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VDO
MC 1.0+ Cycling Computer w/Altimeter
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Submitted by
JZazzi
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area, CA
Date Reviewed: November 11, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Demo, UCSC, Mt. Hamilton | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | local bike shop | | Strengths: | -Altitude, %grade, and speed are permanently displayed. Those are three of the most useful numbers in cycling, no digging in menus to find them!
-Memory for two bikes and tire sizes (road and mountain in my case)
-Absolutely bomb proof: I once sent it through the washing machine on accident and it wasn't harmed in the least! It's been through a bunch of crashes on the mountain bike too.
-really well priced for what you get!
-big, easy to read numbers | | Weaknesses: | -sometimes have to manually calibrate absolute elevation when leaving the house, but the delta gains and %grade are always accurate. (any altimeter that uses barometric pressure and temperature will fluctuate like this, as a result of changes in local weather) The elevation changes with weather by only a hundred feet or so, it's not a really big deal and I usually don't bother recalibrating. | | Similar Products Used: | various cheaper computers without altitute | | Bike Setup: | one mounting kit on the road bike, one on the mountain bike, and a heat rate monitor next to it | | Bottom Line: | The three buttons easily separate the commonly used mileage functions, the altitude functions, and everything else. Changing settings and navigation is really simple.
Did I mention mine survived a trip through the washing machine on accident?
The build quality is top notch. I've been using mine for over 6 years now and it shows no signs of fatigue.
Get one, seriously. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TahoeBC
a Cross Country Rider
from
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Good features
Great warranty | | Similar Products Used: | AT 100 | | Bottom Line: | Just wanted to give this a big thumbs up for a great 5 year warranty and great service to back it up. They now have a presence in the US (New Hampshire). Started having some problems so I emailed them for support, got immediate feedback, was asked to mail it in, did that on a Monday, buy Thursday I got confirmation that my new computer was in the mail. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
dick52
a Racer
from san jose, ca. usa
Date Reviewed: August 19, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | hicks road | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | bikesomewhere.com | | Strengths: | many features for altitude. great for training for climbing. two odometers is a great thing to have. I love to know what grades i;m climbing | | Weaknesses: | had to warranty the transmitter after second week;they sent that out for free. Altimeter went out after 1 year and 8 months. have to spend $28 to send it back to germany for warranty repair. don't know if its worth it after one other repair | | Similar Products Used: | avocet 50. it was off about 4% on altitude | | Bike Setup: | kestrel 200sci | | Bottom Line: | after two problems, i don't think i could recommend this computer. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Roy Bloomfield
a
from Avon, CO USA
Date Reviewed: May 26, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Everything already mentioned. | | Weaknesses: | The only possible negative might be that it's a bit heavier than the units that don't have an altimeter...but that should only concern weight weenies on road bikes. | | Bottom Line: | One thing I learned while setting wheel size is to use the method of marking your front tire and the floor where they meet and moving forward through one revolution and precisely marking that spot on the floor/ground where the line on the tire hits its low point. HERE"S THE TIP: make sure you're on the bike when you try this as that pressure will change the circumference of your tire! Also, it's important to be on a uniformly hard surface, and make your line as straight as possible. My road bike tires are listed as 700x23C, which is 2133 cm (84"). When I measured without my weight on the bike I calculated 2118 cm (83 13/32"). With my weight on the bike, it measured 2103.4 cm (82 13/16")! This difference will be more pronounced with a mountain bike, given that the tires depress more than on a road bike (because of lower pressure). | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Roger Haferkamp
a Weekend Warrior
from Agoura Hills, CA USA
Date Reviewed: May 11, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Chesbro | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Somewhere | | Strengths: | Well built, accurate, altitude functions. | | Weaknesses: | Mount, fork sensor easily broken | | Bike Setup: | Mountain and road | | Bottom Line: | I got this for training for the Death Ride a few years ago. Had tried several others but this one is the best. The mount can twist off (break) if your heavy handed like me and I broke the fork mount once by tightening the zips too much. Spares are readily available. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
geoff
a Cross Country Rider
from stratford, CT
Date Reviewed: December 31, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$92.00 | | Purchased At: | BikeSomeWhere.com | | Strengths: | Accurate, loads of features, Altimeter! Case is larger and thicker than most computers, looks rugged. Bikesomewhere and ibexsports.com (importer) were great in support when i needed it. | | Weaknesses: | None, assuming you understand that extreme changes in weather will require an easy operation of resetting the barometer. Initial computer had multiple problems. | | Similar Products Used: | sigma 1200, sigma 1600 wireless | | Bike Setup: | RM XC | | Bottom Line: | This is for the wired version of the MC1. I wanted to avoid some of the finikyness that I had read about online before I bought mine. My second unit has been flawless for about a month now. With daily riding, I've only had to reset the barometer on it twice, and that was after major snow storms. I ride the same single track trails every day and see very consistent results. My first unit arrived with multiple problems, it kept erasing the settings i would enter, the altimeter would dramatically climb on it own while it rested on my desk, the first time I used it it shutdown and never came back. I emailed Bikesomewhere, they referred me to Ibexsports who called me and sent out a replacement and a call tag the same day.
