rousseau

Anyone using the Lezyne Mega XL? Got any impressions to share? I currently have an old Garmin Edge 800 that does everything I need, but I'm in the mood for something shiny and new, and the Lezyne products seem to be more reasonably priced than the Garmin or Wahoo units out there.

Would love to hear what users have to say about it.

DrIsotope

I helped a random cyclist in the LBS get his Lezyne Mega XL to pair to his phone. He had been trying for several days. The menus are even less intuitive than those on a Garmin. It felt like a product of a bygone era.

When I was shopping for my most recent computer, I did not even consider the Lezyne based purely on that ~10 minute experience helping someone else. The Mega XL is also $199, the exact price of a Wahoo Elemnt.

The Bryton Rider 310 has similar menu feel and clunkiness as the Lezyne, but costs about 80 bucks. If you're pinching pennies, I'd go that way.

If you shop around, you can find the 530 for barely over $100. I got the 530 for my wife, I can go nearly 40 hours on a single charge. Menus hella clunky, though.

rousseau

Huh, not exactly a glowing review. I may have to spend some time looking at Youtube reviews to get a better understanding of the interface. Not sure how much clunkiness I can live with.

Where are you seeing those prices for the Wahoo Elemnt? I see $299.99 (presumably USD unless they're reading my IP address?) on the Wahoo site: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/bike-computers

mynewnchome

I use a Lezyne Super....been more than happy with it.

Racing Dan

When choosing a computer you should consider what you want it to do. The Mega may or may not be the one for you. Maybe you want something that doesn't exist or you can get away with a basic wireless computer and a phone in your pocket.

kingston 

I rode a 1,000k a few weeks ago with two guys, one had a Lezyne XL and the other had a Wahoo Element Bolt. The guy with the Lezyne had a bunch of problems with his GPS and the Wahoo worked flawlessly. The Lezyne guy said he would absolutely not recommend the XL. I'd get one of the Wahoos if I were in the market for a new GPS right now, probably the roam. I use an etrex20 which is good for randonneuring but not much else.

king_solom0n

I have the Mega C. I like it because it's battery life is significantly better than anything else available. I'm lazy and like going a couple of weeks without charging. Most of the set up can be done through the phone so the clunky interface isn't a problem. It has some quirks and bugs and my power meter and hrm drop out every blue moon but it's tolerable for the price.

philbob57

Sorry, RTFM.

I'm happy with my Lezyne Macro, but I got a new HRM this week and I had a tough time pairing it. Then I remembered the first HRM I set up - I followed the manual. THAT was a piece of cake. I, too have trouble remembering some things about the Lezyne menus. They probably made sense to the designer.

With a budget of $100 and a desire for real-time HRM data, I looked at Lexyne, Bryton, IGPSport,the Wahoo Mini, and used stuff (ebay and craigslist). The Macro came in at $74. The prices people want for their used computers are mind-boggling, so high that I can't imagine coming to an agreement with a seller. The Brytons mainly came from Taiwan and have their own problems. The IGPSports mainly came from China. Long waits for shipment. If I had problems, well, I've forgotten my Chinese. At least Lezyne is in California.

The $220 (including sales tax) Lezynes come with Open Street Maps and do more than similarly priced Garmin and Wahoo offerings. If my budget were $200, I might take a chance on one, but if I could stretch to $275, I'd find it hard to choose between the OSM on the Lezyne and the market dominance of Wahoo or Garmin...or the Bryton 450 or the IGPSport 618.

They all have their problems. I hope that, whatever you get, it works well enough to exceed your expectations.

My Macro has been trouble free, but I've had it only for a couple of months.

77Eric

I’ve been using my Mega XL for over 6000 miles now and it’s worked great. I got it because of the battery life and I can get at least 25 hours of riding on a single charge. I don’t use the mapping so I can't comment on that but for basic functionality it’s been fine. It’s never lost data or failed during a ride and I’ve done some very rainy long rides with it. Anyway I’ve been 100% satisfied with mine.

mstateglfr 

I have a Super GPS which uses the same tech as the Mega XL, based on what I've read.

The large group I ride with has 6 people who use various Garmin models and all have had rides this year where the device crashes or data just doesnt record.

My Lezyne records every second or riding and uploads without issue for over 2 years now.
Maybe I got one that works great and it's an exception.

It pairs quickly to my phone and stays connected unless I take my phone too far from the GPS.
And uploading GPX to the website for directions is quite easy.

