Schwinn Schwinn Computer

3.83/5

(30 Reviews)

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MSRP : $25.00

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Schwinn

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Reviews 1 - 15 (30 Reviews Total)

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Submitted by wdpayne a Weekend Warrior from Woodstock, GA USA

Date Reviewed: July 1, 2010

Strengths:    Good price, works well

Weaknesses:    One didn't work when I bought it, thin sensor leads

Bottom Line:

Excellent price, works reasonably well. I ride road so I haven't tested the unit off-road. I've got 3 of them - 2 have been in use for 2 years.

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Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   WalMart

Similar Products Used:   Equus Ace

Bike Setup:   1979 Vista Elite Road/Hybrid
1973 Qualitat Athena / Sekine Road/Hybrid
1980 Nishiki Rally Road
1998 Fuji Appalachian

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Submitted by dmtt23 a Weekend Warrior from New York

Date Reviewed: March 13, 2010

Strengths:    Accurate,easy to read display,like the thermometer. It's nice to know how fast and far you ride and to try to improve your average speed.

Weaknesses:    The first one I bought never worked at all, right out of the box! I went back and exchanged it for another one and I haven't had any problems to date.

Bottom Line:

This is a great unit to help you train or just to make the ride more interesting and fun.

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Favorite Trail:   Erie Canal

Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Price Paid:    $20.00

Purchased At:   Target

Bike Setup:   moutain bike

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Submitted by onlycrimson a Racer from Michigan

Date Reviewed: January 28, 2010

Strengths:    This computer is simple and has simple functions, but mine have worked flawlessly for two years. In the snow, in the rain, in the heat and I have not had any issues.

Weaknesses:    At this price level, none.

Bottom Line:

Really awesome for the price. They work great and are easy to program. I've even used them on mopeds.

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Favorite Trail:   Pontiac Lake

Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   Meijer, Walmart

Similar Products Used:   Only computer I've used.

Bike Setup:   I have two of these. One is on my Stumpjumper and the other on my Giant commuter.

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Submitted by Craig Smith a Weekend Warrior from Ocala, Florida

Date Reviewed: November 18, 2007

Strengths:    Cheap, accurate, easy to install and gives all pertinent information...

Weaknesses:    Feels cheap, buttons don't always work on first press, I doubt it will last forever but then again what do you expect for $10?

Bottom Line:

I bought this unit because I mainly wanted to know how fast I was running and how far I was going. For those two features I feel this unit is doing very well. It seems very accurate and does exactly what I wanted it to do.

Following advice from these and other reviews, During installation I used short pieces of split rubber hose under the wire ties I used on the wires to keep them from getting pinched. I also used an exact measurement of my wheel to set the wheel calibration instead of the preset numbers. I found my exact wheel measurement was very close to the one in the chart, but I used the exact number anyway.

Overall I'd buy another one, but I'd just make extra sure to do a good installation and not take any chances with the wiring. Like I said before, what do you expect for $10?

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Favorite Trail:   Greenway

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   wallyworld

Similar Products Used:   none actually, this is my first computer.

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Submitted by Charles Cammack a Cross Country Rider from Las Cruces, NM, USA

Date Reviewed: November 6, 2007

Strengths:    Easy to mount, use and calibrate if you are smart enough to keep the instructions.

Weaknesses:    None.

Bottom Line:

I have them on two bikes. Have had the one on my MTB for two years and the one on the road bike for one year. I have had zero problems with both. The one on the rigid mountain bike goes thru hell and has never given me any trouble. Works perfect. I read some reviews where users had problems with wheel magnet placement in relation to the pickup. I experiment with them to get the best response. The instructions do not explain this well at all. There should be an obvious reference mark on the sensor for the path of the wheel's magnet. I highly recommend this computer.

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Favorite Trail:   Las Cruces BLM single track race course

Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   Wal Mart

Similar Products Used:   Avocet 20 from the mid 1980's

Bike Setup:   All rigid Fisher MTB
Custom road bike

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Submitted by Half-Fast Biker a Weekend Warrior from Hollidaysburg, PA

Date Reviewed: August 14, 2006

Strengths:    Really cheap price, functions, flexibility of stem mount design, black and red color matches my bike.

Weaknesses:    2nd one I bought would reset itself like others have mentioned before, exchanged it for another one and all is well. Must run magnet close to pickup for it to work reliably...switching to a samarium cobalt magnet would probably fix that. LCD display has temporarily turned black when bike is left in the sun on 90 degree days...this is typical for LCDs...take it out of the sun and let it cool off and it goes back to normal.

