Design, installation, HRM accurate

Reliablity? Will follow-up when new sensor unit arrives.

I was looking to upgrade my old (but reliable) Topeak Comp 150. The feature set of the 1706 is very good and the heart rate monitor sold me. Installation was simple. Design of the unit is nice and the head unit functions were not difficult to figure out with or without the instructions. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of warm up on my rollers and 2 minutes into the very first ride with it, the speed sensor (presumably) stopped working and I was getting no speed indication on the head unit. The HRM worked perfectly thoughout the ride (about an hour long that day). I stopped immediately and checked over everything..placement of the sensor, magnet, etc. Everything seemed fine. Even the flashing green test light on the sensor worked. But still no speed registered on screen. I decided to replace the batteries in the head unit and speed sensor. Same result. I could never get the speed to display. Even indoors at room temperature. I bit the bullet and ordered another speed sensor. Fingers crossed this works and it was just a faulty sensor unit. Not a great way to begin using a product I was looking forward to using as a training tool. (ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE?)

Similar Products Used:

Topeak Comp 150 wireless

*wireless
*accurate
*easily visable display
*simplicity to install, set up and use.
*does not lose signal, other computers don't interfere.
*price (under $50 now-a-days)

*Mounting system
*lack of cadence
*lack of tons of data displayed simultaniuosly (if that's what you want).

49 yr old, relatively fast rec rider, goals are to stay fit and not get (much) slower.
6th computer over past several years. 3rd with HR capability. 1st totally wireless.
Installation was simple, not a fan of mounting O rings, but make it simple to move from bike to bike. Display unit has tendency to twist side-to-side (stem mounted) when push display buttons.
Pick-up magnet for wheel may be an issue if you have bladed spokes.
Issues initialy with unit, all were remedied by installing fresh batteries.
Display type are good sized (for old eyes),the screen is not a jumble of a multitude of values in tiny type (which is the current norm). To compare, Trek display showed temp, speed, HR and time at the same time, this model displays 2 values (HR+speed in my case). If you're a data junkie (ie. avg 18.231 MPH @ 89 avg RPM @ 80 degree avg TEMP over 63.29864 MILES, this isn't the computer for you).
That being said, what it does do, it does very well. Only computer I've had that hasn't dropped a measurement because of some outside interferrence (whether another cyclist's sending unit/HR strap, power lines, etc.)
A big deal breaker for some may be this unit DOES NOT HAVE A CADENCE METER. I can approximate my RPM pretty accurately, so not an issue in my case.

If you're looking for a good quality, wireless computer with HR capabilities and don't need mega data, I'd give the Sigma a look.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano Flight Deck (wired)
CicloMaster CM628 (wired)
Trek KR (wired)