quite a contraption on the chainstay or the fork to get the receiver close enough (wasn't possible with the included material). that magnet that gets attached to the spokes is just too small. Occasionally the magnet turns and needs to be re-adjusted.
- the cadence magnet slips on the crank with the included rubber. one even fell off. i ended up buying a large molybdenum magnet and glued it on the crank with epoxy.
- every once a while one of the signals (cadence or speed) doesn't display because the computer needs to be re-reinserted in the base.
- One of my bikes lost the cadence, sensor must have failed

So, wired and expensive brand also doesn't give you painless computers.

The newer BT/ANT cadence are much better and don't need a magnet, they just use an accelerometer. IMHO speed can just be derived from GPS. Yes in deep canyons this may be spotty. But an rpm-based speed has its own problems. You need to measure the wheel circumference exactly and account for pressure and tire-sag. Wheel swaps and sue on different bikes makes an even better case for GPS-derived speed.

If speed is all you need, there are $50 GPS speed computers. No fuss with wheel sensor etc.

2_i 

Indeed mounts tend to be problematic. If I decide that the computer stays, I make my own stainless steel mounts for the computer and sensors. The latter stay on the bike at all times and the mounts prevent their slipping and any easy removal. Since there are contacts involved for the computer my respective mount integrates what the manufacturer provided and my own contraption.

noglider 

I think I better take pictures and make a blog post, because many have asked me. Maybe that means it's a useful invention.

I strap the battery onto the top tube, right behind the stem. I use a velcro strap, a very thick rubber band which I use as a bumper between battery and frame, and a ball bungee. It's quick to insert and remove the battery, and the battery is secure while I ride. I use a very short, 1-ft cable between the battery and the phone.

Another way to do this is to use a top tube bag. There are very small bags that go on top of the top tube, right behind the stem.

noglider 

Calculating speed from GPS has its own problems. Some computers and phone apps use both GPS and sensors, and this combination improves accuracy.

My app was set to use a small sampling period for displaying speed. As a result, the speed it displayed went up and down wildly, showing speeds I know I wasn't hitting, both too high and too low. I increased the sample period to 50 seconds, and that solved that problem, but now I don't know how fast I've been going for the last 15 seconds. It's too bad. I strongly suspect that when I end the ride, software on the server recalculates speed from all the data points I've provided, because it looks about as accurate as possible. But one problem which can't be fixed is that I ride in NYC where there are many tall and dense buildings. The buildings create reflections, and it shows me zigzagging through buildings and onto the river, which I am definitely not doing. The bigger the deviation, the higher the incorrect speed. It has even shown me to make bursts of speed up to 50 mph while on flat ground. Because these bursts are short, they probably don't throw off my average too much, but max speed becomes a useless metric.

amazinmets73

Went out for a spin today. Locked in bike navigation in the maps app on my smartphone, threw it in my jersey pocket and put on a pair of headphones. Easy peasy.

So it seems I'm set as far as navigation. Just looking for speed, mileage, and possibly cadence. Anyone have any options for $60 or less? Much appreciated