I'd give it 5 chilis except for it's cost. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave
a Cross Country Rider
from Los Angeles
Date Reviewed: April 19, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$124.00 | | Purchased At: | bikesomewhere.com | | Strengths: | Multiple ways to interpret altitude gain. | | Weaknesses: | Could use a few more functions: GPS, heart rate monitor, cadence, ability to download email and play mp3s, and a police radio scanner. | | Similar Products Used: | The version Specialized put out (stolen, with my bike) - which had fewer altitude functions, and has been discontinued. Too bad, I thought it had a cleaner interface. | | Bike Setup: | Basic Stumpjumper hardtail disc. | | Bottom Line: | This is an awesome product for those who enjoy climbing. There are plenty of other functions - distance, time, etc. - but this is obviously a computer for those who enjoy getting high. So many read-outs - altitude gained, total altitude, slope percentage, average grade, etc., etc. - and so little time to read all those read-outs. That's why it's so much fun. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Logan
a Racer
from Concord, CA
Date Reviewed: March 17, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Tahoe-technical; Weaverville Basin | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | features, durability | | Weaknesses: | will pick-up electric pulse from laptop computer, and/or (VDO) speedometer in car (BMW) and begin reading computer and/or car's info as speed, inclination, etc. | | Similar Products Used: | many | | Bike Setup: | I use this computer on five bikes: two rd. and three mtb., for training and racing. each bike has it's own docking station, so I just move the computer bike to bike and go! | | Bottom Line: | Main reason for owning this unit is the altimiter. All functions work well and realiable, despite weather, trail and road conditions. If you know you're going into a race or century and can get the data -- total elevation gain, distance, etc., you can use this computer to find appropriate training rides.
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Submitted by
James
a
from Santa Rosa
Date Reviewed: March 4, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | jasper ridge | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Has everything except cadence and backlit display, accurate, light weight | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | cateye | | Bottom Line: | Mercedes uses VDO gauges because they are the best and this model is fantasic | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Emilio Jose Barrios Juarez
a Cross Country Rider
from Alcala de Henares, Madrid, SPAIN
Date Reviewed: March 1, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | Bicimania, Mammoth | | Strengths: | German technology! Giant screen. Multiple information in each screen. Very accurate info. Pretty good price. It's wireless. Good design. Lightweight. | | Weaknesses: | None so far. Maybe it could offer cadence and pulsometer info (it'be awesome then). | | Similar Products Used: | Cateye Wireless Altimeter. Cateye Cordless series computers. Topeak Panoram 17 functions wireless computer. | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Stumpjumper M4 2003 in red colour. Specialized Stumpjumper M4 2005 in yellow colour. Specialized Stumpjumper M5 (S-WORKS FRAME) 2004 in red & white colour. All of them with full Shimano XT group... | | Bottom Line: | If you're looking for a great bike computer this is one of the best so far. It shows you the usual functions with the addition of temperature, inclination, feets climbed, altitude and other useful info. I've got three and never ever any problem trust me. So congatulations for VDO and their engineers. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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