Cheap ANT+ computer

[boss]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice.

Been riding a singlespeed for a few months now, and (significantly) upgraded to a Trek Madone 5.2. The new ride has an integrated ANT+ cadence/speed sensor, and I am keen to put it to good use.

I've been doing the iPhone/Strava thing, and have considered upgrading to a Garmin 500. From the brief research I've done the Garmin can pair to my cadence sensor.

However, right now $200-300 on a computer just isn't in the budget.

Million dollar question. Are there any cheap computers that can do the ANT+ thing?

[RonK]

You can get an Ant+ dongle and iPhone apps from Wahoo Fitness.

[DarrylH]

Trek sell Bontrager computers which are ANT+ and can do cadence and heartrate as well. If you get it where you got your bike you should get a bit of a discount. I've got the Node 1.1 which also works well with my Bryton heart rate sensor and cadence sensor. I already had a Bryton GPS first but got the Node so I could leave it on the bike.

[ldrcycles]

I got a Bryton 20 for $120 and i'm pretty happy with it so far.

[ozdavo]

I got a Bryton 20 for $120 and i'm pretty happy with it so far.

+1 (similar to garmin Edge 200 but has ANT+)
I use a Bryton 35 ( similar to Garmin 500) and have no issues.
(Cell bikes do good prices on Bryton http://search.cellbikes.com.au/search?p=Q&lbc=cellbikes&uid=215232200&ts=custom&w=Bryton&af=&method=and&view=grid&isort=price )

Cheapest option is a iPhone dongle such as http://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-ant-plus-adapter-for-iphone/

[Alien27]

I got a garmin 500 + cadence and speed sensor on eBay for $220 delivered. Taiwan seller I think. I know prob not the best for the lbs's but the price was irresistible.

[boss]

Thanks guys.

I have done a bit of googling on Garmins and Brytons, and despite the price differential (buy nice or buy twice) I am leaning towards a Garmin 500. Found one for $299 with cadence + HRM locally, seems like a really good deal.

I've spent a bit more time on the bike today and while speed/cadence will be nice, it's not as essential as I thought. I was having trouble metering how fast I was going compared to my singlespeed on a few segments. Turns out that just sticking it in as high a gear as possible and grind it out works really well.

So I think I'll skip getting a cheapie and just wait the month or so it will take for my savings balance to look a little bit healthier, then go straight to a Garmin 500.

[Red Rider]

Thanks guys.

I have done a bit of googling on Garmins and Brytons, and despite the price differential (buy nice or buy twice) I am leaning towards a Garmin 500. Found one for $299 with cadence + HRM locally, seems like a really good deal.

I've spent a bit more time on the bike today and while speed/cadence will be nice, it's not as essential as I thought. I was having trouble metering how fast I was going compared to my singlespeed on a few segments. Turns out that just sticking it in as high a gear as possible and grind it out works really well.

So I think I'll skip getting a cheapie and just wait the month or so it will take for my savings balance to look a little bit healthier, then go straight to a Garmin 500.

There's nothing wrong with Brytons, in fact the Bryton 35 is better than a Garmin 500 personally, you just don't pay for the brand name.

[boss]

While searching around for reviews and experiences with Bryton stuff, I seemed to come across a few people who weren't happy with their Brytons, then subsequently moved on to a Garmin and were happy.

I really want something that will just work. No brand preferences or anything. Just want something that works, that I won't need to mess about with and, most importantly, won't leave me with buyer's remorse wanting for something else!

[Red Rider]

Fair enough. A friend of mine has a Garmin Forerunner that has been no end of trouble for him, and the customer service in getting it fixed has been absolutely abysmal, to which another friend also commented on the lack of customer support for getting his Garmin fixed. I would have thought a big brand would be all over customer support to maintain their image. But hey, that's just one story in a pool of anecdotal evidence. From what I've observed, there is no discernible difference in failure rates between the two brands.

[boss]

Point taken.

I'll keep an open mind to it and see what the budget allows. Last night I saw a Bryton 35 for $130 including cadence and heart rate - it had already sold (very quickly) but if it had not, I would have grabbed it no doubt.

[kirky92au]

I've got the Bryton 20, and so far I've found it great had it since about July this year and just got the cadence, speed and a HRM for it and its been doing all that flawlessly. As for integrating it with Strava you just need to upload it to Bryton and now you can select to upload it to Strava once it is on Bryton. Its a little more effort than what the Garmin offer but its really straight forward, and for a good cheap ant+ computer I can't fault it.

