Looking for a comp that works when cold

Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

I've got Sigma Sport BC500's on my two road bikes (nothing fancy, just
time, speed, and distance) and they've both worked flawlessly at
temperatures down into the 40F's. "Inexpensive" is a subjective term
, but these were about $15 at the LBS.

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 21:56:22 -0500, Bluejay
wrote:

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

I've got Sigma Sport BC500's on my two road bikes (nothing fancy, just
time, speed, and distance) and they've both worked flawlessly at
temperatures down into the 40F's. "Inexpensive" is a subjective term
, but these were about $15 at the LBS.

I gave up on a BC600 (I think) because it got to where it would fail
between 30-35 F. This was after spending half the cost of a new
'puter on batteries.

Cateye Astrale is working for me so far (since February).

Pat

Email address works as is.

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 02:11:31 GMT, Werehatrack
scribbled:

Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

I've used a Vetta V100 (wired), old Cateye Velo and Cateye AT100 in
-15°F rides with no major problems. They all display slowly in that
temperature (switch to a new function and it takes a few seconds for
it to peel on) and both the Vetta and AT100 report temperatures
incorrectly (Vetta reports error under 0 and the AT100 bottoms out at
23°F) but otherwise, they work just fine. Making sure the batteries
are fairly fresh is a good idea, because when they start losing charge
things go wonky - speeds bounce and such. This isn't really specific
to any temperature or computer though, it's kind of a generality.

-Slash
--
"Ebert Victorious"
-The Onion

Werehatrack wrote:

Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

A vintage Lucas cyclometer?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

"Werehatrack" wrote in message
...
Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

I've always found Cateye computers to work well down near freezing.
Problems of slow updating display is likely due to LCD chemistry which is
unlikely to vary much between manufacturers. Batteries don't like the cold
either. I've worked on automotive electronics (down to -40 Celsius) and the
major problem is with large value capacitors (probably not used in bike
computers much, but could cause resets, lock-up, memory loss) and cheap
clock crystals (almost certainly used and would cause many problems).
You've no way of knowing what quality of components are used, but I seem to
recall most 'name' manufacturers giving at least claimed temperature ranges
for their products.

I'd go with Cateye, for what it's worth

Skippy

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 02:11:31 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote:

would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

I don't ride much below 40F, but down to that I've never seen any
problem with VDO Cytec, including the very cheap C5

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

Werehatrack wrote:
Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?

I've used various models of Cateye "Mity" over the decade (family &
off-road, too). Cheap & reliable in my experience. Work as cold as I've
ridden (below 0F).

I'm using a Planet Bike (I think it is a 9.0) and have been riding down to
about 20 F this winter and it has done fine. It's a nice little computer
and recently you could buy them for $18 or $19 on ebay.
Lyle

"Werehatrack" wrote in message
...
Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

In article
,
"Skippy" wrote:

"Werehatrack" wrote in message
...
Okay, it's no secret that I'm a frugal person in many respects, and
occasionally it bites me. Last spring, I bought a Nashbar-branded
comp (basic, wired type, nothing fancy) that turned out to have a
nasty habit. When the outside temp dropped below about 65F, the unit
became unreliable (sometimes starting up with the settings lost,
sometimes resetting during a ride), and below about 55F it just
wouldn't work at all. I suspect that they just badly overestimated
the temperature stability of the CR2032 battery's output in designing
it, and the falloff in voltage with temperature is zapping it. I
thought that it would be just a function of that specific unit, but
then I noticed that another cheapie (which may be the same one
rebranded for another retailer) was doing the same thing, although it
would tolerate a somewhat lower temp before it started to get wonky.

Anyway, does anyone know of a widely-available inexpensive unit that
doesn't display this kind of misbehavior?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

I've always found Cateye computers to work well down near freezing.
Problems of slow updating display is likely due to LCD chemistry which is
unlikely to vary much between manufacturers. Batteries don't like the cold
either. I've worked on automotive electronics (down to -40 Celsius) and the
major problem is with large value capacitors (probably not used in bike
computers much, but could cause resets, lock-up, memory loss) and cheap
clock crystals (almost certainly used and would cause many problems).
You've no way of knowing what quality of components are used, but I seem to
recall most 'name' manufacturers giving at least claimed temperature ranges
for their products.

I'd go with Cateye, for what it's worth

I do not ride in the cold. My Cateye works great. The
documentation, which I religiously file, specifies the
working environment as 0-40 C. Looks conservative.

--
Michael Press