SashaSolitaire

I have a Lezyne Mega XL, and have put quite a few miles on it. I got the whole package (computer, speed/cadence sensor, HRM and the mounts). The packaging was excellent and so is the computer. I originally had a Windows Phone, so had to set it up after pairing it to my Google tablet. Set up took all of 10 minutes for me and I was ready to go. I love that I can have white numbers on a black background, which makes it incredibly easy to see on a bright day for me. Have no problems reading the screen even using polarized glasses. Have the backlight set to low, and my computer rarely needs charging. I have set it up on a landscape mode, with 9 metrics being displayed. The top row is the current metrics (distance, speed, cadence). The second row contains the average speed, maximum height climbed and current HR. The third row contains average cadence, grade in percent and average HRM (I know, I can be more practical :-)). You can set up multiple screens if you so want. There are other fancy features (read text messages aloud, send tracking crumbs to specified people), which I have not configured. What I liked was the abililty to download maps of any section of the US to the computer, so that you don't have to rely on a connection to your phone for the computer/GPS to work.

My usual 60-70 mile ride is mostly on public roads, so there is very little tree overage when riding. But there is a section about 6 miles where I have to use a MUP which is very heavily wooded. On roads (not surprisingly) and even in the wooded sections, I never lost GPS signal. In fact, if I zoom enough on the maps after the rides, I can clearly distinguish separate to and from tracks of my bike. I have used this on a lot of public rides in lower Westchester, Poughkeepsie, Millerton and Catskill. I usually import the rides from the organizers as a GPX/TCX file and load it from my computer (you can also do it on your mobile, but you have to use a browser and not the app). When I am ready to start my ride (I switched over to Google Pixel phone), I open the app, hit "Go" from the Navigation section, and am usually ready to go with directions loaded from my phone to the cycle computer in under a minute. Any ride, I usually have a GPS lock within 30 seconds of powering on the computer. One thing I haven't really explored is what else could I extract from the downloaded ride data (currently get altitude, speed, cadence, HR and temperature).

I have built and uploaded routes from my computer, but rarely had the need to use routing from my computer (since I am familiar with the areas I bike in), so cannot comment on that. All in all, I would consider the money I spent on this to be worth every penny.

Lezyne

Hi rousseau,

It looks like you're already getting some good responses here, but if you ever can't find an answer to a certain question (And you are OK with talking with someone on the "inside") our support team is always happy to help. You can reach out to our team by submitting a ticket to Support.Lezyne.com, or even calling and asking for someone in customer service. We are only active on forums from time to time, but someone is always available there.

Also, here's a good overview of most features on our Mega devices and how they work: youtu.be/4MassIE0Vi0 (Not allowed to post URLs, unfortunately)
You can use that video and jump to the features that you are interested in. Phone pairing, for example, is at 0:27 and undoubtedly takes less than 10 minutes.

I hope you find all the information you need to make your decision.
Cheers!


No doubt, this is frustrating, but it's hard to say what was going on without knowing the complete setup. My suggestion to him or her would definitely be to reach out to our team. The will be able to go through every troubleshooting step to make sure everything is functioning properly; if something isn't, we'll fix it! Most issues we come across have to do with outdated firmware/app versions or GPS settings (like 1-second vs. adaptive recording). If you happen to still be in contact, kingston, feel free to pass along the email address Warranty@lezyne . com We would love to help out.

kingston 

One of the issues @samkl had was an urgent firmware update right before the ride, so he had to connect the GPS to his computer to make the update, which seemed like a bit of a hassle at a pretty inopportune time. Other than that I'm not to sure what the problems were, but I've been thinking about upgrading my ancient etrex20 so I always ask people if they recommend whatever GPS they are using. I was interested in the Mega XL because it's the only GPS I've seen that will last a whole 600k.

samkl 

Yeah, it's really finicky. It does seem like a relic from an earlier era of computing.

Unintuitive is fine for me, as long as I can learn how to use it. But my biggest complaint is that it'll almost never start navigating without problems. You have to begin navigation by pressing a button on your phone, because you can't store routes in the GPS unit.

You press "Go," nothing happens, or it crashes, you restart the app, restart the GPS, switch airplane mode on and off, and repeat one or two or three dozen times. Then, right before you descend into a rage blackout, the route will mysteriously transfer over to the GPS. Usually.

This happens nearly every ride.

The firmware updates do seem to have solved other problems. It used to crash if my route looped back along the same road, for example, and that hasn't happened in a while. And the battery life really is terrific. But no, I wouldn't recommend it.

rousseau

Wait...what?

With my Garmin 800 I can draw up a route on MayMyRide and save the GPX file directly to the Garmin unit to be used for a ride. You're saying you can't do this with the Lezyne Mega XL, that you have to have your cell phone in hand?

Well, if that's true than that's a deal breaker. I keep my cell phone wrapped up in a Lezyne Caddy Sack to keep the sweat off it. I never touch it before or during a ride aside from on the rare occasion that I'm inspired to take a photo.

