Computer - long battery life.

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TrevA
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Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Computer - long battery life.

Post by TrevA »

Tangled Metal wrote:I carried a couple of battery packs for phone but it's kind of hard to use a flat GPS unit while it's being charged. I guess there's no such thing as a computer that's wired for speed, distance, cadence, etc., but then has wireless heart rate monitor and allows data transfer.

Thing is I like the idea of logging rides with the computer but AFAIK this isn't possible without a short battery.life.


A Polar HRM with a bike sensor will do this. It will record speed, distance and heart rates and its data can be downloaded. The battery will last a year or more. However, it won't record a GPS track.
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andrew_s
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Re: Computer - long battery life.

Post by andrew_s »

Just about any non-gps bike computer will do the long battery life and basic speed/time/distance data, and derivations thereof (max/min/ave/trip etc). Extras such as cadence, altitude, temperature, heart rate are available on more costly (or less cheap) models.

Generally, wired models don't suffer from interference, and cheaper wireless models do. More expensive wireless models (often those that have more than one remote sensor - cadence or heart as well as wheel) often have coded transmissions rather than basic pulses, and are more resistant to interference.
A disadvantage of wireless is that you need transmitter batteries as well as the computer battery, and occasionally a receiver battery if wireless is optional via a different handlebar mount. These separate batteries inevitably all run out at separate times, unless you change them all when the first runs out.

Interference may come from LED light electronics, cables in the road, overhead power cables, or other things. LED light interference is generally manageable by moving the light and computer as far apart as possible, but if there's a cable in the road, your only option may be to change your route (my max speed on club rides was always about 70 mph because there was a traffic detector on my route into the start).


[edit]
well, well, what will come next?
Here's a wireless bike computer with a 6-month battery life that talks to a smartphone in your back pocket by bluetooth, including displaying notifications and navigation cues.
http://ciclosport.com/en/produkt/226/hac-1-2
(ciclosport used to do a cycle computer that would record cadence/speed/heart etc for later download, but it's discontinued)
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Gattonero
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Re: Computer - long battery life.

Post by Gattonero »

Cateye Strada computers are cheap, light and the battery last long.
I presonally don;t understand the need for cadence sensor, lots more complications and another sensor, too much to justify it. Perhaps it's just me, listening to my legs, whatever they can do.

But yeah, If the Garmin 500 wasn't so useful and a no-brainer, I'd go back to the Cateye which was very reliable and unobtrusive
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