Avocet battery life?
Bill Parker
Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer? I typically get
around 5-6 weeks per battery using the Avocet replacement batteries I
buy from the local bike shop. When the batteries "go", they seem to die
without any perceptible warning.
I would be grateful for any ideas/experiences for a fix for this
problem.
Thanks.
Bill Parker
Hampton, VA
Keith Farnworth
Bill Parker wrote:
>
> Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
> short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer? I typically get
> around 5-6 weeks per battery using the Avocet replacement batteries I
> buy from the local bike shop. When the batteries "go", they seem to > die without any perceptible warning.
I have been having the same type of problem with a Vetta C-20
This things sucks so much juice you would think it was doing more than
speed/avg/cadence.. Anyone had trouble with the C-20? Vetta is anti
consumer, no 800 numbers or N.A. repair locales.
keith
JMTaco
I used to work at Performance and, I swear, we probably took in more
Vettas than we sold because they ate batteries!
LONG LIVE AVOCET!!!!!
Taco
Eric W. Bryant
Keith Farnworth (kfar...@callisto.uwinnipeg.ca) wrote:
:*
:* I have been having the same type of problem with a Vetta C-20
:* This things sucks so much juice you would think it was doing more than
:* speed/avg/cadence.. Anyone had trouble with the C-20? Vetta is anti
:* consumer, no 800 numbers or N.A. repair locales.
:* keith
I've had the same experience with the Vetta, even when it wasn't
being actively used (i.e. just sitting on the bike over winter).
My battery replacement problems finally ended when I lost the main
body on a ride.
I'm now using a HR1000 which I picked up cheaply. Not only does the
computer suck batteries at an incredible rate, but so does the
monitor strap. You'd think Vetta has a major investment in the
button battery industry:)
--
Eric Bryant Electrical Engineering undergraduate
ewbr...@mtu.edu Michigan Technological University
finger ewbr...@kirchhoff1.ee.mtu.edu for various info
Mike Miller
I recently purchased a Cateye Mity II. I looked at the Avocet line, but
decided to go with the Cateye. One of the reasons was that Cateye (and
Specialized, by the way) uses the larger-capacity lithium calculator
batteries, instead of the tiny silver oxide watch batteries.
/m
John Kaufmann
Bill Parker <zoom...@erols.com> wrote:
>Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
>short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer? I typically get
>around 5-6 weeks per battery using the Avocet replacement batteries I
>buy from the local bike shop. When the batteries "go", they seem to die
>without any perceptible warning.
>
>problem.
>
Either your replacement batteries or the Avocet 40 itself must be
defective. I get at least a year of battery life on my Avocet 40. I buy
replacement batteries from Radio Shack--nothing special. When
they do die, the warning sign is usually a dimming of the display
intensity.
John Kaufmann
kauf...@ll.mit.edu
Drew Eckhardt
In article <19970330041...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
JMTaco <jmt...@aol.com> wrote:
>I used to work at Performance and, I swear, we probably took in more
>Vettas than we sold because they ate batteries!
>
>LONG LIVE AVOCET!!!!!
Having gone threw a few Cateyes and Vettas over the years, I decided to
try an Avocet (45, since I like the cadence feature).
+'s : Beefy contruction (one of the pickup wires is bigger than the
both of the Cateye Astrale wires together, the contacts on the
mount look tougher, etc.) and mounting (the whimpy Cateye wheel
magnets always broke).
The time delay on the both-button reset functions makes it
hard to accidentally zero something.
Programmable total miles for battery changes
-'s : I can't display mileage and speed at the same time, even though
there is a two-line display.
The multi-pole magnet and lack of a cut-off speed for average
speed determination screw up your actual average speed if you've
got a tiny (< 1 MPH) ammount of wheel rotation when you're balancing
at a stop light (ie, on today's ride my computer showed 16.9 average
and my co-workers 17.8).
