The Suunto Vertical titanium solar model, as tested, is priced at £625 and is marketed as an "Adventure watch for outdoor expeditions and training." It is part of an extensive collection designed to meet the needs of various outdoor enthusiasts, whether you're cycling and need to track your time or require something more specialised for activities like scuba diving or mountaineering. Many people choose a smarthwatch over some of the best bike computers or headunits, and I personally find their permanent presence on my wrist much more useful for cycling and general activity tracking.

Looking at the range and pricing, the Vertical seems to sit in the amateur adventurer base camp, with plenty of mountain pro style vibes and lots of features.

If you’re not familiar with Suunto, they’re a Finnish brand that has been in existence for some 80 years. Its founder was credited with creating the first water-filled compass, delivering superior stability for the needle over the wobblier, fresh-air enclosed systems of the time. It also claims, rather brilliantly, that in 1939, a Finnish soldier was shot at, but the bullet hit the Suunto M-311 field compass in his pocket, allowing him to fight his way home unscathed.

Suunto also has a long-standing reputation in the mountaineering community for their watches, dating back to the pre-smartwatch era. As a result, the Suunto Vector is regarded as essential equipment by plenty of serious climbers. Its very presence on someone's wrist can help distinguish hardcore alpinists from casual tourists in some of the most remote and challenging areas of the world. As an aspiring mountain adventurer, I was therefore thrilled to trade my reliable Garmin Fenix 6, still one of the best smartwatches available, for the Suunto Vertical. I was eager to see if I could channel my inner mountain guide while cycling or tracking my Park Run.

With all that compass inventing, mountaineering cred, you’d think that Suunto knows a thing or two about both navigation and how to make outdoor kit that doesn’t break. My experience of the Suunto Vertical confirms at least one of those characteristics to be incontrovertible. The navigation on this watch is impeccable.

The map is easy to read and packed with more information than I’ll ever need, but somehow, it is still clear and a pleasure to look at in use. The GPS seems to map my movements like a Nepalese sherpa tracks the weather. The watch employs a dual-band GPS/GNSS system to communicate with all five major satellite systems, which means it really could pinpoint a truffle quicker than an Umbrian pig, and lead you back to it after you’ve finished your half-marathon. Waymarking tech makes this easy.

The AMOLED screen is bright and engaging, and the navigation and detail on the map is unsurprisingly brilliant. You do need to input and plan your routes in advance via the app. This level of control will suit people heading off on a hike, but it’s less useful for cycling. And it doesn’t name street names in the way that Garmin does. Perhaps that’s just clutter if you’re hiking up a mountain, but it’s handy if you’re riding around French villages on a bike.

With navigation out of the way, on the second question, is it tough enough, it is best imagined best through the tale of the soldier. Through that lens, I’d rate the Suunto’s ability to make kit that won’t break as ‘pretty good’ in the case of the Vertical, but I wouldn't trust it to stop a bullet. There’s fewer edges and gaps in the titanium casing than an equivalent Garmin, which adds to the sturdy feel, but the strap feels less connected to the main body of the watch. I pulled it off a couple of times on doorways. My Garmin, in contrast, shares the 22mm wide strap dimensions, but a taper in the rubber from the hinge to the strap adds some welcome bulk where it feels like it’s needed. I've never bothered a Garmin strap in that way.

Despite some small reservations on the robustness, the design is very smart and notably Finnish. The titanium case is finished in a matte, military-style hard-anodized grey, with neon ‘hi-vis’ dots stamped on profiled castellated switch housings to help you find the buttons in lower light.

The sapphire crystal glass looks great too and the screen has taken plenty of knocks, and hasn’t picked up any scratches since I’ve been using it. The body hasn’t fared so well, and there are a few fine scratches in the anodised body, but nothing serious. It’s worn in well in that sense, and I like it like that. It's certainly not scruffy.

If looking like a Navy Seal on a day off, however, is most important to you with a watch like this, there are more ‘rugged’ looking models in the range and available from competitors. The Vertical is more Bear Grylls than Barry Blanchard: more Audi all-road, less Snatch Land Rover. Despite it’s 49mm case size, it somehow manages to look more compact and certainly sleeker than a 47mm Garmin Fenix 8.

Whilst you won’t necessarily look like you’re captaining the Sea Shepherd wearing this particular choice, it surely looks like it’s built for an adventure and it’s clearly not just a fashion time piece. It does have plenty of other interesting and downright useful features too that give the on-piste or off piste adventurer that satisfying internal confidence that you could indeed kill your dinner if you wanted to, or hack it off the grid for a couple of nights, with techy features such as sleep tracking, heart rate variability, blood oxygen sensors, altimeters, a barometer, and almost everything you might find on the very best sports watches. For Navigation it all works as reliably as a Trangia, on or off-line, whether you’re at Base Camp or Ikea, providing you plan your routes and make sure you have maps in advance.

It’s easy to pair with accessories too, and the app, whilst not as granular as Garmin’s app, or as interesting in use, is clean, clear and bug-free.

It’s not all free solo straight to the North Face, however. The UX is a little baffling at first; I found it wholly frustrating to start with, but once you’ve got used to it and are driving it with the touch screen and side buttons, it’s actually straightforward. You should have, figuratively speaking, rope-free operation in no time at all.

The touch screen is your primary navigation device most of the time, but it doesn’t really work when you’re sweaty. Stop and go, lap and pause, when in an activity mode, are controlled by real buttons on the side too, so you can still manage the functions you need when you’re blowing a gasket during, or at the end of an effort. I find Garmin slightly easier, but that might be a personal choice.

You get a ton of options on the strap colour, and whilst I haven’t needed any, spares ample are available. As mentioned I have pulled the strap off on a couple of occasions, which I’ve never done with my Garmin, but it went back on ok and didn’t cause me problems. I'm particularly heavy on kit and a little clumsy, and it's only come away when I’ve really caught the watch and hooked it up on a door frame or suchlike, and I don’t think it’s a weakness in the product. Some watches come with much beefier straps if you work outside regularly or are just hard on kit.

Battery life is insanely good, with solar harvesting on or off. It far exceeded my expectations, and this must be the best in class, despite my endless scrolling to test every function and running the system pretty hard, navigating, paired to headphones and heart rate monitors.

For cycling, whilst I’ve already mentioned Garmin’s mapping system might have an edge when it comes to out-of-the-box readiness, or marked street names, I found it excellent for tracking routes on rides or workouts. Better at accuracy than my Garmin head unit, in fact, which was especially notable on my own home loops where I wasn’t relying on either and able to keep tight tabs on the results when back home.

If you prefer to wear a watch rather than take a head unit when on the bike, it does an excellent and unobtrusive job of recording your key stats and routes, in addition to doing all the other things a good sports watch does.

Where this watch falls down, even against my now ageing Fenix 6, is in heart rate monitoring. It regularly informed me I was running with an average heart rate of over 200 beats per minute, and it wasn’t a glitchy or fleeting reading either; it seemed insistent. I had to stop and count to reassure myself, because that’s certain death at the Park Run at my age, or at least a sign of tachycardia, so getting that news from my watch halfway round isn’t good for your PB.

The fact that I’m not in cardiac arrest and still here is yet more evidence that wrist-mounted heart rate monitors cannot always be trusted as harbingers of doom, and whilst not all of them even do a satisfactory job, this one is shocking at predicting imminent death or tracking zones.

It was at least consistently shocking. So, if you allow for a power meter that is always out, you might manage, but you will need to budget for a heart rate monitoring chest or arm strap for serious exercise tracking.

I switched to a heart rate chest band to check and found the readings to be quite out of whack at times, with no alerts. I also ran both the Suunto and the Garmin watch in the same activities to compare, and it was stubbornly less accurate.

With Chinese brand Coros and others already snapping at the heels of market leaders, like Garmin, with seemingly newer, better sensors for blood oxygen, heart rate, and even new and accurate ECG measurements, Suunto will need to address this in future developments just to keep up. Garmin and Coros have the edge here for now. Although both lag behind the Suunto on aspects of navigation.

Verdict and Value

The Suunto lives up to its billing as an adventure watch for exercise, looks smart on your wrist, and is easy to use. I tracked everything with it, including paddleboarding, and it covers all the main features, doing enough to gamify almost anything and provide some data to play with. As a device for navigating the High Alps, the endless battery life and excellent navigation are demonstrably pro-level, and I’d be surprised if there’s better available. Still, I didn’t test it in that extreme environment.

If you're looking for the ‘right brand’ to go explore the mountains, or just add to your cosplay mountaineer wardrobe, this option has many merits and serves as a lovely alternative to the far less well-made or tactile Asian options, while offering a classier look than a Garmin and at a slightly lower price than something like the Fenix E.

It’s a good choice for a cycling and multi-activity watch. And perhaps an excellent choice for mountaineering. But, it’s not the rugged-looking, full-beard and frostbite-looking timepiece you might need when bragging about your off-piste excursion after the ski holiday. Which is a shame, as I did want to be the ‘Suunto Guy’ next time I’m in Dick’s Tea Bar.

There is rarely much to criticise about Garmin's market-leading Edge GPS computers, but one aspect that occasionally comes under fire is battery life. Most units will get you through an imperial century, including navigation and cake stops – and will have plenty to spare even if your legs don't.

But what about if you're looking to step that usage up a level – multi-day trips and even bikepacking adventures into the wild? Even in the latter case you can of course use a power bank (standard issue kit for bikepackers), but if you can do away with having to worry about your head unit running out of juice at an inconvenient moment, that's another layer of stress dealt with.

After all, nobody wants to be digging through their frame bags and messing around with cables and chargers unnecessarily – especially when they're exhausted.

While I personally have not used this item (though I've used and owned a few other Garmin Edges), somebody who definitely has is my brother and colleague Steve. He's a self-confessed ultra-riding addict who owns the unit himself, and has raved about it both publicly and privately.

He used the 540 Solar on events including the Southern Divide, Great British Escapades and the Cotswold 200.

With it being so well discounted this Black Friday weekend I asked him to let me have a few thoughts on it – and it left me wondering whether it's pretty much all the GPS unit anyone will ever need.

"The Garmin 540 Solar has been front and centre of my cockpit set-up for the past two years," he said. "I'm not sure if it's a result of its solar powered credentials (I'm in the UK after all) but this headset seems to go on and on... and on.

"I think I saw it run out of battery once but this was pushing beyond any reasonable boundaries – 38 hours into an ultra-endurance schlep [told you he loved his ultra riding] when, as well as taking it care of the usual power, heart rate and distance readings, it was also assigned map reading duties, which is another area it has shone.

He concluded: "So if you want good battery life and a very capable navigator, I would be looking no further than this little gem."

That 38 hours he mentions is the equivalent to more than five seven-hour days in the saddle, which would presumably mean you could take it on a long weekend of riding without having to charge it at all.

To hear Steve and me chatting about his Southern Divide experience, check out our Going Long podcast.

And Steve isn't the only CW writer who waxed lyrical about the 540 Solar. Tech writer Aaron Borrill called it "the finest cycling computer I've ever used", adding: "Its diminutive size, coupled with its intuitive operation, is just one of the features I can't go without, but it's the impressive battery life that I genuinely appreciate."

Last year, GPS sports watch manufacturer Coros burst onto the cycling market with its first cycling computer. First spotted by us at Unbound Gravel, the Coros Dura made a splash with its astonishing 120+ hour battery life and attractive $250 price tag. Could this be the long-awaited competitor to Garmin and Wahoo?

After seven months of using the Dura, we’re ready to make a verdict.

Who’s Coros

Founded in 2016, Coros is a relatively new player in the sports technology industry, but it was quick to make a name for itself with its high-performance sports watches. Endurance athletes embraced the brand, drawn to the products’ lightweight yet robust design, advanced features, powerful training tools and exceptional battery life.

Coros’ growing product lines of wearables include various watches, a heart rate monitor (which I personally use and highly recommend), a range of workout sensors, and its first and possibly one of the best bike computers. As Coros expands its product range, it’s gradually creating a comprehensive ecosystem in which all the products work seamlessly together – not unlike the big players, Garmin or Wahoo.

"We have often been asked when we would create a bike computer. While we have always been passionate about cycling, we didn't want to develop a new head unit without creating something different," the brand states.

Meet the Dura

With the Dura, Coros aimed to supply athletes with "the ultimate cycling adventure and training companion" and has specifically set out to serve gravel racers, FKT chasers, brevet riders and ultra-long-distance adventurers.

The unit is sleek yet sturdy, the battery life is best-in-class, it sports all the basics one would expect from a GPS cycling computer, and all Coros consumers get access to the brand’s robust training platform.

"Simplicity is the guiding principle for the new bike computer. Coros has prioritised rider experience by addressing multiple pain points," the brand states. "From seemingly endless battery life to using Google Maps for navigation, to lightning-fast upload speeds and much more."

Overview

• Product name: COROS DURA
• Size: 99.5 x 60.8 x 15.7mm (3.92 x 2.39 x 0.62 inches)
• Weight:  98g head unit,  44g mount 
• Mount: standard quater-turn mount
• Sleek, aerodynamic design 
• Price: $249 / £249 / EUR 289
• Battery size: 960 mAh battery
• Battery life: 120 hours excluding solar (70 GPS hours in Dual-Frequency mode)
• Solar add: 1 hour of direct sunlight adds up to 2 hours of extra ride time 
• Battery charges fully in as little as 2 hours
• Screen: 2.7 inch MIP color touch screen with 240 x 400 pixel resolution
• Additional operation via a dial on the side and Back/Lap button

What is can do

• Battery life: 120 hours excluding solar (70 GPS hours in Dual-Frequency mode)
• Solar add: 1 hour of direct sunlight adds up to 2 hours of extra ride time 
• Battery charges fully in as little as 2 hours
• Youch screen and dial/button operation
• Onboard sensors: barometric altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, temperature sensor
• Storage capacity: 32GB
• Working temp: -20 C (-4F) to 60C (140F)
• Adaptive backlight
• Bluetooth/ANT+/WiFi connectivity
• Dual-Frequency GPS (L1+L5)
• Auto GPS mode: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, Beidou, QZSS
• IP67 water resistance
• Turn by Turn navigation
• Real-time elevation climb feature
• Bike alarm
• Live tracking
• Strava segments
• Notifications
• Third-party app syncing
• In-app route builder
• App-based rerouting
• Guided workouts
• Free workouts and training plans available in app and desktop platform
• Together with a COROS watch, the ecosystem offers a 24/7 profile of your fitness and training status incl. Sleep, HRV and Daily Stress data

What it can't do (yet)

• Detailed mapping i.e. Street names or POI on device maps
• Weather, Wind data
• On-device rerouting

Long-term ride review

When Cycling Weekly received its pre-release units in June 2024, Coros promised frequent software updates, and the brand has certainly delivered. Coros has consistently rolled out updates that have significantly enhanced the Dura. Key improvements include the Real-Time Elevation Profile (essentially a “climb” feature), navigational improvements, Strava Live Segments, and more.

While many companies tout software updates, few follow through with the consistency as Coros has. The company has made a clear effort to keep the Dura evolving, so any critiques you read here today could very well be addressed six months from now, which is actually a great selling point. Already, many of my initial gripes about the unit have been addressed, including compatibility with Ride with GPS, turn-by-turn navigation and a real-time climbing feature.

For those who haven’t seen the Dura in person yet, the unit is pleasantly sleek and light for a computer boasting such a big battery life. For comparison, the Dura is smaller than a Garmin Edge 1040 and more similar to the Hammerhead Karoo but thinner. It certainly bucks the trend of tablet-size units like the latest Wahoo.

A solar panel makes up about a third of the front screen with a 2.7-inch MIP colour touchscreen below it. For those who prefer tactile controls, the side of the device includes a button and a large dial. The dial on the side of the unit is a nod to the brand's watch heritage. In wristwatches, this knob is called a crown and traditionally had the essential function of setting the time and winding the watch. The 'crown' on the GPS cycling computer allows you to navigate the unit's settings and pages.

There is always a learning curve when switching to a new ecosystem of products, and I recommend users take some time getting to know the Dura and the companion app, especially. A lot of the device's settings and customisations are accessed via the app and can't be accessed via the unit itself.

Battery Life

The battery life is every bit as impressive as its claims. None of the other GPS cycling computers currently on the market come even close.

Like Garmin's solar products, the battery operates independently from the solar panels – the solar panels merely extend the battery life rather than recharge the battery. Coros claims that an hour of direct sunlight can add up to two hours of ride time.

Previously, I would never set out for a ride with my Garmin or Wahoo computer at 5% battery life, but with the Dura, 5% gives you a full day of riding.

Even with several sensors paired, navigation running and the backlight always on, I’ve gotten at least 100 riding hours out of the unit.

The Screen & Activity Pages

The Dura powers up very quickly. And, when not in use, it enters sleep mode instead of shutting down completely, enabling it to blink on instantly when needed—much like a smartphone.

The Dura sports a decently-sized colourful display –though lacking in both size and graphics compared to, say, the latest Hammerhead Karoo. It’s basic yet perfectly legible.

The Dura supports several activity profiles (i.e. road, mountain, gravel, and indoor), guided workouts, and customisable pages, which are easy to set up via the app. Each page is customisable with anywhere from two to nine data fields, per your liking.

You can toggle through the menus using the touch screen or the dial. I find the dial a tad sensitive, but conversely, the touch screen can be agonisingly slow at times – especially when you’re trying to zoom in or out on the map screen.

The unit’s menu is pretty basic, but that’s not a bad thing. Some computers these days are so overly feature-packed that it’s easy to get lost. Moreover, the majority of users will never even touch the advanced features. With the Dura, the core functionalities like your routes, training pages and accessories are easily accessible.

Accessories:

The Dura will allow you to connect an impressive 16 different devices via Bluetooth or ANT+, which is more than the average consumer will need. This may be your heart rate monitor, power meter, electronic groupset or radar. The pairing process is done with the device itself and is quick and easy. And when you pair your Coros watch, it will automatically pull your heart rate data from the watch so you don’t have to wear an additional heart rate monitor.

The Dura allows button control, meaning that you can toggle through the activity pages using your electronic shifter’s bonus button. But for me, the main reason I pair my electronic groupsets with a cycling computer is to be alerted when my batteries are running low. With other computers, a clear alert will pop up to notify me of any low batteries; however, the Dura has failed to notify me. I can, however, look up the battery status via the accessories page.

Training with the Dura

Coros products are complemented by a robust training platform, which is accessible via the mobile app and the desktop Training Hub. It is free for device users and enables athletes to analyse performance metrics, communicate with a coach, create personalised workouts and training plans, and more. It's like having TrainingPeaks included with your watch or cycling computer purchase.

The Dura can guide you through structured workouts, which can be imported via the App. You can build your own workouts in the Coros app or import them from a compatible third-party training app like TrainingPeaks, Strava or Intervals.icu. You can even do a guided indoor FTP test straight from the device without needing to import a workout.

Throughout the workout, the computer will show unique charts visualising your workout data like power, speed, heart and cadence data.

Over time, the Dura will calculate and update your training zones, training load and recovery time. I’ve found that the data is most accurate when your devices are all in the same ecosystem, drawing in data from both a wearable (watch) and computer-based activity.

Navigation

Navigation is the sticky point for me when it comes to the Dura. Sure, it supports turn-by-turn navigation and will get you to where you need to go –most of the time– but it’s very basic. The device’s map is a plain network of lines. No street names, no Points of Interest, no distinction between a street, a gravel path or a dead-end alleyway.

And should you misjudge, turning right after 145 feet instead of the asked-for 151 feet, the Dura takes too long to take note, at which point you’ll probably have to reroute and that is where the Dura lost me as a user.

For a product targeted at the more adventurous of cyclists, my biggest concern lies in its rerouting abilities or, rather, its limitations.

The Dura is one of the few computers in its class that does not have on-device rerouting abilities. Instead, it relies on the app and cellular connection.

Coros claims, "If you change your mind mid-ride, search for new destinations on your phone or draw a new route, Coros Dura will sync the updated route in seconds."

This means that at any time, you must have your smartphone on, the Coros app connected to your device and running in the background, and be within cell phone reception.

This reliance on the phone app to route or re-route on the fly may work in a city, but it falls short in the remote settings most gravel and adventure cyclists find themselves in.

"The thinking here is that *most* of the time when you need this kind of rerouting assistance, you're in a more dense urban environment with multiple routes to the same destination (where you're likely to have cellular coverage)," Coros told Cycling Weekly. "Conversely, when you're out in the backcountry or in more rural areas where you might not have cellular coverage, it's usually pretty simple to find your way back on route by looking at the map if you make a wrong turn."

This has not worked for me. More than once, I have found myself in a remote area, far away from any civilisation, on a gravel road that had some obstruction –a landslide, active logging or a dead-end– that Google Maps was not aware of. With no cellphone reception and nothing but some identical-looking lines on the device’s basic map, it was impossible to determine which trail was going to take me where I needed to go.

Even in the land of reception, I don’t fully trust the rerouting ability. Coros' navigation is powered by Google Maps rather than OSM Cycle, which prioritises paved, known and well-trafficked roads. This information tends to be car-centric and not always safe for cyclists. I discovered this when, in testing, a reroute sent me up a four-lane, high-speed thoroughfare without so much as a shoulder instead of the quiet neighbourhood streets nearby.

The good news is that most users will never run into any rerouting problems – either because you won’t need to deviate from your course because you’re following a tried-and-true route, you know your riding area well, or you’re in a populated area with good cell signal. However, the lack of on-device rerouting is a deal breaker for me. This is frustrating because the battery life is exactly why the Coros would be such a great gravel and endurance cycling computer. But when exploring the groads less travelled, I just don’t trust the device enough to rely on it.

Value & Verdict:

Garmin and Wahoo have long dominated the GPS cycling computer space, so the emergence of a competitor is a welcome development. For the $249/£249 price tag, the Coros Dura is tough to beat. If you’re looking for a GPS cycling computer with all the basic features in a sleek, lightweight package that requires little charging, this could very well be it.

As of yet, the Dura’s features may be too basic to convince current Garmin or Wahoo users to jump ship – unless, of course, they’re wanting the multi-day battery life. Still, if you don't need any advanced features, I'd maybe even pick the Dura over the similarly priced Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2. The Dura has a bigger screen, a more user-friendly interface and better battery life. Coros’ training platform and frequent software updates add value as well.

The currently slow-to-respond touchscreen and low-quality mapping are small pain points that Coros may address in its next software updates. My main drawback is the Dura’s limited navigation and rerouting abilities. Without on-device rerouting, I would caution the more adventurous cyclists who often find themselves off the beaten path.

While the best choice for recording or routing a ride is likely one of the best bike computers, a smartwatch, such as Coros Vertix 2S, can be a versatile alternative.

It makes an attractive proposition, not only because it can be used for other activities, such as running, swimming or even climbing, but it will continue to track performance metrics throughout the day and night.

The construction

The Vertix 2S has a solid, industrial look to it, exemplified by its titanium build and the two chunky buttons set either side of its oversized, robust looking crown. The crown, which both rotates and acts as a third button, can be twirled and pressed to navigate through menus and switch screens during activities.

The main function of the top button is switching the backlight on and off. The bottom button scrolls through daily metrics – steps, current heart rate, calories and so on – that are available when the watch isn’t recording an activity. It also acts as a ‘back’ button when navigating through menus and can record a ‘lap’ function during activities.

The sapphire glass watch face is a responsive touchscreen, a feature of many of the best smartwatches for cycling. Swiping up and down scrolls you through screens and menus, while tapping acts like the press on a phone screen or the click of a computer mouse. The controls are intuitive to use, but I did find the sheer bulk of the Vertix 2S on my wrist – it’s a full 50mm wide and 16mm deep – did take a bit of getting used to.

Coros has developed a companion smartphone app for syncing, displaying metrics, customising the watch face and integrating data with platforms such as Strava and TrainingPeaks. Pairing is simply a case of scanning a QR code that’s displayed on the watch face.

Watch face, display and activity screens

The 280 x 280 pixel LCD display is bright, clear and very easy to read – even when heaving your bike up a hill or running for a finish line. The watch face and data screens can be customised almost endlessly via the Coros app, which means setup takes a little time and experimentation. The benefit is that you’re served only the information that you want to see – useful when we typically only have a fraction of a second to glance at a watch while riding.

The ride

The Vertix 2S boasts a multitube of sport modes, including some seemingly niche activities such as bouldering, flat water, jump rope [skipping rope] and multi-pitch climbing. Of course, we’re interested in the bike mode, which is designed to ‘record, track and analyse data for your outdoor rides’ (there’s an indoor bike mode too).

Bike mode supports basic interval training, including settings for interval time, distance, warmup and cool down. A recent release means that, with the help of a power meter, it can establish your FTP too. The watch is equipped with an optical heart rate monitor, which includes an electrocardiogram sensor, and will communicate with third party bands over Bluetooth but not ANT+. This enables it to record and/or calculate a myriad of fitness metrics, such as heart rate, stress, VO2 Max, training mode, intensity, recovery and so on, bringing in on a par with top-tier watches from Garmin, Suunto and Polar.

Navigating with the Vertix isn’t so impressive. GPS accuracy is very good but the maps lack detail, such as place names, and if you deviate from your chosen route the Vertix isn’t smart enough to re-route you. A significant issue for fast moving cyclists.

Battery life appears to be a Coros forte. With standard GPS on there’s enough juice to last an astonishing 118 hours. In daily use, without GPS but with sleep tracking enabled the Vertix 2S will run for 40 days. Typically, I recharged the watch before I reached these limits but I don’t doubt Coros’s claims.

Specs

• Dimensions: 50.3 x 50.3 x 16mm
• Display Size: 35.6mm
• Display Resolution: 280 x 280 pixels
• Colours: 64
• Display Type: Touch Screen Always-On Memory LCD
• Materials: Sapphire Glass touchscreen. Titanium body
• Connectivity: Bluetooth
• GPS: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS

Unless you’re in a cyclocross race and expecting to change your bike multiple times during, a handlebar-mounted bike computer will almost always be a better choice for recording bike rides than a wristwatch. Indeed, for me, I have used the Coros Pace 3 smartwatch more often for running and swimming than I have for cycling.

However, this review isn’t about the general merits of using a smartwatch for cycling, it’s about how this specific watch performed: in short it’s done very well across a range of activities.

This watch is certainly one of the best smartwatches for cycling that I have used.

Coros Pace 3: First impressions

The first thing I noticed, once the smartwatch was out of the box and on my wrist, was just how comfortable it is. The back of the body protrudes much less than other watches I have used, with the heart rate monitoring part completely smooth and the charging point recessed so as to not dig into your wrist.

The key thing that makes it so comfortable, however, is the nylon strap. Soft against your skin and with a ‘velcro’ fastening that allows for minute adjustment, no more slightly-too-tight or slightly-too-loose that comes with a hook and hole strap.

The comfort is boosted by the fact that the smartwatch weighs in at just 29g.

Coros Pace 3: Watch face

If I’ve counted correctly, there are 250 watch face options – plus, if that’s not enough, there’s a ‘custom’ choice where you make your own. The saying ‘too much of a good thing’ comes to mind.

I panic-scrolled through wondering which to choose. I was pleased to spot a ‘Mondrian’ option and with La Vie Claire’s kit in mind, I went for it. A good choice I reckon: it’s easy enough to read when not doing an activity, then the activity screens are a different proposition anyway.

Coros Pace 3: Activity screens

This is where I have applied the most customization to the watch. Although the defaults are fine, I have played around with what metrics show on each screen and which are given priority – as in which show largest at the top of the screen.

I do a lot of cross training, and I recently took part in a running event and all I really wanted to see was my pace at any given moment and my average pace to that point. I set these as the largest metrics on two consecutive screens, which I could easily flick between with one nudge of the toggle wheel in either direction.

After amending the screens in this way on the running setting, I also played around with those on the cycling setting to better suit what I knew I’d be looking for, which is usually distance and time of day.

This level of adjustability was very welcome and something I think shows the Coros Pace 3’s high usability as it can be a completely different watch from one user to the next, suiting both very well for how they use it.

Coros Pace 3: Buttons

I’ve alluded to the buttons already, above, but to explain further: the smartwatch has just two. Top right is a dual function button that can click in – for example to start or pause an activity – but it is also the scrolling wheel which will get you through all the menus. Bottom left is a simple click button that works as a ‘back’ or ‘cancel’ button to get you out of a menu and it also serves to click through the metrics on the standby home screen – for example, heart rate and steps.

I found this two button (plus a scrolling wheel) operation to be very simple and extremely effective. With fewer buttons there are fewer ways to press the wrong button: many times I have ‘lapped’ on my Wahoo Rival when just wanting to see a different screen. User error and a repeated mistake, so maybe I should just learn, but with the Coros it’s not a risk.

The scrolling wheel top right button also acts much the same way as the lock button on an iPhone: you have to press and hold it to unlock the features of the watch beyond merely those shown on the standby screen. This means you’re unlikely to find you’ve recorded a drive as a run as a result of mashing the buttons.

Coros Pace 3: Health tracking

Running in the background, the watch records a number of health metrics.

On my watch (set by the watch) these are: calories burned, active time, steps, floors, running fitness [I assume this is intuitive as I use the watch most often for running, others may find this is specific to their most used activity setting], training load performance, recovery score (%), heart rate, sleep tracking, elevation, sunrise/sunset, HPA [barometric/atmospheric reading], temperature. 

Each can be clicked into for further details and many can be scrolled back through to see how they’ve fluctuated over a recent timespan.

In truth I don’t pay much attention to these, I'm far keener on knowing how fast I’ve done a Park Run or how far I’ve cycled, but the comprehensive range of stats is certainly good for those who like to arbitrarily count steps or have the tiredness they're feeling confirmed by a smartwatch.

Coros Pace 3: Battery life

The watch is fairly new and so this factor could reduce over time, like with any electronic device, but the Coros will be starting from a very high point as the battery life is excellent. I think I’ve charged it twice in about six weeks.

Admittedly, I haven’t worn it for any all day rides – perhaps 50km tops – but I wear it day and night, run 20km a week with it, swim once or twice, and record plenty of walks. The percentage creeps down slowly and I’m never concerned that it won’t reach the end of an activity that I’m recording for no one to see on Strava.

Coros is keen to push this feature of the watch, saying it has “a longer battery life of 38 hours of continuous GPS tracking or 24 days of continuous daily use.”

Coros Pace 3: Cycling

Already I have perhaps swerved too far into talking about running (and there’s more to come on that), but this is Cycling Weekly so I’d better mention how the watch performs when recording bike rides.

