Socrates, if he had been a cyclist, might have opined, "The unexamined ride is not worth doing." He would have loved the Cycleops Joule 2.0 computer. Just as a tree falling in a forest that nobody hears doesn't make a noise, a ride not recorded doesn't impact your historic ride tracking data. And not having access to real-time ride info makes it impossible to know how you're doing.We joke. Mostly. Your "rate of perceived exertion" is most important, but having your preferred metrics at a glance can help you adjust your efforts. Is it hard or merely "hard?" How do you know this interval was easier than the last? Is this race working me over or am I overtrained? Having your most valuable metrics in sight to help confirm or deny what your feeling is incalculably valuable. Ok, it could be the difference between suffering through or pulling the plug and going home. That can be minor or save your season.CycleOps has gone a completely new direction with their Joule line. It's a computer made for the power age and is made possible thanks to ANT+. The first big thing is the Joule is not married to a PowerTap hub.The Joule 2.0 can display six categories of the 12 it has available to display. Each category has three metrics within the category. They are as follows. Power in watts and w/kg and can tell you current, average, and max. Power zone, average power zone, and max power zone. Peak power for 5sec, 5m, and 20m. WKO+ metrics: training stress score, normalized power, and intensity factor. Work measured in kilojoules, kilojoules per hour and calories. Cadence measures of current, average, and max. Heart rate measures of current, average, and max. Speed: current, average, and max. Climbing: current grade, current altitude, and total ascent. VAM: vertical ascent, current altitude, total ascent. Ride: time, distance, time of day. There are four modes or windows that can be accessed on the Joule 2.0: Menu, Dashboard mode (current ride data), reports mode, and activities mode. Activities mode can show intervals and scripted workouts.The dashboard can be changed at any time. You can set the categories you want to see before or during the ride with use of the joystick. Reports mode, aka ride history, is an amazing feature. You can use the Joule to recall all manner of completed ride data. It takes historic averages for two, four, eight week, six months, and one year. It counts and saves surges, intensity factor, normalized power, peak power, zones, and much more. Keep in mind that the Joule is a computer alone, and for Power data you mate it to any ANT+ enabled powermeter; it can sync up with the wireless Quarq and SRM crank-mounted powermeter as well as the PowerTap ANT+ powermeter. It also works with any ANT+ heart rate monitor transmitter, cadence transmitter, and speed transmitter. It doesn't, however, work with Garmin's GSC10 speed/cadence transmitter. The Joule can download to and upload from PowerTap's PowerAgent program. It is also compatible w
Strengths: The display is nice.
It's easy to use and set up.
Retrievability of data is simple and detailed.
Has altitude.
Weaknesses: None so far
Bottom Line:
I just bought a powertap sl+ last week and rode 2x's with the "stock" computer. The computer was a piece of crap in design and capability and even downloading the data wasn't that helpfull especially when it came to interval training. That's all I'll say in order to keep this review short.
So I do some research and decide to get the joule 2.0, especially after watching the videos on the Saris.com website. I rode today for the first time with the joule. It was awesome. The set up was easy and it functioned just how I wanted it to(and expected the "stock" computer to function). I rode for 2.5 hrs and did several intervals. Between intervals I could quickly retrieve the data and see how I did. Also, having six(but really eight) metrics displayed at one time(including altitude gained,etc) is nice. With the "stock" computer you can only display a few metrics, leaving valuable info hidden, not available or necessitating another computer.
I have read most of the Joule manual but still have a lot to learn about this little jewel(yah that was lame, but I'm gonna leave it). But even if I don't use another function or capability I'm happy with my purchase.
If you are going to buy a powertab hub then buy it seperately(without the crappy stock computer) and then get a Joule.
Bike Setup: I have 16 bikes in my house. All of them too $$$$$. Which one? I'm going to be on Hoarders soon. Yes, I'm sick but I'm trying to pedal my way to health; My bike is my therapist.
