Cateye double wireless -vs- Campagnolo Ergobrain?

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something
waterproof.

Ergobrain is nice if you like gadgets (like me). Fussy install. The
Ergobrained bike doesn't go out in the rain, so I can't speak to
waterproofness.

Wireless doesn't seem worth the trouble to me, but people who like it
say the exact same thing about wired computers.

TIP - use colored electrical tape to secure wires (at least if you don't
hit tons of rain, and maybe even then.) You can often find some that
matches your paint close enough, so there aren't the ugly zip-ties
around your tubes. Tape needs replacing periodically as it gaps and
adhesive gets overwhelmed with dust.

Keep in mind that the Ergobrain is manufactured for Campy by Cateye
(which in my mind is the best of both worlds).

Mark

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something
waterproof.
Thanks,
-Mike

My coworker has the Cateye double wireless on his bike. I believe his
unit(s) has (have) lost the ability to shut themselves off, so he has to
replace batteries every 3 days. Not good. Not sure if this is an isolated
incident, but I hear about it from him a lot.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Phil said:

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something
waterproof.
Thanks,
-Mike

My coworker has the Cateye double wireless on his bike. I believe his
unit(s) has (have) lost the ability to shut themselves off, so he has to
replace batteries every 3 days. Not good.

and he keeps on doing that?

Lou

--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something waterproof.

Thanks,
-Mike

Both are really complicated answers to a simple question. Both are a
bear to set up as well. I recommend a simple wireless computer, and a
few minutes with a watch and you can guess your cadence. What gear yer
in, cadence, etc not really needed, IMO. Speed, distance, time, all
that's really required.

At the same price point, you could also get the Polar CS200cad, which
adds heart rate to the mix. The Polar has its own particular quirks,
but seeing the remarks posted here about the Cateye and Campy, I'd say
that it's just as reliable as the other two.

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something waterproof.

Thanks,
-Mike

I've been using the Cateye Double (Heart Rate) with no problems for 3 months and about 1K miles. It's still working with the original batteries, but I use the heart rate monitor only about once a week. It is my first wireless. I bought it because I liked the display layout and the lap feature that let's you time a portion of a ride. I was not looking for wireless, but it is common to heart rate monitors and it works fine for all the functions on the Cateye. That's my $.02 worth.

Steve Shapiro

Lou Holtman said:

Phil said:

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something
waterproof.
Thanks,
-Mike

My coworker has the Cateye double wireless on his bike. I believe
his unit(s) has (have) lost the ability to shut themselves off, so
he has to replace batteries every 3 days. Not good.

and he keeps on doing that?

Lou

I ask him that, too.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Quoted message said:

Eagle Jackson said:

Every time I've bought a fancy cyclometer, I've regretted it.

My wife has an Ergobrain and it's a pain to set up. I'm not sure
why, but it stops working and we have to set it up again.

As Peter said, they are complicated answers to simple problems. I
used Avocet 45's for years. They are hard to find now, so I've
switched to a Cateye Mity 8. It does the basic stuff and it works.
When it breaks, I get a new one.

Dear Eagle,

You might also consider a red $10 Schwinn cyclocoputer from
WalMart with the ten usual functions.

Schwinn and Bell?!?! Blasphemy brands!

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Quoted message said:

At the same price point, you could also get the Polar CS200cad, which
adds heart rate to the mix.

Wow...double wireless + heart monitor for the same price. Sounds very
interesting!

Quoted message said:

The Polar has its own particular quirks,

Anything specific?

Thanks,
-Mike

Lou Holtman said:

All I need to know is heartrate and cadence.

I don't need to know my cadence, but it gives me another game to play on
long solo rides.

Thanks,
-Mike

"none" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:1TqSe.3933$aG.657@trndny01...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless cyclocomputer,
the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to recommend? I ride in
the rain frequently so would need something waterproof.

Thanks,
-Mike

I would also like to hear from owners of the Cateye. Having to deal with the
wires is the reason I never had a cadence capable computer. Wireless is so
much neater and easier to install, IMHO.

Jasper Janssen said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Both are really complicated answers to a simple question. Both are a
bear to set up as well. I recommend a simple wireless computer, and a
few minutes with a watch and you can guess your cadence. What gear yer
in, cadence, etc not really needed, IMO. Speed, distance, time, all
that's really required.

What is this 'needed' you speak of? I want my gadgets and toys, dammit!
The harder it is to set up the better!

I Used to have a computer on my bicycle. I rode one day feeling like I
was Merckx reborn. Fast, smooth, never tiring. Flying up hills.....I
got home and checked the average speed 'knowing' it was higher than i
had ever seen.....it was 14 MPH!!! I ripped the thing off and haven't
used one since...ignorance is bliss.

none said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless
cyclocomputer, the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to
recommend? I ride in the rain frequently so would need something
waterproof.

Thanks,
-Mike

I have Cateye CD300DW and have ridden in rain several times (hard rain
at least twice) with no ill effects yet. I have had it about 1 year.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The Polar has its own particular quirks,

Quoted message said:

Anything specific?

It has tons of features (which is great), but the manual is an absolute
nightmare. There are two significant "gotchas" for which the manual
provides no warning. They are:

1. If you follow the set-up procedure in the order that the manual
instructs, you won't get the heart rate feature to work, thanks to the
"OwnCode" feature that locks out spurious signals. And when it isn't
receiving a HR signal, the display defaults to a mode that doesn't look
the same as what is presented in the manual. You need to have the
computer turned completely off, then don the transmitter belt, and
*then* activate the computer in order for it to "lock on" to your
transmitter.

2. It comes with the cadence feature disabled, so as soon as you get
it installed on the bike, you have to go to find the directions in the
middle of the book, and enable cadence. *Then*, you are ready to ride.