As stated earlier, I am firmly of the position that the best way to record a bike ride will always be with a handlebar mounted bike computer. However, comparing like-for-like – that is comparing the Coros Pace 3 with other wrist-worn smartwatches and not against head units – this watch is very good.

The clear and easy to read display helps when you want to glance quickly and see how far you’ve ridden, or to check your heart rate and the gradient as your rear tire starts to lose transaction on a ridiculously steep ascent on smooth chalk.

A quick nudge of the scrolling wheel takes you to the next screen to show you whatever it is you’ve chosen to prioritize. That might be distance if aiming for a weekly target, speed when seeing how fast you’re going into a headwind or simply the time of day when you know you’re due to be heading home – it’s all there and easy to read.

Coros Pace 3: Running

My use of the watch for running has been mentioned ad nauseam to this point and best summed up in the ‘activity screens’ section above. 

But to reiterate, the watch is very comfortable when on your wrist so does not act as a distraction or performance hindrance when pushing for a 5km PB. It’s easy to use thanks to simple functionality, so the scrolling through and viewing of metrics when your vision goes blurry with 1km to go is still possible.

It accurately and rapidly gains GPS coverage, so there’s no waiting around on the doorstep before getting started (come on, anyone with a Strava account has done this at some point). This is due to what Coros says is “a redesigned All Systems satellite chipset with optional Dual Frequency that will keep your GPS data accurate, even in the most challenging circumstances, like high-rise cities or deep within the forest.”

I’ve run through some pretty thick woodland and I would agree this is the case. I can’t account for manmade structures to the same extent, thankfully there aren’t too many high-rises in my illustrious capital city: Newport, Isle of Wight. When I next venture over to England I’ll see how the watch copes with buildings over five stories.

Set the screens to suit what you know you’ll want to see and the watch is faultless for running, in my opinion.

Coros Pace 3: Swimming

Unlike its ability when it comes to running, the smartwatch is left a bit wanting when it comes to swimming – which might be irrelevant for the vast majority of cyclists, but the benefits of cross training for cyclists are well documented.

In two key areas I have found the watch below par when using it for swimming.

The first is its overzealous and premature announcements of distance: when no more than halfway up the fourth length, with about 85m done, the watch will beep, buzz against your wrist and possibly light up to announce that you have completed the latest 100m. This is irritating in the moment (I’m sure it can probably be turned off, but why is it happening at all?) and also adds to my queries about accurate recording of pace.

Which leads me on to my other main gripe: the average pace, given as time per 100m, doesn’t always seem right for how the swim felt. I’m yet to be convinced of its accuracy, especially when not manually pausing at the end of a ‘set’, but I intend to continue monitoring this factor.

Coros Pace 3: App

The iOS app, which you use to choose watch faces and edit activity screens, continues the theme of high usability.

It's simple and does what it needs to. Syncing activities is quick and easy, and if you've approved access these will go to third party sites such as Strava immediately and without trouble.

There are plenty of features in the app you could really delve into, such as the calendar and metrics that can also be viewed on the watch as mentioned earlier, but for me it was simply a vehicle for transferring data to Strava.

The app notifies you when it or the watch needs updating.

Coros Pace 3: Features I haven’t used yet

‘Follow Your Own Path’ – this is a “suite of powerful tools” which includes breadcrumb navigation and turn-by-turn alerts. Definitely something I’d look to make use of if running somewhere unfamiliar, especially if I can use routes from RideWithGPS.

Music playback – this is something I have less than zero interest in using. I never run or cycle with music.

New activity modes – there are loads, some of which (hiking for example) I have used. It’s good to know they’re there when I might need them, but I don’t think I’ll be using a skipping rope soon or going stand up paddle boarding in the winter months.

Coros Pace 3: Value and conclusion

At $229 / £219 the Coros Pace 3 is similarly priced to the Wahoo Elemnt Rival, while Garmin's sprawling range of watches and fitness trackers has plenty of options near to this price. I would suggest the Coros compares very favourably to these leading brands, which themselves obviously make very good products.

I think this price is reasonable when compared to market rivals and very reasonable for how the watch performs. It’s easy to use, comfortable, the GPS is fast and accurate, the battery life is excellent – the watch is a couple of tweaks away from being pretty much perfect.

The updates the Garmin Forerunner 255 received were huge when it launched in 2022, putting it up there in functionality terms virtually on a level with the best smartwatches for cycling, including its big brother the Forerunner 955 as well as the Fenix 7 and Epix 2.

Most obviously it still lacks mapping, but it does use the same multi-band GPS for activity tracking as the more expensive Garmin watches and it has the same wrist-based heart-rate monitor, enabling the same health monitoring that includes sleep monitoring, heart rate variability, training stress and VO2max estimates.

The hardware is more basic than the top watches - there’s no touchscreen or AMOLED display. It’s Garmin’s usual five buttons, a familiar system that nevertheless works very well, and a memory-in-pixel transflective LCD display.

The plastic bezel feels cheaper but makes the watch lighter than a metal one, helps it stay put on the wrist and I found actually improves the performance of the wrist-based heart rate monitor (HRM) compared to the Epix 2.

‘Forerunner’ is the historical name for the series - but to be clear this watch has full cycling capability - including pairing with all your sensors and a lot more besides. Let’s take a closer look.

Garmin Forerunner 255: construction

The Garmin Forerunner 255 (both standard and Music versions) comes in two casing sizes - 46mm and 41mm. For the display that means 1.3in and 1.1in. Both sizes cost the same.

The bezel, which is made from fibre-reinforced polymer (i.e. plastic) makes the watch very light at 49g for the bigger size and 39g for the smaller one.

The low weight makes it comfortable to wear 24/7, as you must do if you want to benefit fully from the health tracking features.

The silicone strap has a small amount of stretch and closely spaced holes so that you can get exactly the right fit for your sports activities, ensuring the watch doesn’t move around for optimal HRM accuracy.

The familiar five Garmin buttons are straightforward and intuitive. Some users prefer them even with touchscreen Garmin watches - and in any case sports activities are best done with the touchscreen disabled.

The display, behind Garmin’s Gorilla Glass, is the MIP (memory in pixel) type, which has a muted look compared to brighter iPhone-style AMOLED displays - something the Epix 2 has.

However, Garmin has just launched the Forerunner 265, which has an AMOLED touchscreen and costs $449 / £429, so if you want the brighter, more colorful display and the touchscreen, you’ll have to pay a bit extra. Is it worth it? I would say yes, it is worth paying extra for a brighter, crisper, more readable and more attractive display. You’re going to be looking at it very frequently, so for me it has to be something I like looking at. And a touchscreen is faster and more convenient.

Setup and operation

If you’re already a Garmin user you’re in luck - once you’ve paired the 255 with Garmin Connect on your smartphone you’ll be able to view all your historical sports and health data - training status, VO2max, activity history, etc. - from the new watch. This is with the exceptions of sleep tracking and heart rate variability (HRV), which ask you to wear the Forerunner 255 in bed for three weeks to establish a new baseline - presumably in case the measuring is slightly variable between devices.

It doesn’t port over the actual setup of the watch, however, so you have to choose again which ‘glances’ - widgets - you want to see when you scroll down.

Watch faces are customisable and you choose from the stock ones, add the data you want to see around the edges, or create your own.

You also have to select what goes in ‘controls’ - the ring of functions when you hold and press the top-left light buttons. I like to use the watch as a heart rate monitor for Zwift, so for example I’d add ‘broadcast heart rate’ in here along with 'power off', 'find my phone' 'do not disturb', etc.

You also have to set up your preferred data fields for your sports activities from scratch, with a maximum of six per screen. It’s a quick and easy job.

I configured the 255 to exactly mirror the way the Epix 2 was set up - which tells you that it can do almost everything a watch twice the price can do.

Although you still get Garmin’s Body Battery and Health Snapshot, the 255 doesn’t give you your Training Readiness score. Having recently reviewed the Garmin Epix 2, I did miss that a little. However, it does give you your morning report, with a breakdown of your sleep and HRV plus a suggested workout for the day - and that's customisable, like most elements of the watch.

The 255 doesn't include Training Readiness, but the new Garmin Forerunner 265 now includes that, so for those who want the superior display, touchscreen and that particular function, it’s there now.

Sports features

I’m seeing more riders using smartwatches these days - and not just for cyclo-cross. I can get by perfectly well with a smartwatch instead of a head unit and in some ways prefer to look at the countryside rather than the numbers, unless I’m trying to do a specific workout.

I set up the Forerunner 255 with the six data fields on the main screen that I’d normally use, paired it to a set of Wahoo Powrlink Zero power meter pedals, used the wrist-based heart rate monitor in the watch, waited for it to find GPS (impressively quick) and pressed ‘start’.

The 255’s display reverses out to black on white/grey for sports activities in progress (see the middle pic above) and that makes it easier to read than when in standard watch mode.

It behaved exactly like the much more expensive Epix 2 and, analysing the activity on Strava afterwards, I was very happy with the quality of the ride data. As I mentioned, I’m sure I’m getting a more consistent heart rate trace from the Forerunner 255 during cycling due to it being lighter than the Epix 2. It sounds counterintuitive, but the heavier watch’s HRM seems mostly unaffected by the running movement, whereas cycling vibrations can affect it more seriously compared with the lighter 255.

The GPS seems accurate, just going a metre or so off into the verge under certain wooded sections such as the left-hand turn above.

The lack of mapping and only very basic breadcrumb-style directions or a direction arrow (for example to navigate back to a saved point or coordinate) mean that it’s not really feasible to entirely replace a cycling head unit with the Forerunner 255 - as you could do with the Epix 2 or Fenix 7, both of which have full mapping capability. Courses saved on Strava sync to the 255 and can be followed after a fashion, but it’s not the experience cyclists expect if they’re used to more sophisticated devices.

I won’t go into running in too much depth as this is Cycling Weekly, but I’ve been impressed with the 255’s performance. Short of navigation - which I actually miss because it’s useful if you want to go for a run in a place you don’t know - it does everything you need and includes the free Garmin Coach for beginner/intermediate runners.

If you don’t do either of those two sports there’s an almost unlimited number you can add to the sports profiles menu from swimming (it is waterproof to 50 metres) to skiing to rowing to yoga and pilates.

Other functions

Smart notifications

When it’s connected to your phone, the 255 will flash up WhatsApp messages, news headlines and other notifications. It will also guess where you’re going when you get in the car and will tell you how many minutes it will take to drive there. I had a spooky experience with this: straight after school dropoff on May 4 (local elections day) it told me how many minutes it would take me to get to my polling station - which is where I was planning to go anyway, but hadn’t broadcast it anywhere, messaged anyone about it or even said it out loud. I might add ‘mind reading’ to this list.

Music

The 255 Music version has a built-in music player than can store tunes from your computer using Garmin Express, play music from your phone or can connect to your music provider and store them in its 4GB memory. I don’t listen to music while running or cycling and have a Sonos next to my Wattbike for indoor training – but if you want outdoor tunes this version is equipped to supply them.

Garmin Pay

My bank isn’t a participating provider and this is the experience of many UK users. But I can see how it would be useful for a post-parkrun coffee, for example.

Battery life

This is a difficult one to pin down, and even Garmin’s website calls it ‘battery life assumptions’. In smartwatch mode Garmin claims up to 12 days with a minimum of up 5.5 hours in All-Systems GNSS mode with music. Compared with the Epix 2, it’s better. Doing on average slightly less than one activity per day I’m getting over a week.

Value and conclusion

There’s no doubting that for its sports functionality and health tracking, the Garmin Forerunner 255 is snapping at the heels of the expensive watches. If those things are all you want and need, this watch offers good value for money. And thanks to its light, plastic construction it might even outdo those heavier watches in heart-rate accuracy. The only thing missing in this area is the Training Readiness feature - which personally I do miss.

As for the other areas, the 255 doesn’t have mapping and its breadcrumb/direction arrow navigation is very basic. If you want to run or ride routes you don’t know off by heart, this will be a limiting factor.

And finally, the button-operated MIP display is dull compared with the brighter, crisper, more attractive AMOLED touchscreens that are becoming more prevalent.

For a Garmin watch with full AMOLED touchscreen and mapping experience you’d be looking at the new Forerunner 965 at $599 / £599. If it’s just a better display you’re after, it would have to be the Forerunner 265 at $449 / £429. Or for full mapping but ordinary MIP screen go for the Fenix 7 at $699 / £559.

Specs

• Size: 45.6 x 45.6 x 12.9 (mm)
• Display size: 1.3in
• Display type: MIP (memory in pixel)
• Weight: 49g
• Water rating: 5 ATM
• Memory: 4GB
• Battery life: up to 14 days (smartwatch mode)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, WiFi
• Smartphone compatibility: iPhone, Android

I’ve worn the Garmin Epix every day for a year and have clocked 271 activities on it as I write. I like to think that’s longer than most reviewers have given it - and I’ll freely admit that this is because it has become such an important part of my life that I’ve almost been reluctant to write this review and send it back to Garmin. When I do, I will be bereft, honestly. 

I included the Epix in my ‘gear of the year’ for 2022 and said it was like a second brain on my wrist that’s much more effective than the one in my skull, and I stand by that. 

It’s not just my brain - it has mostly also replaced the head unit on my bikes during this last year. It gives me all the data during and after an activity, but does more than a simple computer can do - it carries on giving me insights into my training, fitness and health.

For example, heart rate variability is something I never thought I needed but now I can’t live without knowing where my recovery is at (or whether I’ve over-boozed).

The Epix’s mapping functionality has allowed me to take on much more ambitious and better quality runs when I’ve been away from home and I’ve been able to lead my family on mountain walks without being asked constantly “are you sure this is the way?” That’s right, my family agree with me that the brain on my wrist is better than the one in my skull too.

What is the Garmin Epix and who is it for?

So, how does it fare against the best smartwatches for cycling? The Epix Gen 2, launched almost exactly a year ago, is built more for “everyday wear” according to Garmin (rather than pure sports, like the Fenix or Forerunner series). It has the exact same functionality as the Garmin Fenix 7 and the same five buttons, but has a superior AMOLED touchscreen display. This is the latest type of screen technology that’s used in the most up-to-date iPhones, and basically makes it much sharper, crisper, brighter, higher-resolution and more colourful than the older MIP (memory in pixel) technology used by the Fenix and Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar.

It's capable of all sorts of delicate nuances of colour and shade but the sapphire crystal glass is also really tough. After a year of wearing it 24/7 the black titanium bezel is looking a bit chewed up, as you can see in the photos, but the screen doesn't have a single scratch.

You can choose from Garmin's pre-designed digital and analogue watch faces and select which metrics you want to see around the edge, or create your own backgrounds: even if you want a photo of your dog on your watch face you can easily upload it. The dog never questions my routefinding, so why not give him pride of place? To be fair, Apple Watch users have been able to do that for a while, but it's a novelty for sportswatches.

None of the Epix watches, of which there are four models costing between $899.99 / £749.90 and £999.99 (this one with the leather strap isn't available in the US), have the solar charging that features in the higher-spec Fenix 7 and Forerunner watches. However, runtime is actually really good. And much better than Apple Watches. More detail on that below.

The main difference between the 'entry-level' model and the more expensive ones is the glass. The three more expensive ones are called 'Sapphire', meaning they have the lighter (but very tough) sapphire crystal display whereas the lowest priced one has Corning Gorilla glass. 

The other difference is the bezel - steel for the lowest priced and titanium for the top three.

This new Epix is the 'Gen 2' but there’s no point in comparing it to 2015’s original Epix. That would be like comparing a sundial to a Casio. I'll just call it 'Epix' from here on.

It has so many features that it would be impossible as well as incredibly boring to go through all of them, so let’s embark on a whistlestop tour rather than a deep dive, but I will go into depth about what to my mind makes the Epix worth the five stars I’ve given it.

Garmin Epix 2 review: construction

The Garmin Epix is 47 x 47 x 14.5mm in size and with the standard silicone band, which has a decent amount of flex for the right fit during an activity (important for accurate heart rate tracking) fits wrist diameters between 125-208mm.

The band isn’t exactly what you’d expect with a £900 watch but it works well for sport and is swappable/upgradeable if you want something more dressy. 

The display is 1.3in, which is exactly the same as the mid-sized 47mm Fenix 7 - as are all the other dimensions. The Fenix 7 comes in three case sizes - there’s a 42mm and a 51mm as well as the standard 47mm - whereas there’s only one, the 47mm equivalent, in the Epix.

I have a wrist diameter of 160mm and have four holes left out of a total 19 when the Epix is buckled up at cycling or running tightness.

The Epix is a few grams lighter than the Fenix, only worth mentioning because of cycling’s weight obsession. The standard Epix v Fenix is 76g v 79g, but the sapphire crystal glass of this model is lighter still at 71g (measured).

There are five buttons and you can use them instead of the touchscreen if you like. Unlike other reviewers, I tend to use both buttons and touchscreen with no particular preference.

However, it comes pre-set so that the touchscreen deactivates as soon as you start an activity and you instead scroll though the data screen using the buttons. Sweaty fingers don’t operate a touchscreen too well and there’s always the danger of inadvertent swiping, so I’ve kept it like that, though virtually everything is configurable with the Epix.

The model I tested is the Sapphire Black Titanium ($999.99 / £899.99) which has a sapphire crystal screen. Sapphire glass is said to be more scratch resistant than the Gorilla glass that comes with the standard edition, and I’m actually amazed that after a whole year of use the screen is completely flawless even though the titanium bezel has noticeable wear.

Garmin Epix 2 review: sports features

The Epix of course has the core sports covered but you can also add golf, climbing, skiing, surfing, rowing, tennis, hunting and fishing and more (don’t ask me how those last three work).

I probably don’t need to go into too much depth about how it works for cycling because it works like any modern bike computer. You can configure your data fields however you want. I’ve got six fields, the same ones I use with a bike head unit. It paired easily with Wahoo Powrlink Zero pedals and basically does whatever any modern GPS computer does.

The only thing to watch out for is the wrist-based heart rate monitor - none of them are as reliable as a chest strap for measuring heart rate for cycling because of vibrations and bumps while holding the bars, but for running where bumps tend to be better absorbed before they get to the wrist, I’ve had reliable enough results that I don’t use a chest strap.

For indoor cycling I’ve actually been using the ‘broadcast heart rate’ function instead of a chest strap just because it’s more hygienic and you don’t have to mess around with changing coin cell batteries.

Garmin Epix 2 review: health and fitness tracking

You’ve obviously got to wear the Epix all the time to benefit from its ‘wearable’ features. Some reviewers have said it’s too big to wear in bed but I haven’t had a problem with that.

If you do wear it 24/7, thanks to the green LEDs into the back of it - the optical heart rate sensor - it weighs everything up and gives you your training status, breaks down your load focus, estimates your VO2 max and/or FTP and projects times for the standard running distances if you use if for running and tells you how many hours you need to recover.

Sleep tracking is super useful and heart rate variability I’ve found even more so. Over Christmas and New Year I carried on cycling and running as usual but I boozed a bit more and went to bed later. Soon my HRV was plummeting, training status was ‘strained’ and my sleep reports were starting to remind me of being back at school.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t have listened to my body, but the extra brain or second pair of eyes can give you a more objective view of your health and lifestyle. 

Garmin Epix 2 review: mapping

I’ll admit I never thought I’d use mapping on a display 1.3in across, but I found the Epix easier to follow than even my car’s satnav. Creating a route on Strava and then following the purple line on the watch - with helpful audible turn alerts that whirr encouragingly at you - is simplicity itself.

I've also let it send me off on a mystery tour 'Round Trip Course' where you select the activity and distance, it finds you a route and you follow it. I love this feature and have discovered paths, trails and footpaths that I never knew existed.

The ClimbPro feature is great on a course you don’t know - for example with a Round Trip Course - for checking where you are on a climb and what’s to come. It’s also perfect for those family walks when smaller family members start asking if we’re nearly there yet. That's as long as you actually are nearly there. It can be demoralising if the walk has only just started. Sometimes it’s just best not to show them.

The Epix finds a GPS signal impressively quickly and is super accurate once you’re up and running. If you deviate off the route even by a couple of feet it lets you know immediately, even in woods.

Garmin Epix 2 review: battery life

As with any device, battery life depends on what exactly you’re doing with it. Garmin claims up to 16 days in smartwatch mode or six days in ‘always on’ mode. Standard smartwatch means the display is off until activated by a gesture (raising your wrist). Always on means you can see the display without a gesture, and when you raise your wrist the display brightens. This is the one I use and I get six days maximum as long I’m not doing mega-long GPS-heavy activities.

Charging is very fast indeed, and if do accidentally let it drop into single figures (having ignored the low-battery alerts) and then need to go for a ride or run, plugging it in for just five or 10 minutes will bump it up very quickly to over 20%.

Since it charges so easily and quickly, I don’t see any point in comparing its battery life to that of the solar-charging Fenix 7, which claims 22 days in smartwatch mode with solar charging. It's really no hardship to put it on charge for a maximum of two hours every five or six days.

The proprietary charging cable isn’t the best designed - it can pop out of the back of the watch too easily - but again I’m not going to dock a mark just for that.

Garmin Epix 2 review: other useful stuff

Flashlight

The Epix has a torch/flashlight function that’s actually three white rings on the display activated by a double click of the ‘light’ button. It’s nowhere near as bright as a phone torch but it’s really useful for men of a certain age who might find themselves getting up in the night more frequently than when they were younger.

Of course if you’re somewhere more epic than the bathroom - in the alley putting the dustbins out, for example - it will be useful for that too.

Smart notifications

I like the smart notifications, but if you live with someone who also gets smart notifications on their watch you end up telling each other the same news they’ve just had on their smartwatch. For example me: “Oh no, Jeff Beck has died!” My wife: “I know. Who is he?”

Garmin Epix 2 review: The stuff I don't use

Music

Nobody will use the Epix’s full functionality, but the most obvious thing I don’t use - but that potential Epix users might like to know about - is the music storage. I don’t listen to music while I’m cycling, even indoor cycling, and when I’m running I’m focusing on my breathing and don’t want a beat to put me out of sync or a podcast to distract me. 

But if you do want music, the Epix can store up to 2,000 songs and can stream playlists from Spotify, Deezer and Amazon.

Garmin Pay

UK reviewers generally note that Garmin Pay doesn’t have many participating UK banks and I’m going to follow suit. My bank isn’t a participating provider.

Garmin Coach

This is for beginner and intermediate runners and will coach you up to 7min/mile pace. Fortunately I’m still a bit faster than that. Additionally, judging by the workout suggestions if gives me with the ‘morning report’ function (mostly base training at 8:50 mile pace), I’m not sure it would make any difference to my speed.

Garmin Epix 2 review: Value and conclusion

Although the Garmin Epix can do a lot more things than any of us will ever use or need, there's the odd thing it can't do that a lot of people do use. In particular, making and receiving phonecalls from the wrist. My wife does actually do this with her Apple Watch SE and the quality of the microphone and speaker really aren't bad. You can also do it with the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. Both of these are less than half the price of the Epix, so if that's important to you then the Epix might not be the right watch.

But if you're more of a sportswatch than a smartwatch type then it might come down to three-way battle between the Garmin Epix, Forerunner 955 and Fenix 7.

All three have different models/specs at different prices, with the most basic Epix costing $899.99 / £749.00 costing a bit less than the most expensive Fenix 7 (Sapphire Solar) costs $999.99 / £779.00. The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar costs $599.99 / £549.00.

On average the Epix is the most expensive of the three.

All three cover all the sports, training and navigation any of us will ever need, so what it really comes down to is the display - and here the Epix's pin-sharp, high-definition, full technicolour AMOLED is much nicer to look at than the MIP type of the other two. Basically it's capable of 65,000 colours versus 64. And since you're going to be spending hundreds of hours looking at your watch, I'd be tempted to pay a bit more for a display that really is a lot better than the other two.

Garmin Epix 2 review: specs

• Size: 47 x 47 x 14.5 mm
• Display size: 1.3″ (33.02 mm) 
• Display resolution: 416 x 416 pixels 
• Display type: AMOLED
•  Weight: 71g (actual) 
• Water rating: 10 ATM 
• Memory: 32GB 
• Battery life: Up to 16 days (6 days always-on) in smartwatch mode; up to 21 days battery saver watch mode 
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi 
• Smartphone compatibility: iPhone, Android 

Garmin’s near range topping Forerunner 955 is not so much an activity tracker but a complete wrist-based diagnostics tool. Aside from tracking your riding, running or whatever activity you wish to partake in, the $599.99 / £549 GPS watch measures a staggering amount of data to feed back on your recovery, health, training readiness, optimal training zones, stress levels and more. 

All this information gleaned by just sitting on your wrist. While GPS tech is clearly at the heart of all the best smartwatches for cycling, it’s the light emitting diodes on the back of the watch, and what they capture, that’s the really clever stuff. 

These two very small but incredibly bright green lights allow the watch to measure your heart rate and, crucially for some diagnostics, your heart rate variability through light reflection. From that, along with recent activities or training, it builds a picture of your performance ability and then tracks your progression and recovery.

Light reflection works by a green light hitting the blood vessels then measuring the amount of light returning to the four photodetectors also on the back of the watch. The amount of light sent back to the detectors tells the watch the volume of blood in the vessels and from that it can work out your heart rate and HRV.

My previous experience of light reflection HR measurement (on a more basic Garmin Forerunner 255) left me concluding it was ‘okay’ if a little unreliable at times. But the technology has clearly moved on and the 955 was much more reliable. Certainly when road riding, running, walking or motionless it seems spot on. The only time it struggled was with off-road riding as the constant shaking and movement on my wrist appeared to disrupt the measurement and the watch stuck on a clearly incorrect HR for minutes at a time.

I also used the watch using a Wahoo Tickr chest strap, connected via bluetooth, but apart from off-road riding I found no discernible improvement. If anything it was a little less reliable. 

If looking around at other products be sure to check what colour lights they use as one recent study showed that green light had good accuracy, was better than red or blue light, and was significantly better than red or blue light during motion. 

Before we get into the wealth of information all this gives you and how it compares to other Garmin smartwatches we've highly rated such as the Garmin Epix 2, lets take a look at some of the more basic info.

Garmin Forerunner 955: quick look and setup

The 955 solar weighs in at 53.2g, sits 16mm off your wrist and is 47mm wide with the five push buttons around the side each protruding another 2mm. The strap is soft rubber with a metal buckle with holes in the strap every 2mm allow for plenty of adjustment.

This makes it just 11.5g heavier, 1.5mm deeper and 1 mm wider than my old Forerunner 255. Considering the extra tech that’s packed into the 955, and the exceptional battery life, it’s some achievement to keep it to these dimensions. 

On low activity weeks I went over seven days without needing to charge it. The more you use GPS and heavy data screens (like mapping), the quicker battery life drops. 

The display on the touch screen is excellent, with the Corning Gorilla glass much like you’ll be using on a smartphone. It’s considerably clearer and brighter than my old 255, but not as pinpoint sharp as a Garmin Fenix screen. 

The watch is quick to set up once you have a Garmin account. As I already had one from previous products the 955 connected to my profile in seconds to get me up and running straight away. From that point on there are hours of fun to be had configuring every aspect of the watches display and functionality to suit you and the activities you do. You will need to wear it for up to a week for it to create an HRV baseline and optimal training load timeline.

You’ll have noticed that this is a solar watch, with a 1.8mm solar ring around the outer edge of the watch face, just inside the bezel. If you live in the UK, don’t get too excited about this feature, especially during winter. The solar intensity ‘Glance’ (the name given to the speedily accessible info found by swiping up or down from the home screen) went several months without measuring a single unit of solar charge. 

Even on the rare occasion when it wasn’t tucked under a sleeve there was little sunlight hitting it and it didn't register. Garmin says you can get up to 20 days of battery life when solar charging and up to 49 hours usage in GPS mode when solar charging. 

If you live in a hot country, get lots of sunshine and plan for long rides, or multi day rides, this could be of use. Otherwise, with an excellent battery life it feels unnecessary. The standard 955 is available without the solar panel, costs £70 less and has exactly the same functionality.

Navigating through Garmin Forerunner 955's functions

Once you’ve set up your preferred watch face - from a simple analogue style with an hour and minute hand to a detailed display of training readiness data - finding what you need is easy using the Glances menu. Swipe up or down on the watch face (or use the up/down buttons) and you’re taken to your personalisable list of Glances. Tap on any of these and you’re taken deeper into your data.

Glances are the information you want to get to quickly and the list can be edited. As well as the watch's standard performance, recovery and health metrics (see Training prescription on the Garmin 955) you can add the altimeter, barometer, compass, pulse oxidisation, respiration, sunrise and sunset times, music player controls, race calendar and more. And any of these can be deleted at any point. It’s a quick, easy and intuitive way to find most of what you’ll need.

Not everything can be found in the Glances menu, however. To change the watch face, have a look through your activity history and set an alarm you’ll have to hold down the up button, which doubles as a menu button. This is also where you can get into the settings menu and make changes to the watch's set up. 

For example, you can: change activity data screens, set up the lapping or alerts function, add new sensors, update your profile, change the mapping screens and more. 

First use of the Garmin Forerunner 955

Once you’ve set up the watch, using it is straight forward enough - especially if you’ve previously used a similar unit. First and foremost you probably just want to head out for a ride. Just press the top right button which takes you through to all the activities. Select ‘bike’ by hitting the same button again, or using the touch screen, and the watch takes you to this profile and immediately starts searching for a GPS signal. A bar across the top of the screen goes from red to green to tell you when it's connected. I found the watch rarely took more than 30 seconds to connect, although a bit longer when in a city and surrounded by high rise buildings. 

The watch comes ready to go with multiple activities, just scroll through them to find the one you want. I had bike, indoor bike and gravel bike at the top of my list but there’s cyclocross, MTB, eBike, bike commute, bike tour, run, trail run, track run, walk, pool swim, open water, golf, strength, snowshoe …… the list goes on and on. 

You name an activity, it’s probably on here and each one can have multiple data screens programmed all of which can themselves be edited to put the information you want in the right places on the screen. When I said hours of fun setting this watch up, there’s probably days worth of fun for anyone who does lots of different sports.

All of the data screens for each activity are customisable with a wealth of information available based on time, speed, navigation, power etc. etc. There really are too many to mention here. Obviously a watch screen is much smaller than that of a GPS device on your bars, but I found I could happily have five data points displayed on the screen without anything getting too squeezed. Once I was used to the layout of the screen my eyes could quickly and easily find what I wanted to know. Important when momentarily taking your eyes off the road.

