Submitted by
hvmathews
a Cross Country Rider
from Miami, Florida Date Reviewed: November 24, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Oleta
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$180.00
Purchased At:
Alex Bycicles
Strengths:
None
Weaknesses:
It doesn’t work as expected. For 180 bucks you expect at least 1 or 2 years of non faulty operation, but since the beginning has been a nightmare making this piece of trash to work. The cadence sensor never worked. I have no idea who designed the sensor but “cmon men” , and that is the top of the line. CATEYE people you have lost a client and will never recommend this brand to anybody on the trail.
Similar Products Used:
Specialized
Bike Setup:
Scott Genius 30
Bottom Line:
I bought this computer because I needed something to inform me about my HB, cadence Speed, etc. It seems to be like I have to spend more on another product.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
GoremanX
a Cross Country Rider
from Ile-Aux-Noix, QC Date Reviewed: June 21, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Island Line, Burlington, VT
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$126.00
Purchased At:
eBay
Strengths:
Rock solid wireless signal, easy to install, mostly easy to read, lots of display options, keeps track of multiple sessions as "files" stored on the unit
Weaknesses:
Cheap mounting setup, sensor will not stay in place on rough rides, wheel magnet can turn out of place, goes to sleep too quickly, tiny cadence readout, way more expensive than most other models
Similar Products Used:
Generic WalMart crap
Bike Setup:
2006 Kona Hoss with upgraded brakes, pedals, stem and seat
Bottom Line:
I mostly ride to improve my health, and not knowing simple things like my current heart rate, cadence and speed makes it very hard to gauge progress from week to week. I finally decided to invest in a good cyclo computer rather than waste my time with the crappy stuff available at WalMart. I was more interested in knowing my cadence and heart rate than I was in speed, but having a speed readout is also useful.
Now with the Cateye V3, my riding efficiency has easily doubled. Knowing exactly how fast I'm pedaling and how hard my heart is going allows me to maintain an ideal pace to get the most out of every ride. The best part is the "average" readout, which gives me an average cadence, heart rate and speed for my current cycling session. This has allowed me to see the actual improvement in my performance from week to week. The unit stops calculating an average when there's no input, so long downhills without pedaling won't artificially skew the average.
Installing the sensor was super-easy, but tie-wraps are notoriously unreliable. Especially when mounting to a chainstay that's tapered. When the trail gets rough, the sensor tends to slowly slide towards the narrow end of the chainstay. I fixed this by putting a piece of 2-sided tape under the sensor mount and using stronger tie-wraps. It's not visible, and it keeps the sensor in place.
The other weakness is with the wheel magnet. It's attached on one side of the magnet, instead of right down the middle. This causes the magnet to eventually rotate toward or away from the sensor. I have to re-adjust it every time I take my bike out of the truck, because it tends to turn while I'm transporting the bike.
The wireless signal is flawless. I always get a super-accurate readout. However the unit has a tendency to go to sleep really quickly. Sometimes when I take a 5 minute break, then get back on the bike, one of the sensors will have gone to sleep without me realizing it. It's just a matter of pushing a button on the display to wake everything back up again, but it's annoying when it takes me a few miles to realize it.
So far, I'm extremely happy with this product, despite its high cost. There are still a lot of features hidden in there that I haven't made use of.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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