Anyone have recommendations for a Bike computer?

I was looking at the CatEye Strada CC-RD420DW but just not sure.

Would like to use it to get accurate mileage as the iphone app i'm currently using and my gps never match the posted trail lengths.

Features I would like:
- Reliable
- Rear tire sensor mount (is this really needed or will it account for my shock movement?)
- Preferably wireless
- mph, odo, and trip all really I needed

Thank you

sager wrote on 08/02/13 at 6:20pm:



Thank you for the reply! Great product! But deff out of my approved budget from the wife lol

eastwood wrote on 08/03/13 at 1:07am:



Thanks! 

Wife surprised me with the Strada when i got home from work. Seems to work well - but surprised on how close the sensor needs to be to the magnet.

Thank you everyone for the reco's. Deff will upgrade to the garmin next.

In almost 20 years of mountain biking I have been through almost as many computers.  My own experience, and others' may differ, is that regardless of what they cost, all of them are crap which will not last very long given what they are subjected to on a mountain bike if we ride a lot.

My advice then is to buy the cheapest one you can find that has the functions you want, and if all you want is "mph, odo, and trip" then you can go pretty damn cheap.  I will be installing a Sigma BC509 this weekend that I paid < $10 for (discontinued model so they are giving them away) on Amazon to the replace the previous BC509 that got wrecked at Sherman on Tuesday.  A stick got caught in my fork and wheel such that it yanked the cable and bits of the fork sensor out of the sensor.  At least this one got killed instead of simply dying on its own like most of the others.  That might be an argument in favor of wireless, but looking at the cheapest wireless available, that would have to happen fairly regularly to justify the cost.  The worst one I've had was a not-cheap Trek branded model that quit working after getting caught in a downpour about a week after I bought it.  A few were misplaced or stolen, but mainly just quit working for no apparent reason.

Accuracy is identical on all of them.  They estimate distance by counting wheel rotations and applying it to the wheel circumference you enter.  Wheel rotations will vary depending on terrain, for example, one mile with a lot of dips and humps will register more rotations than a flat mile.  Even tread wear can make a small difference unless you regularly measure and recalibrate.  I just punch in a value based on the wheel chart included with the instructions.  On a trail like Sherman that gets me within a third of a mile of what everyone else reports and that's good enough for me.

HOLY $#!% - Garmin Edge 500 is $250??? What does it do - pedal for you?? 

The guys running this are either in a completely different class or just like to pi  . money away. Am I the only one not farting out $50s? 

Jeez. 

Cateye bro. Cateye.

for the past number of years we have been selling the Sigmas. Wide price range and for us they are easy and quick to set up with setup harware we have. Also have a solid warranty.