My recommended steps for surviving the set-up process are to follow the
manual in this order (this is for the English-language pages):
Page 17
Pages 8-11
Pages 45-48
Pages 12-16
Then the rest of the manual, at your convenience.
Only after this will the "Quick Guide" inside the front cover make
*any* sense at all.

The only other important thing to note is that the front wheel
pickup/speed transmitter has a very limited range. You may find
yourself having to put the transmitter relatively high on the fork
blade to get it to work properly. Don't give up too early!

Hope this helps...

Curt

Gooserider said:

"none" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:1TqSe.3933$aG.657@trndny01...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Cateye double wireless cyclocomputer,
the Campy Ergobrain, or any other cyclocomputer to recommend? I ride in
the rain frequently so would need something waterproof.

Thanks,
-Mike

I would also like to hear from owners of the Cateye. Having to deal with the
wires is the reason I never had a cadence capable computer. Wireless is so
much neater and easier to install, IMHO.

I have the cateye double wireless with cadence on both tandem and single
bikes. I got it because it has a long enough range to go to both the
captain and stoker computers from the front fork. I have a second
sensor picking up the cadence. The transmitter has several difference
frequencies that are user settable, so you just have to play around with
the reset function until you get both computers and both sensors
transmitting/receiving the same freq. I have no complaints with the
computer, have not had the batteries die after about 3 months of ues.

It's been probably a decade since I rode with a computer. I find them
very useful in time trials, occasionally useful in road races and good
for filling out a log, but otherwise I'd be as happy without it.
Personally, I really like the cadence function, probably more useful to
me than speed.

Baird

Quoted message said:

You might also consider a red $10 Schwinn cyclocoputer from
WalMart with the ten usual functions.

I have a $10 Bell from K-Marte'. Equally nice.

Quoted message said:

The Schwinn odometer, for example, reads in thousandths of a
mile, but frankly that's just extending the absurdity of
odometers that read in hundredths of a mile--I could

Oyyyyyyyyye, the weight of those extra digits...

--
- Lee

In rec.bicycles.tech said:

At the same price point, you could also get the Polar CS200cad, which
adds heart rate to the mix. The Polar has its own particular quirks,
but seeing the remarks posted here about the Cateye and Campy, I'd say
that it's just as reliable as the other two.

I also suggest the Polar (I have the CS-100) after having the Cateye
double wireless for a year (and Avocet 45s for 10+ years). The main
reason I changed was my old eyes simply couldn't read the Cateye screen
and all the minuscule icons; the screen is much easier to read on the Polar.

The Polars are much more intuitive to set up, in spite of the claimed
manual issues. In fact, I find the Cateye manual and setup plain annoying.
I didn't have any problems with the Polar as another poster mentioned.

However, Polar's UplinkTool is a joke. The initial versions (v1.42) trashed
my CS-100 so bad I had to call Polar to get an undocumented reset procedure.
They wouldn't email me the procedure and I spent three hours on the phone
(including getting hung up on 3 times). Subsequent versions (1.43, v1.44)
disabled all CS series functionality (except one minor thing) so they could
cover up their bugs. They claim they will have a working version "soon".

Mikey

Gooserider said:

I would also like to hear from owners of the Cateye. Having to deal with the
wires is the reason I never had a cadence capable computer. Wireless is so
much neater and easier to install, IMHO.

I bought a CD300DW last fall because I wanted something with rear-wheel
speed pickup to use on the trainer. Since then I've put more than 4000
miles on it - actually split over two units, since I had a warranty
replacement about a month ago. My observations:

1. Installation was quick; zip-tie the transmitter to the chainstay,
attach speed and cadence magnets, screw head-unit bracket to handlebar.
Two-screw head-unit mount provides a range of positions. Took about 10
minutes total, and I appreciated not having to tidy up the wires.

2. I found the manual a bit hard to understand at the first pass;
calibration took a couple of attempts. But once I got past that,
operation is fairly simple considering the thing has four main buttons,
plus two on the bottom for setup/backlight.

3. I get about 120 hours from each set of batteries (4x2032 lithium coin
cells). The unit displays total time in use, and the screen blinks when
the batteries start to run out (I assume it's done on a voltage-drop
basis) so it's fairly easy to tell when to replace them. Batteries are
about $1 each if you shop around.

4. I've found the lap function to be especially nice for recording
interval workouts. Clicking the lap button stores distance, average
speed and average cadence for the interval. This is in addition to the
"second measurement" feature that allows you to start a second trip
while the first is going. The average cadence is nice but I don't really
use it, and the total revs is useless but cute.

5. The wireless seems to be less interference-prone than my Polar HRM,
but I have experienced erroneous speed readings, both high and low.
However, these appear to last for only a few seconds at a time and have
minimal impact on the overall reading.

6. At about 3600 miles, my original unit stopped registering speed in
the middle of a club ride (Just Riding Along). Cadence still worked so I
assume the speed switch in the transmitter broke. I returned it to
Cateye USA for service; they replaced it with an entirely new unit in
under a week. I didn't have the old unit for a side-by-side comparsion
so I don't know what, if anything, changed. Operation is the same.

7. I've had it out on a few wet rides (1 hour or more of steady rain)
and not experienced any water penetration issues.

I haven't tried this yet, but second-bike kits are available if you call
Cateye USA. They're not listed on the small parts section of cateye.com.
The head unit will store two tire circumferences but switching between
the two appears to be somewhat cumbersome (have to get into the menu
system, and I always resort to the manual when I need to do that).

I'm pretty happy with it, but at $140 or so it might be hard to justify
the $100 premium over a Cateye Astrale 8 if what you really want is the
rear speed sensor and cadence.

JLS
--
James Scott
www.jls.cx