Will any of the big named bicycle computers expand the tech?
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I'll play along:
-nicer bike computers start having a built in pitot tube to give an aero estimate
-a better heads up solution........it just seems all the "glasses" and such over the years have always wound up being just 3.5 out of 5 star review kind of things despite big prices.
-somehow advanced safety tech beyond Varia rear face radars. I know it isn't ideal to make cyclists own having all the safety and let cars run amok, but just give me even more. This I have seen being worked on by 3rd party companies to feed into the big brands via buyups.
-make the national highway transport organizations integrate a sensor in all new vehicles that can sense from at least 1/4 mile away approaching bicycle beacons emitted by newly sold bike computers and lights and such........can't say any longer "didn't expect them"
-nicer bike computers start having a built in pitot tube to give an aero estimate
-a better heads up solution........it just seems all the "glasses" and such over the years have always wound up being just 3.5 out of 5 star review kind of things despite big prices.
-somehow advanced safety tech beyond Varia rear face radars. I know it isn't ideal to make cyclists own having all the safety and let cars run amok, but just give me even more. This I have seen being worked on by 3rd party companies to feed into the big brands via buyups.
-make the national highway transport organizations integrate a sensor in all new vehicles that can sense from at least 1/4 mile away approaching bicycle beacons emitted by newly sold bike computers and lights and such........can't say any longer "didn't expect them"
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Why doesn't Garmin sell a GPS that has phone and text capability? Forget all the 'smart' stuff and ability to run apps, if there was just ability make a phonecall? Is there such a thing as a dumb phone any more that can only make phone calls and do simple texting? I imagine would have to built into a 1000 series form factor model though.
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-somehow advanced safety tech beyond Varia rear face radars. I know it isn't ideal to make cyclists own having all the safety and let cars run amok, but just give me even more. This I have seen being worked on by 3rd party companies to feed into the big brands via buyups.
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At some point it just becomes easier to put a cycling app on your phone and ditching the computer altogether.
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if it could also be a wax lubricant applicator & carbon crack/butted steel failure checker the compu'ter could be a mobile LBS.
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I like having a smaller screen than my phone giving directions and displaying live metrics. The battery lasts way longer too.
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Even with that, Garmin, Wahoo, and Hammerhead see a market for cycling-specific devices.
Smartphones took a way a lot of the market for car GPS units. They took some of the market for cycling GPS but I don't think it was as large a fraction.
One thing that kept cycling-specific head units going was that most sensors used ANT+, which was not well supported by smartphones. BT sensors make smartphones much more practical as replacements.
Smartphones capable enough have existed for long enough to basically destroy the cycling GPS market but they haven't managed to do that yet.
So, there have to still be things that cycling-specific devices are better for cycling use than cell phones.
One of those is screens: smart phone screens don't work that well in bright sunlight and they consume too much power. Smartphones are also designed for short term use (not running things for hours). Smartphones are also much bigger than many people want to have on their handlebar.
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The cycling computer manufacturers are not likely to make cycling computers that do "everything" that smartphones can do because it means competing against large well-established companies.
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Smartphones already work for a lot of people. Still, I don't think cycling-specific computers will go away. But fewer people will buy them.
The cycling computer manufacturers are not likely to make cycling computers that do "everything" that smartphones can do because it means competing against large well-established companies.
The cycling computer manufacturers are not likely to make cycling computers that do "everything" that smartphones can do because it means competing against large well-established companies.
I agree cycling computer brands are not likely to make products do everything a smart phone does. I sure hope they dont. Thats a losing proposition. I dont want them to even try because...why? That would be a lot of time and money spent on something that isnt really needed.
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That had to be a deliberate choice.
I suspect one reason they didn't make it a smartphone is because it keeps them out of the highly-competitive "rat race" of the smartphone market where people expect upgrades every year. It seems only Apple and Samsung (barely) make money selling smartphones. Hammerhead would not be able to compete with those two companies, leaving them to complete with all the other companies not making money.
There also might be additional effort/cost qualifying phones to work with different networks around the world.
It's interesting that the Karoo does support a data (not voice) connection (it doesn't need it but there's an option to use a SIM for data).
Garmin had an Android phone / GPS, which wasn't sold for very long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin_N%C3%BCvifone
So, though some people don't realize it, these companies have tried/considered the "make the device a smartphone" thing and rejected it.
Last edited by njkayaker; 09-07-21 at 02:51 PM.
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Yeah, no doubt. I guess I was thinking there'd be a way to link a garmin device built with phone capability -- something that you could run a pay-as-you-go ($5-10/month) purchased minutes plan, solely for emergency use. Only turn on cellular service if you need it in an emergency, etc. Then again, the Uber app is probably one reason smartphone users want a smartphone on their rides.
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Yeah, no doubt. I guess I was thinking there'd be a way to link a garmin device built with phone capability -- something that you could run a pay-as-you-go ($5-10/month) purchased minutes plan, solely for emergency use. Only turn on cellular service if you need it in an emergency, etc. Then again, the Uber app is probably one reason smartphone users want a smartphone on their rides.
There's isn't any universal "pay as you go plan" (so, adding this potentially means dealing with dozens of cell phone companies).
Uber has limited effective coverage (it's convenient in some places and much less so in others). One might be able to sideload the Uber app on a Karoo (which you can use on a data network). But Hammerhead has no obligation to make sure it would work.
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Adding cellular - Expensive components, tough to support, short life cycle, not a killer-app feature. Someone might do it, but probably not a good idea from a product point-of-view. Short that stock.