[OppyA5]

Had a Bryton Rider 50T but had so much trouble with it I decided to get rid of it and went back to a Sigma and upgraded (Rox9) best move I ever made.

[boss]

No GPS on the Sigma Rox9 though?

And I don't think it's ANT+ compatible, it says that it uses STS (Sigma transmission signal). Or is it?

[Aushiker]

You can get an Ant+ dongle and iPhone apps from Wahoo Fitness.

and now from Chain Reaction Cycles rebranded as NC-17 for $84.00.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

No GPS on the Sigma Rox9 though?

No GPS. I buried my ROX 9 in the rubbish bin. Had better performance and customer service from my Garmin Edge 800 and Garmin via Highly Tuned Athletes than I ever got out of Sigma Sports. Burnt so much will never go back to a Sigma Sports product.

Andrew

[boss]

I ended up with a Garmin 500 Premium HR + Cadence bundle from Highly Tuned Athletes. At $299 it was close to the best price I could find online, plus local.

Paid yesterday at 3pm, arrived this morning at 10am.

[Aushiker]

I ended up with a Garmin 500 Premium HR + Cadence bundle from Highly Tuned Athletes. At $299 it was close to the best price I could find online, plus local.

Enjoy! Also good to have local support via Highly Tuned Athletes with items such as bike computers.

Andrew

[dynamictiger]

Had a Bryton Rider 50T but had so much trouble with it I decided to get rid of it and went back to a Sigma and upgraded (Rox9) best move I ever made.

Sorry to resurrect an older thread, but just looking about at GPS now.

I see comments like the above, then in other areas I see comments like since they improved the software so much better and so on. Anyone got more feedback?

[boss]

My comments would be: like most things in life, buy nice or buy twice.

Garmins are workhorses. They just work. And at under $300 locally for a 500 pack you can't really go wrong.

Also, don't discount the inherent value in buying electronics locally. I had a problem with my 500 - the 'enter' button stopped working, and it's quite an important button so you can't just deal with it. I sent it back to HTA and I had a new unit in my hands 2 days later. You can't expect that sort of turnaround from an O/S retailer. And with electronics - products do fail!

[DarrylH]

I've had a Bryton 35 for nearly 2 years and it still has great battery life - haven't had to send it back for any problems.

[dynamictiger]

I am interested in teh Bryton 50. I don't use a mobile so the mapping thing is useful for me.

[ldrcycles]

As an update, my Bryton head unit is still working fine, but the website/uploading has annoyed the hell out of me, it's just a silly way of doing it.

Out of interest, my brother got a Garmin 200 2 months ago and while the uploading is super quick and easy, he has had a number of instances where it has recorded his route incorrectly, meaning he didn't record a time for Strava segments he had ridden. NOT happy.

[Wal42]

I had a bryton for 3 months, had nothing but trouble with it, the old (not the current, so won't comment on the current) distributor wasn't interested in trying to resolve my problems, eventually I received an email from the distributor in South Africa, nobody seemed to be able to resolve the problem, in the end I fixed it with a large hammer, I'll never purchase a bryton product again.

Purchased a Garmin 500, when I 'fixed' the bryton, 15 months later I've had only one minor software issue, which was solved by not keeping 100's of courses in the memory, I now keep them on the computer & upload them if I intend to use them (limited memory but I'm not sure the bryton doesn't have a similar memory capacity).

[wombatK]

I've had a Garmin 705, which had a pathetically insecure mount and went AWOL, and a Garmin 500 which regularly fails to record and needs chkdsk to fix. I've now got a Bryton 35, which after 9 months has no failure (better than the 500's record). Bryton have now produced a device manager app for windows that means you can upload files to your PC and/or SportsTrack, and overcomes some of the tedious requirements of their upload website.

On the downside, the Bryton uses a barometric altitude meter, which, just like the Garmin's, is hopelessy inaccurate. Don't buy any of these if you need accurate elevation readings.

If you want coverage for rides longer than a couple of hours, check that whatever device you buy can handle it. The big upside of the Garmin and Brytons is the battery life.

If you really must buy a Garmin, the local Garmin distributor/service center do not stand behind their product and could not resolve either of my problems satisfactorily. Save some money and buy from flea-bay or overseas.