Blackburn Neuro 4.0 cyclocomputer

Price Paid:  $90.00 at TotalCycling.com

Favorite Ride:
Anything Downhill

Bike Setup:
Orbea Mitis Carbon, with Campy Chorus, and Campy wheels...

Summary:
It is an extremely well designed product, It works well after you can figure out how to sync the head to the sensor, which is covered only vaguely on the printed manual. For the complete manual you have to open the manual that is supplied on the CD. Why Blackburn chose to not to print a complete manual beats me...Set-up is relatively painless after reading the complete instructions, installation was also easy since unlike other manufacturers Blackburn supplies extra cable ties. The speed accuracy seems right on as I kept my old Cateye Vectra on my bike as well as the Neuro on the first couple of rides. The backlight function works well, and preprogrammed wheel sizes make installation easy. Cadence function works great as well, and seems to be quite accurate. My only grief is it does not turn on automatically as the system claims, although this is a minor inconvenience. The much hyped race mode is quite useless. the unit comes supplied with a bar and a stem mount but the stem mount has to be installed onto the the headset and is prone small vibrations, i solved this by simply melting the mount a little so it angles down just a little bit.

Blackburn gets 5 for value as there is nothing else within its price range that is comparable, but the user interface is a little awkward and it ships with incomplete printed manual with no reference to the said manual being incomplete!

Strengths:
Accurate, Easy set-up, backlight that actually works well, and the 4 lines of display that keeps you constantly informed. HR upgrade option.

Weaknesses:
The so called "Race Mode" just strips all the information off the unit and turns it into a timer...The stem mount is somewhat odd. Incomplete printed manual.

Similar Products Used:
Cateye Strada, Cateye Vectra, and Vetta...

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
After my August 25 posting I managed to find an online site that could get me a 2nd bike kit. They were more helpful than the Blackburn customer service reps apparently because they do quite a bit of business with Blackburn. They were given a kit part number and told that the 2nd bike kit would include the following:1 handlebar bracket, 1 stem mount, 1 crank & wheels magnet and 1 speed and cadence transmitter cable.
When I received the kit there was no bar bracket or stem mount. Upon my inquiry and the online retailer's follow up it was revealed to original information was wrong - no mounting hardware. It's interesting to note that with the kit I received there was one, red, rubber shim for the bar mounting bracket in the 2nd bike kit. It escapes me why this was included since there was nothing to use it with, i.e. a second bar bracket. It's almost as though whoever assembled the kit I received threw in some miscellaneous parts. It's just another strong indication to me along with the misinformation the online retailer received and the frustration I sensed from the customer service people I communicated with there is something wrong inside Blackburn Design. Oh, yeah Blackburn missed their mid-September availability date too. As you might imagine I won't be buying any more of their products nor would I recommend them to my friends.

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Price Paid:  $145.00 at eBay

Favorite Ride:
Anything I can cook up the mean streets on...

Bike Setup:
2008 Motobecane Fantom Cross Pro

Summary:
This is for the Neuro 6.0. It's a great computer with lots of data. It's fairly easy to setup and use. However, there are a few drawbacks, see below.

Strengths:
Lots of data. Well built. Pretty easy to use.

Weaknesses:
- Price
- Customer Service is useless
- Setup as required but Distance and Speed displayed are off (Reported 62mi on a 65mi ride).
- There is no option to re-link the heart rate monitor if you lose the link by walking too far away from your bike.

Similar Products Used:
None

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Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I recently got a Neuro 4 intending to use it on 2 bikes since it's advertised with 2 bike settings. The fly in the ointment? You can't find a second speed/cadence transmitter anywhere. Contacting Blackburn customer service yields no help in locating one what so ever. The "product manager" says a kit is available but you can't buy one. Speaking with online retailers I found out (after the fact) Blackburn is somewhat notorious for not providing accessory kits for their computers. So if you wanted to use this computer on another bike you're SOL.

Similar Products Used:
Cateye, SigmaSport, Vetta

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