Recommendations for a good bicycle speedometer

Max_Damage

Greetings,

I'm on the look out for a good bike speedometer. I bought the one in Lidl for a fiver and it was quite frankly shíte. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that shows the speed and has a trip odometer. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Membrane

Max_Damage wrote:

I'm on the look out for a good bike speedometer. I bought the one in Lidl for a fiver and it was quite frankly shíte. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that shows the speed and has a trip odometer. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I have an older basic model CatEye myself. It occasionally crashes causing trip data loss, and once I had to reset it completely resulting in the accumulated odometer data being lost. Personally I found the sensor wire a bother, and the sensor wire developed an intermittent break after a while. Because of these issues I won't buy a CatEye again myself.

My next computer will be a wireless one. I like the Specialized Turbo Elite Wireless, although not the cheapest at ~E50, it has very good reviews. The Specialized isn't stocked by many Irish shops though.

Both Argos and Maplin have cheaper wireless computers for ~E25, but unknown brands.

mloc123

Ordered one of these last week. Done 100miles with it so far and have had no problems. I can see things like the wire to the forks wearing out of breaking over time maybe but then you can always pick up this

Ghost Rider

I bought the wireless, solar-powered one at Lidl last week and have found it okay so far...

daymobrew

I have the CatEye Mity8 (30 euro) on my commute bike. Odometer is around 5300 miles atm. No wire problems here. Been using CatEye for quite a while (I used an Avocet 35 for a few years before something died and a CatEye before that).

The CatEye Velo 5 is 20 euro and displays Current speed, Maximum speed, Total Distance, Trip distance and Clock.

Max_Damage

Thanks for the suggestions.

Do all of these work by detecting the speed by placing a small magnet on the spokes? That's the way the Lidl one worked, and any slight movement of the magnet caused the thing not to work, no mater how hard I tightened it.

mloc123

They all work on the same principle as far as I know. The only thing is... the max distance between the magnet and sensor on mine should be no more than 5mm.. that is something I would think that might be lost in poor instructions on the lidl one. No problems with the magnet moving etc.. so far on mine

Max_Damage

mloc123 wrote:

They all work on the same principle as far as I know. The only thing is... the max distance between the magnet and sensor on mine should be no more than 5mm.. that is something I would think that might be lost in poor instructions on the lidl one. No problems with the magnet moving etc.. so far on mine

With the Lidl one, I found that if the magnet needs to be right up to the sensor (about a fraction of a millimetre), or else it doesn't work. Never again will I buy any of Lidl's electronic crap.

roadmanmad

There may be multiple issue with the Lidl speedo.

I have just purchased two (last thursday) with no issue. Used on two bikes.

Check that the magnet is strong enough. If not get a stronger magnet and strenghten the force field. Any steel magnet is prone to lose strenght if it is dropped, or is demagnetised.

I left the older magnets on the wheels. I did not use the lidl ones. The were two fittings on the magnet according to the instruction manuual. One for round spokes and one for eliptical spoke. Are you using the correct side. Also keep the magnet straight with the wheel. Turn the sensor toward the magnet. Each time the sensor passes the magnet you should hear it click if you are close.

The magnet/sensor should work well within a 1mm gap with good reliable readings. I have been testing a wireless speedo for 6 months and it is just not consistent. It annoys me when it cannot tell the different between 18 and 20 mph for example.

Captain Trips

I have previously used Cateye but found the Sigma ones to have a clearer display, something about the font or the number size or something, but it definitely was easier to read.

I also use wired as I have read of problems with wireless ones - and do they do cadence sensors on wireless? I don't know. Not for cheap I suspect.

I bought the Raleigh one from Argos.It's wireless,uses the magnet and the sensor,no wires at all.I can't remember how much it cost but I think it was around the €20-€30 mark.I haven't tested it out much,only taken it out on 2 cycles but it seems fairly good.It has current speed,trip distance,max.speed,riding time,average speed and the time.There are a few other modes but I didn't try them out.

daymobrew

Deleted User wrote:

I bought the Raleigh one from Argos.It's wireless,uses the magnet and the sensor,no wires at all.I can't remember how much it cost but I think it was around the €20-€30 mark.

25 euro.

timmywex

Deleted User wrote:

I bought the Raleigh one from Argos.It's wireless,uses the magnet and the sensor,no wires at all.I can't remember how much it cost but I think it was around the €20-€30 mark.I haven't tested it out much,only taken it out on 2 cycles but it seems fairly good.It has current speed,trip distance,max.speed,riding time,average speed and the time.There are a few other modes but I didn't try them out.

i have this


drives me mad

good tough


the problem is, theres 4 diff settings on it, so you can be cruising along,and depending what way you set it up, it reads anything from 4km/h to 20km/h, its crazy!!

crashoveroid

I would Rec the Mavic Wintech been using it for a month now and it the best i have ever used

crosstownk

I had the Lidl wireless one and found it rubbish no matter what I did - sometimes it worked and sometimes the speed signal just dropped out. I tried putting the sensor as close as possible to the magnet and still the same.

So I bought a Polar CS100 on ebay for £50 stg and so far so good. But it's a wee bit complicated with all those fitness programs, but for basic functions it's reliable. I'll get my head around the fitness programs another day. But I would recommend it.