CJ wrote:Best - most reliable bike computer/altimeter I ever had is a Ciclomaster. After getting through several Avocets (each lasted about 18 months), a Cat-Eye (inaccurate altimeter), and another brand I forget, I thought I'd try this German brand, so I bought (no free test sample this time because they don't sell in UK) my first Ciclomaster. I then used it in all weathers most weekends and on all of my tours for ten whole years! So when it finally wore out I got another that I'm still using. Because not only is this brand remarkably durable: I haven't found anything more accurate when it comes to recording the total amount of climb, which I find just as significant as the total distance. How do I know it's so accurate? Sometimes you get a really long mountain climb that never, ever goes down, so you know the total climb = summit minus valley altitude. I checked the Ciclomaster on those, and it was always spot on. I also checked it on a few ordinarily lumpy rides in UK, carefully counting contours on a large-scale map and again, I couldn't fault it.
As far as I can tell to key to Ciclomaster's truthful recording of real climbing is that it doesn't count up until you've ascended two consecutive metres. This discounts all the false data, like when the altitude display randomly fluctuates plus and minus one metre on a flat road, because the actual elevation is something-point-five, or because the wind blowing around things causes small fluctuations in pressure. I wish that Garmin would do the same, because even my latest GPS (all those I've owned had a barometer of course), although better in this respect than its predecessors, exaggerates the amount of climbing.
The one disadvantage of Ciclomaster and the reason nobody on here will tell you how good they are, is they've never sold in Little Blighty. I guess that with 100million German-speakers in Europe, each of whom is five times more likely to cycle than yer average Brit, it's not worth the bother! So I'm afraid you may have to turn on Google translate to work out which model you'd like (if I needed to replace mine I'd get CM4.41A) and then buy it somewhere like Bike24.
As for GPS, again my favourite has been mentioned by nobody so far: Garmin Etrex 30x. This is because the British cycle trade wears blinkers like a racehorse and for the same reason: all they want to know about is sport! So they sell everyone a Garmin Edge, even when an Etrex serves their purpose better. As for the Edge-Touring, it's even worse for touring than the Edge-800 it's derived from. The latest Adventure oriented Edges may be better, but they are still all touchscreens: a feature that I feel has no place in a car or on a bike for road-safety reasons. It is surely much safer to press buttons by feel and only then steal a glance at the screen. Plus I can't be doing with a non-replaceable battery that might, if I'm not careful, run out before the end of a long day's ride. My Etrex, by comparison, usually lasts for two full days of riding on a pair of rechargeable AAs, that when they do run out can quicky be swapped for another pair. I then recharge the used cells overnight and tour on. Another advantage of a general purpose outdoors GPS like the Etrex, designed for mountain and watersports as well as cycle-touring, is better weather-proofing.
The one disadvantage of the Etrex is you have to buy the bike mount extra, on which it isn't as easy to attach and detach as an Edge.
I bought a NOS 4.21 HR earlier this year for £8 posted from a UK ebay seller as it had a battered bo and the battery cover was missing (after I couldn't get my Sigma to work ... but then did as it was the sender battery that was faulty ).
Also the newer Navic 20 GPS is available through Amazon UK, Sports direct and a few sellers on ebay, less than £40 incl post in fact, I think it uses the Indian 'GPS' system as that is called Navic as well?
With a potential 50 hour battery life it could be an absolute steal!
Ciclo have just released, or being released in Oct, the Navic 400, full colour all singing dancing unit for about £210 https://ciclosport.com/produkt/navic-400/?lang=en