Of course you'll want to look at your data after your ride, too, and you won't be disappointed. The amount of data displayed on Garmin Connect when your ride is uploaded is impressive. The screengrab below shows just some of the data from a ride using the 955 and a set of Garmin Vector pedals. Enough to keep a coach busy for hours.

The watch came setup with touch screen disabled during activity, meaning I used the up/down buttons to change the screen. This is easy to change, but the buttons are more reliable when you’re moving.

Mapping and navigation on the Garmin Forerunner 955

I was very impressed with the clarity of the mapping on the Garmin Forerunner 955. No matter how clear a watch face is, it’s always limited by size. But even with a 33.5mm circumference display, mapping was easy to use and follow. On a recent gravel test bike that required a specific out-front mount I had to use the 955 instead of my bike computer and it was perfectly usable. A glance to my wrist isn’t as handy as a glance to the centre of the handlebars, but I was still able to follow the map on the screen. 

Zoom in enough and the maps will show bridleways (and footpaths, if you’re trail running) clearly enough to follow when a route splits, and pick up if and when you leave them. Easily good enough to navigate by. I rode onto some new paths to try and get myself lost but was always able to zoom in and out, and scroll around in order to find my way back to where I wanted to go. I did of course have to stop in order to do this, but mapping on the watch is easy to use in this way. 

There are various ways in which the watch can create a course for you. It can create  a selection of courses by inputting the distance and the general direction - north, east, south, west - you want it to take, it can navigate to a point of interest nearby, create a route from map coordinates and of course you can upload a pre-made route from elsewhere. 

For this you first have to have the route in your Garmin Connect account (I synced my GC account with Komoot, you can also download the Komoot app via the IQ store and use that directly.) Once that’s done it’s easy to find the course on the watch and follow it. The watch then displays extra screens within that activity including a map with arrows on your highlighted route and a distance countdown to the next turn. Another screen is perhaps better suited to off-road navigation, with just a directional compass style arrow and off course distance warning. Again, with navigation and routes, there are more options to play with than I can go into here.

Training prescription on the Garmin Forerunner 955

Who needs a coach when you have a watch telling you want to do. The Garmin 955 Training status page gives you a running update on where your fitness is and your recovery status. You can even have this data displayed on your watch face on one of the options available to you. 

There are eight statuses from detraining through maintaining, productive and peaking to overreaching and strained when you’re over doing it. This status is built up using your training load (an optimal load appears after you’ve worn the watch for a week or so and used it for logging activities.) and other metrics including sleep, recovery, stress and HRV status. 

It then calculates a training readiness score from 0 to 100. In general, this reflected fairly accurately how I was feeling, although the recovery time suggested was always a little on the long side. Having said that, the watch would still suggest a daily training activity even if it still said you had over a day's worth of recovery time.

The suggested training that comes in your morning report seemed a little basic, and I didn't follow it, but this can also be tied in to your target events with target times (better for running than cycling) via the Garmin Connect calendar.

Sleep measurement on the Garmin Forerunner 955

I’ve never slept with a watch on before, and never wanted to, but I had to when testing the Garmin to get my morning report and sleep score each morning. Caveat to all of this is that the technology to measure your sleep just from your wrist is not hugely accurate. 

It cannot tell whether or not you are asleep if you’re just lying in bed with your eyes open in the middle of the night catastrophising. If you get up to use the bathroom it will probably log that, but if you are lying in bed, it has no way of telling you whether or not you're asleep.

But each day's morning report made for interesting reading. This gave a sleep score out of 100, made up of your time asleep as well as your time of light sleep, deep sleep, awake time and REM, your HRV for the night, your training readiness and suggested training. Mine suggested an hour's base ride or 40 minute run pretty much every day.

Due to the influence of your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, the time between each heart beat isn’t the same. The more variability the more these two systems are in balance. Everyone’s HRV is different (it drops as you age) so the watch first has to create your baseline HRV over one week before it can give you more insightful data on what your nightly HRV means.

Mine is fairly consistent around 74, with a baseline of 70 - 90, and during a rested night's sleep, it can fluctuate between 70 and 128. It dropped when I was fatigued, and hit new lows when I was ill, measuring two nights in the low 40s at one point. Interestingly when this happened it wasn’t telling me not to train - as I hadn’t been training so there was no fatigue - but the HRV was off, so the watch gave me a warning about training and not to overdo it.

It’s important to note that Garmin does say the Forerunner 955 is not medical equipment and shouldn’t be used as such. The metrics are there to pick up on performance and recovery, rather than illness. So even with all the data you’re given, you need to be honest about how you’re feeling and whether or not you should train.

Non riding functionality of the 955

Non-riding functionality of the Garmin Forerunner 955

There is a huge amount of functionality in the Garmin Forerunner 955 that isn’t related to riding or health, much of which I didn’t use. Below is a quick run down, not an exhaustive list.

MUSIC: The 64gb memory means you can upload music files to the watch and listen through bluetooth enabled headphones (there’s no headphone jack)

STRESS: On a few occasions the watch picked up higher stress levels (I assume higher HR with no movement) and asked if I wanted to do some breathing exercises. 

STEPS: Any Garmin user will be well aware of the watches' step count. A popular and longstanding function.

FLOORS CLIMBED: Sets a target for you to climb 10 floors a day and keeps track of that, letting you know when you’ve achieved it.

RESPIRATION: Your breaths per minute, calculated using your HRV 

WEATHER: Connect with your phone and it will give you a detailed weather snapshot and forecast for the hours ahead.

COMPASS: Useful if you’re off for a walk in the wilderness

ALTIMETER: See above

TEMPERATURE: Measures and gives a read out for the previous four hours

LIVE TRACK: Set this up via Garmin Connect, keep your phone with you, and your chosen contact can check in and see where you are at any time. 

Value and conclusion

With the Forerunner 955, Garmin has solved the problem of having a truck load of data and functionality whilst keeping it all easy to find. Everything you need to access quickly is a swipe or a click away. Plus, with the connectivity being so fast and reliable, the watch was always very quick to get going - even if you're not. Battery life through the four month test period was exceptional, the touch screen easy to use and it’s comfortable to wear. 

Wearing it through the night for the sleep data took some getting used to, and I did get some sore skin on my wrist once in a while because I’d had it on for so many consecutive days and nights. But the ride data (and run data, if you do some on the side) it provides is impressive, both in volume and accuracy. Just be careful not to get too reliant, or even addicted to it. 

The sleep data is perhaps the most unreliable - but gives a good guide - while the HRV info alongside the activity data does appear to give a very reliable picture of your performance and recovery levels. When it comes to colds and winter bugs it can give clues to your health too, but Garmin say this is not a medical device and so you’ll need to be honest with yourself on days when you’re not feeling right but the watch is telling you it’s okay to train.

At $599.99 / £549.00 the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar one of the best value ways of getting colour mapping and solar recharging from Garmin's model range - the Garmin Fenix 7S is $799 / £779, for example. 

There are other smartwatches which manage to boast an even more incredible battery life - without even having solar recharging - such as the Amazfit Falcon for $499 / £499. But with those models, you're not getting the benefit of Garmin's ecosystem and plethora of data. 

All in all it’s a serious bit of kit that throws out lots of data, aimed at someone who can make use of it all. If you’re not that serious about your sport a more basic model would suffice, and unless you live somewhere with wall to wall sunshine, you really don’t need the solar version.

I've had my hands on the Venu 2 Plus for over two months and feel like there's still a whole load of functions that I haven't had time to explore. 

Read on to find out exactly what I think of this GPS smartwatch as I scratch the surface of a comprehensive smartwatch that delivers functionality, features and performance...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first thing that struck me when I got my hands on the Venu 2 Plus was the brightness and clarity of the screen. I’ve been testing the version with a slate stainless steel bezel, black case and black silicone strap - perhaps the dark surrounds make it appear even brighter. Lined up next to Garmin’s own Vivomove Sport smartwatch and their Forerunner 945, the contrast is striking. It can light the way out of a darkened room!

If slate/black isn’t for you, you can opt for a silver bezel with a powder grey case, cream gold bezel with an ivory case, or a slate bezel with a slate case… the choices don’t stop there as there are 20 different styles of strap for you to choose from - Garmin certainly can’t be accused of offering limited options!

I’ve had the watch on pretty much 24/7 since receiving it, never feeling like it was making my wrist sweaty or irritated while exercising. The strap seems pretty robust but it’s good to know that spares are available and a whole unit isn’t ‘lost’ if the strap breaks, equally, it's nice to have the option of swapping over straps to create a different look 'just for a change', or for a different occasion.

The watch face has encountered some rough surfaces, I dare to add this includes being brushed against a brick wall! The Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens is thoroughly impressive, showing zero signs of wear and genuinely looking like it’s just come out of the box.

It can be set to light up with a gesture of the wrist, or to be on all the time (which heavily impacts battery life); the former has been reliably responsive. Time-out and brightness are also adjustable, with the useful addition of separate settings during an activity. The ‘gesture’ and ‘always on’ are disabled during your pre-set sleep window so there’s no risk of a blinding screen in the middle of the night!

With only three buttons to control pretty much everything, I’ve found it easier to get to grips with than the Forerunner 945. Once into menus, the touchscreen takes over and it’s as good as any premium phone screen, even with (touchscreen compatible) gloves.

LOOK AND FIT

The watch isn’t as chunky or imposing as the Forerunner 945, despite weighing exactly the same. Some of this is down to only having three (lower profile) buttons down one side, the FR945's 5 occupy both sides.

The Venu 2 Plus is certainly not as unobtrusive or low profile as the Vivomove Sport, so it might be considered a hindrance to clothing that is very tight around the forearm.

In my opinion it’s a happy medium; a screen that’s perfectly big enough to read without issue, even when you’re running or riding.

The screen's wholly customisable and you’ll be overwhelmed with the options available, you could spend hours creating your own design, messing around with data fields, backgrounds and colourways. It’s very easy to do, so deciding what best suits you over time and changing within a few seconds is no problem (the Garmin IQ store should be accessed for the full range, though pre-loaded options are likely enough for most). Some options even use ‘live’ imagery (the rainy background on the penultimate image in the gallery), this naturally reduces battery life.

CHARGING AND BATTERY LIFE

A supplied proprietary cable takes the watch from 'critical' to full in about an hour. Some might find it disappointing that there’s no wireless charging, or even a common port -  you certainly won't want to lose this cable. However, I’d say the re-charge time goes a long way to make up for this, as does the run time…

Unsurprisingly, run times depend heavily on how you use the watch - so music, using the GPS for activities and broadcasting your heart rate all impact heavily on the battery. To give you an idea, a ride of three hours (with GPS recording) used 13% of the battery. 

I’ve not used it loads to record cycling (more on that later) but certainly for all my running. I’ve been needing to charge it, on average, once every seven days. Garmin claims that the battery can last nine days in smartwatch mode, up to 24 hours in GPS mode and up to 8 hours in GPS mode with music.

A ‘low battery warning’ reminds you to recharge and, until you do, the watch can go into battery saving mode - a minimal (but perfectly legible) display as seen below with several functions disabled or 'dumbed-down'.

NEW CUSTOMISATION FEATURES

I’ve mentioned customising looks and ‘gesture’/’always on’, things go beyond that in terms of personal preferences for settings and functions.

Short cuts to a variety of controls can be set up so that a press of the middle button takes you straight to your most used functions, this is a new feature over the Venu 2. Here you can see some of the options available, with me opting to have music controls on a short cut. Setting up all of these 'preferences' is very intuitive, with the watch guiding you through processes efficiently and clearly. If things do get overwhelming, the online manual is well set out and very concise. 

Since you rarely find yourself charging it, you genuinely forget about and it’s easy to be caught out with a low battery, particularly if you don’t have the capacity icon on the watch display (a swipe up brings it into view). Thankfully, a short burst of about 10 minutes (just enough to get changed and ready to exercise) can really make a difference; Garmin claim that it can add a day of smartwatch functioning, or an hour of GPS running. How good this is for the battery, I wouldn’t like to say.

EVERYTHING ON YOUR WRIST

Swipe up on the watch and you get to access a plethora of data and a handful of controls, Garmin call these ‘Glances’. While many are pre-loaded, there’s no surprise that you can customise the loop, from sleep stats, steps and calories to weather, notifications and activity history. There are no less than 25 options here. The Venu 2 Plus can be paired with Varia lights and cameras, these can be controlled on the watch here too.

A 'Glance' doesn’t have to stop there though, you can tap on the field to delve deeper into the analysis. It’s easy to read on the watch face, though if you struggle with small detail, it can be all accessed via the app too.

Syncing has never been a problem, though I've noted that the longer I leave between syncs, the longer they take, no surprise really. Given just how much I can see on the watch, I’ve tended not to sync as often as I would with something like the Vivomove Sport, consequently I could be waiting a while for all the data to appear in the app.

ACTIVITIES AND ANALYSIS

The Venu 2 Plus boasts all the same sport/fitness features as the Venu 2.

I’ve mainly made use of the cycling and running activity recording, however it's capable of recording so much more than just these two…

It's simple to record indoor or outdoor cycling and running activities, with options such as auto-pause, laps, heart rate zones all being customisable. Up to three data screens show your choice of metrics, with anything from one to four fields on each. 

I’ve found the screen easy to read and tend to use the configuration that best suits the kind of ride/run I’m doing. I’m not a fan of scrolling when on the move, but it’s good to have that option. For this same reason, I’ve appreciated being able to broadcast my heart rate from the Venu 2 Plus. It’s naturally not as reliable as a chest strap, particularly on the bike; sprinting, climbing and interference from clothing can all affect the continuity of the broadcast.

The Venu 2 Plus supports a variety of both ANT+ and Bluetooth smart sensors, so headphones (Bluetooth audio devices), heart rate sensors, speed/cadence, Foot Pod, Tempe (Temperature), ANT+ cycling lights, ANT+ radar, and golf club sensors can all be paired.

The watch remains super sensitive to gesture when you are running and riding. Seeing what's on the screen has never been a problem in any kind of light conditions. The coloured surround, indicating that the timer has auto-paused, is exceptionally vivid.  

I’d say that the time to pick up a GPS signal, and sensitivity to you stopping (at a junction or lights), is inferior to a GPS specific bike computer. You can be waiting a minute or so for it to pick up a signal at the start of an activity, and the vibration (or beep) to indicate a pause in recording can come several seconds after you’ve stopped. The actual tracking is good, I’ve noted no discrepancies in overall routing when compared to other GPS devices that I’ve run alongside the Garmin Venu 2 Plus.

It’s possible to create your own workouts for several different disciplines, based on a variety of metrics, which can then be sent to the phone. For those without a smart trainer this can add structure to an indoor ‘spin’ on rollers or a turbo trainer.

Post-ride analysis is instantaneously accessible on the Venu 2 Plus and Garmin can’t be faulted for detail here. There’s everything you can think of, the watch will also tell you when your heart rate has recovered and notify you of any personal records. All the metrics sync to the app for you, adding detail and editing is possible too. 

Sharing with other platforms is optional, so Strava, TrainingPeaks, Komoot (for routes) and Apple Health are all entertained. 

If you opt not to record a ride or a run, the watch (Move IQ) will still detect movement and an icon will mark this on your heart rate timeline, you simply won’t have the full range of data linked to it, just the impact on the lifestyle analysis (as it’s registers the rise in HR).

Pre-loaded strength, yoga, pilates and HIIT workouts are a bit of minefield - there are 80+ options that can be sent to the watch - it would take a hell of a long time to explore all of these, add to that all the ones in the IQ store... you certainly won't get bored of doing the same thing day-in-day-out. 

If you value core work and have an exercise mat or something similar at home, scheduling (in the calendar) any of these sessions might well appeal. The watch times sets, with vibrations (or beeps) marking the end of each. On-screen animations show how it’s done, as well as the muscle groups used. Clarity and definition is impressive given the screen size. 

GARMIN COACH

I’ve been making use of Garmin Coach on the Venu 2 Plus, something I didn’t explore so much on the FR945. Profiles of coaches are provided and you select your preferred one to prepare you for a specific goal/distance (5k, 10k, half or full marathon) over your preferred timescale. 

Having previously been in a running club, I’ve encouragingly found myself in familiar territory with ‘progression runs’ and ‘stride repeats’. I’m about six weeks into a plan and definitely feel that things are improving. Being able to dictate the frequency and days on which you want to train adds further structure. The watch times intervals and subtle but easily sensed vibration bursts count you down into each rep or set. It’s a great feature that any novice or enthusiastic amateur will enjoy exploring and using.

Analysis is as comprehensive as with the cycling, either on the watch, or in the app.  

LIFESTYLE

Garmin cleverly pulls all your data together to provide constant feedback. You can track so many aspects of your day-to-day routine on the watch that there's a genuine risk of obsession! Sleep, steps, stairs, hydration, calories, body battery and menstrual cycle are just some of the aspects it'll monitor, naturally there's some input required by the user in some cases. Customisation is key here, so that you are not presented with heaps of data that isn't of interest to you. 

For me, all smartwatch sleep data should be taken with a pinch of salt, the Venu 2 Plus is no exception; it’s had me sleeping when I’ve been watching a film late at night, and awake in the morning when I’ve been enjoying a lazy lie-in. On the whole though, what I see in a morning tends to tally with how I feel I’ve slept.

Menstrual tracking is a useful if you want to peak for an event, working with your cycle can really help here. Equally, it provides details about the phase of your cycle with an easy to interpret calendar highlighting these.

I personally prefer to view much of the day-to-day metrics in the app (rather than with the Glances I've already discussed), it’s simply less strain on the eyes. There's a collapsed view option, from where you can delve into individual fields (as I've done with 'steps' and 'heart rate' here), or an expanded view to scroll through.

SMART FEATURES

By adding a microphone and speaker to the Venu 2, Garmin have created an ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ smartwatch in the Venu 2 Plus, something to compete with the likes of Apple. And there's good news, the sound isn’t actually that bad - a very promising start given this is Garmin’s first ever watch to let you to talk into your wrist. It bodes well for future models.

It doesn’t just enable you to make and receive calls though, it also enables Voice Assistant (Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Samsung Bixby), plays music via the speaker and permits Assistance/Incident Detection calls to a pre-set emergency contact. 

I’m not a massive user of voice assistant, with or without a watch, but it’s worked as it should (I tried with Siri and Bixby), with results naturally being dependant on how smart your voice assistant is!

While I’d rather make and receive calls on my phone, testing it has been fun; it’s a convenient alternative when you can’t get your hands directly on your phone (be it ‘hidden’ in the house, buried at the bottom of a bag or tucked away in a bike bag). It takes a little setting up, though this is probably just me adjusting to the unfamiliar.

The contacts list is created in the Garmin Connect App using your main contacts list, this nicely limits scrolling through hundreds of contacts on the watch face. Sound quality is not ground-breaking but it’s perfectly good enough to conduct a conversation.

Any music stored (offline) on the Venu 2 Plus can be played through the speaker, though I’m not sure many people will opt to be doing this on a regular basis, perhaps just a new music share or an emergency scenario of your headphones running out of charge. It’s a nice backup for when you don’t have your phone to hand and, again, the sound is perfectly acceptable. Up to 650 songs can be stored on the Venu 2 Plus.

With many of Garmin’s existing devices, in the case of an emergency, you can trigger a text message to a saved contact. The Venu 2 Plus has the ability to make a call, either to a contact or the emergency number in your country (999, 911, etc…). Naturally you need Bluetooth connectivity and you are then required to speak, but it’s still a great feature considering the circumstances you could find yourself in (potentially unable to reach your phone). This call (or default text if you wait five seconds) can be triggered in three different ways: manually from controls menu; with a long hold of the upper right button; automatically after a detected crash (customised by you in certain sport profiles).

VALUE

On the face of it, £399/$449.99 is a lot to fork out, but I’d argue that the Garmin Venu 2 Plus gives you a lot for your money, just be sure that you are going to make use of the majority of it. 

Alternatives include the Apple Watch Series 7, it’s £30 cheaper but the sports/fitness features are significantly dialled down by comparison. 

Wahoo’s £299 Elemnt RIVAL won’t offer the advanced smart technology, or the range and depth of activities, but that might not be such a bad thing if you are easily overwhelmed. 

Testing smart watches and GPS computers is becoming increasingly challenging and time consuming; there are so many aspects to cover and missing a valuable function or feature is easily done. This alone, in my mind, goes a huge way to justify the RRPs, providing the features and functions actually do what they are designed to, and do it well. In the case of the Venu 2 Plus, it does: it shines where fitness/sporting functions are concerned and the addition of a microphone and speaker to enable advanced smart functions has been well-executed by Garmin. It's possible that improvements come in subsequent revisions, so holding out for an upgrade or investment might be a wise choice. The good news is, if you don't want to hold out, the Venu 2 Plus is actually on sale at £299 in some outlets as I finish this review!

SPECIFICATIONS

• Physical size: 43.60 x 43.60 x 12.60 mm. Fits wrists with a circumference of 125-190 mm
• Display Size: 1.30″ (33.0 mm) diameter
• Display Resolution: 416 x 416 pixels
• Display Type: AMOLED; optional always-on mode
• Weight: 51.0 g
• Battery life: Smartwatch mode: Up to 9 days; Battery saver smartwatch mode: Up to 10 days; GPS mode with music: Up to 8 hours; GPS mode without music: Up to 24 hours.
• Connectivity: Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi®
• Music storage: Up to 650 songs
• Available run profiles: Running, Indoor Track Running, Treadmill Running
• Available cycling profiles: Biking, Indoor Biking
• Available swim profiles: Pool Swimming
• Water rating: 5 ATM (withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 50m). 

The Bryton Rider S500 GPS computer is designed for those hoping to track performance metrics on any kind of ride - be it indoors, road or gravel - and navigate outdoors with ease. 

Having previously used the Rider 750 I was hopeful that the brand may have addressed some of the pitfalls I identified, namely, slow processing and subpar map graphics. Many of these complaints have been improved, though there are some hangovers.

Whilst not perfect, the Rider 750 did a lot of things very well. So what’s new? There's actually a pretty long list. Major additions and edits include:

• new “Climb Challenge” feature
• automatic sync of structured workouts from the Active app
• screen-off long battery life option (but still recording)
• increased visibility of display outdoors, anti-glare screen coating
• increased sensitivity of touch screen
• ambient light sensor
• increased accuracy of the barometric altimeter
• increased battery life from 20hrs to 35hrs
• USB-C port (from micro-USB)
• ability to use a USB-C cable to your phone to update maps & firmware
• exclusion of Garmin-to-Bryton adapter mount

Phew, that’s a fair bit to take in. Having tested the Rider 750 last autumn, I was keen to see just how good all of this was and if anything else had improved on top of these main additions.

Unboxing the Bryton Rider S500

There are two Rider S500 package options: the basic ‘E’ version and the ‘T’ sensor bundle. I’ve been lucky enough to test the latter. As well as the actual unit, case and mounts that come with the E-bundle, there’s a heart rate chest strap, speed sensor and cadence sensor included with the T-bundle.

The 84 x 51 x 25mm Rider S500 unit is slightly smaller than the Rider 750 (92.5 x 49.7 x 23.8mm). This could be seen as a positive if you’re short of space on your bars, or a negative if your eyes aren’t as good as they could be; the actual display is 2.4”, versus the Rider 750’s 2.8”. By comparison, the Garmin Edge 830 manages a 2.6" display and the Wahoo Bolt V2 2.2". As with the Rider 750, display area is lost via a surround at the top and bottom of the unit.

Unmounted, the unit is noticeably deep. A comparison below with an Edge 830 shows this well. The mount fitting on the head unit itself adds depth because it’s replaceable - a new feature on a Bryton unit. Additional bulk isn’t really noticeable once the computer is mounted. Indeed the whole thing's no heavier than the Edge 830. 

I'm personally unconvinced by the usefulness of the replaceable mount: if you buy the Bryton, you have Bryton mounts to use. Perhaps it's in case the dial fails on the Rider S500, allowing you to buy a replacement? Apparently not, when I asked Bryton for more information, the brand told me: "[the replacement dial is] not currently bought in to the country as a spare as they are not expected to break...If we do have cases of them failing this would be considered under warranty."

Mounting the Bryton Rider S500

The unit comes with a couple of mounting options. The slick-looking, alloy “out-front” mount works with 31.8 and smaller bars (35mm bar users are left out). Bar/stem mounts are also included, with a variety of o-rings for attachment. The majority of other manufacturers still offer plastic out-front mounts, so credit to Bryton for this premium choice.

The supplied USB-C cable should have enough length (45cm) to satisfy endurance riders wanting to charge from a top tube pack on the go. The port is on the underside of the unit rather than an end, as with Garmin and Wahoo. While the port cover seems sturdy and snug, there is greater risk of ingress with it under the unit. 

Bryton also include a safety lanyard and silicone case in both bundles.

I can’t say the case is a snug fit with slick looks, in my opinion it’s quite the opposite. The photo below shows just how loose the fit is; the right edge is bowing-out after constantly being hit by my swipes. However, I’d advise using it if you want to preserve the unit’s aesthetics and functionality. 

I carried out my usual drop test on the Rider S500 - a drop from approximately 1m, onto hard ground. This is a perfectly feasible experiment in my book; who hasn’t accidentally dropped their unit when going to mount it or, even worse, had the misfortune of it coming off during a crash? The bezel was dented significantly and the unit did not want to switch on again, flicking on and off continually. Bryton (via ZyroFisher) swiftly replaced what they deemed to be a ‘faulty unit’, no questions asked, assuring me that any such experience would be covered by the 2-year warranty. The second unit passed the 'drop test', when safely nestled in the case. 

Set-up and customisation

Set-up and customisation is best done via the Bryton Active App. A series of videos produced by Bryton guide you through every aspect of set-up, customisation and use. I’d say these videos really go in Bryton’s favour; they are sequential, easy to understand and cover the majority of processes and operations. I've been using an iPhone for testing purposes and have had zero issues with the app. 

Personal metrics can be entered in the Active App, this is worth doing to get more accurate analysis. That includes HR and power data, from which Bryton will calculate training zones (shown with arbituary data below). A notable set-up quirk is that the unit must be switched on in order to configure (any) settings. This is a bit of a faff in my opinion and doesn’t make me warm to the unit. If it’s not switched on, customisation menus won’t even appear in the app. 

Three fully customisable bike profiles are available, each offering up to 4 data pages with 14 different configurations of between 2 and 10 data fields. For me, one or two pages with 5 fields is more than enough to simulate metrics at a glance. Those tracking a multitude of metrics during any one ride will be happy with the options though. It’s possible to alter data fields on the unit, as well as on the app, which is useful for mid-ride changes.

Fans of the Rider 750's Graphical User Interface will be pleased to know it features on the Rider S500, despite not being played-up as much in marketing. If you are new to Bryton, I’m referring to a metric ring that can be selected as a display in the grid customisation. The photo below shows it better than my words can describe it.

Sensors and GPS

The three sensors supplied with the T bundle - heart rate, cadence and speed - are all very easy to pair with the unit, the app isn’t required for this. Hub/crank mounted cadence/speed sensors are protected with silicone mounting cases. The HR chest strap is a standard affair, with a detachable battery sensor and washable strap. It's comfy to wear and the attachment is pretty compact. A CR2032 battery is conveniently accessed with a coin, rather than tedious screws. I’ve found all sensors to be very responsive and reliable throughout testing, very rarely dropping out or showing blips in readings.

The Rider S500 also supports ‘Bike Radar Systems’, Shimano Steps and (ANT+/FE-C connectivity with) smart trainers. 

GPS system settings can be configured in the app. The Rider S500 makes use of 5 different satellite systems, enabling you to chose between increasing battery life or improving accuracy. If you want a super fast, reliable and accurate connection, it’s actually possible to connect with all 5 systems simultaneously, though this will use more battery life. For me, the signal has been stable and accurate throughout testing.

General riding and in-app analysis

If you roll out of the door to just ride, the Rider S500 does a very good job of tracking your ride, showing you metrics and giving you plenty of post-ride feedback (via the app)

The improvement in the touch screen is remarkable, bringing it in-line with leading units; it’s very responsive.

There’re also four buttons on the side - useful if you are not wearing touchscreen compatible gloves; they allow you change pages, start/stop the timer and record a lap. I’ve not warmed to their placement though. I’ve frequently recorded a lap when I wanted to stop the timer; it’s a natural instinct to apply pressure to the opposite side of the unit when you press a button.  

Brightness and contrast are good, always being sufficient to see everything on the screen without straining, even in bright sunlight. Is it as good as Garmin or Wahoo? That might be down to individual interpretation. I personally think Bryton’s choice of colour isn’t always optimal, the photos throughout this review show this. Graphics on the mapping page remain rather unrefined. The roads aren’t as clear as on the Edge 830 and road names appear as stacked letters (still). When I reviewed the Rider 750, I had a grumble about the lack of a bread crumb trail (showing where you’d ridden). This has been addressed, to some degree, on the Rider S500. Unfortunately, you can hardly see it.

As shown below, it's just not as clear as the bright blue trace on the Garmin Edge 830.

Despite these grumblings, there are a few things that are quite cool with the pre-loaded OSM (OpenStreetMaps) maps. 

With a massive zoom range (850km-400km-200km-64km-50km-25km-12.8km-6.4km-3.2km-1.9km-800m-400m-200m-100m-50m) and on-screen Points of Interest (POIs), it's really useful for exploring unfamiliar places. Moving the map so that a POI is under the 'radar' gives you detail. Additionally, the OSM maps included on the Rider S500 have been enhanced to show MTB trails and other off-road features.

Another of my Rider 750 grumbles appears on the Rider S500, quite literally: the pause icon that indicates the unit has stopped recording. While it isn't solid in colour, it's still annoying to have it on a data grid, climb profile or map when you've stopped and might want to look at the screen. Something like Garmin's amber frame is more user-friendly. Thankfully, if you interact with the mapping page while stationary, it does disappear.

A noteworthy improvement is the powering down of the unit. A cafe stop doesn’t mean you lose your ride (like it did with the Rider 750); you can set the unit to power off after a customised time period (default is 30 minutes) and the ride will be there to resume when you switch it back on.

While we're discussing powering-off, it makes sense to mention the much talked-about battery life of the Rider S500. Bryton claim that it can run for up to 24 hours, and I've found this to be reliable. It's great to not be plugging it in that often and it's a big plus for adventure riders. 

