Ride_Fast

What are the best and most economical watches and computers for cycling? Price rage 80-120$ max.

honcho

Your request is too open-ended. You need to let the forum know what you want to do. You can find lots of very useful basic computers in your price range for just measuring speed and distance traveled. If you want Ant+ and / or Bluetooth connectivity or built-in GPS then there's more to consider. You can use a smartphone as a bike computer. I have no experience with that as I use a Garmin handheld GPS (Oregon 550t) with a bike mount as a bike computer as it has compatibility with Ant+ speed/cadence and heart rate sensors. You should look at Garmin, Wahoo and Cateye (there are others, but these are popular manufacturers) websites to get a feel for what features are in the marketplace and decide which features are most important to you.

jgwilliams

It would help if you said what you actually want from it. Do you want to record your rides? In that case you need something like a Garmin Edge or Wahoo Elemnt. Or are you simply interested in recording the total mileage and seeing your speed and averages? In that case you could use something a lot cheaper like a Cateye Endura. You need to give some parameters.

bakerjw

Myself I like the Garmin Edge 500. Not inexpensive but small and readable in bright light.

hillyman

For that range Lezyne Macro GPS Bike Computer pretty good on features and reviews. $10-$15 more get color display

Iride01 

Best depends on everything that only matters too you.

thumpism 

Ah, this takes me back. Timex Velo Trak was a wristwatch with cyclocomputer functions that could be strapped to the handlebar in a mount that allowed it to function as the computer, while off the bike it served as a watch. When this came out (industry bike show in Atlantic City, about 1987, pre-Interbike) I predicted a smash hit, and the subsequent sinking of the device convinced me that I am the perfect reverse indicator for trends. Bet against me and you won't go wrong.

ddeand 

I've been using the old Garmin Edge 200 for the past 4-5 years. It has been discontinued/replaced by The Garmin Edge 25. You can get them used for $50-$75 on eBay. I like the GPS-style computers because I can switch them from bike to bike as well as record a log of all my rides on my computer. I suppose I could use my phone for this, but I find the Edge 200 has all I need on its readout. When it dies, I'll probably get something very similar/

Skipjacks

2 year old used smartphones.

That's the cheapest way to do this stuff.

daoswald

I've seen perfectly adequate simple bike computers from Bell and CatEye for $13-$28. They provide speed, moving average, moving time, trip distance, odometer distance since last battery change, and usually some indicator whether your current speed is above or below your moving average. You pay a little more for wireless, which you may or may not care about. I used to think wireless was absolutely the way to go, until I got an HID light that interfered with the communications when set to anything lower than the brightest setting.

If you need more than that the price starts going up. But there's no point paying for features you won't use.

If you need cadence, you can still get by with a basic, upgraded computer. Something in the $50 range. If you need uploads to tracking apps, you're going to start in the $80 range without cadence. Basic GPS, $120-$200 (without sensors like heart rate and cadence). GPS with mapping, $200-$300. GPS with onboard routing, $300-$600. Add sensors for cadence, HR, and other bio-metrics, another $50-$100 on top of the GPS price.

So your price range for perfectly adequate (without qualifying to us what features you need) is $13-$700. Start narrowing down what features are needed and the recommendations can be more specific.

Ride_Fast

Sorry about that. At my price range how many features can I get in a good quality product? I've used my phone up this point but a lot of the times I forget to turn on strava. I would like a computer or watch that automatically starts recording as soon as my bike starts moving. I would want it to have all the basic stuff like speed, cadence, heart rate, distance traveled etc. If I could also get gps along with all the basic features of a watch at that price range that would also be fantastic, but it doesn't have to be a watch.

DrDyno

I have several Sigma wired bicycle computers and get all the info I want, including cadence. They can be had for under $40.00 for wired units (which I use) or slightly more for wireless. Following is an example from eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sigma-Bicyc...4AAOSwrhNcbvha

Ride_Fast

^Not bad. I would rather have wireless, but that seems like a really good deal for the info you get.