Beeline bike compass

[RodT]

Has anyone tried the Beeline 'compass' advertised in today's Cycleclips? I'd be grateful for any views on this little gadget. Thank you.

[SimonCelsa]

An acquaintance bought one in the development stage off kickstarter for £45. I believe they retail for double that now.

If you're wedded to a smartphone and enjoy planning routes then you might like it.....I would rather carry a basic map and use the sun as a rough compass than buy one of these.

If I were a cycle courier in an unfamiliar major city then I may identify more of the benefits.

Not much use in my opinion and far too expensive, my mate is selling his now,

All the best, Simon

[Mick F]

Many Garmin devices have a compass. Mine has.
Also, I think smart phones have them, so I can't see the benefits of a dedicated compass.

[andrew_s]

It's not an actual compass, as in pointing north; it points at your destination.

I could see it being useful in a busy city, as you would only need the briefest of glances, allowing your attention to remain on the traffic, errant pedestrians etc.

There's no reason why a smartphone or GPS shouldn't do the same, but as far as I know, they all try to be cleverer.

[Gattonero]

Has anyone tried the Beeline 'compass' advertised in today's Cycleclips? I'd be grateful for any views on this little gadget. Thank you.

£99 is a bit steep IMO, you could get a Garmin Edge 200 that will do a lot more (if you want to see more information) and is proven reliable.

[freiston]

I don't see the point - a lot of money and a big thing on your handlebar for constant reference to tell you something that isn't much use for actual navigation on the fly and I can't see it being especially easy to use to set up and navigate waypoints. If someone really wants to know how far and in what direction a place is, I'm sure most gps machines have a similar function (including phone apps).

[Mick F]

It's not an actual compass, as in pointing north; it points at your destination.

My Garmin Montana does that as well.

It's called Direct Routing.

[Sweep]

yes exactly - ditto my cheaper garmin etrex 20.

[rmurphy195]

yes exactly - ditto my cheaper garmin etrex 20.

Yup, my E20 did the same - any handheld GPS will do this, turn-by-turn, and you can get handlebar mounts for them. Used E20 are quite cheap

[Sweep]

Do you know any good sources of quality used E20s murphy? Re the other thread on stocking up it might be an idea for me to get a spare or two as i know some have said that the display on the E20X is harder to read.

[Mick F]

Burrows GPS are a good company, and they sell some factory recon units from time to time.
http://www.burrowsgps.co.uk/garmin-noh.html
I bought my Montana from them, and saved over a hundred quid.

[rmurphy195]

Do you know any good sources of quality used E20s murphy? Re the other thread on stocking up it might be an idea for me to get a spare or two as i know some have said that the display on the E20X is harder to read.

Not as such - I sold mine privatley a while back, used Ebay to get a value, you might try there.

[robgul]

The Beeline struck me as a (very pricey) solution looking for a problem. There are much better and more logical answers to navigatiing (although not Mr Garmin's efforts)

Rob

[freiston]

I received an email from Evans today "introducing Beeline" and there's already three five-star reviews for it - incredible!

[Sweep]

It costs £99, it needs a smartphone as well to do something very simple. And i see, oh my merry aunt, that it has an integral usb chargeeable battery.

I'd be surprised if this wasn't seen remaindered within a year or so.

One almost suspects that it is a secret garmin ploy to direct disappointed users to its own devices.