As I write, I have a unit in front of me that's still got 43% battery capacity and has done over 13.5 hours of riding since the last charge, at least 10 of which were with active navigation and use of cadence and HR sensors. Naturally, the more strain you put on the unit (with sensors) and interact with the map, the quicker the battery drains. Without navigating or using paired sensors, I found the unit can last beyond the claimed 24 hours. It takes around 3 hours to recharge. 

Back to general riding. Strava Live segments are not featured on the Rider S500, a disappointment for many I’m sure. The unit does boast Live Track though, allowing you to share your real-time location with others. This is done by generating a link in the app and sharing via any messaging app or email. Recipients can follow from the web, viewing your real-time location, current speed, ride time, trip time, distance and last updated time on their phone or computer (data view below).

After finishing and opting to save a ride it syncs to the app, providing the app is open and the unit remains switched on during syncing. Data is then as comprehensive as with any other I’ve experienced. For me, the app is more intuitive for retrieving ride data than it is for setting up workouts or syncing routes. All recent activities are displayed on the homepage and you can access them from there. Data fields can be expanded to access a plethora of metrics and graphs (with variable axes on charts). Rides can be shared to other platforms (STRAVA, TrainingPeaks, Selfloops and Relive) indiviually, or you can customise to auto-sync. They can also be turned into routes for future outings or sharing.

Navigation

As with the Rider 750, the Rider S500 has several options for navigating.

You can routes plan within the app (a reasonable option if you don’t have a larger screened device), import routes from Strava, Komoot and Ride with GPS, create routes from your own rides, or import via a cable connection.

Once you’ve sent a route to the device, you’ll need to keep the app open to at least start it. If you close the app, navigating to the start or re-routing is not possible, you'll still get directions if you stay on course though. If you happen to drift off route with the app closed, there’s no attempt to re-route, you will simply get a notification that you are off route, regardless of which page you are on.

On-board navigation is also possible, via typing, dropping a pin or voice - again the app must be active for this to work. In my experience it’s reliable but, like most devices, doesn’t always use the best of routes.

When it comes down to actual physical navigation, the Rider S500 does everything you’d hope for. If you are using a data page when approaching a turn, it will flash up with a clear instruction (rather than switching to the map page). If you are on the map page, guidance is in a small square at the bottom of the screen - actually a little too discrete for my liking, though the coloured trail is clear enough in unambiguous situations.

If, for any reason, you want to re-trace your route (to get home for something urgent, for example) the Rider S500 can navigate you via the roads you’ve just used.

Much of my pre-planned navigation is done when I’m riding on new roads travelling to, or visiting, unknown places. Reliance on my phone to do this (particularly if I happen to be abroad) is not so appealing and can present issues if, for example, phone reception isn't great or the battery is low.

Climb challenge

If you are following a route, Bryton’s Climb Challenge feature enables you to customise climbs: changing where they start and end, or removing them completely. This is an intuitive process in the app, though I personally found the start/end pins difficult to move with any kind of precision.

As soon as you start following the customised route, it’s possible to view a summary of all the climbs. This graphical overview arguably gives more detail about the climbs’ varying gradient than a simple list (as with Garmin). Once you begin a categorised climb, the Climb Challenge screen pops up with the profile and coloured climb segments. Accompanying data fields are customisable. The whole feature is very similar to Garmin's ClimbPro - if something works, why not replicate it?  

Workouts

Creating workouts in the app (to send to the device) is not difficult, just rather time-consuming. Pre-defined sessions are available and it’s possible to create your own. Editing zones and interval duration is fiddly due to the entry fields being so small, though maybe a larger smart phone would have made this easier (I’ve been using a 5.8 inch screen).

Following any kind of workout made me feel like I was on an exercise bike in a gym -  a marker tracks your progress through each block of pre-defined work, metrics turn red if you are not in your target zone, there are on-screen count downs to the start of a new interval and it’s possible to zoom into a particular section of the workout.

Value and verdict

The T-bundle that I have been testing has an RRP of £329.99 / $379.95, foregoing the sensors will save you £80 / $70. 

Market leaders Garmin and Wahoo will set you back significantly more for something boasting similar features; Garmin’s Edge 830 retails at £429.99 / $499.99 (with sensors, £349.99 / $399.99 without) and Wahoo’s Elemnt Roam has an RRP of £299.99 / $379.99 (no sensor bundle). 

In short, Bryton is not being beaten on price. Whether you deem the Rider S500 value for money or not will be a matter of personal priorities when it comes to using the device.

I have friends who swear by their Brytons: 'I get everything I need and it's so much cheaper than a Garmin'. However, the friends in question don’t want navigation, they simply want to track a ride, occasionally see a map and monitor their progress on climbs. Indeed, in this regard, the Rider S500 does all of this as well as others. It might be a bit ‘clunky’ and unrefined in places when lined up next to competitors, but this is a justifiable compromise given its attractive price.

However, any form of meaningful navigation on the Rider S500 relies on having your smart phone to hand, paired and with the Active App open. For me, this means it can’t really be classed as a reliable and competent unit to navigate me, wherever I am. It’s a massive negative for the Rider S500 and, given the amount of feedback surrounding the Rider 750 from independent reviewers, it’s a shame this hasn’t been addressed. 

Specifications

• Physical Dimension: 83.9 x 51 x 17.4 mm
• Display Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
• Operating Temperature: -10°C~50°C
• Log History: 300 Hours
• Satellite Supported: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS
• Waterproof Rating: IPX7
• Lap History: 130 Laps
• Battery Life: Up to 24 hours

The Garmin Vivomove Sport is a great choice for anyone wanting to track day-to-day activity and recovery without being overwhelmed by a plethora of data and analysis that’s arguably fit for a pro. Its sleek, discreet and lightweight design offers a range of functions that should satisfy most fitness enthusiasts.

Garmin Vivomove Sport: first impressions

The traditional watch face is, in my opinion, a great selling feature. Even with all the technology that exists in watches these days, it’s rather satisfying to lift your cuff and see watch hands that tick in perfect rhythm. They are easy to see, even in low light, as are the numbers and minute markings.

The Garmin Vivomove Sport is available in a range of colours so that most tastes should be satisfied: Cool Mint, Cocoa, Black and Ivory, each colour has its own unique hands and accents. I’ve been testing the black version, always a good option if you want to avoid colour clashes with sports kit or casual clothing. The straps are interchangeable, retailing at £34.99 each. Removing them is really easy and the retracting pin seems sturdy. I’ve had the watch on pretty much 24/7 since receiving it, never feeling like it was making my wrist sweaty or irritated while exercising. The strap seems pretty robust but it’s good to know that spares are available and a whole unit isn’t ‘lost’ if the strap breaks.

The watch hands are prone to becoming misaligned if you run or ride off-road. Garmin says any vigorous activity can affect them. The first time I noticed this the watch was five minutes slow, even though the digital clock was spot on, I panicked somewhat. They came to rest at 9.10 when I interacted with the watch, rather than 9.15. Thankfully it's a two-minute fix via the settings menu on the watch (or using the app). Certainly worth knowing if you undertake 'vigorous' exercise... 

Look and fit

The watch is far from chunky. For comparison I’ve used the Forerunner 945 in photos below. The Vivomove Sport feels much less intrusive on the wrist, with a smaller face and less depth. I never felt the need to remove it when heading out to socialise. It doesn’t grab the eye or scream ‘tracking-obsessed athlete’.

I've recently tested a lot of kit that comes up very small around the forearm, having the Vivomove Sport on, rather than something like the 945, makes life a little easier from this perspective. 

Operation and customisation

On the lower half of the watch face, there’s a hidden touch screen. A double tap (or customised wrist gesture) activates the OLED display. The hands move away, enabling you to view up to 10 different widgets and delve into any of them with a further tap. The display's very easy to read, offering good clarity (though not the quality of some more expensive alternatives) and a well-judged level of brightness. That said, the amount of text available to see is very limited due to both the size of the watch face and its shape, more on this later.

The Garmin Vivomove Sport is 100% customisable using the settings menu on the watch itself. Vibration settings, brightness, timeout, gesture mode and sensitivity are just some of the settings that can be adjusted, though opting for certain levels will drain the battery more than others. 

Screen activation is customisable: gesture, gesture only while exercising, no gesture. Naturally the double tap is a constant. Wrist action-activation has been 100% reliable, even during exercise. Once the screen is activated you can swipe through widgets and access menus. Swiping and tapping is responsive and accurate. 

Syncing of day-to-day stats with the Garmin Connect app has been 100% reliable. For testing purposes, I've used both Android and Apple phones. They are equally intuitive to navigate and offer immediate detail, with more graphics and averages. Or you can 'collapse' this opening view to something more succinct, with the option to delve into any field from there.

Charging and battery life

A supplied proprietary cable takes the watch from 'critical' to full in about an hour and a half, dependant on just how low it's become. Running times depend heavily on whether you make use of the functions that require pairing with another device, levels of vibration, time-out duration and gesture settings. The majority of the time I've been using it without pairing; this has a huge impact on the battery. I've been getting five and a half days out of it before it needs more juice, that's with the gesture setting switched to 'exercise only' and the shortest time-out setting . When the battery capacity drops to 'critical' only the watch (hands) functions - you can’t use any of the smart features. It lasts another day in this state before finally giving up. The watch throws up a warning when it needs charging. 

The battery life might be considered inferior to some alternatives, it's worth remembering that several settings can be 'dialled' down if you want it to last longer. I have been peronsally very happy with the run time between charges, but then I haven't relied on pairing for GPS so much.

Widgets

You can customise the watch face in the Garmin Connect app, choosing from a range of faces and preloaded widgets that provide at-a-glance information. 

Swiping the screen scrolls through 16 different the widgets, some of which require a paired smartphone. For most (myself included), 16 will be too many to have available all the time. You soon realise which ones are not getting used and can quickly remove them (using the app). 

Entering personal details (height, weight, age, HR zones etc...) in the app allows the watch's widgets, such as steps, hydration, heart rate, calories, Body Battery and Intensity Minutes, to operate more accurately. The latter two are based on activity, stress and sleep. You can pre-set goals for steps, hydration and Intensity Minutes, which are displayed too. The weather widget, notifications and calendar required a paired smart phone. There are also music controls though, unsurprisingly at this price point, no on-board music.

Some widgets offer more detail on the watch itself, plus options to edit. For example, you can view the previous days steps, your heart rate data for the last hour, register changes and symptoms linked to your menstrual cycle, track pregnancy, add fluid intake to your hydration status or view all recent smart phone notifications. The latter lives up to it’s namesake: the text is so small that you don’t really want to read much more than the primary notification (receipt of mail, text, call, money etc…). If you do opt to read an entire message, it can be time consuming and tedious tapping to see it all (if it is lengthy). When paired to an Android, it's possible to send a standard reply to a text message, for example, "Thanks" or "Okay, I'll get back to you soon." This is great if you're busy and your phone is stowed away somewhere. 

Is the Garmin Vivomove Sport good for cycling?

The Vivomove has 14 pre-loaded activities, 10 can be pre-set on the watch at any one time. For walking, running and cycling, the watch relies on a paired smart phone for a GPS signal. You can still time an activity without it, but obviously the resulting data is in no way location based. In such cases, the run/walk stats are based on your pre-set stride length (enter a known distance and the number of steps it takes to cover the distance, and Garmin Connect can calculate your step length) and by comparison to using a device with an on-board GPS, can be inaccurate. For the run below, I used the Vivomove Sport and a Forerunner 945, while I want to claim the Vivomove’s stats, I should keep in touch with reality. If performance and precise stats are not so important to you, the Vivomove will still provide fitness trends, even if the underlying data is not 100% accurate.

Pairing for a GPS signal eats the battery, it’s worth ensuring that you have plenty of charge before starting a run or ride of any distance if you are pairing. The lack of on-board GPS didn’t bother me for cycling; I always have my phone in my jersey pocket when out riding so could pair to that, if I wanted to. Running is a different case; I never run with my phone. This won’t be an issue for everyone; many run with a phone for music or personal safety, so it’s really not a negative in this case.

While doing a timed activity, you can view up to 5 different customised data screens, all of which are configured via the app. 

Starting a timed activity is intuitive, if a little tedious in comparison to a fully featured smartwatch. There's no auto-pause function, just the option to stop timing with a double tap, followed by resume, save or discard.  

If the battery enters its critical level during the activity, it's not possible to view any of the screens and the final data set may fall short. Below you can see the result of a ride that was being timed when the battery level entered 'critical' at some point. While the route and time have been recorded, average speed and distance have been omitted.

Being able to broadcast heart rate to a paired Garmin device will appeal to many cyclists, even if it does eat battery. It’s much better to see your heart rate on a bar-mounted GPS device than having to glance at your wrist. The heart rate sensor isn't as reliable as a chest strap; it lags and can drop out if you are moving about a lot; sprinting or climbing while cycling aren't great for it. If there is no dislodging of it (by clothing or otherwise) and you are relatively still on the bike, the reading is pretty accurate. All averages are influenced by the Vivomove not auto-pausing at junctions.

While some of the other activity options might be pretty niche (Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Pilates, Toe-to-Toe), it’s good to see swimming there, with the options of customising pool size and recording lengths. Garmin claims that the watch withstands pressure equivalent to a depth of 50m, and no, I didn't test this. There is also a strength training feature allowing you to record sets via a timer with the device counting your reps (which you can edit if necessary). An increasingly popular option on smartwatches to do some guided, stress-busting breathwork is also there. 

Move IQ

You don’t have to specifically start a timed activity for the Vivomove Sport to register it. When your movements match familiar exercise patterns, the Move IQ feature automatically detects the event and displays it in your timeline (grey). Move IQ events show activity type and duration, but they do not appear in your activities list or newsfeed.

The Move IQ feature can automatically start a timed activity for walking and running using time thresholds you set in the Garmin Connect app. These activities are added to your activities list as well as your timeline (green). Its accuracy is impressive - even very short bike errands were detected. If I was investing in the watch to specifically track fitness, I'd probably not bother using the timed activity function. The beauty of the Vivomove Sport is that it works while you focus on other things, and it does this very well. 

Tracking and analysis

The watch is continually tracking your heart rate. This is what informs many of the recovery monitoring widgets, so Body Battery, Stress and Intensity Minutes all use heart rate data to function. It will send timely reminders to 'Move', or to 'Take a break' (which has happened while I've been sitting down several hours after a long ride) - how does it know I'm sat at a laptop, busy writing a review?!

Sleep tracking is accessed in the app and isn't so different from any other smartwatch. I always take this kind of data with a pinch of salt, I've never had any two smartwatches agree on one single night (about both duration and quality). It's a good guide though and certainly reflects how I feel like I've slept the vast majority of the time. 

Assistance, Livetrack and critical heart rate

The Garmin Vivomove Sport boasts safety and tracking features that must be set up in the app and rely on a bluetooth connection to a paired phone. The Assistance feature allows you to send a message with your name, LiveTrack link, and GPS location (if available) to the emergency contacts you entered in the app.

LiveTrack allows family members to send a request to view your location in real time. You can invite followers using email or social media, allowing them to view your live data on a web page.

The Vivomove can also be customised to alert you when your heart rate drops above or below a pre-set rate.

Value and verdict

At £159.99 / $179.99, the Garmin Vivomove Sport is going to challenge its hybrid smartwatch competitors. Fitbit’s £199.99 / $229.95 Versa 3 is a comparable performer, but if it’s the classic watch face you’re after, this won’t tick that box. If classic looks are a priority, it could be worth considering one of Fossil’s Hybrid smartwatches, for example the £189 / $199.99 Bronson or Skagen’s £189 / $195 Jorn. I can’t comment on ease of use or tracking features here though.

If you are looking to track fitness and lifestyle with a high quality hybrid smartwatch via a fully integrated app, the Vivomove Sport is certainly worth considering: it looks great on the wrist, is fully customisable, reliably tracks day-to-day activity, and syncs seamlessly with a dependable app to provide more than enough data for any enthusiast hoping to make fitness and lifestyle gains. Only the battery life doesn’t quite match some of its competitors. Nevertheless, it doesn’t lag too far behind… making it a small price to pay given the data gathering quality and functionality on offer.

Garmin Vivomove Sport: specifications

• Lens material: Chemically-strengthened glass
• Case material: Fibre-reinforced polymer
• Quick release bands: Yes (20 mm, Industry standard)
• Strap material: Silicone
• Physical size: 40 x 40 x 11.0 mm. Fits wrists with a circumference of 125-190 mm
• Touchscreen: YES
• Display Size: 0.34" x 0.73" (8.6 mm x 18.5 mm)
• Display Resolution: 72 x 154 pixels
• Display Type: OLED
• Weight: Case only: 19.0 g. With silicone strap: 33.8 g
• Battery life: Smartwatch mode: Up to 5 days. Watch mode: Up to 1 additional days.
• Water rating: 5 ATM
• Memory/history: 10 timed activities; 14 days of activity tracking data

The F3 FormMount OTS computer mount arrived with me alongside the brand's key road offering: the F3 FormMount. The latter is designed to use the stem faceplate bolts to offer a tidy solution for mounting computers, lights and cameras. However, in many cases, bikes I'm testing use an integrated stem/bar combo, so the faceplate-mounted FormMount has been limited in its use case, whilst the OTS has become my go-to.

F3 FormMount OTS Garmin mount construction

The OTS is constructed from plastic and made up of two parts. There's a round ring which slips on to the steerer, then the mount itself. A 2.5mm Allen key bolt joins to two, allowing users to angle the display.

If you use a computer with a larger screen, you'll need to fit it on top of any spacers, to ensure that you can achieve a full turn without being disrupted by your spacer chimney.

The mount weighs in at just 9g, making it a very effective solution for those looking to keep their overall bike weight down. Currently, it's compatible with Garmin computers only, though Wahoo compatibility is said to be on the way.

F3 FormMount OTS Garmin mount in use

As a bike tester, I'm riding a new bike every month, so versatility is key and that's been the major plus for the OTS. Most people do not take delivery of a new bike on a monthly basis, but the design will still appeal to anyone who has multiple bikes but doesn't want to shell out for multiple mounts, or spend ages swapping them between machines.

The mount works regardless of bar shape/diameter, spacer set-up (though it looks much better if your top cap is flush), and unlike the basic Garmin mount which attaches via two elastic bands, it won't mark your stem. An additional benefit would be felt by those riding with shorter stems, who can use the OTS approach to escape the issue where there's just not enough space for a Garmin 1030/Garmin 1030 Plus sized screen.

Fitting the mount takes minutes. Of course, you are undoing the top cap bolt and stem bolts, so you want to give yourself enough time to ensure that these are correctly torqued on return, but this isn't a big job.

On first use, I did not adequately tighten the bolt which supports the hinge. Disappointingly, the multitool I had with me did not have a 2.5mm Allen head either, so I had to put up with an orchestra of rattles all ride. However, this was user error and, with it corrected, the mount and its cargo were silent. A 2.5mm bolt head is pretty small, so it's important to take care when tightening or loosening, I'm sure spares are available but waiting for one would put the mount out of action for a while.

The 'over the stem' position is popular among off-road riders as it keeps the computer out of harm's way. It's not an approach we see road riders take all that often, and it does come with drawbacks – namely being below you rather than out front means moving your head more to view maps and data. This wouldn't be my preference, but it's a small price to pay for the convenience of easy swaps and universality.

I've been using the mount for months now, it's held up well against plenty of abuse off-road, and I've no concerns over its ability to survive years of abuse.

F3 FormMount OTS Garmin mount value

At £34.99, the OTS mount feels a little bit overpriced for the plastic device you're getting. However, when you look at what it offers – versatility and low weight – it provides a very good solution. It's also cheaper than the competition, K-Edge's MTB/Stem Adjustable Mount comes in at £44.99.

The Wahoo Elemnt Rival is a GPS smartwatch that’s designed to work seamlessly with Wahoo’s bike computers in a triathlon. Its USP is a feature called Touchless Transition, whereby data automatically transfers between watch and computer leaving the user to concentrate on the race rather than pressing buttons. That feature may not interest non-triathletes, but cyclists who prefer the security of a wrist-based cycling computer for more rugged off-road riding, commuting or who run in the off-season will be very interested in the fact that the Rival shares the exact same user-friendly, intuitive functionality as Wahoo’s excellent cycling computers and uses the same app.

Not only that, but compared to other smartwatches it is lightweight and comfortable, the GPS is very accurate, battery life is incredible and the optical heart rate monitor could be the most reliable out there.

It doesn’t do navigation, sleep tracking or adaptive training guidance so you could say its functionality is limited compared to the more ‘wearable’ orientated watches, but Wahoo intends the Elemnt Rival to be a sports watch for more serious athletes who already know what they’re doing and where they're going.

Wahoo Elemnt Rival: unboxing and set-up

The box is a work of art. A triptych depicting blue sea, a cyclist on a sun-drenched road and a runner on a rugged mountain pass unfolds, accompanied by the mantra Never Lose Focus.  OK, if you're not a triathlete you might be glazing over already, so let's take a look at the watch itself.

Set-up was the slickest of any smartwatch I’ve used. All the quick start guide tells you to do is to download the Wahoo Elemnt app to your phone, scan the QR code that appears on the watch face when you power it up and follow the instructions. I had no pairing issues at all.

You can customise pretty much everything with the app, from the watch face display (there are four to choose from) and accent colour, to button function and sports profiles.

Overall, pairing and syncing have been flawless. It happens in the background: once you’ve finished an activity it’s automatically uploaded to the Elemnt app and Strava or other third-party app, and the kudos is rolling in almost before you've come to a standstill. I have not once had to manually re-pair it with my phone.

While it’s paired it will also receive certain smartphone notifications which can also be customised or switched off as required.

The Rival will pair with Bluetooth and ANT+ sensors such as a chest strap and a power meter. Again, no issues at all. In fact it paired automatically with a Polar H10 chest strap that I wanted to keep separate for comparison.

Construction

At 46.5x46.5x15.3mm the Rival is ‘intermediate' in smartwatch sizing. The biggest Garmin Fenix 6 Solar comes with a 51mm case while the smaller Fenix 6 measures 42mm. Wahoo offers just one size but I found it exactly right for a wrist diameter of 165mm (Wahoo says it fits 140mm to 240mm). The silicone strap has plenty of flex and is not too stiff. This is not only important for comfort but it also ensures the optical heart rate monitor on the back of the watch can be optimally and securely positioned. I was also pleased to see plenty of closely-spaced holes in the strap, which facilitated a perfect fit.

Something else that helps the HRM function at its best is the weight of the watch. I found the 66g Suunto 5 slid around on my wrist even with the strap cranked up, but its lighter 53g weight helps the Wahoo stay in place.

The screen – which is not a touchscreen – is made from chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass. That and the ceramic bezel have stayed impressively scuff-free in the two months I’ve been using the watch.

There are five buttons and it’s very easy to work out which does what even without the set-up guide. The only function you wouldn't guess – and which is actually a very useful one – is the Perfect View Zoom. Like Wahoo’s cycling computers you can increase or reduce the number of data fields you’re viewing. With the Rival this is done by pressing bottom left and bottom right together. When setting the watch up in the app, you select and rank your data fields so that when you’re zooming in you can narrow it down to your single favourite field – power, speed, heart rate, whatever you decide in advance.

What can it do?

Wahoo calls the Elemnt Rival a “radically simplified multisport watch that delivers a seamless advantage.” The Touchless Transition is certainly its headline feature and it's clever stuff, but beyond that is, as Wahoo says, a relatively pared-back computer.

While there’s step counting and calorie burn, there’s no sleep tracking, floors climbed, adaptive training guidance, Spotify or Garmin Pay-style contactless payment. There isn’t even navigation.

Is there enough left? I would say yes. Leaving all these extras out is a bold but a good call: Wahoo has separated wearable Apple Watch-type features – some of which never get used yet still add complexity – from serious sports data. I would suggest anyone who buys a sports watch at this price wants it for the undiluted sports.

So with its focus on sport, Wahoo has designed in plenty of customisability so you can get the look and feel of your sports profiles and your data fields exactly how you like them.

You can edit your sports, create new profiles and for purposes of the zoom function, rank six data fields from least to most important. ‘Triathlon’ is the one that operates Touchless Transition. For ‘Cycling’ it behaves just like a Wahoo cycling computer and tracks all the metrics you’d expect. The same with 'Running'.

June 2021 update. 

Since our original review Wahoo has added quite a few updates, as we were promised they would. The most obvious ones are Smart Notifications from WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram (alongside calls, texts and emails); iOS Music Control; Planned Workouts, which includes TrainingPeaks integration, and Broadcast Heart Rate, which allows the Elemnt Rival to be used as a heart rate monitor with other GPS devices such as the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt and Roam.

Here's a list of the highlights:

Track running
The track running profile provides distance and pace metrics when running on a 400m track. Pressing the lap button during a track session will snap intervals to the nearest 100m.

iOS music control
Control music on iOS devices from the Elemnt Rival. Play, skip, pause, and adjust the volume when a device is paired, but out of reach.

Planned workouts
Perform planned workouts directly on the Rival.  This feature includes TrainingPeaks integration as well as 12 pre-built Wahoo Sports Science workouts.  The week's workouts automatically sync to the Rival. It will prompt you at the start of each interval to stay on target.

Kickr Headwind control
The Elemnt Rival can now control the Kickr Headwind smart fan in three modes: heart rate response, speed simulation, and low-med-hi settings.

Smart notifications
iOS users can receive smart notifications from WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram alongside calls, texts and emails straight to the watch.

Broadcast heart rate
Broadcast heart rate captured from the Elemnt Rival's built-in optical heart rate sensor to other GPS devices via ANT+.

Pace chart 
View the pace of all your previous splits in an easy-to-see chart format

Naturally it's waterproof to 50 metres since it's also designed for swimming.

GPS

The Wahoo Elemnt Rival supports GPS and GLONASS and is as accurate as any. There is the occasional drift onto the verge by a couple of feet but it’s never any more than that.

The Rival finds a signal very quickly – happily within a few seconds of standing outside the front door.

Heart rate monitor

Optical heart rate monitors work by shining an LED into the wrist and measuring blood flow – and they are notoriously inaccurate. However, I’d say the Rival is probably accurate 95 per cent of the time. The other 5 per cent is when it drops out for no apparent reason, but that’s better than any other wrist-based HRM I’ve used. I can go entire rides or runs without it dropping out, but it’s nevertheless frustrating when it happens, mostly because it’s likely to skew training stress in your third-party training app. Even though the Rival is very good, you’ll need to use the chest strap if you want 100 per cent heart rate accuracy.

It’s worth pointing out that there are many variables that can affect optical HRM accuracy including size and shape of wrist, but for me the Rival was the best I’ve used.

Battery life

This one will run and run. Even with 24/7 heart rate enabled and exercising most days, I easily get a week-plus out of it. Wahoo claims 14 days in smartwatch mode, that's probably without the HRM on.

It clips into a sort of charging pad, which is slightly plasticky but works well and charges the Rival quickly and efficiently.

The ride (or run)

What’s it like during an activity? The Elemnt Rival screen is super easy to read on the move and the digits are clear. It beats the Suunto 5 by miles for this. Even with the maximum six data fields you don’t have to squint. I’d give it another ‘best I’ve tested’ for screen clarity and legibility. I had no problem using all six data fields for both running and cycling. Helpfully, the digits themselves expand once the activity is in progress, with the titles of the data fields (mph, watts, HR etc) disappearing to make extra space once you know what's what, which is clever.

Using the buttons is also simple when riding or running. They protrude enough to use with a winter-gloved finger and a loud bleep and vibration lets you know that you’ve hit one successfully.

I won’t go into aesthetics because you can see what it looks like and make up your own mind. Personally I think Wahoo has got it right. It does a bit of rugged and a bit of chic and a bit of high tech and is all quite understated so you could wear it any time. It’s also available in a slightly louder ‘Kona White’ (this one is ‘Stealth Grey’).

Value

The Wahoo Elemnt doesn't have a direct competitor from Garmin at this price point: the Garmin Forerunner 745 has a SRP of £449 and for that extra £100 you get all the wearable functionality that the Wahoo Elemnt leaves out, including fitness tracking and training guidance. We reviewed the older Garmin Forerunner 945 which was £439.99 at the time (still available on sale from some retailers for under £400) and has a similar level of functionality to the 745, and said it "might be overkill for some".

The Suunto 5 undercuts the Rival at £299 and has more functions but, reviewing that for another publication, I found it wasn't as intuitive as the Wahoo Elemnt Rival and the optical HRM was unreliable. We haven't tested the Polar Grit X, which costs slightly more at £379.99.

The Elemnt Rival is more expensive than both of Wahoo's cycling computers, but if you're a cyclist who likes to do other endurance sports and are already a Wahoo convert, I would say it's worth the outlay. 

The Garmin 130 Plus, introduced at the start of the summer, bolsters the bottom end of Garmin's best bike computer range. It's more of an evolution than a revolution, but the new device picks up features that increase its versatility whilst retaining those that made its predecessor, the Garmin Edge 130, so popular.

Garmin Edge 130 Plus: Unboxing and Setup

Open up the box and you'll have the device, a standard mount, a USB cable and a tether to keep it all together. Disappointingly there's no out front mount included.

There's no major revolution in how the Edge 130 Plus is setup. It doesn't require being paired to your phone, but doing so removes the need to button mash your way through the setup process on the device. Pairing it to your phone also allows instant uploads to both Garmin Connect and third party apps such as Strava.

Watch: Garmin Edge 130 Plus review

One neat new update does allow the Connect App to recognise which sensors you regularly use (in my case heart rate) and auto transfer them to the new device. It also offers to auto transfer your riding profiles, but seeing as the 130 Plus doesn't support different profiles, it's not much use.

Once done the final steps are to edit your data pages. Despite the small screen I actually tend to jam my first data page with all of the metrics I want to track – it features about six different ones. I'm not one for scrolling and I want to be able to see my vitals at a glance. I'll then have an elevation screen if I'm doing extended climbing and a map screen as two other pages.

Garmin Edge 130 Plus: Design

Fans of the Edge 130 (including myself) will be relieved to see that Garmin has continued its 1.8" display, making it still the smallest device the brand makes, and one of the smaller devices available on the market. In a world where devices are growing in size continuously, sometimes smaller is better.

In total there are five buttons; a power button on the left, two scroll buttons on the right and two bumper buttons which start and stop rides as well as lap. Turn the device on and you're met with the home screen, which displays your battery life, GPS signal strength, phone connection and time as well as any sensors you may have paired to the device.

Unlike Garmin's other devices, the 130 Plus is a little more simple: you just have a 'ride' profile and are unable to make multiple different bike profiles, which gives customisation either depending on what bike you are using or what type of riding you're doing. It does offer you a choice of 'ride type', although this is used to categorise your riding rather than change any profiles.