Bottom Line:

This is Schwinn SW500T from Walmart, bought in 2005, this is the same basic computer as the Nashbar NA-CA210 computer I had...the display and functions are the same, only the case and mounting system are different. This Schwinn one has heavier insulation on the sensor wire, and a better set of contacts between the back of the computer and it's mount...the Nashbar's mount contacts looked like aluminum and were always oxidizing causing a loss of signal. Have one on my MTB and road bike, and the only problems I've had so far was the 2nd one I bought kept resetting itself, so it was exchanged, and I broke the mount wire where it goes into the stem mount. I accidently grabbed the stem too hard where I had the wire routed, and it ripped the black plastic cover off the bottom of the mount, and ripped one wire loose from it's solder joint. The wires leading into the mount are actually about as thick as what you'd find inside a pair of Walkman-style headphones...pretty thin, but the have thick insulation on them going down to the sensor. Under the plastic rectangular cover the wires are held in place with a dab of hot glue, and are then soldered onto their two pickup points for the computer mount. 5 minutes with a soldering iron, some crazy glue to firm up the hot melt glue and wire leading into the mount, a a re-routing of the cable along the stem to give it more slack have everything back to normal.

As far as everyday funtion goes the only thing bad I'd have to say about it is the sensor DOES need to be close to the magnet, the Nashbar computer was the same way, sometimes I bump the sensor out of place when putting the wheels on top of the bike when it's in the trunk of my car, but it's simple to move it back into place on the fork. I just make it a habit to spin the front wheel before the start of the ride to make sure it's reading OK. It might not be the best computer out there, but at only $9.32 that I paid for it it works well. Defective one that I got will knock it down from a 4 to a 3 rating.

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Favorite Trail:   Great Allegheny Passage

Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Price Paid:    $9.00

Purchased At:   Walmart

Similar Products Used:   Nashbar NA-C210, older Vetta and Schwinn computers.

Bike Setup:   1990 vintage Schwinn KOM S-7 hardtail.

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Submitted by greg a Cross Country Rider from glenview

Date Reviewed: April 22, 2006

Strengths:    Price. Many features, looks and has indiglo light

Weaknesses:    It is a Schwinn product

Bottom Line:

Absolute garbage. Never worked. I had the sensors almost touching and it never registered. I had to actually put the magnet on the sensor to get a reading. As I tried to slide the sensor down the fork the wire snapped. I woulD like to congradulate Schwinn for driving their company into the ground. They sacrifice qualty for mass produing useless junk. I should have known better than to buy anything from this sell out company. No one should waste thier money on anything from them.

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Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $20.00

Purchased At:   target

Similar Products Used:   Cateye Enduro

Bike Setup:   2003 Specialized S Works Epic

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Submitted by Eric a Cross Country Rider from Grand Rapids, MI

Date Reviewed: April 4, 2006

Strengths:    Cheap, easy to use.

Weaknesses:    Poorly built, malfunctioned.

Bottom Line:

This computer worked ok, but it occasionally malfunctioned on me and the magnet/sensor fell apart quickly.

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Favorite Trail:   Yankee Springs

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   Meijer

Similar Products Used:   none

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Submitted by John Ray a Weekend Warrior from Atlanta, GA USA

Date Reviewed: November 8, 2005

Strengths:    Lots of function for small price

Weaknesses:    Defective

Bottom Line:

I bought this thinking it was a good deal since it had calories burned, fat calories, temp, etc. in addition to the usual functions and it was only $19.99 before tax.

But not long after I bought it (less than two months) it started to just reset itself all of a sudden for no reason! I lost all the odometer and other personalized settings I had put in. I set it back up then it happened again. I did not get on my bike for awhile and then when I did it was doing it all the time! It was too late now to return it, so I bought another one thinking I would swap out the bad one and return it to the store but when I put the new head on, it was doing the same exact thing! So it must be in the wiring somewhere, but I cannot detect any worn or broken places. I may try to switch the wire/holder mechanism too with the new one but if they all break as easily as these reviews seem to portray, I bet it will be broken soon too. At least i can still return one and just be stuck with one bad one.

I also notice Schwinn does not claim responsibility for these and other biking peripherals sold under its name but rather refers customers to some place called PTI that only has an 800 number and not a web site.

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Favorite Trail:   Pisgah Forest

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Price Paid:    $20.00

Purchased At:   Target

Similar Products Used:   Trek, Sigma

Bike Setup:   Marin Verona road bike

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Submitted by Brian Hughes a Cross Country Rider from Albuquerque, NM

Date Reviewed: October 13, 2005

Strengths:    Inexpensive, easy to read display.