Neutral:
I paid about $25 more than I did for my last Cat Eye Astrale. If it
lasts a year longer, that's fine. If not, I'll be bummed.
--
<a href="http://www.poohsticks.org/drew/">Home Page</a>
Four boxes : soap, ballot, jury, ammo. | Work: dr...@Qualcomm.COM
Use in that order. | Play: dr...@PoohSticks.ORG
Drew Eckhardt
In article <5hp9aa$i...@qualcomm.com>, Drew Eckhardt <dr...@qualcomm.com> wrote:
>Having gone threw a few Cateyes and Vettas over the years, I decided to
>try an Avocet (45, since I like the cadence feature).
Big minus I just discovered:
Throwing the computer in your pocket for use as a time piece at lunch
to insure you're back in time for a doctor appointment may result in a
blank screen, and refusal to respond to key presses even after
re-instsalling the battery.
Grr.
cog...@aol.com
Bill Parker <zoom...@erols.com> wrote:
>>Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
>>short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer? I typically get
>>around 5-6 weeks per battery using the Avocet replacement batteries I
>>buy from the local bike shop. When the batteries "go", they seem to die
>>without any perceptible warning.
>>
>>I would be grateful for any ideas/experiences for a fix for this
>>problem.
>>
John Kaufmann wrote:
>Either your replacement batteries or the Avocet 40 itself must be
>defective. I get at least a year of battery life on my Avocet 40. I buy
>replacement batteries from Radio Shack--nothing special. When
>they do die, the warning sign is usually a dimming of the display
>intensity.
Bill, it sounds like your Avocet has a short. My avocet 40 goes at least a year,
(maybe even 18 months) per battery and I too get replacements at Radio Shack
the way John Kaufmann does...
Good luck,
Peter Guyton
mark carry
Bill:
I have an Avocet 50 which requires you to install new batteries, take
one out and then reinstall within a few seconds. I don't know about
the 40 model but Avocet has alway been very helpful whenever I've
called with questions or even when I bought a used bike that came with
one of their cyclecomputers and needed a manual. Their number is
415-321-8501.
Also, I just bought a Vetta C-20 a couple months ago and the thing is
dead already. I think it's going back to the vendor!
-Mark
On Sat, 29 Mar 1997 11:47:20 -0500, Bill Parker <zoom...@erols.com>
wrote:
>Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
>short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer? I typically get
>around 5-6 weeks per battery using the Avocet replacement batteries I
>buy from the local bike shop. When the batteries "go", they seem to die
>without any perceptible warning.
>
>I would be grateful for any ideas/experiences for a fix for this
>problem.
>
Steven Correll
>Bill Parker <zoom...@erols.com> wrote:
>>>Is it just me, or does anyone else seem to share my experience with
>>>short battery life with the Avocet 40 cyclocomputer?
I have owned half a dozen Avocet 30 cyclometers, and they usually died
from moisture entering the case long before the battery ran out. I'm
exaggerating. Still, I haven't gotten over the surprise of opening a
dead one and seeing that all the PC board traces were green. Recently
I bought an Avocet 40, and after about 45 minutes in the rain last
Sunday, the display fogged up, which bodes ill. My Casio watch was
fine, however. Will Avocet ever figure out that bicycles are ridden
outdoors?
Anyway, not to be completely irrelevant, ask for an exchange. The company
has been friendly toward bike shops and consumers with such problems before.
--
Steven Correll == PO Box 66625, Scotts Valley, CA 95067 == s...@netcom.com
djw
My Avocet 50 goes through a pair of batteries in a few months, this
sucks and I know bike computers are considered "disposable" items, but
maybe just maybe this just isn't a good thing.
I have gone through roughly 7 bike computewrs in ten years, although my
original cateye Micro still runs fine, it's the wires that sent me
packing on it.
doug
Charles Wang
Yeah, my avocet 50 eats batteries too. I thought it was just
me but I guess that's normal.
Why don't you just get a new mounting kit for your computers?
