ThatsOK Cyril

I would really like to find a BASIC CYCLOCOMPUTER that has the ability for me to program in a certain distance and then ride with a COUNTDOWN or DISTANCE TO DESTINATION showing.

I mean think about it, I know that XYZ town is 45 miles away. I believe it would be liberating to view COUNTDOWN DISTANCE because along the way I’d be able to imagine “Oh yeah, now it’s just like a normal (15mi/10mi/5mi etc) ride to PQR town”.

I haven’t had great success googling this. I would prefer a BASIC CYCLOCOMPUTER rather than a super duper high tech thing.

thanks for your referrals!
-Cy

njkayaker

I don’t think such a thing exists. People buying basic computers don’t want to pay much for them. So, there isn’t much incentive to add niche features to them.

Steve B.

Agree with NJ, not on a basic computer. When you think about it a bit, the computer needs to be told where the final destination is located. It needs that as well as knowing your location at all times. That essentially requires a GPS tracking computer that has had a file sent to it that tells the device where that destination is located, or you set a pinned location on the device and navigate to that pinned location, That in turn means either programming the device to know where that location is, or pre-programing on a planning app and sending that data to the device, Typical GPS cycling computer can easily do that and you can configure a data screen to show distance to destination. But you are going to pay $200 or more for a device to do that. Maybe some of the less expensive GPS cycling computers from Bryton or Lezyne can do that, not sure. Garmin, Wahoo and Hammerhead can do this.

Iride01 

On your Garmin device that has routing, if you make a route to navigate and put the Distance Remaining field on your screen, then you'll have pretty much what you are asking for. You also can probably do the same with other brands of GPS cyclometers or devices that have navigation abilities.

But you have to have navigation and most of the GPS devices that do that might be out of the price range for you if you are talking wanting a cheapo or inexpensive device. And it won't have just basic features. But there are some inexpensive GPS devices that do navigation and routing. So largely it depends on what you consider expensive vs inexpensive.

Though again, if you are adamant about not having anything but basic features, then you are probably SOL.

ThatsOK Cyril

THANK YOU for your responses. OK, maybe a BASIC cyclocomputer would not have such an "exotic" feature but actually I am not wanting s fancy "show me the way home" mapping or anything like that. I'm looking for a simple numerical countdown of miles. I program in my destination as 75mi it makes no difference WHERE that 75mi destination is. Then I start riding. Nine miles later I look down and it shows 66mi to destination. Thirty three miles later, I look down and it shows 42mi remaining to the number (not a location) I programmed. It's just that I'd like to be able to look down and play imagination that "Oh, well now I'm just the same distance as my normal ride from Yada Yada to Blaa Blaa.

DOES *ANY* CYCLOMETER HAVE A SIMPLE COUNTDOWN LIKE THIS, *NOT* ROUTING OR RELATED TO A SPECIFIC MAP DESTINATION-JUST A NUMERICAL OR MILEAGE TALLY "DESTINATION"??? I guess I'm looking for "basic" or "simple" mileage countdown over GPS programming etc. Me and technology are not that tight together, y'know. My kids got me t-shirt a few years ago that applies to what I am pursuing here that says "I AM TOO OLD FOR THIS ****!"

THANKS AGAIN
-Cy

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Koyote

No.

The function you want is inside your brain. If you are embarking on a 75 mile ride, a very cheap and simple (non-GPS cycle computer) will keep track of your ride distance. Then you could just mentally subtract that from 75 and you'd have your answer. e.g., if your computer shows that you've ridden 33 miles, then 75-33=42 miles to your destination. That's not challenging for most people.

[PS: on a forum like this, using lots of all caps and bold font is called "shouting," and it's regarded as impolite. Just a friendly note.]

John Valuk

I have seen some fairly generic simple digital cyclocomputers that claim to have "count down distance" as one of their features. As an example, here's one on Amazon.

If you perform a web search for bike computers, and include "count down distance" explicitly in the search, then you will find a number of these.

Here's one on aliexpress that includes some pictures of the manual.

Full disclosure: I have no personal experience with any of these types of cyclocomputers; just pointing out that they seem to exist.

blacknbluebikes 

please stop screaming at us. please.

Steve B.

The basic and admittedly simple computer I use is my brain. I know the destination is 75 miles from where I've started. I have ridden 42 miles. I do the math and know I have 33 to go. Cost of this computer ?, nothing.

AndreyT

Cateye Commuter comes close, but not quite. It does allow you to manually pre-set the target distance. And then it will display your distance progress as a horizontal bar consisting of 10 segments (i.e. in 10% increments). It will also calculate ETA. Unfortunately, it has no numeric countdown of distance left to travel.

AndreyT

^^^ This just doesn't make sense at all. The OP clearly stated that all they need is to manually tell the computer the total distance they want to ride and have the computer to monitor the distance already ridden. In order to implement this there's no need for GPS, coordinates, routes or anything like that. Just a simple wheel sensor is sufficient. As I stated above, Cateye Commuter is a very basic device that does exactly that. The only thing that's missing in that Cateye is the ability to digitally display the remaining distance.

Steve B.

The OP does not use the term "manually", thus we cannot know how he intends to get a basic computer to countdown. Somehow the computer needs to know the location of the destination as well as the current position, so as to be able to calculate distance to destination. How is it supposed to do that ?. I have never seen or heard of a basic unit where you input how far todays ride is going to be. That would certainly be the easiest method, except nobody does that. That leaves a GPS unit where you can place a destination, then the device can use GPS for current location, which yields countdown distance.

Koyote

The remaining distance to where, and from where?

That is Steve B. 's point.