Battery charging is taken care of via a micro USB port on the underside of the device, covered with a rubber flap. The device itself is rated water-resistant to an IPX7 rating and over the winter period I've truly put that to the test with no faults from the device.

Garmin Edge 130 Plus: Software

The biggest updates for the Edge 130 are mountain biking related, with the device now gaining new dynamics, including hang time which records distance and heights of jumps via a newly added accelerometer.

However, you also now get Garmin's 'ClimbPro' software, which details how many climbs are in a planned route, as well as giving additional details, including gradient profiling, distance to go until complete and elevation remaining. It's a useful feature for staying abreast of your course, especially if it's a big ride or if you're riding somewhere new.

It's also equipped with Garmin's PhysioTrueUp, which keeps your physiological data accurate across multiple different devices. It's useful if you use a Garmin watch to run or swim with, for example.

As standard, the software also includes staples of Garmin devices, including Strava Live segments, Vo2 Max calculator, and turn-by-turn prompts, although it uses a line map rather than a detailed one as found on higher end devices. In my mind this is the only real sticking point and those who like to explore or use mapping might want to go for a larger device.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The Edge 130 Plus can partner with a full suite of training sensors on both Ant+ and Bluetooth, including power meter, heart rate, cadence, speed – the whole lot. It also makes use of three different GPS satellites, including GPS, Galileo and GLONASS.

For those that like to ride connected, I found the Edge 130 Plus held its connection to my phone much better than its higher end Edge 830 counterpart and that Garmin has finally allowed it to alert you to Whatsapp messages rather than just SMS. I've found it to be a remarkably stable device that hasn't featured any of the nuisance glitches sometimes associated with this field of tech. At first I thought that was probably because it does 'less,' but it really doesn't – this is a very capable device.

It claims to have a 12 hour battery life and I found I could get about four or five rides out of it before it needed some juice. Battery life is dependent on many factors but I found that a 100km ride with heart rate data took out about 40% of the device's battery.

Garmin Edge 130 Plus: Value

At £169.99, the Edge 130 Plus is £20 more expensive than the Edge 130, which still remains available to buy. Compared to competitors such as Cateye or Lezyne, both represent an expensive entry point to cycling computers although they're in line with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, the natural comparison for the Edge 130 Plus.

However, when you considered that the Edge 130 Plus is a veritable powerhouse in a diminutive form, I think it offers great value. It'll be as happy sitting on your commuting bike ticking away the kilometres as it would on a 100km ride and I think it covers a lot of bases, including lighter navigational duties.

Cycling head units, or best bike computers if you'd prefer, are an odd piece of technology in some ways. They are a product that regularly takes two steps forward and one step back. Every year brings new features and advancements and yet they continue to be a pale shadow of their close relative the smartphone. It's not lost on cyclists that this split exists and for many it makes sense to use a smartphone instead of a dedicated device.

>>> See the Hammerhead Karoo II at Hammerhead for £359 here

The folks at Hammerhead have apparently taken notice of this as well. Instead of advocating for a smartphone they recognize the advantages of both. The Hammerhead Karoo takes the structure that smartphones build from and adapts it to build a purpose-built unit. The operating system is Android, the hardware is powerful, and the brand holds tight to a regular update schedule. In many ways the Hammerhead Karoo, and now the Karoo 2, look more like a technology startup than what you'd associate with the cycling industry.

The original Karoo has a dedicated following. Those who've experienced it tend to be passionate about the unit even while acknowledging its shortcomings. With the release of the Karoo 2 (currently available for pre-order), Hammerhead is trying to keep what works and add what's missing. The question is, does it meet the mark? Is the Hammerhead Karoo 2 a credible competitor to established leaders Garmin and Wahoo? How does it compare to lesser-known options like Stages?

Software

Modern cycling computers are a dance involving three players. There's the software on the head unit itself. The software on the unit is how the user interacts during a ride. Next, there's the software on your smartphone. A quality modern cycling computer expects that you have your smart phone with you but each company handles that a little differently. Finally, there's the software that exists in the cloud. In years past that piece might have been a dedicated application running on a computer but at this point you should expect it to be online.

When it comes to Hammerhead and the Karoo 2 it's easy to start with the smart phone software experience. There is an app and the functionality is to pass notifications from the phone to the head unit. It has tons of potential but very little functionality and yet works better than the competition, in my opinion. Stages, Garmin, and Wahoo all have little nuances with what notifications you actually get. I use Google Hangouts, Google Voice, Android Messenger, Gmail, and Facebook Messenger and most head units work with some but not others. The Karoo 2 shows me the notification no matter how someone messages me.

Next up is the software in the cloud. Access this piece through a login on the Hammerhead.io website. Functionality is a little more in-depth than the app but also very simple. There are three sections and the settings. Available settings are automatic or manual activity uploading and metric or imperial units. Then there is the account section, where linking to Strava, Ride With GPS, TrainingPeaks, Komoot, and MTB Project happens.

The last two sections are the routes section and the rides section. Routes includes routes you've pulled from other locations and there is also quite a good route creator in this section. The last section, rides, is a historical list of your rides. Each ride shows the route on a map along with an elevation profile plotted against distance.

You can convert any ride into a route then download it as a GPX if you want to share it. As for ride analysis, Hammerhead relies on its partner connections.

The last piece of the software puzzle is the unit itself. Most of what you do with the Hammerhead Karoo 2 happens on the unit itself. This arrangement is going to split people but there's not a right or wrong path. Wahoo handles nearly everything via the software on its phone app while Stages has a robust web-based experience. Garmin duplicates Garmin connect in the cloud and app as well as leaving lots of functionality on the head units also. Every arrangement has its pros and cons as well as its fans and detractors. If you want to use one of the partner websites to analyze rides and share maps and aren't a big smartphone advocate then the Karoo 2 is great. Alternatively, if you don't care about analyzing rides and sharing maps and you just want a system that works then Hammerhead is a great choice.

The software experience on the Karoo 2 builds from an Android 8 environment. Although it looks nothing like an Android phone those who use Android regularly may see familiar pieces. Drag down from the top and you can see something like a notification/settings area on an Android phone. Anytime a keyboard pops up it's obviously an Android keyboard. There are little things like that scattered around the whole system.

When it comes to functionality everything you would expect is here. Mapping is robust and there is support for any sensor you would want including all three major electronic shift systems and Garmin Varia. Pull down workouts from partner sites and it's possible to control smart trainers in ERG mode. The only piece that is notable is the way in which Hammerhead handles the display setup.

The ride experience organization revolves around profiles. Create a profile, such as "gravel," then decide what data to show on the primary screen. There are a variety of layouts to choose from. Pick a layout and from there each cell of that layout allows a choice of display data. If you'd like different data, or a different layout, on another screen just add it and customize it. Create as many different profiles as you need. Gravel, road, and indoor might be a few that make sense. Select the order you want them displayed on the main screen and you are set.

I want to note here that it is possible to change the display settings during a ride. It took me a while to figure this out but once I found it I discovered quite a cool process. Hold down the lower right button for a while and a very recognizable Android screen pops up with cards for all the active apps. Jump back to the home screen and change your profile settings like normal while your ride records in the background. Jump back home and select the profile and your ride is still there and recording.

Hardware

It's in the hardware section that Hammerhead wants the Karoo 2 to stand ahead of its peer group. The way it looks reminds me a lot of the Wahoo Roam although put the two next to each other and they are actually pretty different. The Wahoo incorporates front buttons while there are only two buttons on each side of the Karoo 2. Also, while the Karoo 2 has fairly sizable bezels they are smaller than the Wahoo Roam.

In terms of size, one of the biggest gripes of the original Karoo was its massive dimensions. The Karoo 2 falls on the larger side of things but is now among the pack. Dimensions are, in mm, 60.8w x 19.3h x 100.6L. That makes it nearly the same size as a Garmin 1030 but with a 3.2" screen that is .3" smaller than the Garmin. Despite a similar feeling to the Wahoo Roam the Karoo 2 is larger in every dimension and sports a half-inch larger screen as well.

There are two major things that stand out compared to other cycling computers. The screen and the responsiveness. The screen on the Hammerhead Karoo 2 is brilliant. There's no way around that. The Garmin 1030 Plus has a screen that compares but costs more. Plus, the Garmin leaves off any kind of anti-reflective coating and can be annoying in certain situations. The screen on the Wahoo Roam isn't really in the same league. The Stages devices are as bright and colorful as the Karoo 2 but the screens are smaller and the L50 is almost half the PPI.

The Karoo 2 stands even farther ahead of its competitors when you consider how the screen functions. Stages and Wahoo are button only navigation and Garmin is touch screen but it's a pretty simple implementation. The Karoo 2 is a multi-touch display with pinch to zoom and responsiveness far ahead of the competition. Moving around the interface is like that of a smartphone. Fast and lag free.

Some other small details are a USB-C charging port and a very good mount. The charging port does not have a cover but the unit still holds an IP67 water ingress rating. That USB-C also means that while the claimed 12-hour battery life, closer to 8 hours in my experience, is on the short side quick charging is available; 30 minutes plugged in will get a 30% charge, 1 hour lands you at 50%, and a full charge takes less than 3 hours.

The mount is worth mentioning because it's such a positive feeling connection and there's a Garmin mount adapter available. The Garmin mount isn't better but it is available in pretty much every configuration. Having the option of using all those third-party mounts means no waiting and wondering if anyone is going to pick up the Hammerhead style mount.

The Ride

As soon as you turn on the Hammerhead Karoo 2 it's obvious there's something different about it. The logo on the load screen is bright and the edges are crisp. Once loaded sensors are easy to add and profiles are easy to adjust.

There's no experience to speak of either on the website or in the app. What's there works mostly as a pass-through either for notifications or for services. This arrangement works fine for me and my ridewithgps.com maps synced across without issue. On the map screen pinch to zoom works and street names are there. meaning that if you were in an unfamiliar area and needed to find something you could do it.

Once I got everything set up and started riding things pretty much worked as I'd expect. As turns come up the notification is timely and it works no matter what screen you happen to be on. Take a wrong turn and rerouting happens quickly too. There is a certain sameness to each of the data fields that makes them look nice but can sometimes be hard to differentiate. If that's an issue for you there are plenty of options in the profile settings.

There are also hidden navigation elements that take some learing. Once powered on the lower side buttons, you can select whatever feature is being displayed next to them. The upper side buttons scroll left or right as an alternative to the touch screen. What's not obvious is that there are other button functions. Press both upper buttons together to add a route or long press one of the upper buttons while on the map screen and the map zooms in or out. For the lower right button, a long press gets you a tabbed screen for switching between elements in the UI. Long press the lower left to get to the power options.

Value

The Hammerhead Karoo 2 has an MSRP of $399/£359 and when compared to the competition it's a well-earned price. Garmin has a competitive screen and Garmin connect, while sometimes a hassle, does offer a lot of value. The 800 series matches the pricing of the Karoo 2 but Hammerhead beats the screen. The Wahoo ROAM offers a different way of interacting with a device but again the Hammerhead screen is better. Wahoo also lacks street names and the ability to move around the map if you find yourself lost. The Stages L50 is probably the closest competition just because it's quite a good value in comparison. The screen and UI on the Karoo 2 is better but if you are looking to save some money the Stages might be worth taking a look at. 

On top of what is being offered today Hammerhead is suggesting that it has a lot more coming soon. If that holds true then they may start to truly outpace the competition.

>>> See the Hammerhead Karoo II at Hammerhead for £359 here

If you like the simplicity of a system that tracks stats and tells you where to go without a ton of back end complexity then Hammerhead is a good option. The price makes sense, and the brand has some unique hardware features with a promise for more software features to come.

The Garmin Edge 1030 Plus was selected for an Editor's Choice award in 2020. This year's list contains 78 items which scored a 9 or 10/10 with our tech team - this gear is the best of the best, and has received the Cycling Weekly stamp of approval. 

The Garmin Edge 1030 Plus is the latest flagship best bike computer from the outdoor tech company. Much like its Edge 1030 predecessor, the 1030 Plus remains Garmin's do-it-all device for those that don't want to cut corners, however it has received several significant updates to improve its off-road and gravel capabilities.

My test model costs £519 without sensors, or is available as a bundle for £599.

Garmin Edge 1030 Plus: Setup

Typically, the setup process has been where Garmin has lost a step to many of its rivals, particularly Wahoo, who's slick smartphone enhanced setup process was a reason to buy an Elemnt alone.

However, with its latest devices Garmin has introduced 'Intelligent Activity Profiles'. As long as you're running your Garmin Edge 830 or Edge 1030's latest software, the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus will port across your previous activity profiles. My test model pulled across my varying profiles from my Edge 830, only slipping with temperature and elevation which it changed to imperial rather than metric. It's a mistake I can forgive considering that by porting across my already existing data the Garmin has slashed a process that previously took around hour to under three minutes.

When setting up new activity profiles, you can also choose from 'popular' metrics, which does make the process quicker if you don't have an existing device with preferences loaded.

I did make some minor changes purely because the bigger Edge 1030 Plus affords more screen real estate than its computer siblings.

Garmin Edge 1030 Plus: Hardware

While the device is the largest that Garmin make, its display remains the same 3.5" as used on the previous Garmin Edge 1030. It's a whopper, especially when resting on an out-front mount but you quickly adapt to its size – much like a smartphone, once you size up it's very difficult to return to a smaller size.

The 1030 Plus has dropped the white and black design of the Edge 1030 and adopted the more familiar design of two-tone black and grey. Despite its size, it's a sleek looking unit and its design is certainly more refined than its rivals such as the Wahoo Elemnt Roam.

The unit has a slim bezel compared to its competitor, allowing it to maximise its screen space rather than squashing data fields into a comparatively smaller space and it presents its data in clear boxes that are easy to see at a glance. The increased screen size also works well with mapping, displaying the coloured map in good clarity.

Watch: Lightweight vs Aero challenge

Garmin's touchscreen computers have caused us headaches in the past. The Edge 820 would ping through data fields, even deleting rides, in the rain. The Edge 1030 was vastly improved, but still not quite responsive enough - leaving us preferring buttons. Recognising this shortfall, Garmin updated the touchscreen for the release of its Edge 830 model and the 1030+ inherits the same design. It seems to have done the trick, the screen we have here is responsive to single touches, allowing you to safely swap betweens screens on the road and cancel that Strava Live segment that was doomed to fail. The update is good enough to prove me wrong when I said in my Garmin Edge 1030 review that it'd be better with buttons.

The device also receives the same processor as the Edge 830 which is twice as quick as the previous 1030 model, giving the device a quicker boot time and faster route calculation – previously long and involved routes could take a fair time to load.

If I had a gripe it'd be that the remaining buttons (start/stop and lap) are on the backside of the device and can be difficult to access when squished against the handlebar. Those that liked using third party mapping will also be disappointed to note the absence of a micro SD slot (it was jettisoned to allow a marginally slimmer profile), but overall the 1030 Plus is looking like a refined product.

Garmin Edge 1030 Plus: Software

No doubt recognising it had lost a step to Wahoo when it came to mapping, Garmin has thrown its weight into improving its off-road routing capabilities.

For starters, it has expanded the on device maps to now cover both Europe and North America as standard rather than requiring users to pay more to access these areas. I've noticed the maps are more granular, too, now showing more bridleways and off-road tracks although sometimes there is a discrepancy between those that exist on Strava (where I do my route planning) and those on the Garmin base map.

Those that like to explore will celebrate the new 'pause routing' feature, which is particularly useful should when you deliberately take yourself off your plotted course. It avoids the constant "make a u-turn" reminders and even gives you options to route further ahead to re-join your original course.

I've found it to be a great feature when I need routing to new trails but then want to explore them rather than carry on with my plotted route.

Pinch and zoom mapping, although not shouted about at the devices' initial release, has made a massive difference to how useful the computer is out on rides and I find myself using it much more when I'd previously have reached for my smartphone.

Performance metrics and software still make up a big part of the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus, and the new device offers you daily workout suggestions based on the training you have been doing. It has has a training section and a "my stats" page, although I'm not the type of rider to make the most of these, and with most of my "training" consisting of long endurance rides the routing and improved off-road software is more exciting for me.

Garmin Edge 1030 Plus: Battery Life

The Edge 1030 Plus receives a battery boost over the previous model, all the better to explore off road with. Garmin now tout a whopping 48 hours with "low use" (minimal screen changes, no routing and connectivity off) this drops to a still impressive 24 hours with "high use" (maximal connectivity, lots of screen changes).

On a 215km ride with routing and heart rate connected I used around 45% of the battery, leaving me very impressed.

Alongside its Edge cycling computer line-up Garmin has an extensive range of multisport GPS watches. Top of the tree is the Garmin Fenix 6, which packs a lot of functionality into a watch-sized package.

That includes not just GPS tracking, but Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, optical heart rate measurement and pulse oximetry (measuring the oxygen level in your blood). That’s a lot of power hungry functions to keep running - a drain on your battery. 

So Garmin’s latest innovation is to add a solar coating to the glass face of its watches which turns the sun’s rays into a boost to the battery, offering a claimed 16 days runtime between charges for the Fenix 6. 

>>> Cycling GPS and smartwatch reviews

I tested the Garmin Fenix 6 Solar with its intermediate size 47mm diameter case. It’s plenty large enough to read, with a clear display, although there’s a larger 51mm and a smaller 42mm one available with Solar tech too. 

The mid-sized case is wrist-friendly with no sharp edges and comfortable enough to wear day and night. The strap is comfortable, so it can be worn pretty tight without discomfort, which seems to be key to good wrist-based measurement.

>>> Garmin Edge computers range explained

Setting up

Set-up was easy, with the watch pairing quickly with the Garmin Connect phone app. Once linked up, the phone app guides you through the rest of the set-up procedure. There were a few things to download at the end, including support for music and solar stats, which were taking a long time over Bluetooth from the phone.

I used Garmin Express on my computer to complete the tasks. But this prompted me to update the watch’s basemaps over the faster connection. Even so, this was over an hour’s download, but fortunately, not one that you’ll need to do often. 

Once you get the basemaps, you’ve got a detailed street level map of the whole of your region - in my case Europe - and a less detailed map of the rest of the world. There are also footpaths, bridleways and some other paths shown for the UK, along with railways, woods and points of interest. 

You can do a lot of parameterisation of the Fenix 6 in the Connect app too, like setting up heart rate zones, where it’s a bit easier to do than on the watch itself.

Cycling data

The basics of recording a ride are easy: just press the top right button to get your list of activities, select Bike, press twice again to start recording and you’re ready to go. Press again to stop. Before you start, you get an estimate of how long your battery will hold out and options like following a pre-mapped course.

You can pair up with peripherals via ANT+ or Bluetooth if you have a power meter or want to use one of the best heart rate monitors in the form of a chest based strap.

While you’re recording, you get a scrollable set of screens (with data fields which you can change via the watch), including the basemap which shows your position and marked roads and paths. You can also get 5km split times flashed up while riding, which I found useful to keep an eye on my pace.

While you’re exercising, the Fenix 6 will record your heart rate using its wrist based optical sensor. I’ve had problems with inaccurate readings from other brands’ optical sensors, but Garmin seems to have nailed it. The heart rate data recorded for a ride using the Garmin Fenix was identical to that recorded at the same time on another device using a heart rate monitor strap.

Pulse oximeter data wasn’t so accurate though. It’s mainly designed to track your peripheral blood oxygen level when asleep. I set the watch to read during the day too, but I didn’t always get a set of readings for the entire day.

If I asked for a manually initiated reading, the watch told me to stay still while measuring, with Garmin saying that you need to stay still for around a minute for pulseox to work. Even so, the pulseox reading was consistently lower than that from a medical-grade sensor. Garmin does point out that the Fenix 6 isn’t a medical device.

So pulse oximetry is probably useful to log your blood oxygenation while asleep, when you’re not moving much, but not during exercise. Garmin has the functionality to use it to track your altitude acclimatisation though - potentially useful if you’re into altitude camps.

>>> Best smartwatches for cycling

The Fenix 6 also tracks breathing rate while exercising. Again, on its own, this wasn’t accurate from the watch, flatlining for most of my rides. But I got what looked sensible readings when using a heart rate strap paired to the Garmin, with my breathing rate increasing on the hills and dropping on the flat and descents. Garmin does state that you need to use a heart rate strap to get an accurate reading.

Like pulseox, breathing rate data from the watch when I was asleep looked to be robust though, but I wouldn't suggest buying this watch if these measuring tools are top of your list, they're more a potentially interesting accessory. 

Navigation

You can map out a route (or Course in Garmin-speak) to follow too. That’s easy on the Connect app and you can upload the course to the watch either via Bluetooth from a phone or using Garmin Express from a computer. Both are quick.

You can then select the course on the watch and follow the route, either using the trace on the map screen or a dedicated navigation screen with a direction arrow, distance off course (hopefully zero) and distance remaining. Once you approach a junction, the watch will beep at you and show the direction to turn. There’s another beep once you’ve gone through the junction. Miss a turn and you’ll get another audible notification and a turn round arrow along with the distance to route.

Turn by turn instructions didn’t always show for acute Y-shaped junctions, though the purple trace on the basemap lets you check if you’ve gone astray. When I paired up a Varia radar rear light and a heart rate strap, instructions were laggy and came up after junctions, suggesting that this was asking a bit much of the watch’s processor.

You can adjust the basemap during a ride, if you want to see where you are. Since there’s no touchscreen, panning and zooming is a bit fiddly, achieved by means of three of the five buttons on the sides of the watch. But it’s doable.

>>> Best bike computers

If you’re following a course, you can opt to activate ClimbPro. This is a function that tells you how much more of a climb there is to go and the gradients ahead. Probably not that useful on the short, sharp climbs in the southern UK, it should be handy if you plan to tackle longer climbs in the mountains.

Fitness tracking

Along with the on-bike stats, there’s a host of fitness tracking functionality built into the Fenix 6 and the Connect app. Being worn, it’s in a position to track you 24:7, unlike a cycling computer. 

There’s a set of widgets on the watch, which you can scroll through, giving you a number for your “Body Battery” level and a Stress score. You also get an estimate of your VO2 Max and how it’s changed over time and predictions of how fast you might run everything from a 5k to a marathon. To get your cycling VO2 Max number you need to use a power meter though. You get a score for your intensity minutes too - the amount of exercise at different intensity levels you’ve performed in a week.

For each activity you log, there’s an assessment of its effect on your aerobic and anaerobic capacity and its exercise load. That’s useful as it means you can get more savvy with your exercise. I’ve a tendency to do lots of base miles when testing bikes, whereas the data suggests that I’d get more fitness benefit from intervals and other more structured training.

Widgets for extras

The flexibility of the Fenix 6 to do more or less what you want doesn’t end with the functionality built into the watch. As with the Edge bike computers you can add additional functions via Garmin’s widgets.

I downloaded the widget to connect with the Garmin Varia radar rear light to the watch, adding the functionality to alert me to upcoming vehicles behind. It’s simple to add another widget, which will be displayed on the watch’s widget list. 

On Garmin’s site there’s a library of widgets you can upload and use.

Not everything’s sunny

When it launched the Fenix 6 Solar and Instinct Solar, Garmin promoted the solar watch face’s ability to extend the battery life of its devices, quoting up to 16 days between charges for the Fenix 6 Solar if you’re outside for 3 hours a day. 

I did get some solar gain, but the sun intensity graph only went up close to 100% when I was outside exercising. Sitting indoors writing, even by a window in a sunny room, the solar charging grumbled along at quite a low level - see the typical solar charging graph below.

Sitting the Fenix 6 Solar outdoors facing the sun on a cloudless September day in the south of the UK, the battery only showed a 2% gain in charge in four hours. The charge rate could be improved a bit by turning off some of the watch's functions.

To get the maximum life out of the Fenix 6’s battery, you need to set a battery saver option. Like most things on the Fenix 6, you can change what gets switched off to suit your demands, with the estimated battery life updated accordingly. Setting the default battery saver mode pushed the estimated time between charges to 48 days and extended the available battery life by around a day for an hour’s sun exposure. 

But I was keen to see my fitness stats and usually set the Fenix 6 to use its optical heart rate and pulseox 24:7, plus I was normally running WiFi and Bluetooth.

Along with a few hours of activity tracking, that gave me around 6 days on a charge, which isn’t bad, considering my high drain habits. If you’re cycling and want all the data on your performance, you’re unlikely to get a lot more battery life than that. 

Charging up the Fenix 6 Solar using the USB cable takes a couple of hours. That doesn’t seem like a long time - we’re happy to put up with more frequent charging than this for our phones.

So I’m not convinced that the solar charging adds a lot to the device’s staying power, unless, for example, you’re expecting to take on multi-day treks and are prepared to live without a lot of data and connectivity. And it adds over £100 to the Fenix 6’s price.

App environment

The Fenix 6 is well integrated with other Garmin apps. It background syncs with the Garmin Connect phone app. It’s the same as used by Garmin Edge computers and gives you a clean looking, colourful interface to your fitness and exercise data and history, with a huge array of stats. 

The computer interface has all the same info and makes mapping a route easier. Both are configurable to your needs, so if you’re not interested in golf, for example, you can remove it from your view. You can just as easily add a pane to your dashboard or set up a completely new dashboard that suits you.

If you want a faster upload and download, you can plug the watch into your computer and use Garmin Express. That’s good for firmware updates and course downloads from Garmin Connect, which will prompt you to use it if an update needs a faster connection.

It’s all very slick and much more sophisticated than the app environment around other cycling GPSs and smartwatches I’ve used.

Not just on the bike

Garmin has a lot of stuff not related to cycling on the Fenix 6 too. So you can use Garmin Pay to pay for your next latte or play downloaded music from the watch via Bluetooth headphones. There’s the usual social and group management stuff too.

The Fenix 6 will track your running pace and swimming strokes. You can even download maps of golf courses or sync to webcams of surf hotspots, so you can get video each time you ride a wave.

That widens the appeal of what’s an expensive piece of kit. If you don’t want music, maps or WiFi, the Fenix 6 range starts at £530 and Solar variants at £650. Add both of these in and you’re at the £740 price of the model tested. Go for the titanium 51mm option and the Fenix 6 Solar heads up to £1000.

>>> What can cyclists learn from other sports?

That’s a lot of cash, although the range-topping Edge 1030 Plus bike computer is over £500 and I’d argue the Fenix 6 Solar is a more useful, more versatile beast. And compared to the prices asked for flashy mechanical watches, any Garmin Fenix 6 Solar is small change.

A lot of everything

So to sum up, if there’s anything that you want to track for cycling, other activities or general fitness, the Fenix 6 probably does it, along with paying for stuff, playing you music and other functions. It’s compact, slick and sophisticated.

With the Fenix 6 being on your wrist rather than attached to your bike, you can get a lot more insight into your fitness and can track off-bike activities. The flip side is a smaller screen than an Edge computer, but it’s still plenty large enough and clear enough to be a good alternative to a cycling GPS.

Having invested in a bike and equipment, not everyone wants to splurge further on a dedicated bike computer, especially when a smart phone will cover off many of the key jobs. Among its many well engineered devices Topeak offers the Ridecase and a range of brackets to serve those who want to mount their phone safely onto their handlebars.

>>> Best phone mounts reviewed 

Construction   

The Topeak Ridecase is a rugged mobile phone case which can be attached to your bike using a variety of mounts.

>>> Smartphone vs cycling computer

In keeping with much of its range of products, the case is rugged in its construction, made as it is with dual density plastic around a rubber frame. It’s slim, lightweight and easy to grip, with a flip out stand on the back allowing you to stand your phone in either landscape or portrait aspect.

Topeak cater specifically for nearly all iPhones and other size cases are available too.

While you may be interested in a car mount or armband, we tried the stem cap mount, one of three for bikes. This requires you to remove your stem cap and screw the mount into the same place.

There is also a centre mount, similar to an ‘out front’ mount for a bike computer, and a strap which mounts the case onto your bars or stem. Like the flip stand, the actual mount allows you to attach your phone to the bike in either landscape or portrait orientation.

The Ride  

I haven’t tried dropping my phone to test the case’s protection, but it certainly inspires confidence, the edges deep enough to protect the screen and camera. The flip stand is an excellent feature and means I’ll be using it all the time.

The actual mounting bracket is a work of art, the aluminium body is wonderfully engineered and attaching it is simplicity itself. Remove your stem cap, screw the mounting in its place, set the required angle, do it up with a 5mm allen key, then slide the phone case onto the mount until it clicks.

You can position your phone at just about any angle you fancy, switching from portrait and landscape is completed with a satisfying click, and you remove the phone by lifting the tab at the front.

On the road it stays put. I put it on my mountain bike and took it off-road with the suspension locked out. Over roots, bumps and kerbs and it did not budge or rattle. 

Value   

Retailing at around £42.99 this is not cheap, but it does have the advantage of doubling up as an everyday phone case. It’s a quality bit of kit.

Tissot describe this watch as a 'must-have' for all cycling fans; the necessity of such a watch is debatable, but it would be very fair to call it a 'very nice to have'.

The T-Race watch from Tissot was created to celebrate the brand's relationship with our sport, with this 2020 model celebrating the quickly approaching Tour de France.

The watch features an exhaustive list of design nods towards its cycling theme: the stop/start buttons are shaped like brake levers, the hands are shaped to look like forks with a wheel running through the centre, the strap - when extended - repeats the fork image, with chainrings on the inside. It's impossible not to look at the face of this watch and not be reminded of your favourite hobby.

The pièce de résistance has to be the cassette motif, inscribed into the stainless steel at the back.

The face uses sapphire crystal, which is tough and resistant to impact and scratches. It's also water-resistant to 100m, so you certainly wouldn't need to worry about being caught out in the rain.

Being synthetic, the silicone strap copes well with sweat and grime, again a useful attribute for cyclists.

As well as an hour hand, the watch features a 30-minute hand. It's then got a central chronograph hand, with a 1/10 of a second counter, with Add and Split functions. This is nice to have, but it's not nearly as easy to use as a digital timer - so though it looks nice, we can't see many users really putting it through its paces.

Of course to be comfortable, a watch needs to fit - and this can present an issue for cyclists on the leaner end of the scale.

Our 65kg male tester frequently struggles to find watches that fit his slim wrist, but the Tissot T-Race caused no issues with its 29,8mm diameter and 18 lug strap. The watch also fitted well on a female testers wrist, albeit on the final tightest hole.

