Lezyne GPS

[headwind816]

My Garmin 500 is dying and very interested in your report. I know how particular you are about your equipment

[boysa]

Anything new to update? My Garmin 500, which I thought would get me to the spring, is fading fast. The buttons are finally giving up the ghost.

I am disgusted having to buy a new computer, because frankly I don't think there are any real good options. Is it so hard to make what I'm looking for? Power... basic metrics... fully customizable screens. For crying out loud, I actually found myself looking at a PC8. For a half a second.

Leaning towards a 520, but the Lezyne are much cheaper.

[spandexboy817]

I have had a lezyne power for a while now and was involved with a bunch of testing riding as I ginneau pig for them. I also have a 500 that I have had for years and works great. The lezyne one syncs up way faster to GPS signal than the garmin which is nice for starting rides and battery life is insane. Like 20+ hours out of a charge. No issues with running it with my quarq, stages, or dual sided rotor PM

Biggest downside in my opinion is the inability to scroll entire screens for tons of metrics. The 45 degree mount they use is genius as it opens up a lot of flexibility with both the stem mount and the out in front mount (mount it sideways if you want off an aero bar or stem!). It sits a lot higher than the garmin which isn't quite as sleek or sexy.

On my garmin I run a race screen, climbing screen, and then a min/max screen all with 5 metrics shown. On the lezyne I run 4 and scroll through the bottom one on only 3 other things. So it isn't quite as crazy data wise as the garmin while riding, but for half the price it has been one heck of a computer so far.

hope this helps a bit...

[Tinea Pedis]

I measured my Garmin 810 and Super GPS - mounted on a stem - and there's less than 7mm difference in stack heights. So it's nowhere near as much as it might seem in terms of it 'sticking up'.

I'm working with Lezyne and they're getting up to speed with adding the metrics they've currently missed. Great to have a cycling computer company that takes feedback on board in a positive manner.

[wojchiech]

I tried the super gps for a couple rides before I returned it for a refund. It just didn't do what I needed it for.

some shortcomings that I experienced included:

* takes relatively long to get satellite signal, usually 2 minutes or more (even standing in an open field raising it above my head [emoji38] my garmin 500 may take a minute, but rarely any longer. Not a big deal, but enough to bother
me a bit.

* maximum 4 field display. There are 3 static fields and 1 you can scroll through/change while riding and not have to go back to the setup menu. The physical screen has a fairly large display, but there is a black plastic border almost 1cm wide surrounding the lcd screen. If that border was thinner a bigger lcd could've been used, and fitting more data fields would have been easier. This was the biggest disappointment for me and the main reason I returned it. I am a bit of a data dork and enjoy seeing all the different data while riding. Unfortunately with such limited display capabilities I could not get it setup the way I wanted it to.

* unintuitive setup and menu system. Lots of nested drop down menus where a simple list menu would be better. some of the button actions also take getting used to (select/scrolling buttons on different sides)

* proprietary software/upload website that's slow and clunky. thankfuly activities are still saved as .fit files.

* bigger and clunkier physically than I thought it was. a little thinner than my garmin 500, but quite a bit longer and wider. At 76g it's heavier too, by over 20g (compared to garmin 5x0s)

* battery drainage is higher using ant+ and bluetooth. With mobile alerts enabled it eats up phone battery too - another dealbreaker for me as I always try to conserve cell phone battery in the case of an emergency especially on longer rides.

Overall the super gps was a disappointment for me. If you're looking for an affordable ant+ and bluetooth capable gps computer and don't mind limited functionality (compared to garmins) then you might like it. Otherwise Garmins are still king as far as ease of use and data profile customization.

[boysa]

Thanks for some good info, both pro and con. What I'm hearing has me leaning towards the 520.

Damn tab broke off my 500 today. It's literally falling apart as the minutes pass. I shouldn't complain... I think I've had it for 5 or 6 years.

[Tinea Pedis]

Weird because

I tried the super gps for a couple rides before I returned it for a refund. It just didn't do what I needed it for.

some shortcomings that I experienced included:

* takes relatively long to get satellite signal

* unintuitive setup and menu system. Lots of nested drop down menus where a simple list menu would be better. some of the button actions also take getting used to (select/scrolling buttons on different sides)

* proprietary software/upload website that's slow and clunky. thankfuly activities are still saved as .fit files.

* battery drainage is higher using ant+ and bluetooth. With mobile alerts enabled it eats up phone battery too - another dealbreaker for me as I always try to conserve cell phone battery in the case of an emergency especially on longer rides.

