I am seeking a bike computer to replace an old one I had. It did everything I wanted but it was wired rather than wireless (so that’ll give you an idea of its age) and it is broken beyond my ability to repair. It was a Trek model but they don’t make this one anymore.
Here’s the rub. It displayed “all” distances with tenth of a mile resolution. That includes the accumulated distance, not just the current trip. That is a must for me.
Also, since batteries die, it has to be reset-able so that I can restore the accumulated mileage after battery swap. This is also a must.
Searching for this online has been impossible. I cannot come up with an accurate enough search string to find exactly what I want.
I am hoping that there are enough bicycling enthusiasts out there so that one of you may say "oh you want a … ".
Please don’t recommend anything that doesn’t do my two required things. I’m not interested in anything else. I also don’t want something tied to a phone app, where all the info is on the phone.
I also do not want anything that uses GPS.
I am not an expert on these but I know a lot about the one I have. It’s a Specialized, wireless, shows distances to the hundredth of a mile, and doesn’t lose data when I change the battery. However, it is several years old and I don’t think they make this model anymore. However, it proves that what you want exists.
Cat Eye sells a series of bike computers that look like they would meet your needs but the descriptions on the web site are not detailed enough to see, for example, the precision of the odometer.
Here is the manual for one of the Cateye models (PDF file). It looks like the trip distance is in hundredths, but the odometer is in integer miles/km. That may be the hardest part of your requirements.
Before I finished reading your OP, I said, “Cateye”, so thirded.
What kind of total mileage do you do in a year? I’ve seen some that display in more detail at lower numbers than they do at higher ones. For example, once you get over 100, or 1000, YTD miles it drops tenths & only displays whole miles.
What’s your aversion to GPS & would you reconsider it as some of the platforms would support what you want?
I’ve seen too much wonkiness with GPS devices. I’ve owned $400 units that show velocity (hence distance changes) while standing still, even after complete satellite lock. I’m not about to shell out money on a GPS based unit only to see that same phenomena.
Strangely enough my old original Garmin eTrex 10 (the yellow one, was perfect. You stopped, it showed 0 speed and your distance was rock solid). I lost it (or it was lifted) during a house move.
I don’t do that much riding but to me its crazy that the detail is saved for the trip odo but not for the total odo. I miss my old analog Huret speedometer.
I’d have to look at my old Trek bike computer to get the model. Still, I hated the wire, and really don’t want to go back to that.
How many digits do you need on the odometer? It appears the Cateye Enduro series shows the odometer in 0.1 mile resolution and allows you to set it manually, but it’s only a 5-digit display, so it would only do so up to 9999.9 miles.
Personally I never liked wireless cyclecomputers, it means two things that can run out of battery, and they don’t have auto-start capability. (It’s not really possible to have a radio signal receiver that powers on automatically when it receives a signal.)
Add the terms manual and .pdf to your Google search and you will probably find the user manual for that model, which will show a diagram of each function along with instructions.
Your Garmin eTrex was “perfect” only because it was faking it. It used a low-pass filter to throw out small, short-duration readings. The drawback to this technique is that it also throws out small, quick changes in position or velocity, even when they’re real. So your eTrex would take a beat to change from 0 even though you were already moving.
My work revolves around the design of precise scientific instruments. When I was working on a Coriolis flow meter, I was fascinated by all of the signal-processing lies the industry benchmark meter told on its display (and even its serial output). The manufacturer of that benchmark unit chose to lie in some really creative and sophisticated ways.
I mean, it had to lie, and so did ours—the raw output is too variable to be useful. The same is true of nearly all GPS devices (and of almost any kind other electronic measuring device).
I’m being hyperbolic when I say your measuring devices are lying to you. But the spurious velocities that vex you so are inherent to this sort of thing, even if they don’t make it to your screen.
Modern GPS bike computers generally don’t jump around when you’re stopped. They’re still dropping spurious transient velocities, but they’re using more sophisticated techniques than a brute-force low-pass filter.
I’ve disliked all the Garmin bike computers I’ve owned for various reasons, but for a long time they were the only option for cyclists. However, I love my Wahoo ELEMNT for reasons both technical and aesthetic.
I’ve heard good things about Lezyne’s line of inexpensive GPS bike computers. They start at $80; less when on sale.
I don’t expect to change your mind about wireless vs GPS bike computers, but the GPS ones have improved dramatically in the last decade. You might consider checking them out.
I do know that some GPS-based bike computers also have wheel sensors (or can be paired with Bluetooth sensors) and give priority to the speed data from the wheel, rather than GPS speed. So they give you the advantages of a GPS computer (route tracking etc) but without the inaccurate speed and distance.
Even if you do a proper rollout to measure your tire circumference on a wheel-based distance measuring device changes to things like tire pressure &/or tread life can affect your distance. Unless you’re unlike almost all people & do periodic recalibration there is some inaccuracy in those systems, too.
That and Colophon’s comment are exactly why I mentioned that modern GPS bike computers use techniques a lot more sophisticated than just a low-pass filter on Doppler-based velocity.
Even my old Garmin 500 could compare speed from a wheel sensor and GPS speed (Doppler-derived) and GPS distance/time (non-Doppler speed, when precisely known) to callibrate effective wheel rollout as you’re riding.
That auto-calibrated wheel sensor data is then used to compute ride distance in a way that’s a lot more accurate and precise than either GPS-based distance or a wheel rotation sensor alone.
For example, a computer that uses wheel rotation only—even the OP’s beloved mechanical Huret—will give different results for the same ride if you forget to pump up your tires before you start.