Help CatEye Double Wireless CC-CD300DW or other cycling computer

I've heard good things about those cpu's but I found out the Polar cs200cad was not much more (in price) and it had HR. I've heard real good things about CatEye. I guess they're reliable and I strongly believe in wireless. Going wired will only add another wire that gets in your way. For my Polar, installation took about 15 minutes and seriously I was riding it fully functional. I just quickly looked up the price for the CatEye cd300dw and it was $130 (regular price) and the Polar was $180 I believe but if you search around you can get it off ebay for like $140-150. I know I would have regretted not having HR. It's definitely something nice to have and base training off of.

Rebels23 said:

Hello,

I am very new to cycling and would like some help on cycling computers. I have been looking at the CatEye CD300DW but am hearing that people have been having problems with it. I definitely like all the functions and definitely want cadence. I wanted wireless also, but am now re-thinking it since it seems like wire is more dependable. Can anyone give me any reviews with what they have or advice? Thanks.

Rebels23

Either one is a great computer. I investigated all of them and purchased the Polar CS200cad. It is wireless and has all of the speed, time, distance and cadence funcions with the added advantage of heart rate. It was very easy to install and has worked flawlessly for me.

i cant recommend a cycling computer to you, but i can give you the adive that my LBS gave me when i went in to buy a cycling computer last week.

i was looking for something in the $50-70AU price range, and had many options, both wired and unwired. it was a choice between the cateye wired computer, or the echowell wireless. Both were $70 and both were recommended to me as reliable and 'never returned as faulty' options.
i went with the echowell, for two reasons.
1)less wires to deal with and 2)replacing wires on a cycling computer is actually alot more expensive than i realised. they told me that at least one person comes in per week thats fallen off and somehow severed the wire to the computer, and has had to buy a new computer because of the ridiculous price of replacing the severed wire.

just thought i might add that little bit of logic from my friendly LBS 🙂

mgkaplan said:

Either one is a great computer. I investigated all of them and purchased the Polar CS200cad. It is wireless and has all of the speed, time, distance and cadence funcions with the added advantage of heart rate. It was very easy to install and has worked flawlessly for me.

Mine has worked flawlessly too except my cadence magnet fell off. I wasn't real happy about that. The tape they supplied really didn't stick well so I used electrical tape and it was having trouble getting a signal through it I guess. So I took it off and I finally looked to see why I wasn't getting a cadence reading and my magnet had fallen off sometime in between this process. Polar told me it would cost $3.50 for the magnet and $3.50 for S&H.

A butt connector is only two cents where is the logic in that?

asterope said:

i cant recommend a cycling computer to you, but i can give you the adive that my LBS gave me when i went in to buy a cycling computer last week.

i was looking for something in the $50-70AU price range, and had many options, both wired and unwired. it was a choice between the cateye wired computer, or the echowell wireless. Both were $70 and both were recommended to me as reliable and 'never returned as faulty' options.
i went with the echowell, for two reasons.
1)less wires to deal with and 2)replacing wires on a cycling computer is actually alot more expensive than i realised. they told me that at least one person comes in per week thats fallen off and somehow severed the wire to the computer, and has had to buy a new computer because of the ridiculous price of replacing the severed wire.

just thought i might add that little bit of logic from my friendly LBS 🙂

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate all the responses! I went ahead and purchased the CatEye CD300W (it was $92 on EBAY). I also purchased a CatEye Astrale 8 for my wife. So I guess I will see how wired and wireless works.

One question about the magnet.......If the magnets don't pick up well, couldn't I just slap on a big powerful magnet on the wheel to make sure it picks up? Probably a very stupid question..... :p

wiredued said:

A butt connector is only two cents where is the logic in that?

i dont think the people who bring their 'puta back to the bike shop are interested in connecting the two severed wires together (that would be incredibly easy) i think they are more interested in getting the entire wire replaced... which would mean prising open and cutting and soldering a new wire into both the sensor and the head-unit.
just connecting the two wires together with a connector means extra [censored] on the bike i guess...

i liked their logic, and didnt like wires, so i went the wireless one. *shrug*

It might be easier to save the reciept and bring it back. I'm not sure of the model but my Dad bought a double wireless Cateye last year and now he has a Shimano Flight Deck (expensive but it works) unit because the Cateye gave him trouble. I use an Echo F2 wired computer I bought for $30 after I droped and broke my Sigma which has been dependable and accurate and does cadence.

"One question about the magnet.......If the magnets don't pick up well, couldn't I just slap on a big powerful magnet on the wheel to make sure it picks up? Probably a very stupid question..... :p[/QUOTE]"

love mine, got a few hundred miles on it. i took it off tho, i like the looks of a pure unadulterated bike.

Does anyone know how I turn this off (CD300W). I can't figure how to turn this thing off.

rudycyclist said:

Mine has worked flawlessly too except my cadence magnet fell off. I wasn't real happy about that. The tape they supplied really didn't stick well so I used electrical tape and it was having trouble getting a signal through it I guess. So I took it off and I finally looked to see why I wasn't getting a cadence reading and my magnet had fallen off sometime in between this process. Polar told me it would cost $3.50 for the magnet and $3.50 for S&H.

What you need to do is epoxy (glue) the magnet to the the crank.
You may not need the polar magnet, just test one from an old bike computer or something like a fridge magnet, if it causes the light on the sensor to flicker as it passes then it may work.

Rebels23 said:

Does anyone know how I turn this off (CD300W). I can't figure how to turn this thing off.

how do you like the computer since you had it for over an month. I am also looking to buy one. Do you recommend it? thank you.

wiredued said:

It might be easier to save the reciept and bring it back. I'm not sure of the model but my Dad bought a double wireless Cateye last year and now he has a Shimano Flight Deck (expensive but it works) unit because the Cateye gave him trouble. I use an Echo F2 wired computer I bought for $30 after I droped and broke my Sigma which has been dependable and accurate and does cadence.

"One question about the magnet.......If the magnets don't pick up well, couldn't I just slap on a big powerful magnet on the wheel to make sure it picks up? Probably a very stupid question..... :p

It doesn't have to big. I use a very small rare earth magnet that I silicone glued to my bladed spoke. I had to stack two on top of each other to get the right thickness but it has worked flawlessly.

achu717 said:

how do you like the computer since you had it for over an month. I am also looking to buy one. Do you recommend it? thank you.

I really like it. It is pretty neat. I only really look at the speed, distance and time when I ride (which is all on one screen). I only cycle through the other options when I stop riding. But it is nice to be able to see all of those elements on one screen at a glance. I haven't really messed around too much with the cadence readings yet (maybe when I start to train more seriously 🙂 )

It is pretty expensive, and my wife's Astrale 8 (wired) works just as well, and just as fine. But I am happy I bought it. The back light that comes on doesn't come on for very long and isn't particularly bright anyway. That is ok since I shouldn't be staring at this thing all the time anyway as I should keep my eyes on the road 😄

One thing that was a bit upsetting was, you are able to swivel the cyclometer and position it at different angles. I guess in moving it around, it loosened the screw a bit (which has loctite on it already to keep it tight). During a ride, the whole thing completely flew off and almost got ran over by a car. Not to mention it got scratched up pretty good. 😠 I just double check it now before I go on rides.

Other than that, I think it is great. Like I said, a bit expensive, and really, any old $30 cyclometer should do, but I don't regret buying it at all. Hope that helps.