I haven't found any of these issues. As others have said, the battery life has been enormously impressive. The GPS lag is super odd.

Menu system was different. I could level the same "not intuitive" claims at Garmin too. Admittedly I still have my 810 because I too need both the additional fields it offers and the workouts function - especially given I rely on both heavily for TTs. But there are plenty of times I still get lost in their sub-menu's looking for a function not anywhere near where intuition says it should be. And that's all before you consider the 520 has (for god only knows why) rolled back the odometer for each bike profile.

Comparing to a 520 also isn't really a fair fight - the Garmin is the better part of twice the price of the Super GPS (or at least it is in Oz). Which, in fairness, you did sum that up. "Kings"? Maybe just 'been at it longer'. And still not really listening to what users want.

[boysa]

No kidding. Garmin is an awful company, IMHO. As I said, I hate buying a new computer... from them, or from anyone at this point. I think they all suck. Maybe Lezyne's entry into the market will challenge Garmin to actually produce some decent products. They certainly have the resources.

[Tinea Pedis]

In my discussions with them that is precisely the idea. The fact that I was even on Skype chatting about what was good, what wasn't. What they could improve, etc. All of that is an eternity ahead of Garmin. Who fund forums for users to log feedback (read: complaints) that they simply then ignore. Staggering.

Thankfully Australia's Garmin distributor is terrific and take up a lot of their slack.

Back to the Lezyne though. It's not ideal, yet. The resolution (on the Super at least) is capable of displaying more fields. And they're certainly looking at the option of additional pages. So give it a little time and they'll close the gap. Not helpful for someone who needs to see a pile of data and is buying right now. But if not for the TTs I actually enjoyed riding without having the usual 9 fields of metrics in my face. Oh and bluetooth upload (or simply finishing the ride and leaving the unit on the bike without having to bring in for a week to charge) is (for my unit) excellent.

[boysa]

Thanks Nick. I can do with only a few fields, so I guess my question would be if it's capable of displaying the ones I want:
1. Power (3s/10s + 30s)
2. kJ (not some random calorie generator, but actually Work)
3. Lap Time

I'd love to be able to view those four simultaneously, which is what I currently have on Garmin Screen #1 (3s/30s/Time/kJ), and on Screen #2 I have Distance, Total Time, TSS, Time of Day, and NP. I can do without Screen #2... but #1 is the essentials. Possible??

[Tinea Pedis]

You get essentially 2 fields you can set to always show. The third is the speed and fourth is a scrolling option that you can have as many or as little fields pop up as you like.

So you could set lap time and 10 sec power and have kJ as one of the scrolling fields. However it's not (at least not with the firmware previous to the latest update) generated off the PM but rather by an estimation - same as Garmin does. Not sure how to disable that and get it to run off the power meter.

[micky]

Thanks Nick. I can do with only a few fields, so I guess my question would be if it's capable of displaying the ones I want:
1. Power (3s/10s + 30s)
2. kJ (not some random calorie generator, but actually Work)
3. Lap Time

I'd love to be able to view those four simultaneously, which is what I currently have on Garmin Screen #1 (3s/30s/Time/kJ), and on Screen #2 I have Distance, Total Time, TSS, Time of Day, and NP. I can do without Screen #2... but #1 is the essentials. Possible??

Not trying to tease but a honest question; why would you need instant kJ info displayed during your ride/training?

[boysa]

For the last few weeks, I've been training with volume in mind, and in my experience, Work is a good representation of this. Also, during these rides, I like to fuel based on calorie expenditure. If I know what is going out I can judge overall effort. TSS is great, but I have found some issues with it truly providing an accurate measure (a discussion for another time!), therefore the use of kJ.

My Garmin does give me kJ based off the PM, so I like to see it. Actually, I always had it on the second screen, but with the buttons on my unit starting to wear, I moved it to the first screen so I would push them less and hopefully prolong its life.

Here's my question: why do I want to see speed? I have never looked at it once I began using power...

[boysa]

@Micky... kJ = Calories (Essentially).

FWIW, I've never seen a "calorie" metric, on Garmin or Strava or elsewhere, that is even remotely accurate. This is why it is nice Garmin does take kJ straight from my PM.

[Tinea Pedis]

Here's my question: why do I want to see speed? I have never looked at it once I began using power...

Spoke to Lezyne about that they're looking at making the speed field optional rather than fixed. Due to the exact point you raise. There are more than enough users who train via time and intensity. Speed and distance be damned.