Good and bad cycle computers
Chris Malcolm
from damp, which in the weather it often operated in meant that it
suffered occasional damp illnesses and had to be dried out before it
would start working again. The next, a German VDO model, was
incredibly reliable. Not only did rain and damp never put it off its
stride, but its clock was so accurate that I only reset the time when
I changed the batteries. It was also much more reliable at catching
the passing magnet pulses, no need for critical adjustments.
I was so impressed that when it was stolen I tried to get the same
model again. Of course it was no longer made, but I bought what I
thouht was the modern corresponding model. But this "improved" VDO was
crap. The magnet had to be adjusted to much closer tolerances than the
booklet suggested in order for it not to skip pulses and wildly
misguesstimate the speed whenever speed got past about 15 mph. Years
later I discovered that I hadn't cured the problem, merely made it
much less frequent. So I replaced the magnet with a much more powerful
one. That improved it again, making its failures much less frequent
again, but this time my suspiciously severe testing revealed that the
problem was simply reduced again, not removed. In fact the way the
speeds sometimes jumped around in fractional multiples suggested that
this model expected to lose quite a lot of pulses, and made quite a
sophisticated guess as to which ones were missing.
In other words the basic engineering was crap covered up by not quite
clever enough software.
So I decided to abandon expensive German crap engineering and try out
some really cheap Chinese stuff, namely LIDL's recent cheap wireless
cyclecomputer with altimeter and heart rate, something like three
times the technology at half the price.
So far so impressively good... :-)
--
Chris Malcolm c...@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
naked_draughtsman
> So I decided to abandon expensive German crap engineering and try out
> some really cheap Chinese stuff, namely LIDL's recent cheap wireless
> cyclecomputer with altimeter and heart rate, something like three
> times the technology at half the price.
I had a 'cheap' Halfords one which got pinched. I went back to Halfords
and bought another identical one so it would fit on the same bracket (plus
an extra bracket for my other bike).
The original's battery lasted about 12 months which I thought was
reasonable, the new one only about 1 month.
The new computer doesn't quite fit the old bracket properly and sometimes
doesn't register anything.
Did I mention the battery doesn't last as long as the old one?
On Friday the button fell off. I only noticed when I got to work, and it
was definately there when I set off! I don't think you can buy new
buttons on their own.
When it starts getting really wet and water gets into it I'll take on
board your comments when looking for a new one!
peter
Jim
"Chris Malcolm" <c...@holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:g914e5$5ar$1...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk...
> But this "improved" VDO was
> crap. The magnet had to be adjusted to much closer tolerances than the
> booklet suggested in order for it not to skip pulses and wildly
> misguesstimate the speed whenever speed got past about 15 mph.
My VDO would go up to about 33.9mph then suddenly jump to 17mph, a bit
annoying when you're trying to see how fast you can go down hill.
I "solved" the problem by moving the magnet and sensor nearer the axle so
that the sensor would have more time to "see" the magnet flying past. I
haven't been able to find the new max speed yet.
Jim J
Chris Malcolm
It helped a bit moving mine down a bit too, but the spokes quickly got
so close to the fork I couldn't move it any further down.
Rob Morley
Chris Malcolm <c...@holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> So I decided to abandon expensive German crap engineering and try out
> some really cheap Chinese stuff, namely LIDL's recent cheap wireless
> cyclecomputer with altimeter and heart rate, something like three
> times the technology at half the price.
>
> So far so impressively good... :-)
>
The Lidl one I bought a few years ago goes crazy if I take it into
ASDA. I guess it really doesn't like their security scanners.
Steve
> So I decided to abandon expensive German crap engineering and try out
> some really cheap Chinese stuff, namely LIDL's recent cheap wireless
> cyclecomputer with altimeter and heart rate, something like three
> times the technology at half the price.
>
> So far so impressively good... :-)
Sounds about right.
I started with a cateye 1 wireless, which was great until I didn't lock it
in place correctly and it bounced off into Richmond Park somewhere.
Then I tried a new cateye wireless, which was useless and would stop
totally with any hint of cold weather. Switching to a wired model (sigma i
think) was also useless, the speed only updated about every 3 seconds.