When riding off-road, on mountain bike trails, we did find that the dial on the edge occasionally shifted and bashed into the bonier sections of the wrist. However, this was easily remedied by pushing the watch that tiny bit higher on the wrist and we wouldn't expect it to be a problem on the road.

Of course, at £415, the price can't be ignored. This watch is far from cheap, but it comes presented in a stainless steel case, with a black and rose gold PVD coating - everything about this watch screams 'gift' - whether that be a present from a loved one or a present to oneself. This watch is highly unlikely to aid performance or make you a better cyclist, but if luxury items are your thing, it'll certainly make you happy every time you glance at your wrist.

The best bike computer market is a congested one, headed up by a couple of obvious leaders who need no introduction. Bryton is generally not considered to be one of the 'big three' (or, 'big two' if we're being picky) - but the brand certainly deserves a thorough investigation by those looking to upgrade their on-board data logging system. The Taipei based tech brand has been churning out reasonably priced and feature packed GPS units for years, also sponsoring the likes of Isreal Start-Up Nation.

It’s into this crowded pool that the Bryton 420 jumps. Pitched as mid-range machine (the 320 is more basic and the 860 is bigger and comes with maps) it’s essentially the computer that does almost everything except give you a full mapping experience or time your intervals for you.

It’ll pair with an ANT+ or BluTooth heart rate monitor or power meter or both; it’ll give you altitude readings; and obviously tell you how far you’ve gone and how fast. Pretty much everything you could want from an on-board device. Plus it has turn-by-turn navigation, though the map is just a wiggly line on the screen for you to interpret.

The 2.3” screen is bright when backlit and it’ll display up up to eight of the 77 available data fields on a page at a time. It’ll even show you text messages on screen if you leave it connected to your phone. That’s a lot of features for a unit you can pick up for £100 online, while the comparable Garmin (the Edge 130) costs around £150 and the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt (which does have maps) costs £185.

In a world where the usability of consumer technology has evolved to the point where my five year old can use my smartphone with frightening ease I simply refuse to even look at instructions unless I absolutely have to and that proved no barrier to setting up the data screens how I like them on Bryton’s app – which you need to do this. Nor did I have much difficulty sending routes to the device, or setting up training sessions.

I did have to pull out the instructions to work out how to pair my heart-rate monitor, but that was partly because it was quicker than looking through the menus for the right section and I’m essentially lazy in that regard. Once found it was simple.

Out in the wind and the rain too it did all the things I expected it to do with aplomb, data was fast, easy to read and accurate. The GPS signal never dropped in five months of use. It shouldn’t have trouble when you go abroad either as it’ll happily use any one of five GPS networks used globally.

Hearteningly, coming from and old Garmin head unit, the battery life - a claimed 35hours - was a revelation. Each charge lasted me for about a week and half of riding (12-14hours) before I lost my nerve that it might run out mid-ride and plugged it in. If I had nervers of steel, it may well have lasted longer. Thankfully it didn’t do that thing some units do by seeming to accelerate the decline in the battery percentage in their second 50 per cent.

All this said, the Bryton 420 didn't offer up a faultless performance. The first issue was apparent from the first ride. The unit is fairly large and the design places the main two buttons (there are two further ones underneath) on the chamfered corners. The problem with this was that when mounted on the stem with the supplied mount I found my knees would sometimes brush the buttons and push them when I got out of the saddle on a hill. Meaning when I sat back down I had to cycle back through the screens to where I was. With a little care I could stop it happening but it still proved an on-going, if occasional, irritation. As one of those buttons controls the lap timing then it could prove infuriating if you were using it to time intervals.

This would be less of a problem if an out-front mount was readily available but while Bryton make one for £25 there wasn’t any in stock over the five month test period – I checked several times. Plus, the fixing isn’t perfectly compatible with Garmin ones so if you think you could just use an existing on or get a Garmin one from the host of third parties, think again. I’d advise purchasing one of Bryton’s mounts at the time of getting the computer if you can find one – frankly it’d be better if Bryton just included one.

The other issue was with navigation. The combination of the wiggly line and turn-by-turn directions was very good at getting me round with minimal navigation errors but it was baffling that the computer would frequently tell me that routes were several kilometres longer than they were meaning I couldn’t really trust the count-down on the screen. When you’re on a long hard ride it is good to know exactly how far you’ve got to go.

I did eventually fix it by planning routes in Bryton’s app, rather than Strava or Garmin Connect but it’s not as slick an interface as either of those and if you have existing routes (I have over 200 stored on Strava) it is irritating to have to re-draw them.

The Cateye Quick Wireless Cycle Computer was selected for an Editor's Choice award in 2020. This year's list contains 78 items which scored a 9 or 10/10 with our tech team - this gear is the best of the best, and has received the Cycling Weekly stamp of approval.

Can you remember a time before GPS and Smart connected cycle computers? These are all well and good if you have plenty of money to spend and have a hankering to collect and spread all of your ride data. What if you just want some simple device to just tell you how far you've ridden that day and how long you were out for? If this is you then you definitely want to be looking at the Cateye Quick.

Buy now: Cateye Quick at Teeks Cycles for £44.99

Back in the day Cateye ruled the roost in cycle computers for being simple, reliable and packing in the functions. When I worked in a bikeshop I don't think a day would go by without me fitting a few to people's new or existing bikes. Like many cyclists, I have progressed on to bigger and more technologically advanced computers and so it was a breath of fresh air to test the Quick.

>>> The best bike computers: a buyers guide

The first thing that strikes you is that this thing just looks cool. Its minimalist round body and seemingly integrated handlebar bracket remind me of a Moskito or Omata-style high-end computer. Even the function button is almost hidden in the design, it's that neat. The contrast white digits on a black background look great but also give it excellent legibility when glancing down at your chosen data screen. Another neat feature of the design is the ability to unclip the head unit and take with you - handy if you lock your bike up and don't want to get it stolen.

Setting up is as simple as a Cateye always has been. Two buttons on the back are used to either reset it or scroll through the data pages. To adjust the settings simply use the function button on the front to set your requirements. The only old-school feature is the need to program the Quick to a specified wheel diameter and tyre width - if you change tyre size you will need to change the specific code in order for the Quick to function accurately. With this in mind it's probably not a good idea to throw away the accompanying instruction booklet with its all-important table of wheel/tyre codes. It does require a small sensor to be fitted behind the right hand fork leg and a magnet on the wheel spoke but again this is easy to fit.

When you start riding the Quick automatically wakes up and starts displaying data and recording your ride distance. You always have current speed at the top of the display and can then opt to view time of day, ride time, ride distance, average speed and odometer by clicking the function button to cycle through. As well as this information the Quick will also display a little up or down arrow on the left hand side to indicate if you are currently travelling above or below the average speed for the ride so far - handy if you want to keep the pace up or down.

When you finish your ride and want to reset the information on the screens (apart from the odometer) then press and hold the function button for two seconds. It's really that simple to use.

I tested the Cateye Quick alongside a Garmin Edge 530 and was impressed with how it mirrored the more powerful unit in terms of speed and distance accuracy. Not bad for such a simple and relatively cheap unit. It's also really easy to read at speed and the out-front position puts it neatly in the field of view. And as with all of Cateye's simple computers the battery life is going to be measured in years rather than hours.

The Garmin 5 series has historically been the more basic of the Edge GPS computers for those after performance orientated stats, with the more powerful Edge 8 and 10 devices the popular choice among those seeking navigational assistance at their handlebars. However, with the Edge 530, Garmin has upped its capabilities, bringing it closer to the range topping models available.

In fact, it's so capable, it may leave riders wondering if they'll ever need anything more advanced at all.

>>> Best bike computers 

Appearance

Place the Edge 530 side by side with the more expensive Edge 830 and it's difficult tell the two computers apart. The cases are now the same in terms of dimensions and it's only the additional five side mounted buttons on the 530 that you can use to differentiate between the two. The screen has been increased in size from the 2.3” screen of the Edge 520 to the same 2.6” screen as found on the Edge 830 providing a much more viewable area that’s easier to see at a glance.

>>> Garmin Edge computers range explained

Basic function

Garmin has continued the use of the quarter-turn mount on the Edge 530 and with good reason; it just works. The basic package comes with an out-front mount and a couple of standard mounts to put the Edge anywhere you desire. There’s also a tether to safeguard against loss of what is an expensive bit of kit in the event of a mishap. Opt for the sensor bundle and Garmin will include speed, cadence and heart rate sensors for an additional ninety pounds.

Battery life is superb on the Edge 530 with a quoted twenty hours and this is pretty close to how we found it in real world conditions. Full device connectivity is covered through ANT+, Bluetooth Smart and WiFi.

Setting up is simple for anyone familiar with Garmin’s interface.  Load up is rapid and satellite connection is almost instantaneous. The home screen is simple and indicates your choice of activity profile; you can opt for Road, Indoor or Mountain bike. Scroll down with the left hand buttons and you access the main menu, scroll up and a status screen that displays current battery level, connected hardware and general information.

The top right hand button acts as the OK button and the lower button acts as your back button to return to the previous screen. I did find the scroll buttons a little difficult to effectively use when wearing gloves as they give little feedback and seem a little too close to each other at times.

Each activity profile allows for customisation of the order and type of the six main data screens. This includes a fully tuneable screen in which you can display up to ten differing data metrics. These can be chosen from a vast number of options including some pretty complex training metrics such as TSS and torque effectiveness. It’s easy to get carried away but it’s also easy to display simple data to let you just get on with your ride.

One of the main areas in which the Edge 530 has improved over the Edge 520 is in its navigation capabilities. It still is more tedious than the touch screen Edges to browse around the map, owing to the reliance on buttons. It also lacks on-the-fly address-specific and POI (Point of Interest) routing which you'd find on the higher end models.

Route calculation time is far better than previous versions thanks to a faster processor but dependent upon the length of the route and your location it can still take upwards of thirty seconds to make the route ready to navigate. Despite these niggles it is now a really capable, and more importantly, a really reliable navigational computer rather than a cycle computer with some navigational capabilities.

Keeping on the navigational theme, one area that Garmin has been pushing with this latest generation of computers is third party app compatibility. This new Connect IQ feature comes preinstalled with a couple of apps including Strava Routes and Komoot, both allow you to create routes simply on your desktop and transfer to your device. There are a whole host of other styles of app to include on your Edge 530 just as you would with your smartphone including games if you so wish to while away your recovery hours!

Advanced features

The Edge 530 is also chock full of new performance and training features, some of which are pretty clever and will almost universally be used by Edge owners. One in particular, ClimbPro, stands out as being possibly the best/worst feature dependent on your particular mood and energy level during a ride.

Whilst following a loaded route ClimbPro will automatically display a dedicated data screen outlining an upcoming climb. This shows distance remaining of the climb, ascent and average gradient left to ride as well as a colour coded graph of the climbing. Pretty neat for conserving energy on a ride but also depressing when it indicates just how many climbs are left on a ride when it seems you have spent all your energy.

Another neat feature for the new Edge 530 is its ability to set nutrition and hydration alerts throughout a ride. This might sound a bit of a gimmick but it's actually a really useful tool especially if, like me, you can go through an entire ride and come back with most of your bottle left.

With hydration proving to have a massive impact on performance it can help keep you on track. It works in conjunction with your programmed profile (weight and gender) and the alerts pop up based on Garmin's predetermined calorific variables and also take into account temperature and humidity.

If you so want the Edge 530 can also act as a tiny coach to help keep you on track with your 2020 goals thanks to a myriad of additional training metrics and stats available to users to help determine and track achievement. Most are accessible without any additional external hardware requirements but some such as FTP and Recovery Advisor do require the use of a power meter and/or heart rate monitor to garner data.

Data is addictive and with the ability to easily track FTP, recovery, training stress and your power curve (giving your maximum power for set times) it makes training for want of a better word, more enjoyable. Each of the metrics has it's own data screen to make it easier to track after a ride whilst glugging down your recovery drink.

The final thing that has improved on the Edge 530 over its predecessors is the ability to display whole training plans on the unit. Previously you would have to access the desktop Garmin Connect to fully cover the details of the plans but now it is a bit more accessible on the device. This means if you use Training Peaks or other specific coaching software based workouts these will now be able to be uploaded in entirety to the Edge making life easier and more streamlined. Especially useful when getting up at the crack of dawn to complete a training session.

We absolutely loved using the Garmin Edge 830 and were very impressed by its design and excellent touchscreen. For those reasons, it has landed itself a spot on our Editor’s Choice list for 2019. 

The Garmin Edge 800 range of devices has lived in one guise or another for quite few years now. In 2011, the original Garmin Edge 800 was born – the first to feature a touchscreen.

Then came the 820 in 2016. Those first touchscreens were difficult to use, went haywire in the rain and generally glitched out – often at the cost of your whole ride.

Buy now: Garmin Edge 820 at Evans Cycles for £329.99

For the new Edge 830, Garmin has stuck to its guns and the touchscreen remains, although happily it seems to have shaken the bugs from its system – or at least mostly.

Garmin Edge 830: In the box

The Garmin is available in two bundles: the device only model we're reviewing here, which comes with an out front mount and a standard mount stem one (plus the elastic bands to attach it with).

Then there's the better equipped sensor bundle which comes with all the same mounts but a heart rate monitor, cadence sensor and speed sensor to boot.

>>> Garmin Edge computers range explained

Garmin Edge 830: Design

Garmin are now coalescing around a distinctively 'Garmin' design. The two latest devices - the Edge 830 and 530 - are nye on identical, and they have the same black edging and bezel as the smaller Garmin Edge 130. They also have the same crisp and easy to read screen and layout design that I rated so highly on the smaller device.

It's a good size, making it easy to dissect the jumble of information I have on one screen, preferring to lump all the information I want immediately to hand on one screen.

In my opinion it's a better size that the Garmin Edge 1030, the brand's top end computer.

It would have been good to see the bumper buttons have a more tactile feel and be put on top of the device rather than on the bottom where they can be difficult to reach between the bar and the base of the device.

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Garmin Edge 830: Setup process

The setup process can be done using your phone and Garmin Connect or just on the device directly. Although it's slicker than it has ever been in the past, it's not a patch on the Wahoo process which has proper app integration – meaning it's all done on your phone.

Fortunately, the process wasn't plagued by bluetooth dropouts in the same way that the Garmin Edge 820 was and Garmin Connect simply plugged in my height and weight details so the device can calculate my Vo2 Max and the like. There's plenty you can change if you're really into crunching your numbers but I just went with its estimation of my figures.

Unlike Wahoo, the rest of the setup process is still done on device which traditionally has been quite complicated. However, the now useable touchscreen makes this process far more intuitive, and I'd rather do it this way than use Garmin Connect.

To setup a data screen you press through 'activity profiles', then data screens. It's a neat system because it's completely customisable. While mine are still set to 'road', 'indoor' and 'mountain' you can have them setup in anyway you like, so conceivably there could be one for your race bike, one for your training bike and one for when you're riding indoors.

Alternatively, you can change data screens on the fly by pressing and holding the data profile box when riding along.

Most importantly, with the improved touchscreen the on-device setup process is the most intuitive that it has been. It's now easier to setup than a device with buttons - it was markedly quicker for me to setup my 830 for example than it was the Edge 530 thanks to the 830's touchscreen – which is the way it should always have been – it just took a while to get there.

Garmin Edge 830 functionality: Mapping, GPS, battery life

Usability is easy and I found it to be quick in picking up sensors (it connected to my heart rate monitor no problem as well as my Garmin Varia lights).

Just as the Edge 820 before it, the 830 is designed to be a training tool, and now more than ever it can give you granular details including Vo2 Max, FTP, your recovery, training load, heat and altitude acclimation, nutrition, hydration the list goes on but you get the picture.

As I've mentioned in both my Garmin Edge 1030 and Garmin Edge 130 reviews, I don't need all of this information so personally I'd save the cash and go for the smaller unit. But if you're into your numbers, it'll handle it.

It was speedy at getting a GPS fix (much faster than the smaller Garmin Edge 130) and it uses three different types of GPS; standard, GPS Galileo and GPS GLONASS. The latter two provide uncreased performance at a greater drain on battery life so factor that in to the type of riding that you do.

The Garmin Edge 830 boasts sophisticated mapping and actually, one of the main reasons I'd buy one is for its ability to keep me on course. Setting up a route on-device is still a little clunky, it involves typing in address or choosing points of interest (again, much easier on the improved touch screen) but the route it chooses is informed by Garmin's rider data so it prioritises popular cycle routes, which tend to be a little quieter and more cycle friendly, which is smart.

If, like me, you don't mind riding on busy roads but need guidance if riding in a new area or further afield than normal then uploading a course is still the best option. Plot the route on Strava (or your chosen ride planner) download the GPX/TCX and then load it into the folder inexplicably named 'new files'. The on device map is easy to read and follow, although grabbing and moving it is quite difficult and I don't think it'll ever be smoother than grabbing your phone out of your back pocket.

If you like to create routes on the fly then I've been having a good experience with Komoot, which has the added benefit of integrating with Garmin's software.

Fortunately, flicking between screens on the fly is no longer hazardous as the one-touch responsiveness from the device means you don't have to take your eyes off the road.

When turn by turn notifications pop up they take up the whole screen and display a clear picture of what direction you need to take at a junction. However, it does still struggle if your route goes back on itself, getting confused with your direction of travel.

I've also been using Strava Live segments which display clearly on the big screen as long as you're not using a pre-determined route.

The Garmin's software is also much improved, although it's not faultless. A couple of times braking set of its incident detection system and the 'press here to stop' section of the screen wasn't responsive.

Garmin Edge 830: Battery life

Long days in the saddle in the South Downs saw me drain around 50% off the battery's life a day, which is impressive as I was using both GPS Galileo and Komoot routing software. If you're into extreme distance riding then you can get a charger pack to top it up.

Buy now: Garmin Edge 820 at Evans Cycles for £329.99

The Garmin Edge 830 is a much improved on the Garmin Edge 820 and the touchscreen is responsive and the software much less buggy. I'll still maintain that as someone who barely takes a second glance at the estimated recovery time or nutrition intake per ride, it's a little much for myself or my riding.

Polar has a long history with heart rate monitoring for athletes, with its products predating the rise of the power meter as the tool of choice to measure effort. The Polar Vantage M, alongside the Vantage V, form its latest options for tracking activity and heart rate in a range of different sports.

Whereas the Vantage V and its titanium cased equivalent the Vantage V Titan give you similar functionality to the older, discontinued Polar V800, the Polar Vantage M skips some potentially useful functionality for cyclists like the ability to import routes and Strava Live segments. On the other hand, it weighs 44g as against 66g and costs £190 less.

The Polar Vantage M measures heart rate at the wrist using an array of five green and five red LEDs. There are pros and cons of this. It’s a lot more comfortable than a heart rate strap and you can set the Polar Vantage M to measure your heart rate continuously day and night.

That eats into the battery life a bit, but I still got over half a week between charges, even when that included a few hours of exercise.

But you need to wear the watch strap quite tight to get an accurate reading, Polar says that the watch should be positioned well above the wrist bone, although I was usually able to get heart rate readings with it positioned below. When exercising, Polar recommends that you should tighten the Vantage M even more. The recommended positioning may interfere with cooler weather garments like jackets and arm warmers.

If the strap is not tight enough, you can end up with drop-outs as you exercise or inaccurately high readings, although comparing the trace with a heart rate strap, I found the output to usually be accurate.

Cycling metrics

There are profiles to support over 130 different sports, although only your selected ones are downloaded. Select cycling and you get a start-up screen with the top third showing a rev counter for your heart rate, with coloured areas corresponding to your five heart rate zones. There’s also a numeric output which changes colour from white to blue, then through green and amber to red as your heart rate increases.

In the middle of the dial, you get distance travelled and current speed, while at the bottom you are shown elapsed time. If you know where you are going and aren’t using a power meter, that should be good enough. You can also scroll through a screen with time of day, one with current altitude, ascent and descent and another with max, min and current heart rate by pushing the up and down buttons on the right side of the case, which are two of five buttons used to control the Polar Vantage M.

In the background, the Polar Vantage M records your GPS trace. You can download this along with your heart rate data over Bluetooth to the Polar app, with a single button push starting the sync. From there you can automatically pass the data on to Strava or a range of training apps including TrainingPeaks, for further analysis. The trace is surprisingly accurate – more so than some GPS units I’ve tested.

Polar Flow app

The Polar Flow computer app gives you loads of stats. Not only do you get a record of each of your training activities as a diary, but even if you’ve not logged a session the background heart rate recording will highlight highs and lows in your daily activity.

There’s analysis of your training status and when you are under- or overtraining.

Wear the Polar Vantage M at night and you will get sleep duration and quality measurement too. Whether I’m a restless sleeper I don’t know, but the analysis consistently showed interrupted sleep and it did not always pinpoint when I went to sleep or woke up accurately.

Other sports

I also used the swimming and running profiles in the Polar Vantage M. Running works pretty much like cycling, but you can get pace rather than speed displayed. Swimming accurately picks up lengths swum. Heart rate and total distance covered are accurate. There’s even detection of the different strokes you’ve used on each length.

I once selected indoor cycling by mistake and was disappointed to get back from an outdoor ride to find that there was no GPS trace of where I’d been or Strava segments ridden, although I could see my heart rate profile during the ride.

>>> Buy now: Polar Vantage M from Wiggle

There is a range of different watch and strap colours available, with the straps being interchangeable. But I did find that the stainless steel bezel to the rugged plastic case was prone to picking up scratches, so the Polar Vantage M may begin to look a bit the worse for wear quite quickly.

Wahoo has been determined to shake things up with its range of stylish and easy to use devices, just like its new Wahoo Elemnt Roam, which is an outstanding addition to the catalogue, slotting into the space between pure-race kit and an adventurers tool.

However, there was a fairly significant design flaw not in the unit itself but in the plastic mount. On my first ride with the Roam, the mount snapped clean in half and sent the device hurtling across the road and into a nearby bush – the positive being the Roam wasn’t damaged, so they’re also pretty hardy.

Buy now: Wahoo Elemnt Roam from Rutland Cycling for £299.99

According to Wahoo, there was a design issue with an early batch of the mounts which included my test unit, say they have rectified the problem with a "minor change" which included switching sub-suppliers. Wahoo added that mounts were replaced as quickly as possible and all subsequent units have had the new mounts included.

Wahoo sent me a new model mount that rectified the issue and I haven’t had another problem in the three months I’ve been using the Roam.

As with the more compact Elemnt Bolt, the Wahoo Elemnt Roam works with your smartphone to set up the device and also customise your data displays, as well as adding and planning your routes.

>>> Best 2019 cycling apps

While this may be a hindrance to technophobic cyclists, using the app will not be a problem for a majority of riders. The only downfall to this system is the inability to edit your screens on the device itself, which can be a hindrance if you want to make any last minute changes if your phone is out of reach, in the moments before a race for example – a situation I found myself in ahead of a 10-mile TT when I needed to add an additional data field I wouldn’t normally use day-to-day.

The most exciting feature of the Roam is the navigation, as it is a powerful GPS device wrapped into and fun to use and easy to follow package, despite the relatively small size.

Particularly welcome is the Roam’s ability to get you back on track if you veer off the planned course. This is a handy feature that can make life a lot easier if you have to make a small detour or miss your cue, however the Roam isn’t quite intuitive enough if you need to make a significant detour, instead it tries to take you backward to rejoin your route close to where you left it, hampering your progress if you’d been forced to take the long way round.

That being said, the ‘take me to’ mode makes navigating the roads a treat if you don’t have time to plan a detailed route, intuitively opting for roads not jammed with traffic while not taking you down unpaved paths or gravel roads like some of the mapping options out there. Again the routes are designed to be set up via the Wahoo Elemnt app, which can be a hassle if your plans change mid-ride. The Roam does have GPS options built in to the device, but the simplicity of the three-button system make it slightly fiddly to make changes to your route on the hoof.

While using the Roam on a century from Hampshire to the coast, I found the route mapping software I had used had opted to take me on 20 miles of gravel path (on a road bike), forcing me to improvise the ride somewhat. The Roam tried to return me to the route near where I had left it. I tried to make adjustments to my route on the device but was unable to find an easy fix, so I was forced to find my own way around the detour before re-joining the planned route, where the Roam kicked back in seamlessly.

The Roam’s Gorilla Glass lens makes the display easy to see in pretty much all weather conditions, while the ambient light sensor automatically adjusts brightness making it a seamless ride both indoors and out, with A 2.7-inch display

In terms of battery, the Wahoo doesn’t quite pack the punch of the Garmin equivalent, the Edge 830.

Wahoo’s model lasts around 17 hours, compared with the 20 of the 830 Edge and I did notice the dropping battery percentage on long rides, which can make you pretty nervous if you’ve got a lot day in the saddle and you don’t want to lose those kilometres or resort to Strava on your phone.

Buy now: Wahoo Elemnt Roam from Rutland Cycling for £299.99

In terms of price, the Wahoo is cheaper than it's Garmin rival, retailing at £299 compared with £349.99 for the Edge 830, which also makes it an attractive option.

Mio’s cycling computers focus on its excellent colour touch screens with the Mio Cyclo 210 bringing that functionality to a new lower price point.

Although it’s slightly smaller than Mio’s higher end units with a 3.5in screen, the Mio Cyclo 210 is still quite chunky. But there’s a limit to how much you can reduce computer size while still having a usable touchscreen whilst keeping costs down – other makers’ smaller units revert to multiple buttons to control functionality.

In contrast, there’s only one physical button on the Mio Cyclo 210. This switches the unit on and off and also returns you to the previous menu. Everything else is controlled via the screen and you can use on-screen buttons to do everything but switch the Mio Cyclo 210 on.

Getting started with the Mio Cyclo 210 is very easy: turn it on and you have just six menu options, displayed via large coloured buttons. Hit Dashboard and you’re ready to roll, with two screens of stats and a map screen. You can configure the screens displayed too, selecting the number of screens, number of fields on each and the data displayed.

The Mio Cyclo 210 includes a Navigate function. You can map out routes easily on a computer with Mio’s mapping software. It’s detailed, accurate and easy to use and includes many footpaths and bridleways as well as roads. It’s also easy to download a route onto the unit, where you can follow it on the coloured map. Quieter roads for cycling show up in purple, as against the brown for busier roads.

There’s also a Navigate wizard built into the Mio Cyclo 210. Type in an address on the screen and it will plot you a route to get there and display the distance and profile and, on a second screen, a map. You can then just hit Go to follow the route. There’s also a Back To Start button and a Where Am I button if you get lost.

Like the Mio Cyclo 505 HC which we reviewed a couple of years ago, the Mio Cyclo 210 has a Surprise Me route creation function. This seems to have got smarter though. When we tried it previously on the 505, its suggestions included a trip along the A4 through the centre of Slough; this time it kept almost exclusively to quiet roads.

You can set up to six profiles on the Mio Cyclo 210, so you can either share the device with other users or set up different profiles for road and gravel riding. The profile used will determine the roads and paths that the mapping software will use in creating routes and navigation.

Following a route is straightforward with turn-by-turn instructions and a series of beeps when you reach a turn or junction.

What you don’t get on the Mio Cyclo 210 is any connectivity to peripheral devices. So if you want to know your heart rate or your power output, look elsewhere.

The MioShare app lets you manage your data and stats on a computer and automatically upload your data to Strava.

The bike mount uses a different system to Garmin’s. It feels more secure and you can buy compatible out front mounts from Barfly and others. The standard stem mount uses zip ties rather than O-rings. Again, this is more secure, although it’s a hindrance if you need to swap the Mio between bikes.

Just because the Garmin Edge 130 doesn’t feature the advanced metrics of its sibling doesn’t mean it’s basic, almost the total opposite.

Garmin has nailed its software, increased the usability and made a product that’s well deserving of a spot on our Editor’s Choice list.

The Garmin Edge 130 is a miniature model of the Garmin Edge 1030 and while it doesn't have all the features that the top-of-the-range computer has, it's more powerful than its small size might suggest – and it has impressed me more than any Garmin device has for a long time.

Garmin Edge 130: design

With the Garmin Edge 130, Garmin has performed an about turn on the direction of its last computer, the Garmin 1030. Whereas that is the largest computer the brand has, the Edge 130 is one of the smallest, with dimensions of 4.1 x 6.3 x 1.6cm and a 1.8in screen.

Some might think the new size a bit extreme, but it works very well. Whereas the 1030 is absolutely enormous and feels precariously balanced out the front of the bike, the sleek Edge 130 suits it very well.

It's basically a very small plastic housing with plastic buttons, and as such it weighs a meagre 33g, which is a long way from the 1030.

I'm also relieved that Garmin hasn't pursued its touchscreen technology at this level. The buttons partner the device's no-nonsense, pared back purpose very well. They're basic, and the feedback from them isn't brilliant but they're functional and dependable.

Despite its diminutive size the screen's display is sharp, and while I wouldn't go so far as to display the full eight data fields possible, I've been running five on my main page and it's crisp and easy to read even though it's so small.

Garmin Edge 130: setup

Often, with one of the best bike computers, setting the device up is half the battle. It's something that Wahoo and Lezyne have done very well, letting you use the device's companion app to customise data screens in real time. Garmin's setup process is still done on the device itself, but it's more streamlined than on the touchscreen models because there's a limited number of buttons you can press.

The top right button acts as the menu, and from here you program your settings. To change a data screen you select it and then you can choose how many fields to display, and then what each field displays.

It's quite self-explanatory and easy to follow: the play button acts as enter, while the lap button is the undo/return button. The same process is used to pair the head unit to external sensors such as power meters, speed and cadence sensors.

Garmin Edge 130: performance

In short, this is probably the best performing Garmin Edge device I've used. Removing the touchscreen seems to have removed Garmin's buggy software, and I've not had any dropped rides, deleted activities or raindrop interference. In fact, the only frustration has been how slow it is at picking up GPS; at one point it took 2.5km before it located a satellite and it wasn't very accurate when laid over a map. I've also noticed that it's slow to adjust your travelling speed, reacting a lot more slowly than my accelerations at lights.

Admittedly, this was in GPS mode, and the Edge 130 can receive GLONASS signals as well as brand new Galileo satellite signals.

Although it doesn't have a base map, the Garmin Edge 130 is capable of limited navigational assistance. If you load in a course it'll present you with a line on a blank screen. It's not very useful because the size of the screen means that to see the whole route it has to be very zoomed out, rendering it not very useful.

Impressively for its size, the Edge 130 can do turn-by-turn navigation, although I could only make it do this by creating the route on Garmin Connect, rather than uploading a TCX file from Strava, which is my preferred method.