AndreyT

And my point is that the concept of "travel distance" widely used in human society has/needs no attachment to specific location(s). There's no need for "where". If I want to ride my bike for 5 miles, it doesn't matter from where and to where. Distance - 5 miles - is all I care about. I think the OP made it perfectly clear.

And as I clearly stated above the [now discontinued] Cateye Commuter had [almost] exactly this functionality. One programmed it with a specific distance, and it just happily measured that distance with a simple magnet on the spoke. No GPS. The little Cateye didn't care about "from where" and "to where".

Leisesturm

Actually the o.p. has made it (abundantly) clear that they want the remaining distance to their DESTINATION. For a simple odometer to be used in this way you would have to know the distance to your destination in some exactitude. Do they? I doubt it. For one or two trips maybe, but at what point does it start to sink in that this just isn't the way rational navigation works? A GPS can give you 'miles remaining' information because it knows where you are and where you want to go. No simple odometer can do that. And despite some claims to the contrary, no one can actually name a device that works exactly like the o.p. wants, because it really is a useless function. You do need to know where you are, unless you are on a track. Manufacturers bring products to market that they can (hopefully) sell to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. The vast majority of people want to know the distance to places that they have never been before or they simply do not know the distance to. They cannot program a dumb odometer with an unknown distance. So they buy a smart computer that they can ask "how far is it to x"? OR they use a dumb odometer to tell them how far is WAS to x after they arrive!

njkayaker

No, clearly, the computer doesn’t need to know the current location and destination to do the simple thing the OP wants.

Given that a “basic” computer, almost certainly, is one that lacks GPS, we know that the OP isn’t intending to use GPS. This leaves "manually" as, pretty much, the only thing the OP could be intending.

“Basic” computers most (if not all) have a way of manually entering wheel size.

———————————————————

In any case, Garmin devices don’t use the destination coordinates to determine the remaining distance. (And the coordinates of the destination isn’t enough: the device would also need to know the path to the destination.)

They basically use the method the OP describes.

The points in the track file each have a “distance along the track” value. The total distance is also in the file (it’s the “distance along the track” of the last point). (Note that, if you have the device create a route for you, it creates this file in the background.)

The device calculates the remaining distance by subtracting the distance associated with the current track point from the total track distance. Thus, the device only needs the coordinates of the current location. Note that the Garmins stop updating the remaining distance if you go off course. They resume the calculation when you return to the course and use the track point distance (not whatever distance you actually rode).

The devices use this approach because it’s simple and fast.

(Note that each of the track points in the file could have the “remaining distance”, which would make things even simpler but they don’t.)

fishboat

Undoubtedly I'm missing something, but any basic bike computer($10-$15) will tell you how many miles you've ridden. If you plan on doing a 45 mile ride and you've done 33..then..mmm..it sounds like you have 12 miles to go.

Reminds me of young..or any age cashiers that can't make change from a dollar without the register telling them how much money to give back.

njkayaker

The OP made it clear (in the subsequent purple post) that he wants to be able to enter an “arbitrary” distance. That distance doesn’t actually need to be to some particular destination.

The “miles remaining” here would have to be based on the straight-line distance, which isn’t useless but not what people generally want.

To get what people generally want (the distance remaining on a particular path to a destination), the computer only learns the total distance and the distance along the path of the current track point).

njkayaker

The OP is clear that he wants the difference between some arbitrary “distance” and how long he has already ridden.

The “where” and “from” aren’t directly relevant. It’s just a different method to get what the OP wants. It’s also a method the OP isn’t interested in.

Anyway, unless it’s the remaining distance on a straight-line to the destination, you’d really need the path between the two points.

fishboat

Funny thing about simple algebra..it works both directions. Random guy is out for a ride, say..the OP..and he wants to ride some arbitrary distance, say..45 miles... He's ridden quite a ways..say..33 miles.....mmm..12 miles to go yet. It isn't like one is so busy during a ride that they can't just wing this calc.

..???

AndreyT

Precisely. The idea is very simple and is clearly conveyed by the OP in their original post. But for some reason some individuals here insist on piling up some completely irrelevant nonsense on top of that very simple matter. "GPS", "from where", "to where" "destination" as a "point"... Sigh... To avoid doubting intellectual capacities of those individuals, I'll just assume that they are simply being difficult on purpose (re: trolling)

Koyote

It's actually arithmetic, but otherwise, yeah, agreed.

ThermionicScott 

I can't think of a BASIC CYCLOCOMPUTER that does this, but if I could program my own, the ability to initialize the trip counter to a negative number would accomplish it. Initialize to -45 miles, for example, and then it'll keep counting down (well, up) to 0.

Of course, if your computer lands on -1 or +2 when you get back home due to reality sometimes occurring, then you've got a new headache.

Leisesturm

Erm, wut? Don't you dare try to throw rational thinkers under the bus in broad daylight, and (mis)use a quote to do it. As I read @fishboat, they are saying that the o.p. should easily be able to extrapolate their distance from target by using simple arithmetic. Arithmetic so simple, in fact, that no computer manufacturer includes the function in a basic four banger odometer. IOW they are pointing at the o.p. as being 'difficult on purpose'. If you think otherwise, fine. But do your own dirty work. Defend the indefensible with your own intellectual property.

SkinnyLad

I feel your frustration having been in a similar situation (not finding seemingly simple features in a bare bones cycling app). The remedy I'm currently involved in developing is probably not what you're seeking as it focuses more on counters and stats for shorter recorded exercise routes, but the notion of having negative counters (ie. countdowns) does give useful psychological feedback and is a very reasonable request I think. Also, having seen how GPS readings and distance calculations are done on smartphones, I can assure that what you ask for would be ridiculously easy to do feature wise, the hassle is of course packaging it into a working product and distributing it.