Mike Miller
Keith Farnworth wrote:
> products? What is the best computer out there with some frills?
> keith
The "best" computer for you may be different than the "best" computer
for me. Everyone has differnt needs and priorities. With that in
mind.... I recently purchased the Cateye Mity II computer. It has all
I need, including a larger calculator-style battery instead of the tiny
watch-style battery that I saw in the Avocet units. The Cateye also is
water-resistant.
Supposedly the battery life of the Cateye unit approaches three years
(though Cateye does say, due to shelf life considerations, the battery
shipped with the unit may not last as long.
/m<YMMV and all that>
Keith Farnworth
Rafael Raban
djw wrote:
>
> My Avocet 50 goes through a pair of batteries in a few months, this
> sucks and I know bike computers are considered "disposable" items, but
> maybe just maybe this just isn't a good thing.
>
> I have gone through roughly 7 bike computewrs in ten years, although my
> original cateye Micro still runs fine, it's the wires that sent me
> packing on it.
>
Put it simply, AVOCET SUCKS. My avocet altimeter watch needs new
batteries **every year**, to do that you have to send it to Avocet at a
cost of $30 because they have to reseal it to keep it waterproof.
--
\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//
Rafael Raban ,__o ,__o _____ ,__o
e-mail:rm...@lehigh.edu _- \ <, _- \ <, ____ _- \ <,
Lehigh University ( ) / ( ) ( ) / ( ) _____ ( ) / ( )
Materials Science & Engineering
http://www.lehigh.edu/~rmr3/microstructure.html
http://www.lehigh.edu/~rmr3/cycling.html
\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\
Sean Cleary
In response to various stories about poor bike computer battery
performance in Avocet computers, Keith Farnworth wrote:
>The better question is why don't these companies make useable
>products? What is the best computer out there with some frills?
>keith
My experiences with bike computers are as follows:
A Cateye Vectra on my commuter since 1989 is on its second set
of batteries and works very well and simply. It occasionally
(not more than once per week) gives erratic average speed
readings for a short time (eg. "57mph" for an average speed
poking around town) but it settles down quickly to something
reasonable. It has suffered day-in/day-out use in snow, rain,
cold and so on and has been dropped at least 10 times with no
ill effects.
A Cateye ATC on my old mountain bike. Big and bulky, but lots
of good features and again, bombproof and durable. On its original
batteries since 1991. Plenty of abuse including a cracked crystal
and still very dependable. It can keep track of distance and
average speed for up to 10 segments of a ride. Evidently,
it didn't sell well as it was perceived as being hard to use.
I find it easy to use and picked up a pair of them cheap
around the time they were discontinued. Somewhat ugly looking.
Another Cateye ATC on my newer mountain bike. Again, durable, bombproof,
and original battery since 1993.
A Cateye Astrale on my road bike. Original 1994 batteries,
quite reliable. This has cadence and the sensor needs to be
positioned precisely to pick up cadence. After a couple of
months, I got a good sense of cadence so I don't worry about
measuring that with the comuter anymore. If I wanted to, I
believe could get cadence working again in 3 minutes. The other
computer functions are great and the computer has been reliable
and is small.
A 1994 Vetta C20 on my touring bike. This one uses batteries at
much faster rate than the Cateye ones and the only reason I have
it is that I bought the bike used with the mount already in
place. I put a new battery in just before starting a 2000+ km
tour in Europe and the battery had died by the end. Other times
batteries have lasted a couple of months. This computer does
not work well in wet, cold or snow, at least not compared to my
others. I plan to remove it one of these years and replace it
with a Cateye. One feature this computer has that my others do
not is the ability to reset the max speed register without
resetting the trip meter and average speed registers, which is
good for seeing how fast you got going on a particular hill even
if you have gone faster on earlier hills on the same ride. For
me, though, the primary function is to measure distance,
instantaneous speed and average speed reliably and on this
score the Vetta is less impressive. It is good looking and
a nice color.