So over to an aldi(wireless) model , which has been great for the past 4-5
years, the only time its been confused is when I was riding over a massive
(about 1M) buried water main, 100mph wheeeeeee.
Of course for a different purpose (track following) the garmin edge 205 is
a blast.
Steve
PoB
news:g914e5$5ar$1...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk...
| I was so impressed that when it was stolen I tried to get the same
| model again. Of course it was no longer made, but I bought what I
| thouht was the modern corresponding model. But this "improved" VDO was
| crap.
I have a newish (April) VDO cyclometer. It's crap. When it rains it
resets, and the speeds seem occasionally arbitrary.
Unfortunately, my experience with Lidl units has been no better.
I'll stick to Cateye - my old Velo and Enduro are stil working.
pOB
Andreas Schulze-Bäing
> My first cycle computer, which I think was a Cateye, suffered badly
> from damp, which in the weather it often operated in meant that it
> suffered occasional damp illnesses and had to be dried out before it
> would start working again. The next, a German VDO model, was
> incredibly reliable. Not only did rain and damp never put it off its
> stride, but its clock was so accurate that I only reset the time when
> I changed the batteries. It was also much more reliable at catching
> the passing magnet pulses, no need for critical adjustments.
>
> I was so impressed that when it was stolen I tried to get the same
> model again. Of course it was no longer made, but I bought what I
> thouht was the modern corresponding model. But this "improved" VDO was
> crap.
***
> In other words the basic engineering was crap covered up by not quite
> clever enough software.
The current models branded VDO have nothing to do anymore with the original
company VDO that was well known for developing and producing high quality
car and bicycle components. The brand name for cycle computers is now owned
by cycle parts GmbH, while the rest of the former VDO is now part of the
Continental Automotive GmbH.
> So I decided to abandon expensive German crap engineering and try out
> some really cheap Chinese stuff, namely LIDL's recent cheap wireless
> cyclecomputer with altimeter and heart rate, something like three
> times the technology at half the price.
It might be produced in the same factory in Asia where the current VDO
models are produced. If you want high-quality reasonably priced German
engineered cycle computer - have a look at the models from Sigma:
http://www.sigmasport.de/en/startseite/
I've had mine now for 12 years.
Andreas
rothers
wrote:
>The current models branded VDO have nothing to do anymore with the original
>company VDO that was well known for developing and producing high quality
>car and bicycle components. The brand name for cycle computers is now owned
>by cycle parts GmbH, while the rest of the former VDO is now part of the
>Continental Automotive GmbH.
Hi Andreas,
Have you any idea when this lamentable change took place ?
I have a VDO C2 DS which has been excellent, perhaps it only later models that
have gone down the pan.
Cheers
Neil
Whitelee
Quite surprising considering that it went through a full wash cycle and
1200rpm spin afer I accidentally left it in a pair of shorts!!
Wayne
philip...@googlemail.com
of £3.99. I think it is by TCM. very basic - but tells me how fast and
how far, thats all i needed i think.
Andreas Schulze-Bäing
> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:08:10 +0100, Andreas Schulze-Bäing <mib...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>The current models branded VDO have nothing to do anymore with the original
>>company VDO that was well known for developing and producing high quality
>>car and bicycle components. The brand name for cycle computers is now owned
>>by cycle parts GmbH, while the rest of the former VDO is now part of the
>>Continental Automotive GmbH.
>
> Hi Andreas,
>
> Have you any idea when this lamentable change took place ?
According to wikipedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDO_Automotive
the original company VDO Adolf Schindling AG was sold to Mannesmann in
1991. 1998 they bought the Philips Car Communications and 1999 the bicycle
section of the company was sold to the company Cycle Parts GmbH.
It's interesting to note that VDO produced the first mechanical
cycle-speedometer in 1938, the first electronic version in 1982 and the
first wireless cyclecomputer in 1992.
> I have a VDO C2 DS which has been excellent, perhaps it only later models that
> have gone down the pan.
The C2 DS is still on offer - so it is one of the current models.
Andreas