Weaknesses:    Battery died shortly after purchasing, so I had to replace it right away. At months mine became totally unreliable. It randomly would reset itself during a ride for no apparent reason--losing all data. I would look down and instead of seeing my readings, it would be flashing the setup screeen. It would happen nearly every ride.

Bottom Line:

If you had asked me how I liked this computer a month ago, I would have said it was a great $12 purchase and have given it 4 or 5 chilis. However, for whatever reason it just went bonkers on me a few weeks back. Nearly every ride it just resets itself and trashes all ride and odometer data in the process. No real reason that I can figure--it didn't get wet or banged up at all. I tried cleaning it and readusting it with no luck--it's still unreliable and will randomly reset itself during most rides. I'm pretty frustrated with this computer now and will enjoy cutting it off my bike and throwing it in the trash.

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Favorite Trail:   All Cedro Peak trails

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   Walmart

Similar Products Used:   Vetta, Bell, Catseye. I'm going to try a Sigma next.

Bike Setup:   Used this computer on my homebuilt recumbent. It was used on the road only, and it was never abused.

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Submitted by William from Edgewater MD USA

Date Reviewed: August 29, 2005

Strengths:    Easy to install, Price very good. Accurate. Worked for about a year, and then the battery died.

Weaknesses:    In replacing the battery, I cannot find the instructions, and I can't figure how to set the functions without the paper.

Bottom Line:

I like the product, actually have two, but there is no Mfgr. support for recovering a copy of instructions for setting up the unit after you have replaced the battery.

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Favorite Trail:   B&A trail in AA county MD

Duration Product Used:   1 Year

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   Military Exhange

Similar Products Used:   Cateye Enduro 8

Bike Setup:   Schwinn Sierra Mountain bikes..Used on streets and bike paths.

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Submitted by Brad a Weekend Warrior from Glendale, AZ

Date Reviewed: October 28, 2004

Strengths:    cost, features, easy to read

Weaknesses:    poor sensor, very weak and thin sensor wire breaks easily

Bottom Line:

first computer worked very well no problems so I bought a second one for my treck. the second one failed to work out of the box. I exchanged pieces with the first and quickly determined it was a failed sensor. I returned it to walmart for a second one. This one worked for 2 days of street driving and it's sensor failed as well. A close inspection revealed that the sensor wires were so thin that the zip ties used to hold it to the fork cut them. Secure the wires loosely. Very doubtful this would work for anything but a street bike. I love this computer when it worked.

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Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   Walmart

Similar Products Used:   Bell

Bike Setup:   tandem, and trek

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Submitted by Boy George a Cross Country Rider from Austin, Tx, USA

Date Reviewed: July 13, 2004

Strengths:    Very accurate! Just make sure the wheel setting is set properly at the w/tire setting.

Weaknesses:    A real beeyotch to install the sensor correctly. The directions say the distance between magnet and sensor should be set to 1mm. Mine must be closer. I had to replace the magnet because the screw broke, because I had such a hard time installing it.

Bottom Line:

The price is great and it is simple to use. I checked it on a 90 miler I did and it was very accurate on all fiunctions on short and long distances.

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Favorite Trail:   Any Road

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $10.00

Purchased At:   WalMart

Similar Products Used:   none

Bike Setup:   Road bike Raleigh Marathon

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Submitted by biker a Weekend Warrior from glens falls

Date Reviewed: July 9, 2004

Strengths:    very reliable if set correctly- easy to attach- long battery life- very durable

Weaknesses:    hard to set with buttons

Bottom Line:

this is great for any rider with any type of bike. i would recommend this product for the average to expert rider. it is very accurate and very tough(water resistent and all).

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Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Price Paid:    $14.00

Purchased At:   walmart

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Submitted by Brad a Weekend Warrior from Dallas,TX,USA

Date Reviewed: August 3, 2003

Strengths:    Cheap, nice appearance, ease of use

Weaknesses:    The wire broke after one ride on my mountain bike.

Bottom Line:

I wouldn't recommend this product if you ride hard. Even though the wire is very thick, the actual connection between the wire and the unit are very weak. This product should work well for a road bike.

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Favorite Trail:   RCP

Duration Product Used:   Less than 1 month

Price Paid:    $25.00

Purchased At:   Target

Similar Products Used:   none

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Schwinn Schwinn Computer

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