My wife had a Cateye Vectra on her daily-use commuter for many
years and found it reliable and study, but at some point evidently
the wire between the pickup and mount failed, probably due to
getting pulled taut while I was packing it into the back of the
truck. I haven't gotten around to repairing it yet.
I have given various Cateye computers as gifts to people, but
I don't think that any of them are subjected to as regular
use/abuse as these. All those have been working fine as far
as I can tell, except the one that I got my mother that my
brother sent the sensor and wire into the front wheel spokes.
In summary, I have had extremely good experience with Cateye
computers and one bad experience with a Vetta computer. This is
of course anecdotal evidence but to me there seems to be a
pattern.
I have heard about problems with early versions of the Astrale
self-resetting and I understand that the Cateye altimeter model
has some serious design flaws, but I have no personal experience
on either count. Many of my riding partners have used Avocet
computers and give them high praise, but not unqualified high
praise. Of course, with a (usual) sample size of one, your
experiences may vary...
Sean Cleary Department of Mathematics Peters Building 359 CSU Fresno CA 93740
sean_...@csufresno.edu http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~cleary
Jobst Brandt
Drew Eckhardt writes:
> Throwing the computer in your pocket for use as a time piece at lunch
> to insure you're back in time for a doctor appointment may result in a
> blank screen, and refusal to respond to key presses even after
> re-installing the battery.
What did you do to it. This is not normal for the instrument. I have
various Avocet Cyclometers and Altimeters lying on the table and I
carry them in my pocket with no loss of time or functions. I think
your unit is defective. Get a new one on warranty.
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
Thomas H. Kunich
In article <5ic63j$4...@hplms2.hpl.hp.com>,
I've seen something like this that has to do with the battery connectors
not working at and angle after having been jangled about with your
keys etc. Apparently there is some problem with pressure on the battery
cover flattening the battery terminal and it sometimes resets itself.
I pulled the battery out, retensioned the terminal and it stopped
reseting itself over every good-sized bump.
Drew Eckhardt
In article <5ic63j$4...@hplms2.hpl.hp.com>,
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>Drew Eckhardt writes:
>> Throwing the computer in your pocket for use as a time piece at lunch
>> to insure you're back in time for a doctor appointment may result in a
>> blank screen, and refusal to respond to key presses even after
>> re-installing the battery.
>
>What did you do to it.
Upon leaving the nearest fast food joint, I put it in my left pocket,
which usually contains my apartment/bike/car/motorcycle/etc keys and
vending machine change. Half a dozen blocks later, I retrieved it, left
it on my desk next to me, and noted it had totally blanked out the next
time I looked.
>This is not normal for the instrument.
I would hope not.
>I have
>various Avocet Cyclometers and Altimeters lying on the table and I
>carry them in my pocket with no loss of time or functions. I think
>your unit is defective. Get a new one on warranty.
Been there, done that, and am now hoping I get at least a year and eight
months out of Avocet #2 which would make the experiment worthwhile.
--
"Come to the edge, Life said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge,
Life said. They came. Life pushed them...and they flew." -Guillaume Apollinaire
Work: dr...@Qualcomm.COM Play: dr...@PoohSticks.ORG
Home Page: <a href="http://www.poohsticks.org/drew/">Home Page</a>
Sheldon Isaac
Is there a place to get replacements for the battery cover? The one on
my Avocet 30 is broken.
LYDDANS
I also buy my batteries at Radio Shack, hearing aid batteries. No
problems yet, knock on wood. Try a different brand of batteries and see if
that works.
David Carpenter
LYDDANS wrote:
>
> I also buy my batteries at Radio Shack, hearing aid batteries. No
> problems yet, knock on wood. Try a different brand of batteries and see if
battery. I ordered it from Nashbar. Ordered 1, they shipped 8. Didn't
understand why until the first one died after less than 200 miles.
Guess I'll keep the other 6.