UKC

Hive mind - assemble!

Looking for a bike computer and there's much in the way of choice. If anyone has suggestions and preferably first hand experience it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Requirements:

On screen map.

Accepts gpx files for easy navigation (via Bluetooth from phone / app a plus).

Sync with Strava (via Bluetooth a plus).

Nice to have:

Long battery life.

Touch screen.

Not required (but might be included regardless):

ANT+ compatibility with power meters, heart rate monitors etc.

Aero design.

No fixed budget but would like to avoid paying for additional features which won't be used if possible.

I moved from Garmin to Wahoo about 4 years ago. I have a Wahoo Elemnt.

2 years ago we did a 16 hour ride. I had maps on the whole way and the battery got me all the way round. All the guys with garmins had battery boosters taped to their handlebars to get them through the last few hours.

E

Wahoo.

Also consider a watch and get use out of the gadget all the time (excuse the pun!), and for walks/runs etc.

I went for a Garmin 945; it has been great.

Used the mapping on a 100 km gravel ride in the summer (most rides I know where I'm going), worked a treat. I've downloaded free OSM mapping with contours to replace the Garmin mapping.

I have an old (6 years) bryton, it's great, but don't know what the modern stuff is like.

Wahoo for me too. Full navigation used on a 217km ride and plenty of batter life at the end. I have the bolt.

A viable option to consider is a cheap waterproof Android smartphone (<£100, no SIM) running Komoot or LocusMaps (free but you may want to pay for maps - Komoot world coverage is £40, OSM are free) and a stick-on Garmin mount. Mine uses about 10% of its battery per hour of navigation. For long or multiple days out I'll just stick a battery pack in the top-tube bag under all the chewy bars.

Garmin Edge 520 plus.  Does everything you describe as essential, plus good battery life and ANT+ connection to HRM, cadence sensors, power meters etc. No touch screen, but I prefer that because I often cycle in cold or slightly iffy weather (i.e., when weather not good enough for climbing) and so am often wearing full finger gloves.

Wahoo.

I've used Garmins previously but wouldn't go back. Although mostly OK there was always some issue on most big rides.

I've logged thousands of miles on My Wahoo Elemnt including a couple of 1000 km Audaxes and a 3000km trip from Gibralter to London. In the whole of that time I've had one issue where it wouldn't find the map properly for a mile or two which I think was probably down to satellite reception rather than the device.

I've moved on to the Elemnt roam now and battery life is amazing. I did 70 cold miles yesterday with the map on all the way, heart rate strap, speed and cadence sensors and it was on 80% battery when I got home.

I wouldn't go back to Garmin if I was given one for free.

I'm going against the grain here, it seems, but I've been really happy with my Garmin Edge Touring and for general navigation I much prefer it to MrsD's Wahoo Element.  I guess the modern equivalent is the Garmin Edge Explore.

Wahoo Bolt is excellent. No touchscreen, don't need one as any come operations such as importing routed is done on the phone. Touchscreen useless in the rain innit. All basic controls for usage on the device via 5 buttons.

The touchscreen on my Garmin is fine in the wet, and big gloves.

Thanks for the responses everyone. Definitely looking like a Wahoo or possibly a Garmin 520 plus. Definitely helped narrow down the search 👍

I have wahoo and love it, have a few cycling friends who made the switch from Garmin to Wahoo and none have regretted it ...just an FYI.

Might be worth looking at HammerHead Karoo 2 as well

https://www.hammerhead.io/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsaO18d-s7gIVB7p3Ch3p6QnVEAAYAS...

Incredibly slow compared to the 530 though. If you don’t mind waiting for your route to load then this is of course not an issue... but I’m impatient.

530 over 520+ any day

I've been using LocusMaps  for about 4 years and while the GUI and route planning work well, i find i keep going off route when relying on voice commands.  It is simply not reliable enough, so i end up stopping regularly to check my location.

I think it has problems because the phone loses GPS lock periodically and it then stops tracking until i intervene manually. If LocusMaps could make it run with occasional GPS position updates, it would be fantastic.

Touchscreens are either resistive or capacitive - something like the Garmin Edge Touring has a resistive screen, works on applied pressure and it would make no difference if any rain drops landed on it. Capacative screens (as found on newer Garmin I think + all smart phones) are much more sensitive (although increasing sensitivity trades with battery life) and trickier because a water droplet looks a bit like your finger to the way it senses - special techniques need to be used to distinguish what is real and what is not ... (I have worked on touchscreens and could spend all day talking about it .  

Interesting. I've been using Komoot bike 'sat-nav' and it seems pretty reliable (now, not so much when it first came out). I think when you stop for a while it stops tracking (with a voice warning), but as soon as you move off it starts tracking again (with another voice announcement). 

I've been meaning to try LocusMaps in order to get a bigger choice of maps and more control over the display (I prefer a simple high contrast display when in sat-nav mode). I could set that up with OSMAnd (but its turn-by-turn instruction support wasn't as good as Komoot's). I'll watch out for the behaviour you described in LocusMaps.

Oh, another thought... you have turned off Android's battery optimisation for LocusMaps, haven't you?

I've had a Bryton rider310 for about 2.5 years now and it's been great, its basic and easily reads multiple blutooth and ant+ sensors of various different brands. At the time it was about half the price of the equivalent Garmin with a significantly better battery life.