Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Which bike computer, gps, app do you use?

A couple of years ago cycling was simple, all you needed was your bike and off you went. You would go as far as you felt comfortable and as fast as you could handle. I remember getting my first speedo for my Raleigh bike, a cable driven bar mounted speedometer with a needle just like a car, for the first time I could see how fast I was going and how far I had gone. That was the beginning.......

Then along came a electronic bike computer, small accurate and packed with features. Next was the heart rate monitor that gave you even more performance data. Then came the GPS, even more data, now you could navigate and track your routes. Today we also have power meters, some more data to keep us informed and make our rides interesting.

The internet and mobile devices introduced connectivity so now you can get mobile devices that can do all of these things, measure, track, calculate and record and you can access it centrally off the internet. But it still makes it difficult to workout what device, system and manufacturer you should go with. It all comes down to priorities.

If you want serious performance analysis and training information then go with a dedicated heart rate or power measurement system. If you want to navigate, track and measure while out riding then go with one of the GPS bike computers. Lastly if you want a bit of everything with little fuss and don't need packed features in either then go for one of the mobile apps than run off your mobile device.

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