Garmin claims the battery will lasts 15 hours, and I found that despite its small size I could get around four days of commutes and short rides out of the device when in standard GPS mode. It's no doubt helped by the lack of touchscreen and an unnecessary colour display.

In fact, that's what I like the most about the Garmin Edge 130: it has done away with the unnecessary, and I realise now that I don't miss it at all on my rides or in my training. While the top-tier models can conduct FTP tests, interval training sessions and probably measure how big your lungs are,  I don't need that because that's not the type of rider I am.

That's not to say that the Edge 130 isn't powerful, because it is. It can display your power or cadence and it can give you Strava Live Segments, but it's just not weighed down by having to do it all. It feels like Garmin has stripped back its models, made them smaller but also more functional and the result is a much improved computer.

With a tendency to be the more expensive head units on the market, the new £169.99 Edge 130 is a step into more competitive territory for the brand, going directly against the feature packed Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt and the astonishingly good-value Lezyne Super GPS.

An all round great product, well done Garmin.

The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is the computer that can actually rival Garmin. It is included in this years Editor’s Choice for thinking outside of the box, being easy to use and ultimately cheaper than its rival. The aero thinking and the fact you can bolt it to your mount all adds up to a neat package.

Wahoo is doing an amazing job taking the fight to Garmin. The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is the middle of three options that Wahoo offers and is an aerodynamically tuned out front computer, something no one else is offering on the market today.

To use and set up the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, you will require a smartphone. This will not be a downside to many riders, but I know several older riders who use GPS bike computers but who don't own smartphones!

Pairing the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt with a smartphone is easy with the corresponding app efficiently taking you through the process. Once paired you can set up your data screens in the app and connect sensors such as heart rate and power. I had no issues doing this and the software was very easy to use. The app is really useful for customising data fields, setting up how many screens you have, the fields on those screens etc. I found this functionality useful and it makes sense to be able to do it through a smartphone, as this is something annoying on other cycle computers, making setup and changes slow and clunky.

Wahoo has played it smart here, understanding that screen tech found on phones can't be beaten, so why not use it? It is also very expensive, so why put it in the Elemnt Bolt and when it's wet, which will likely happen on any given ride, it won't work either, so why include it? Something that Garmin has struggled with, particular the Edge 820.

As you don't get a touch screen on the unit you'll need to use the three buttons on the front or the two buttons on the sides. These buttons are easy to use with gloves on and are nice and chunky without intruding on the unit.

I like the zoom function that the two side buttons offer. This means your screen can be eight data fields, more data, or if you want to concentrate on speed or power you can zoom in and only seen what you want, which will be bigger and easier to see, by clicking the up button - great for efforts out on the road.

The Bolt has been designed to be aerodynamic and Wahoo claims that it exhibits a 50 per cent reduction of drag relative to competitors’ products such as the Garmin 520. Wahoo says that it has worked with aerodynamics expert Dimitris Katsanis, who was responsible for UK Cycling’s groundbreaking track bikes and equipment, as well as working with Team Sky and on Bradley Wiggins’s Hour Record bike.

Wahoo’s Elemnt Bolt aims to reduce drag by cleverly integrating the design of the computer and its mount together. Wahoo says it’s used computational fluid dynamics to model airflow over the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, finding that it results in drag savings. Put into context, Wahoo says that this equates to a decreased time in a 40km time trial time of 12.6 seconds when travelling at 21mph.

>>> Best Bike Computers: a complete buyer's guide

Unlike the original Elemnt, which has two LED strips, the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt only has LED's running at the top of the unit. The customisable Quicklook LED indicators  on paper should be a smart feature to help efforts or navigation but in reality the LEDs are pretty pointless as during daylight as they are almost impossible to see. I actually forgot they were there when testing the unit and only noticed them while riding through the dark tunnel at the top of Puig Major in Majorca.

The 2.2in display on the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is clear and numbers are easy to read on the screen. Unlike the colour screens found on higher-end Garmin Edge units, the screen is black and white.

Maps are easy to follow too, I found it easier to view than Garmin, which sometimes you can mistake a road for the route you are intended to ride, especially if you are on a ride that loops back on roads you are riding out on. The road is chevroned so there is no mistake of which way you are going. Wahoo is better than you are going off-course too, it doesn't freak out as bad!

It does also score a punch against the Garmin with regard to maps though, as they are included on the base unit. With Garmin, they are an optional extra.

Battery life has really impressed me. The Garmin Edge 520 claims to be around 15 hours, but when navigating I have never achieved anything close to this. The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt does however exhibit great battery life lasting typically two or three times longer than the Garmin 520.

Another little detail is a screw can be used to secure the computer to mount to give a little added security should your riding warrant it. It is a nice detail and may also be of use to pro teams as it would mean the computer could be included as part of the 6.8kg limit (and not removed) for UCI weigh-ins.

The bolt also priced better than Garmin currently and so you are in for a saving too.

Before we go any further, I have been using the Garmin Edge 1000 for two years now. In that time it has had a number of firmware updates which have resolved quite a few issues. If you having issues with your Garmin, then always check and update the firmware. One such issue I experienced early on, was the screen locking all the time without me telling it to lock. This issue disappeared with a firmware update.

Read more:

• Buyer's guide cycle computers

Buy now:

• Garmin Edge 1000 GPS cycling computer now from Wiggle for £329
• Garmin Edge 1000 GPS cycling computer now from Amazon for $399.99

What's in the box?

• Edge 1000 unit
• Preloaded Garmin Cycle map of Europe
• Quarter turn mount
• Out-front mount
• Tether
• USB cable
• Quick Start manual

The Garmin Edge 1000 comes with an out-front mount and a couple of handlebar mounts. This is useful as it means you can set up mounts on more than one bike and transfer the headunit from bike to bike, depending on which you are riding.

The unit is the largest Garmin has made and weighs 115g. As a comparison, the Edge 810 weighs 97g and the classic and much smaller Edge 500 weighs just 57g. The large size may put some people off and this is understandable - not everyone wants a Game Boy on the front of their bike (if this is you, then the new Garmin Edge 820 offers very similar functionality in a smaller unit), however the large screen is great for clearly viewing routes and lots of data screens.

Garmin's mounting system works very well, but it does wear with time. After two years of heavy usage the plastic on the back of the unit has worn down slightly. The result of this is that the device vibrates slightly when riding and is less secure. This a small issue, but I hope that Garmin is able to modify this in the future.

My favourite thing about the Garmin Edge 1000 is how easy it is to use. The menus are easy to customise, intuitive and very well thought out. In this regard the device is class leading. Pressing the screen to change data fields is easy and there is a huge selection of different fields you can use or select. The option to create different profiles is very useful and the metrics you can display are great. Within minutes of picking up the device, most people can work out how to use the key functions without consulting a manual.

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Sensors

To get the most from a Garmin Edge 1000 you really need to combine it with lots of sensors, such as heart rate straps, power meters and cadence sensors.

The big improvement over previous Garmin devices, is that the device can remember a selection of sensors of the same type and you can select which one. On my previous Garmin Edge 800, connecting to my heart rate strap or power meter was impossible when other riders were near by with their sensors. The Garmin Edge 1000 is great at picking out the specific sensor you want, even when other sensors are present.

Navigation and Routing

I still feel this is an area with much room for improvement. In essence it is not as easy to use as Google Maps, with inferior routing and ergonomics. It is not as intuitive and often sends you on silly routes, or on roads you don't want. The menus and maps are slow to load too and not very responsive.

>>> Buyer's guide to Garmin Edge computers

Using navigation on the fly, like you would with a car sat nav, is infuriating. The menus feel slow, clunky and trying to look on the map will drive you nuts. Trust me, if you get lost and want to have a look at a base map, you are much better off looking at your smart phone. This is a real shame and something I hope Garmin works on with future devices.

The Garmin Edge 1000 is best suited to following pre-designed routes. My favourite way to do this is to create a route in Strava, export the GPX and simply drag and drop it into the 'new files' folder on my Garmin. The folder is accessed by plugging your Garmin into your computer with the supplied USB cable. I find that Strava's route planning is easier to use than Garmin's and has lots of great features, such as the 'Heat Map' which is able to show you the most popular (often the nicest) roads for cyclists.

>>> 12 cool things you didn't know your Garmin could do

The Bluetooth is great for quickly uploading rides and data through your phone to third party sites online. I do find this to be a little temperamental though - sometimes the Bluetooth signal seems to inexplicably drop and disconnect.

Durability

The Garmin Edge 1000 is not the most durable Garmin I have used and I would not recommend dropping it (the Edge 500 is more robust). During testing I have managed to break the unit twice. The first time occurred whilst riding in very heavy rain on long ride. Some water managed to ingress inside the unit causing it to fail. The second breakage occurred when a third party mount broke mid ride and unit hit the deck. Fortunately Garmin has great customer service with regards to warranty and repair.

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Bluetooth Connectivity

The Bluetooth Smart connectivity allows you to pair your smart phone to the Garmin Edge 1000. This is really useful, as it allows you to upload rides very quickly via the Garmin Connect app. It is also useful for selecting Strava Live segments on your phone, but more on that later.

However, for some of the other features, the Bluetooth is pretty useless in my experience. I found that despite several updates, the unit would constantly disconnect from my iPhone 5S, meaning that the device has never worked properly with regards to receiving text messages or calls. It also makes the live track feature redundant too. If your purchase hinges on either of these features or with general connectivity with your smartphone, I would suggest looking at something else such as the Wahoo Elemnt.

In addition to this the pairing process of the unit to a smartphone is a little clunky. Ergonomically speaking, I feel this could be much simpler.

Garmin Edge 1000 battery life

When compared to other bike computers battery life is short, with Garmin quoting around 15 hours. I have found this to be correct, although there are a few catches. To get 15 hours, you will need to turn Bluetooth off, Glonass (a more accurate GPS mode) and not use turn-by-turn navigation. The battery life is generally fine for most rides, but those wanting to audax type rides or events such as the Trans Continental will need an additional battery pack.

Last year I rode the Rapha Manchester to London ride, which was around 380km. Fortunately I took a battery back to keep it going. Without it, I would have not recorded the whole ride, the largest ride of my life. And we all know, if it isn't on Strava, it didn't happen!

Strava Live

If you have a Strava Premium subscription, the Edge 1000 is compatible with Strava Live and this works pretty well. Knowing you can potentially trigger an annoying email to be sent to one of your friends (or enemies) is a great way to motivate your self to push that little bit harder.

>>> Everything you need to know about Strava Live segments.

It is not perfect though and there are a few changes I would like to see made. You transfer segments to the device by starring them on the Strava app. The problem is that poor, intermittent Bluetooth connectivity means that the starred segments don't always transfer to the head unit. Another issue is that when an approaching segment appears on your screen, it automatically compares you to your fastest friend or PR and not the KOM. In addition, there is no way at present to customise the Strava Live screen, with useful data fields, such as power or heart rate, making it hard to judge your effort and get the best time.

For more details visit the Garmin website.

The market for smartwatches is growing, so it makes sense for a prestige watch brand to get in on the act. With its sporty image, it’s a natural arena for the Swiss brand and the TAG Heuer Connected Modular provides a flexible entrant into the field.

TAG Heuer has been a sponsor of the BMC Racing team for a couple of years now and the Connected Modular offers functionality of use to the cyclist. It’s worn by BMC’s riders – at least before and after races, and Greg Van Avermaet could be seen wearing a yellow strapped model to match his jersey at the Tour de France.

Rather than a traditional Swiss mechanical movement, the heart of the Connected Modular is an Intel Atom chip, running Google Android Wear software. It also packs in a GPS chip, accelerometer, gyroscope and other sensors, as well as a touch sensitive display. If you want a smaller format watch, the Connected Modular is now available in 41mm diameter as well as the 45mm version tested.

The GPS chip means that you can display maps on the Connected Modular and there’s Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity to smartphones. You can run Google Fit to track your activity and Google Play for accompanying music, as well as use Android Pay with the built-in NFC sensor. Other apps include Google Translate and Google Maps and there’s a microphone so you can control the watch by voice commands.

>>> Best cycling apps: iPhone and Android tools for cyclists

The face of the TAG Heuer Connected Modular is touch sensitive. So you swipe across the face to change screen and select options. It’s high resolution and easy to operate.

Google Fit provides limited functionality for the cyclist. But you can download Strava for Android Wear, giving you a simple interface to the training app, that works without needing connectivity to a smartphone, although displayed fields are limited. There’s one touch sync once you are home.

The “modular” part of the Connected Modular’s name refers to the array of options you can choose for different parts of the watch. So as well as the watch unit itself, you can configure and swap out the straps, choosing a leather, metal or ceramic band rather than rubber, different lugs connecting the strap and different bezels.

And you can choose the dial display from 4000 different options, just by swiping left or upwards on the watch face. Or it’s something you can configure and customise, including your own background, with the associated Android and iPhone app.

>>> Should you use your phone instead of a cycling computer?

As you’d expect from a Swiss watchmaker, the TAG Heuer Connected Modular feels very well built, with a sapphire crystal 285ppi OLED display and titanium case, along with water resistance to 50 metres. The standard rubber strap is on a continuous band and locks closed, so you’re unlikely to lose the watch.

Battery life is quoted as up to 25 hours, although I got more than this when using limited functionality and connectivity. This means that you’ll need to charge up the Connected Modular most days, with charging taking a little under two hours from flat. There’s a magnetic contact charger that runs from a USB cable, so you don’t need to plug the TAG Heuer Connected Modular itself into anything.

The TAG Heuer Connected Modular is a chunky piece and at 120g, you can feel its weight on your wrist and with its sharp angles I found it tended to cut into the top of my hand when riding. It provides a versatile platform if you’re looking for a smartwatch, although for the cyclist a dedicated sports watch providing more cycling-specific functionality might be a better alternative.

>>> The best cycling computers for 2018: a buyer's guide

Choose a titanium case and a steel bezel and you can get the cheapest TAG Heuer Connected Modular 41 for £1050 or a Connected Modular 45 for £1200. Add options like a ceramic bezel and a leather strap and the price tag soon heads over £2000. If you want diamonds with that, you’re looking at around £5000.

That’s quite a bit more than an Apple Watch’s starting price, although flashier Apple Watches cost over £1000. But it’s small change compared to the £600,000 Richard Mille cycling watch. Mind you, you do get a free Colnago C60 thrown in with that.

The Garmin Forerunner 935 is the brand's premium Forerunner offering, and one of its top 'multi-sport' watches, capable of recording running, cycling, swimming and other outdoor activities.

Whether a watch is multi-sport or single sport only, nowadays there's an expectation that it should also be capable of giving wearable metrics. By that I mean counting steps, calories and the like we've grown accustomed to from FitBit or even our mobile phone apps.

Garmin Forerunner 935: how is it as a wearable?

The Garmin Forerunner 935 has a pretty comprehensive list of wearable data, whether you're after heart rate analysis, a step counter, a list of previous activities or calories burnt it can show you them by pressing down on the side of the watch. Each then has a slightly more detailed analysis page available if you press start when viewing the widget. It's easily customisable too, with plenty of further widget options available within the watch.

The problem is, the Garmin doesn't have the ease of use that I think is necessary for something to be a truly great wearable. The watch doesn't show you a huge amount of information per widget and very little of its firepower is actually dedicated to doing so.

Wearable data that I was actually interested in was sleep, weight and heart rate monitoring measured by the Foreunner's built in optical sensor. I did for a while input both of these into the Garmin Connect, the watch's companion app. However, Garmin Connect remains too clunky to be convenient and its confusing dashboard put me off trying to monitor my stats as regularly as I should have been.

For example, the sleep graphs are a little basic to gather any truly helpful data, unlike other sleeping apps that I've used on my phone. Light blue blocks mean light sleep, dark blue deep sleep and pink equals time awake.

Ultimately, there's a really large amount of data to unearth in the app, but it makes it a little difficult to find.

Garmin Forerunner 935: How is it as a training tool

As you might expect, this is where the Garmin finds its feet and similar to the brand's best bike computers that we have tested previously, the Forerunner 935 is a performance pusher in its own right. It really came into its own when running and the watch has neat customisable features; for example I had it set to flash my pace at every kilometer and it was an invaluable tool in getting my 5k and 1ok times down as well as at competitive events.

After running for a short period of time it'll also tell you your performance condition helping guide you as to how hard you should exercise. This could be useful depending on how seriously you take your training and follow metrics. It even has the ability to guide you round a course via a simple line or compass like arrow pointing you in the right direction.

In terms of cycling, it's capable of a lot of things that Garmin's cycling units offer. For example it'll link with speed, cadence and power sensors; I was able to pair it to my Favero Assioma Duo pedals and there's an option to pair it to Shimano Di2, bike lights and other bike related stuff. It can offer navigation via courses and give your heart rate zone analysis.

Ultimately, if I was in to triathlon I could really see the benefits of the Forerunner 935 and its multi-sport performance capabilities. Likewise, if you don't have the budget for both products but do both sports then I think it would work well.

However, its size and shape does make it harder to use as a cycling computer. I found that the screen wasn't large enough to display all the metrics that I like when riding. To put that into context, I usually have seven or so screens open on my Wahoo Elemnt cycling computer. On top of this, it's more difficult to change data screens with the watch on your wrist when travelling at speed. Although it is possible to get an out front mount that holds the watch.

In the end, I mostly used it for commuting when I didn't want the hassle of a big computer but was still travelling enough distance to warrant uploading to Strava (every little helps, after all). For this same reason it was useful on the many trips and launches I go on, where it's usually harder to attach a cycling computer.

Ultimately, for the fitness focussed the Garmin Forerunner 935 has plenty of potential, especially for those into multiple sports. If you want something primarily for cycling then a cursory glance at the Garmin Forerunner 735XT shows it to be able to do all the cycling things that the 935 can, although it's fitness pushing potential is more limited. It's worth considering, though, seeing as it's £139 cheaper.

When Lezyne brought out its GPS range a couple of years ago, it included the Mini GPS, which is still available, priced at £95. The Lezyne Micro GPS is essentially the same format, although it’s got a slightly different screen size, but it packs a whole lot more functionality into the pint-sized package.

For a start, the Lezyne Micro GPS has simultaneous connectivity to ANT+ and Bluetooth. This means that you can use both protocols to connect peripheral devices like heart rate monitors and power meters.

It also allows you to connect the Lezyne Micro GPS to your phone, so you can receive notifications of calls and text messages on your GPS head unit. Lezyne also uses the phone to manage route information, sending it to the GPS for turn-by-turn navigation.

>>> Best cycling apps

You can also use the phone app to plan out a route to follow, or select a pre-mapped route from the Lezyne website or other mapping software. The route is displayed on the GPS as a breadcrumb trail, a zoomed breadcrumb trail and as turn-by-turn directions. The zoomed out trail for the whole route is minute, but zoom in to the part you’re riding and it’s pretty clear where you need to go.

Turn-by-turn navigation uses a small arrow and even smaller text. In practice, it’s reasonably easy to follow a route. But without reading the text, you can end up making a turn before you should. Go off route and all you get is a blank screen with a small roundel to indicate that you need to turn back.

The turn instructions didn’t refresh quite quickly enough to show a right then a left either. So unless you know pretty much where you are going, you might end up with a few false moves and needing to turn back.

Lezyne’s mapping functionality lets you drop a series of waypoints, then calculates a route based on these. It’s OK, but won’t calculate a route with more than 25 waypoints and I found it followed a few bridleways rather than sticking to the road. Mapping out a route elsewhere then importing it is an easier option.

Pairing with a phone and peripherals is quick and trouble-free. The Micro GPS will display incoming text messages and call notifications from your phone – again in a tiny font though.

You can also use the phone app to upload your ride from the Micro GPS to the web. It’s easy to select unsynced rides and press upload, which automatically syncs to Strava.

>>> Lezyne Super GPS review

One problem with such a small screen is, of course, readability. Although the screen is very sharp, it’s still pretty difficult to read if you have the maximum four lines of data displayed. You can cut the number of fields down to 2 or 3, either on the unit itself or on a paired phone, which makes for greater readability though.

There are four buttons on the sides of the unit, allowing you to stop and start recording, scroll through screens, and otherwise control the Lezyne Micro GPS.

Scrolling through options doesn’t highlight them - instead it moves a small arrow on the far left of the screen, so it’s quite difficult to see what you’ve selected. Unless you have 20/20 vision, you may have problems doing much more than starting and stopping the unit and reading the data fields whilst out riding.

The Lezyne Micro GPS lets you set alerts on specific values for heart rate, time, calories and ride distance. It also supports Strava Live segments, if you have Strava Premium, and you can set up Live Tracks, which lets you specify the email addresses of people you want to be able to see where you are. This then transmits location data via your phone, allowing these people to log onto the Lezyne app and view your progress.

As well as GPS functionality, there’s also a built-in barometer and accelerometer, for greater accuracy of distance, speed and height recording.

You can set up the Lezyne Micro GPS to automatically upload your activities to Strava, TrainingPeaks and Today’s Plan. You can also download a training programme from TrainingPeaks or Today’s Plan to follow on your GPS.

The Lezyne Micro GPS comes with Lezyne’s standard mount, as used for its larger GPS units. This looks a bit out of proportion to the unit itself, being not much smaller and positioning the Micro GPS quite high above the bars or stem. The mount is secured by two rubber straps and the GPS itself needs a firm push down and a quarter turn to engage or disengage. This makes it ultra-secure though – much more so than a Garmin mount.

>>> The best cycle computers for 2018: a buyer's guide

Charging uses a USB cable, with a chunky rubber bung to keep the weather out. The battery will last for up to 14 hours of recording, while the unit itself can save up to 150 hours’ worth of ride data.

Lezyne sells an out-front mount which fits its computers - this should look better with the Lezyne Micro GPS. You can buy this separately or as a “Loaded” package, which bundles the computer with a heart rate monitor, a speed and cadence sensor and an out front mount for £190. An extra £20 buys you the Micro Colour GPS or the equivalent Loaded bundle, if you’d prefer a colour screen.

In summary, the Lezyne Micro GPS is impressively functional for such a small device. It does most things that a much larger and more expensive GPS unit will do. But you do need good eyesight to use its tiny screen.

The Lezyne Super GPS tops the brand's extensive range of GPS bike computers. It flies under the radar in the world of GPS, but beneath the slightly unremarkable screen is a feature-packed computer that costs just £129, a fraction of the price of its competitors.

Lezyne Super GPS: What's in the box?

There are two different options when you buy the Lezyne Super GPS – the standard version, which comes with just a standard mount, or a bundled version. The latter comes with sensors and is packaged in a tough storage box.

This is in stark comparison with the Wahoo Elemnt where you get three different mounts; the Lezyne package would be improved with an out-front mount as standard in both boxes.

Hardware and design

We'll start with the design, which is less sophisticated than its direct competitors, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. There's a plastic body with a large bezel around the screen and four buttons, two on either side of the case. The buttons are small, and they'd be improved by being made a little larger because in winter, when you're wearing gloves, they can be a bit tough to find. Aside from that, they have good feedback when pressed.

The X-mount on the bottom is unique to Lezyne and doesn't sit nearly as flush as the mounts on Garmin and Wahoo do. When it's on the stem it sits very tall and obvious. The micro-USB charging port is concealed behind a protective rubber bung to help protect it from water ingress.

Battery life is a claimed 22 hours, and while it's always difficult to get the maximum out of a device, the Lezyne lasts a long time. I imagine that's due to the black and white, non-touchscreen screen.

The screen is also really easy to read because there's very little to read or be distracted by. You can also increase or reduce the contrast depending on what you fancy.

Setting the device up

Hold the power button and you're met by a Tamagochi-eqsue noise, and the device quickly fires up. Unlike the Garmin 1030 which has a busy home screen, the Lezyne has three sections to it – one dedicated to connected devices, which shows your phone's battery when connected. The other shows any power, speed or cadence sensors you might be using.

On the device you enter the main menu by holding the menu button. Here is a simple page from which you can set up and control all of the device. But, even more handily, and similar to Wahoo, Lezyne also allows you to use the GPS Ally application (we'll talk more about the app in a bit) to set up up your data screens.

You pair your phone and navigate in the GPS Ally app to the settings section, then GPS Settings and then Bike and Screen set-up. From here you can add new bike profiles, which is particularly useful if you ride a different discipline, or have one that's left on the turbo at home.

It's a shame they don't make this feature more obvious as its far easier than trying to set up your data screens through the device. In total you can have five data screens on the device, with a maximum of four fields on each.

Watch: Power meter buyer's guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KRFsDEtl_s

Performance pushing, without the performance price tag

What's so impressive about the Lezyne Super GPS is it has the same connected functionality as far more expensive computers. It connected to my Favero Assioma Duo power meter pedals without a hitch, and is capable of displaying metrics like average power, three-second average, 10-second average as well as left and right balance and torque effectiveness.

It's compatible with ANT+ sensors, including Garmin's, or you can buy Lezyne ones separately. If you're connected with TrainingPeaks or Today's Plan you can also load training programmes to the device for indoor training sessions – it's impressively powerful for such a tiny unit.

Application, website and navigation – it's easy to get lost

The device is supported by both the Lezyne Ally companion app and the Lezyne GPS Root website. It is to Lezyne what the Garmin Connect is Garmin – slightly confusing and befuddling to navigate. However, it is very important if you want to use any of the GPS's navigational features.

We've seen it on other devices like the Wahoo Elemnt, but the Lezyne won't give turn-by-turn directions if you simply upload a route from Strava. It will allow you a breadcrumb line to follow, but won't prompt you when you need to turn.

If you want this feature – and it's one of the main reasons I use a GPS – you have build the route in Lezyne's GPS Root website, which will then fire it across to the app on the phone, which in turn will load it on the device when you connect it. Once the route is loaded on the device, you don't need have your phone connected to receive directions.

If you simply want an A-B direction, you can search the destination in the app, and then your device will give your turn-by-turn directions as long as you keep your phone connected.

It's fair to say that if we were playing a word association game and the term was "cycling computer", Giant's name wouldn't be the first to spring to mind. The market has long been dominated by US superpower Garmin, and the industry is just about getting its head around the arrival of Wahoo.

Giant's NeosTrack was introduced last summer, first spotted aboard Team Sunweb pro bikes at the 2017 Tour Down Under, and we've been living and riding with it for well over six months – putting it through its paces (and at times having it put us through ours).

At £149.99, the NeosTrack sits well below the Garmin Edge 520, yet shares a fair few of its capabilities.

The build and features

The computer itself was designed in collaboration with Taiwanese tech creator Bryton. It features a 2.6 inch LED screen, noticeably impressive 33-hour battery life (over twice as much as Garmin 520's 15), and it weighs in at a pretty lightweight 79g.

There are five buttons: on/off on the bottom, start/lap/OK bottom left, stop/back top left, with arrows on the right. Accessing the menu is achieved by holding the down arrow.

The screen display is pretty basic being black and white with a noticeably blocky font which feels a little bit robot-esque compared to other options on the market. This said, you can display a remarkable amount of data, choosing up to six-page displays, plus altitide and mapping data, with up to 10 fields per page.

All the usual data is available – speed, distance, elevation, temperature, power, heart rate, cadence, and Di2 gearing info – some of those of course only when used with the relevant measuring devices.

Like almost all newer units, the Giant NeosTrack connects via both ANT+ and Bluetooth, meaning it can communicate with an array of training tools such as power meters and heart rate monitors as well as mobile phones and Di2 systems.

The power-focused metrics on offer are detailed, including TSS (training stress score), Normalised Power, left/right power balance and pedal smoothness.

Giant has developed its own NeosTrack app too, which lets you plan training sessions, routes, and auto upload to programmes like TrainingPeaks or Strava. The app gives you a calendar view so you can see all you've been up to in recent weeks, and there's an analysis tab which shows your performance in terms of heart rate and power zones. Set it all up properly and you can see calories burned and percentage of which was fat, too.

Interestingly, the Giant NeosTrack app just didn't like the first email address I fed it, apparently "@gmail.com" wasn't valid. I had my partner test his, which was not accepted either. In the end, we discovered that "@googlemail" worked - so it's not a broken bit of software, but "@gmail.com" is a pretty widely used address.

This rather odd bug aside, rides can be uploaded via Bluetooth; you can use WLAN to pair up to your WiFi, or go old school and use the provided micro USB which also serves as the charging mechanism.

As well as using the app to plan routes (on desktop or mobile), you can set the NeosTrack unit itself to administer breadcrumb navigation based on a ride you've done before. As with any breadcrumb nav, the mapping won't be super clear and detailed, but you do get turn-by-turn navigation and you can certainly rely on this to get you on your way.

Giant Lab

So far, the Giant NeosTrack kind of does everything that we'd expect most cycling computers to do, albeit with a pretty friendly price tag and vastly improved battery life.

Where other computer brands have gone all-in for Strava live segments and the such, Giant has stated its aims very clearly with what it calls the 'Giant Lab'.

The lab is an area dedicated to the Training Smart System, where power data is stored. Riders can fill this section out by completing pre-loaded tests: step-by-step instructions detail how to test for max heart rate, lactate threshold heart rate, FTP and MAP (max aerobic power). Repeat the tests, and the user can track progress over time.

It's also possible to plan your own training sessions, imputing the heart rate or power parameters for specific intervals. These are then stored in 'My Workouts' where they can be repeated at a later date.

Living with the Giant NeosTrack

We've established that the NeosTrack ticks off the basic needs of most cyclists, with a heavy focus on training and a lesser interest in some of the more frivolous features available elsewhere – such as Strava connectivity.

It took a little while to become accustomed to the way the NeosTrack operates. Once the unit is on, the rider is immediately presented with ride screens. This sort of epitomises the unit a little bit: it doesn't want you messing with menus – it wants you to get on with logging the hard yards.

However, since you can have several bike profiles, it'd be nice to start at the top where you could select the right one rather than flipping back to 'menu'.

The Giant NeosTrack claims to possess a 'high sensitivity GPS' and I always found it quick to connect to the satellites whilst the data appeared pretty spot on. A minor gripe was that early on, following a firmware update, the unit learned a new party trick: beeping whenever connection was lost. This happened when riding under bridges and tree cover and seemed a bit overzealous to me.

When it comes time to stop a ride, you'll be presented with the abrupt question "do you want to stop?", whereby you can scroll between "yes" and "no" before hitting "OK" (bottom right) on the appropriate selection. There's nothing strictly wrong with this; it's just a lot of us are used to being able to press stop and start without having to confirm the choice.

This little critter is not touchscreen and it wouldn't be fair to expect that at this price point. However, the buttons required a bit more pressure than I'd like to operate.

