computer with auto stop/start switch offable

[wearwell]

I had a Cateye Enduro for years which was excellent but eventually dropped off somewhere
I'm looking for replacement with similar functions - particularly being able to switch off auto stop/start - so I can see average speed including stops, which you really need for touring, audaxing etc. Some don't have this and it's often not clear from the web site specs.
Any recommendations?

[tim-b]

Hi
If you have the budget then I'd suggest a GPS computer. Choose one with batteries that can be replaced; the etrex20 is popular
Regards
tim-b

[Bowedw]

So I'm not alone in discovering that the more functions a Computer seems to have the really useful ones have been omitted. Car radios seem to have gone the same way.

[Samuel D]

I found this problem (lack of manual start-stop in addition to auto) impossible to resolve with new computers and eventually opted for a new old stock Cateye Mity 3 from eBay. (I think I found a couple of new computers with the feature but they had other show-stopping problems.)

The Mity 3 works perfectly, much like my long-departed and much-missed Mity 2. If you can find a Mity 3 or old Enduro head unit in good shape, SJS Cycles and others have new brackets, magnets, etc., to fit.

I have also had a couple of Garmins, and they are sloppily designed and diabolically complex by comparison. GPS is amazing technology but no GPS receiver is as sensibly designed as the old Cateye computers.

I agree with Bowedw. Gimmicks have replaced thoughtful design in many products. The broken design of everyday objects makes me grumpy.

[freiston]

My Cateye Micro wireless (CC-MC200W) can have the auto start-stop switched off. The computer is a good one except for, imho, an extremely fiddly and difficult to use design - very difficult to stop and start without getting onto the backlight on/off screen instead. If they had put two decent sized buttons on the front instead of one one the back (press the whole unit to activate) and a piddly little front button (press this and you effectively press both buttons together - but I find it hard to get both to register the press) then it could be an ideal unit.

I like a simple computer working off a wheel sensor and for me, like you, manual start/stop is an essential feature. I really do not understand why this is forsaken on so many current models. [rant] I suspect it is part of a modern malaise where statistics are required to impress, provide 'spin' and 'accentuate' performance rather than give a realistic picture[/rant]

[wearwell]

Thanks for replies. So it is a problem then!
I don't want to spend £100s on posh gear so I'm looking at 2nd hand on ebay and got a Mity 8 for £6.
Maybe stock up on them whilst still available?

Or there's this http://www.bicyclehero.com/gb/cateye-en ... 0wod8H4BZQ

[drossall]

The weakness of GPS computers, as I have discovered several times, is that they can't tell the difference between "this bike is moving" and "this bike is doing 70mph, so it's probably not being pedalled". This is a real pain, because auto on/off is so useful.

[nigelnightmare]

Another problem with GPS computers was brought to my attention in "word corrected to Halfords" where they had some Garmin's on a stand in the cycle department.

After being switched on and left for Half an hour all of them showed that they had travelled a distance of between 3.8 and 7.6 miles with one showing an altitude of gain of 1374 meters with random tracking on the maps.

One was showing that it was still 2.3 miles out of town.

I thought GPS was supposed to be "Accurate".

[wearwell]

Spa and Edinburgh Cycles haven't got anything but Wiggle have http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-micro-wireless/ at least says manual option in the spec. If not I'll send it back

[Samuel D]

A problem with that Micro Wireless is that its analogue wireless transmission suffers interference if used near dynamo lights (and maybe other types of lights).

[freiston]

Spa and Edinburgh Cycles haven't got anything but Wiggle have http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-micro-wireless/ at least says manual option in the spec. If not I'll send it back

If it is the CC-MC200W, then you can definitely manually start/stop with auto turned off - I have one

A problem with that Micro Wireless is that its analogue wireless transmission suffers interference if used near dynamo lights (and maybe other types of lights).

I have heard this reported but have not experienced it myself - the computer is mounted on the stem and my B+M Cyo T Senso Plus is mounted at the fork crown (about 9"/23cm apart).

[ANTONISH]

Another problem with GPS computers was brought to my attention in "word corrected to Halfords" where they had some Garmin's on a stand in the cycle department.

After being switched on and left for Half an hour all of them showed that they had travelled a distance of between 3.8 and 7.6 miles with one showing an altitude of gain of 1374 meters with random tracking on the maps.

One was showing that it was still 2.3 miles out of town.

I thought GPS was supposed to be "Accurate".

The interior of a shop is probably not an ideal location to obtain a satellite signal - hence the strange readings.
Generally I have found my etrex 30 to give an accurate distance reading.
There was only one occasion when I had an error signal which caused my device to show a sudden increase in distance.
However I mainly use it for navigating a previously recorded track and a short lived blip isn't going to give a problem because the satellite signal almost immediately reverts to the correct location.
For distance on an audax ride I also use a wired computer - and the route sheet.

[wearwell]

2nd hand ebay Cateye Mity 8 (£7 inc post!) arrived.
Works well, good nick, seems to have all the same functions as the Enduro I lost, just a pointless redesign of the case. Fits the old bracket too, which saves a lot of fiddling about!