SashaSolitaire

Rousseau

Somehow (using any of the multiple possible mechanisms), you are currently transferring the route you created to your cycle computer. The only way you can do that with Lezyne is to use your paired device. Once it is transferred over, you do not need the mobile device. What I do is transfer the route (usually a TCX file from RideWithGPS) the morning of the ride to my Lezyne computer from my mobile, after which the mobile device is in a plastic bag in my jersey. Once I am at the start of the ride, the computer recognizes the location and starts the turn-by-turn navigation.

mstateglfr 

You transfer the route from the app on your phone(where you can create routes, store miles ridden, etc) to the unit. You basically press 'go' and then put your phone away for the ride just like you already do.

If I use a route, here is my routine before the ride-
- turn on GPS.
- pair GPS to my phone(for route and text messages notifications that I will usually then ignore).
- select route from app and press 'go'.
- turn on Amazon music and ear buds.
- place phone in right jersey pocket and leave it there for duration of ride.
- press 'record' button on GPS so it records the ride.

The entire process takes less than a minute. I get it if the lack of unit storage is a deal breaker, but hopefully when laid out, you can see the process really isnt difficult or inconvenient.

rousseau

Forgive me for being slow on the uptake, but...

Unless I'm not getting it, these two assertions are contradictory. I currently do the first, i.e. make up a route on my laptop and then upload it to my Garmin 800. It's there waiting for me under "Routes" if I want to use it. No pressing "go" on a cell phone is involved in the process.

So with the Lezyne Mega XL, do you have to press "go" on your cell phone to use an uploaded route when you go on a ride? Or not?

samkl 

Yes, you have to press "go" on your cell phone to start navigation. You can't store routes on the GPS, and you can't start navigating by pressing a button on the GPS. It's silly.

First I download the route and maps on my computer, then I upload it to the Lezyne Root website (which makes it available in the phone app), and then I press "go" on my phone to get the GPS to start navigating. 3 devices.

Once the GPS starts navigating, you can turn your phone off and it'll still navigate. But if your GPS crashes and your phone isn't with you, or it runs out of batteries, there's no way to restart navigation.

rousseau

Still thinking about this. If you're just doing a regular everyday ride without following a route, can you just turn on the Lezyne Mega XL and take off without touching your cell phone at all?

SashaSolitaire

Yes, you can. That's what I did for the longest time when I had the Windows Phone (which did not have an app from Lezyne). Just switch the GPS on and go. Come back and sync the ride with a compatible device or computer.

mstateglfr 

Yes- the above scenario describes 95% of my rides. I only use the route feature when I have a gravel route that I am unfamiliar with some of the turns.
I rode to work this morning. Turned the GPS on, got on my helmet and turned on lights, then pressed the record button and took off. An hour later, I pressed the record button again and selected to save the ride. Its just as simple as other GPS units.

kingston 

That probably explains why you are happy with it and samkl isn't. For randonneuring all we really care about is the route, which the Wahoo and even the old etrex handle easier and better than the Mega XL. Like anything, how well it works depends on how you intend to use it.

Lezyne

Unfortunately, there is some misinformation going around.

Can you start a route on the Mega XL without using a phone? YES
The process is similar to what you described with your Garmin 800:
1. Create the route in our GPS analysis website GPS Root (Or import a GPS/TCX to your profile)
2. Transfer it to your device with or without a cellphone
3. On the GPS itself, go to Main menu --> Navigation --> Route Start. This will start the last route loaded into your GPS.


It's worth noting that there are a few other ways to use navigation on our devices as well.
The first is what we refer to as "A to B" and requires the smartphone app. Within the app itself, you can simply select your destination on the map, and the app will provide a few different OSM-based routes to get there (This is based on the profiles you select in the app - "Road Bike", "Mountain Bike", "Easy Ride", etc.). Then you press GO on the app and your GPS will take you there. If you have a data connection OR you have the area downloaded on your phone and device, you will also get automatic rerouting. You need the phone connected to the GPS to get rerouting, but you do not need a data connection.

Another way to navigate with our devices is to actually create a route within the app itself. This will give you a route with turn-by-turn directions, and once the route is loaded onto the GPS, you can turn off the GPS/phone app and do the "Route Start" process I described above.

In either case, you can always start the last transferred "Saved Route" with just the GPS itself.



Here are a few video tutorials which will give you a better idea of the navigation functionality of our devices. The first video is from our Y10 devices, so it doesn't show the Route Start process I described, but much of the functionality remains the same.

Route Building and Navigation Tutorial -- Lezyne Year 10 GPS:
Lezyne Offline Maps & Navigation:

SashaSolitaire

Thanks for the correction, Lezyne