The Giant NeosTrack at first appeared a bit slow, clunky and not very user friendly. I didn't find the buttons or the system intuitive, it took me longer than I'd expect to complete actions such as locate and connect to power meters.

After further usage, I expect that might have come down to an ingrained bias that comes from being very well used to a particular brand and interface. Assuming readers are also coming from the position of not being a clean slate, it's worth being prepared for a slightly frustrating first few uses - you can expect to hit the wrong button a few times, though it'd be hard to lose a ride with the "do you want to stop?" screen barring your way to doing so quite so adamantly.

The NeosTrack comes with an out-front mount as well as bar mounts which attach via the black elastic bands we all know and love. I found the mount didn't quite live up to expected standards – it was a bit flexy, which meant the unit tipped slightly to the side, and it also managed to work itself onto the narrow part of the bar on one occasion, free to flip over the handlebar. Admittedly this was on a mountain bike ride when (attempting to) slay the trails in Morzine so not your average intended use for a roadie.

Value

Some cycling computers on the market carry pretty jaw-dropping prices. At £149.99, Giant has undercut most of them, while still offering the features riders need – albeit without frills.

The Garmin Edge 1030 was one of the hotly anticipated releases of 2017, and coming off the back of the Garmin Edge 820, it would be fair to say the company had some improvements to make.

>>> Buy now at Wiggle for £419

The 1030 replaces the Garmin Edge 1000 at the top of the tree, giving it flagship status alongside the Edge 820 and the Edge 520. On the whole, we've found it deserving of its place – here are our thoughts.

Garmin Edge 1030: A significant design change

It’s out with the old and in with the new for the Garmin Edge 1030, and by new we mean in both form and function, because this device looks a lot like a car's sat nav.

It’s a sizeable makeover that has actually done nothing really to reduce the Garmin’s size, and it comes in almost bang on the same size as its predecessor, the Garmin 1000.

Unlike the Garmin 1000, where the bottom buttons sat next to the screen facing upwards, they now face the handlebar. This, coupled with the size of the Garmin 1030 and the fact it’s a tight fit on a normal K-Edge mount, makes accessing the buttons a bit of a squeeze so we'd definitely recommend getting one of K-Edge's special extra large out front mounts.

Garmin also hasn’t taken any design cues from modern smart phones and means the Garmin is a hefty piece of kit. It sits at 123g and is heavier than my iPhone 5 along with a bigger bezel around the screen.

The bigger screen is particularly useful for your performance data and the new layouts of all your information makes it much easier to digest the nitty-gritty details than before.

The design change extends to Garmin's own out front mount. It's now designed with aerodynamics in mind and has a mount on the underside to hold an external battery pack. It's a useful feature for those who are into touring or like an audax because you're unlikely to get the full 20 hours battery life from the computer.

Garmin Edge 1030: An improved touchscreen

It’s not exactly cutting edge technology but we're pleased to see that the touchscreen is significantly improved following the Edge 820.

There's a lot less lag than on the Edge 820 and the screen rarely takes more than one press to register what you want it to do. Whereas the screen on the Edge 820 would register rain drops as finger presses, the 1030 is far more stable, and no longer whizzes through data screens or bins your data file in light drizzle.

One of the things many people said about the Edge 820 (including us) is that they want the screen to operate like their mobile phone does. While we are spoilt with our phone screens, we've been told that it's simply not possible on Garmin products. Apparently, the detrimental effect a powerful screen has on a device's battery life would render it all but useless.

We'd always still argue that physical buttons would be better than a touchscreen, as least Garmin has improved its substantially.

Garmin Edge 1030: It's easier to setup

The dashboard is also new, with some updated colours and a nice white background. There's a pleasing level of clarity to the 1030's screen thanks to a coupling of the new layout and the large screen. The re-worked internals have made setting up the device a bit easier than with models passed, and navigating the bewildering amount of data fields is easier than before.

So as the picture below shows, nearly everything is customised within activity profiles - in this case its named "road" - including data screens, auto features and much more. It makes your profiles completely unique, and with this being Garmin's flagship model you get all the data you could possibly want, so you can get it really dialled in. Whether that's for your winter bike, TT bike, racing machine or the one permanently stuck on the turbo trainer.

Getting the setup correct is particularly important considering the 1030 is capable of running all sorts of tests (including FTP), stress scores and when partnered with connectable devices it can give you a staggeringly detailed breakdown of your data.

Part of the improved setup process is a system where a data screen lets you tick multiple data fields which then appear when you choose that activity profile. Re-ordering the data field layout is done through tapping and double tapping (it's a good job the touchscreen has improved), and its a feature that makes it much easier to setup.

Despite this, it's not as intuitive as setting up the Wahoo Elemnt or Elemnt Bolt, which is all done on your mobile phone and transferred across instantaneously. We'd recommend giving yourself an hour and then a short ride, as only this way can you work out what you really need.

It’d be nice to see Garmin have a system where you can auto-download the features and setup from your other Garmin devices, like when you restore an iPhone from iTunes.

Also new on the 1030 is the pull down menu from the top, which has an updated layout and access to some additional screens, including notifications, controls, weather and Strava segment explore – a cool new feature if you're a KoM obsessive.

Garmin Edge 1030: New navigation features

A larger map is no doubt one of the benefits of the bigger screen on the 1030, and it adds a level of clarity to maps and navigation that has made it very difficult to go back to the Garmin Edge 820.

One new feature Garmin has introduced is Trendline, which benefits those that like their Garmin to organise their rides for them, rather than plot them in Strava. Basically, it crowd sources the best cycling roads in your location from Garmin Connect and plots the route accordingly.

However, in reality we found that Trendline was keen to send us into London and used roads we knew to be busy more often than we'd have liked. Right now it doesn't feel quite as finessed as it could but we expect its the type of technology that will improve with time.

Happily, the device is fast at picking up the GPS signal, faster than the Edge 820 at least, and so far it has been accurate and without sudden drops or losses.

On a more frustrating note, Garmin still hasn’t introduced a pinch and zoom like you would use on Google Maps. It’s this and the clunky QWERTY keyboard that still makes me more likely to reach for my phone should I get lost than the inbuilt navigation on my Garmin.

Garmin 1030: Buggy software (for now)

We've had consistent problems trying to get the device to connect to our mobiles via Bluetooth even when manually forgetting it in our Bluetooth preferences and trying to re-pair. This was a process tried at least five times with no luck, before it randomly worked again. It’s typical teething problems that we’re hoping future updates will iron out.

On a happier note, ANT+ connections were spot on and I had no problem syncing my SRAM eTap or heart rate monitor to the new device.

Computer company Acer is behind the Xplova X5 Evo. It’s reworked the unit’s software from the older Xplova X5 for the new X5 Evo version. Acer also makes smartphones, so there’s a lot of potential to cross-use its expertise.

When we reviewed the original Xplova X5, we liked the touchscreen and ease of use. But we were less enamoured with the GPS navigation and the unit’s tendency to occasionally slip into Chinese.

>>> Best cycling computers 

You still get the large 3 inch colour touchscreen display. It’s clear and easily readable, and responds well to touch input, although it’s quite a bit smaller than the unit itself.

>>> Best smartphone cases for cycling

You also get physical buttons on the sides of the unit and at the bottom of the top surface. Those on the top allow you to start and stop both the Xplova X5 Evo trip recording and also the built in front facing video camera.

Riding with the Xplova X5 Evo

Switch the Xplova X5 Evo on and hit Start and you get a clearly laid out, easy to read main screen with a large speedometer dial and two smaller dials below it for heart rate and cadence. There’s also a power display, altitude, elapsed time and distance covered. Altitude is measured barometrically, which is more accurate than using GPS, and there’s the functionality to recalibrate it before setting out.

>>> Should you use your phone instead of a cycling computer? 

Swipe left or right, and the Xplova X5 Evo cycles through a series of screens of user configurable data and a navigation screen.

You’ll need to buy external sensors separately for power, heart rate and cadence. But the Xplova X5 Evo comes packaged with an out front mount, to which it connects firmly with a half turn.

The Xplova X5 Evo only supports ANT+ peripherals and it’s easy to couple to sensors. With Bluetooth peripherals becoming more prevalent, and many GPS units supporting them, it’s a pity that you can’t use them with the Xplova X5 Evo.

The Xplova X5 Evo also has WiFi, but only for pairing to a smartphone. You can select Bluetooth too, via the Connectivity menu. But this doesn’t work yet – Acer says that it’s scheduled for early next year.

The Xplova X5 Evo uses both the US GPS and the Russian Glonass systems to get a fix on your position. It’s reasonably accurate on unsheltered roads, but tends to drift more than some other units under tree cover. This is potentially a problem, as Strava may not recognise that you’ve ridden a segment if your trace strays too far from it.

Navigation

You can download free base maps for any part of the world to the Xplova X5 Evo for offline navigation. UK maps include England, Scotland and Wales as well as Greater London.

You can map out a route on the smartphone app reasonably easily, then upload it to the Xplova X5 Evo. But it’s more fiddly using the phone’s small screen than a computer. If you want to use the computer-based mapping app, you need to set up the smartphone app to connect to your computer account, then use the phone app to download it to the unit.

>>> The best cycling computers: a buyer's guide

On the Xplova X5 Evo, you get turn by turn navigation at the top of the screen as well as a position indicator, with a route trace on the base map. Turns are indicated well in advance, and include bends in the road as well as junctions. But if you’re recording video too, the top third of the screen is taken up with the video view and you lose the turn information, unless you turn video preview off, in the unit’s video menu.

Apps and software

If you like to record video of your rides, the in-built action camera is a neat feature, allowing you to record around an hour’s video. The camera records 720/30fps video. You can trigger recording manually using the Record button on the front of the unit or the touchscreen or set it up to record continuously in a loop, overwriting the oldest footage once its used up its capacity. You can also trigger the unit to start and stop recording based on data fields. So you can get a video recording when your heart rate goes above a certain value, when the road tips up or down over a certain gradient or when your speed is over a defined value, for example.

There's also the option to take still photographs at 1080 pixel resolution.

The mapping app for PCs is fast and intuitive and works similarly well on a smartphone. You can quickly sketch out a route which you want to follow and you get all the necessary stats on it. It’s also easy to edit. Xplova has added smart sign functionality, which identifies gradients on your route, so you can see them coming up if you're riding a route you don't know. It can also be set up to start video recording when you reach a pre-defined point on your route.

>>> 24 best cycling apps

There are separate phone apps to download ride data and edit video. These are reasonably intuitive, although it means coupling your devices over a WiFi network.

Video quality is good, with a wide 120 degree angle and none of the image stability problems which we found with its predecessor.

A sample of recorded video with heart rate and speed overlay

You can only edit a video of up to 5 minutes’ length using the phone app, but it’s very easy to add data fields and canned music.

There’s also the option to download and follow a training plan and a Challenge mode to pace yourself against your previous time for a route that you have ridden before.

Xplova says that it also provides a UK customer support centre and a two year warranty and claims a 12 hour battery life.

In summary

There’s a lot of functionality in the Xplova X5 Evo, with Acer promising more to come in future firmware releases. If you’re prepared to live with its eccentricities and spend the time getting it to work, the Xplova X5 Evo provides a broad range of functionality including some innovative features like the built-in camera.

But the PC and Mac software supporting the Xplova X5 Evo is awkward to use and lacks some of the analysis functionality it would be nice to have available.

I knew it was time for a change when my Garmin smartwatch started nagging me. One sunny afternoon in an otherwise serene beer garden, as I eased another pint towards my mouth, the GPS’s stern digital face reprimanded me: "MOVE, DAVID". Apparently I’d not "met my step goals" nor completed "three afternoon tasks". Whatever.

Video: Five beginners tips for setting up your cycling computer

Wrist-mounted activity-tracking had turned into a nightmarish, near-constant guilt-trip. Besides, my bike computer provided all the fitness data I needed. The only number I needed on my wrist was the time, preferably in analogue format, and if possible with a subtle hint of good old-fashioned bicycling.

I was delighted, therefore, to stumble upon the Camden Watch Company, a small outfit headquartered in an old horse hospital in Camden’s Stables Market. After a quick browse through the range, I was content that theCamden X KPP Cycling Edition watch was suitably low-tech for my needs, while being more than stylish enough for my post-ride, afternoon ambles to the pub.

This watch was designed in collaboration with London-based artist/cyclist Kitty Pemberton-Platt, and the other models in the series are named after London Underground lines and bus routes. Clearly, the local connection is important, though the watches are — inevitably — manufactured in the Far East. Granted, there is a distinctly hipsterish vibe to the Camden Watch Co’s marketing, but I wasn’t about to let that put me off this classic, subtly vintage-styled timepiece.

Down to the nitty-gritty: what qualifies this iteration of the X KPP as the ‘Cycling Edition’? Look closely and you’ll spot the spoke pattern on the dial, jersey-style lettering on the strap, and you’ll notice that the crown is shaped (a bit) like a sprocket. The strap’s white stitching on tan leather conjures vintage handlebars, though a nylon strap is supplied as a hardier option.

The Garmin Edge family is pretty established at the head of the best bike computer table – and the Edge 500 took a position as the firm favourite for years. Come 2013, an update finally arrived - in the form of the 510. The touch screen functionality on both the 510 and 810 failed to impress, and the new creation was later replaced by its big brother: the Garmin Edge 520.

I’ve been riding with this model for just over a year - though the little critter is packed with so many features that I've probably not used every one.

Where the Garmin Edge 500 was revered for its simple presentation of the basic metrics: speed, distance, time, elevation – plus power and heart rate with appropriate monitors – the 520 does all these and so much more.

Garmin Edge 520 screen, buttons and mounts

At Edge 500 level, Garmin computers have always been known for offering a compact handlebar companion that's large enough for easy viewing, yet small enough that it doesn't look like an all singing, all dancing 'how to ride a bike' manual bouncing on your handlebars. The 520 iterations follows suit - measuring 4.9cm wide, 7.3cm tall and 2.1cm deep.

The buttons are simple enough to negotiate without spending any time reading the instructions - a general marker of success in my book. 'On/off' and 'scroll up/down' on the left, 'ok' and 'back' on the right. 'Lap' and 'stop/pause' are along the bottom of the unit. This can present occasional issues when trying to mount the Garmin to a shorter stem - say 90mm - since the 'pause' button can be nudged by the top cap, though only really when fidgeting with buttons elsewhere.

Speaking of mounts, the 520 comes with a selection of small plastic attachments that can be applied to the bike with two strong elastic bands, or you can purchase an out-front mount.

I've heard criticism of Garmin mounts not holding up well in crashes - and it's true that my own Garmin 520 screen is scuffed from a crash where it did become dislodged from the bike, skidding across the gravel (along with my lower body). However, Garmin do provide a tether that you can use to loop the mount and Garmin together.

Data display and transfer with the Garmin Edge 520

Progressing from the Garmin 20/25 or indeed any basic cycling GPS computer, and into the world of the Garmin 520, users enter an entirely new landscape when it comes to data display.

You can set up multiple profiles - and select the ride metrics that you'll display for each. You can even choose to apply a different colour scheme to each profile.

Garmin offers a huge choice of data readings. All the basics: distance, speed (in all its guises), heart rate, elevation (and even average grade), cadence, calories burned. Then there's all the training metrics - percentage of time spent in training zones, power meter metrics such as TSS, normalised power and so on.

If you've got Garmin Vector pedals, you can see a host of individual readings for both left and right leg, there are data screens for Garmin Varia lights, connectivity to Di2 gear systems means you can view battery level and gear ratio.

Speaking of connectivity, you can also hook your Garmin up to your Android or iPhone - allowing cable free transfer of rides (meaning easy analysis of Strava efforts come post-ride-coffee) and if you want you can view calls and texts - at least in summary form - from your handlebars. Handy if your lunch time ride has somehow extended into the afternoon.

In terms of battery life, Garmin states 15 hours - and I did find with the screen brightness at a sensible level, it would last a week of good riding with ease.

Strava segments on the Garmin Edge 520

I'll step away from the moral argument around Strava's dominance of the simple pleasure (or brutal self destruction) of cycling: if you want to, you can set your Garmin 520 up with your Strava profile.

You'll receive a warning when a Strava segment is approaching, and see your progress - as well as a further on screen notification if you've achieved a PB, claimed a KOM/QOM or topped the leader board in your cycling club.

Of course, there are a lot of Strava segments out there - so if you don't want to spend your entire ride assessing your results against the rest of the world, you can star key segments.

Despite resisting Strava's dominance initially (didn't we all?), Garmin and the orange giants are clearly batting for the same team now, and your unit comes with a two month trial period with Strava Premium.

Measuring V02 Max and FTP on the Garmin Edge 520

New for the Garmin 520 is the ability to automatically track for V02 max and FTP - provided you're using a heart rate monitor and power meter.

The V02 max (the maximum volume of oxygen you can consume per minute per kilogram of body weight) measurement is an estimate - and it's hard to assess its accuracy without carrying out a full on V02 test. However, the Garmin 520 did flash up with 'New V02 max!' after some harder sessions and I suppose though we can't confirm the accuracy of the actual number, Garmin is comparing apples with apples so it's a useful measure of fitness.

You can tell the Garmin 520 when you want to complete an FTP test - in fact, it will even provide on screen instructions for how to do this (warm up, ride for 5 minutes at zone 6, 10 minutes zone 2, 20 minutes test, cool down) - and it will track your FTP over time.

Once you've found your FTP and recorded your zones, you can download training sessions created on Garmin Connect and follow them on the screen. And if you don't have a power meter, you can set your zones using your max heart rate, and work from those.

These features were probably my most underutilised - perhaps due to the rather unstructured approach I've taken to training over the last 12 months. However, if you are following a structured plan, they provide an excellent tool - taking the middle-man out of you carrying out a test independently, then storing it on your own training platform elsewhere and mentally applying your zones to subsequent sessions.

Recovery notifications are a bit bitter sweet. Picture this: You're lined up at Cyclopark in Kent, with the preceding day's race efforts still heavy in your legs. As the commissaire barks instructions, your Garmin beeps from your handlebars. A large red circle and the message 'Recovery: Poor'. Yea, thanks mate.

Garmin's 520 is clever enough to analyse your efforts, and assess the recovery required for optimum performance - giving you a recovery time in hours as you hit 'stop'. When you next switch the unit on, it'll let you know if that recovery window is not fully complete.

Aside from occasions where you really didn't want to be reminded of your poor preparation, this is incredibly useful - providing a handy reminder of when it's time to back off.

Mapping and navigation using the Garmin Edge 520

The major difference between the Garmin 520 and its big brother, the Garmin 820, is that the smaller brother of the two does not included detailed maps and navigation. The 520 comes set up with a 'basemap'  - which is pretty much the epitome of lacking detail.

However, you can download a route onto your Garmin, and receive 'turn left' / 'turn right' navigation alerts. The maps and navigation work - but they're not to the same standard as a Garmin 810 - so if that's important to you then it might be worth investing a little further.

The Garmin Varia Smart Lights sit within Garmin’s cycling ecosystem, designed as a way to pair your bike lights with your cycling computer.

On paper they should do some pretty nifty tricks. For example, when paired with your Garmin Edge you can program them to brighten or dim depending on speed, or the same can be done as the natural light fades away.

>>> Garmin Edge 820 review

In terms of modes, there are a few options on offer, including a pulsing flash, which I opted for when in traffic, or a super-bright high burn mode.

The latter could prove useful should your rides take you down unlit streets regularly.

People could well be put off by the weight of the front light. Granted, it does have to house a whole computer inside but it’ll still be off-putting for those riders conscious about lugging extra grams around.

>>> Cero Helium Garmin Mount

Likewise, they might do too much for those who simply need lights to commute, who don’t need to know how much battery they have left or the beam angle.

Setting up the Garmin Varia Smart light

As with anything 'smart' there's a level of jiggery-pokery involved when trying to get them set up.

With the Garmin Varia Lights, most of the pokery comes down to getting the lights ready to connect – hold down the button until a blue light starts flashing. From here, you’ll need to navigate through your Garmin Edge’s device to connect the lights together.

>>> Garmin Index Smart Scale

You should also be able to add a stem-mounted control into the network which, in theory, will let you cycle through the light options from the safety of your handlebars. In reality, it proved more difficult than this.

Watch: A buyer's guide to bike lights

Riding with the Garmin Varia Smart Lights

Unfortunately, riding them in the real world the 'light network' as it's called was very unstable, constantly dropping in and out.

While not disastrous – the light remains on despite the connection having dropped out – it does mean you’ll no longer be able to control the front light through the stem-mounted control.

In reality, though, I rarely used this anyway – partly because I struggled to get it to work and partly because I never felt the need to change the beam on the lights.

There were times when I wanted to change from a solid beam to a flashing mode when entering traffic but was unable to do this easily thanks to the iffy light network. Of course, you could lean forward to change it manually on the body of the light, but where’s the 'smarts' in that?

>>> New Dura-Ace can wireless control your Garmin from your shifters

Joking aside, pressing the buttons wasn’t an easy option, either. A lack of feedback such as a click made it difficult to know whether you’d pressed the button properly, especially if you were wearing gloves.

Sadly, these aren’t the most significant issues found with the lights. More worrying was the front light’s habit of overheating and crashing when connected to an Edge device and put in full beam mode.

Happily, the rear light is an admirable performer, combining good visibility with decent battery life. The out-front mount for the light is neat, too, which allows you to run your Garmin on top of the light, avoiding an overcluttering of the cockpit.

With cycle computers now generally bigger in size compared to the old-school devices of 10 years ago, added to the fact that not everyone will use a 120mm stem or bigger, buying an out-front mount makes perfect sense to declutter your stem and handlebar area.

>>> Garmin Edge computers: everything you need to know

The Cero Helium is a good solution in a crowded market. It’s easy to fit with one bolt holding it in place on a 31.8mm sized handlebar. It’s designed to open while still attached on one side of the mount, which makes it easy to fit compared to two-bolt options. Two-bolt mounts can be fiddly to fit, often needing a third hand to hold it all in place!

Video: Garmin Edge 20 and 25 review

The Cero Helium Garmin mount also doesn’t use extra pads or rubber strips to stop it slipping – it's all attached within the mount itself. On pretty bumpy potholed roads I experienced no slippage, even when using a slightly older and heavier Garmin Edge 810.

>>> What is a cycling GPS?

It’ll fit any Garmin Edge from a 200 right up to a 1000 (just about) and everything in between. The Cero Helium will allow the computer to sit flush with the stem not only in terms of stem to computer but computer to handlebar height too. It looks clean, but also allows space for lights etc on the handlebar; it also banishes stem mount and Shimano Di2 junction box issues too. Line of sight is good, like all other out-front mounts.

The mount does look good for the price – better than some slightly cheaper plastic models, though not as good as the more expensive CNC-machined offerings. It's also slightly heavier than many, at 33g compared to Garmin’s own (26g) or SRAM’s mount (20g).

The Garmin Edge range is held in high regard among cyclists and the launch of the brand new Garmin Edge 820 was a hugely anticipated one. All the abilities of the Garmin 1000 but in a more manageable and user-friendly size, lighter too with a 2.3-inch high-res screen, what’s not to love?

Buy now: Garmin Edge 820 from Chain Reaction Cycles for £217.99  / from Amazon for $399.99 (US)

Read more: Gamin Edge buyer's guide: everything you need to know 

Key new features on the Garmin Edge 820 are GroupTrack that allows you to see other users and users to view your ride live, which is handy when waiting for a mate who’s late or just to spy on others (you need to sign up to it and only your connections can see your rides).

>>> 11 amazing deals on Garmin computers

Built-in incident detection is also included which sends out alerts when you’ve had a spill out on the road, automatically messaging your next of kin (or whoever you’ve set it to be). It actually does work as it kicked into action when I crashed racing this year! It does have a cancel button so not to scare anyone if all is ok!

Maps are good, with turn-by-turn navigation that I found really easy to use. You can have it on in the background too and it’ll change screen with directions automatically so you don’t have to keep referring back to the map screen to know where you are going, a good addition.

Overall battery life is top notch. Something much improved over the 1000. With maps and other external devices attached I could get at least eight hours out of it. Without mapping I can almost get four training rides out of a single use. Battery save mode is good too, giving me an extra two hours on my ride by powering down the screen during my ride.

Hardware typically is robust and stylish and being small doesn’t clutter or look out of place on the bars, stem or out-front on a mount.

However, the big let down is the screen. It’s been discussed by a number of us here at Cycling Weekly and it’s rubbish.  When it’s wet you won’t be able to operate it properly at all, with or without gloves. It discarded one of my rides when I wanted to save too, highly annoying.

Garmin has tried to solve this by giving the user three sensitivity options, which sadly hasn’t helped too much. Get the screen sorted Garmin and you’re onto a winner!

The Topeak Omni RideCase is a useful gadget that enables you to attach your smartphone to a bike. It makes sense and is really useful in certain situations.

In most cases, as a hardcore roadie I will use a dedicated bike computer, but if I were to hop on a Boris bike and wanted some GPS navigation, the Topeak Omni RideCase would be ideal.

>>> Buyer's guide to cycling computers

A big advantage is compatibility, with different-sized phones ranging from 4.5-5.5 inch screens used with or without a case. The silicone grippers hold the phone in place securely and are good quality.

The trade-off for it being minimalist and simple is that there's no waterproof cover to protect your phone if it starts raining.

Smartphones are valuable and very stealable. Consequently it is important that you can quickly remove and insert your phone on a product like this – and fortunately you can.

The Velcro strap can mount to your stem or handlebar and is really secure. I was worried it would slide around, but I had no real issue. When riding on a short cobbled section near CW HQ it did move slightly, but this was quickly rectified.

The mount also enables you to switch between landscape and portrait, depending on your preference.

My only real criticism is the price. At £29.99 I feel it is a little high and would be looking to spend more in the region of £20 for this product

Mio’s top-spec bike computer comes with a host of features and is packaged up with a chainstay-mounted speed and cadence sensor and a heart rate monitor. Both use ANT+ communication to the head unit: there’s also WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

It’s also got an effective colour touchscreen, which works well in the wet and with gloves on, although this is quite a bit smaller than the rather chunky casing. The single physical button just switches the unit off and on and works as a return to previous menu key.

You can configure the fields displayed on the screen extensively, although the unit is very usable out of the box.

>>> Cycle computers: a complete buyer's guide

The Mio pairs up easily with its peripherals, finding them quickly, prompting for confirmation and staying coupled. The heart rate and cadence are accurate too. It will also couple with Shimano’s new Di2 wireless unit to display gear selection and Di2 battery status.

The bike mount uses a different system to Garmin’s. It feels more secure and you can buy compatible outfront mounts from Barfly and others. The standard stem mount uses zip ties rather than O-rings. Again, this is more secure, although it’s a hindrance if you need to swap the Mio between bikes.

>>> Ever wondered whether your Strava rival had a tailwind on that KOM?

Navigation on the Mio is good, with countdown beeps and directions to show you where to go at turns and junctions. This includes some tracks and private drives which you wouldn’t be cycling up anyway. The beeps can be slightly annoying, but it’s better than getting to a junction and not knowing what to do.

It’s pretty easy to plot a new route on the MioShare app too. The OpenStreetMap base maps are detailed enough to pick out bridleways and the trace will usually follow the most intuitive path to the next clicked point. It does sometimes need coaxing to stop it panicking and taking a massive on-road loop rather than continuing up a smaller path, though.

>>> Garmin Edge 820 review

Sync with WiFi means that you don’t need to use the included mini USB cable (not micro USB, so not compatible with phone USB cables). Once set up, rides are automatically uploaded to Strava and other fitness apps too. If you’re a Strava Premium member, you can get Live Segments on the Mio.

Watch: Four pro training drills

One nice feature is the Surprise Me button on the master screen. Touch this then key in how long a ride you want to take and the unit will come up with three route options heading off in different directions. In general they’re OK, but may take you up roads which local knowledge tells you are likely to be a lot busier than alternatives. Some of them were very surprising though: anyone for a 50-mile ride through the West London slurbs or down the A4 through Slough?

>>> Garmin Edge 1000 review

The Mio 505 HC is closest in size, weight and functionality to the £550 (when bundled) Garmin Edge 1000 and has the same size screen. But at £400, it’s £40 cheaper than its closest Garmin rival on price, the Edge 820 bundled with heart rate and cadence sensors, and has a larger, better touch screen, even if it doesn’t look as sleek.

So the Mio 505 is a good alternative to the ubiquitous Garmin units, has some nice functions, is cheaper and beats Garmin in usability.

If you like to listen to music or motivational tracks when you exercise, Veho’s ZS-2 earbuds are designed to cope with pretty much anything they’re likely to encounter during a workout.

>>> What music do riders listen to on the bus?

Veho says they’re rated IP64, which means that they’re water, sweat and dust resistant. They have very comfortable rubber earbuds, which fit into your ears, and patented over-ear hooks to keep them in place.

I’ve found that this set-up works really well, so that the ZS-2s stay put in your ears. Veho says that it’s designed to work with most helmets and glasses as well as ski goggles.

>>> Should you cycle with earphones?

Sound quality is good too, with Veho saying that the speakers in the earphones are 10mm across and include bass enhancement. The sound does seem well rounded without any obvious overweighted bass or, alternatively, tininess.

Watch: Team Sky pre-race activation exercises

The earphones come with a 1.2m long two-tone flat cable, which is designed to be anti-tangle. There’s a crocodile clip to attach it to your kit and a cable tidy which allows you to reduce the cable’s free length. The cable has a standard 3.5mm audio jack, so will fit most devices, although if you’ve just splashed out on an iPhone 7 you’ll be out of luck.

>>> Oakley launches Radar Pace talking sunglasses

There’s no microphone with the ZS-2s, although for an extra £5 you can buy Veho’s ZS-3 earphones, which have a similar design to the ZS-2s but also include a microphone and remote switch, so you can use them to control phone calls and change tracks and volume.

At only 19g, the ZS-2s are very light and Veho packages them with two sets of alternative earbuds of different diameters, in case you find the standard ones uncomfortable.

Unfortunately still lacking in vowels in the same way as the Wahoo Kickr turbo trainer and the Tickr heart rate monitor (although not fairing quite as badly as the Rflkt computer, the Wahoo Elemnt computer is an impressive piece of kit that might even convince a few to move away from Garmin.

>>> Cycle computers: a complete buyer's guide

Undoubtedly the best thing about the Wahoo Elemnt is the software, which is second to none among other cycle computers on the market down to the fact that it is almost completely controlled through your smartphone.

The process of setting up the Wahoo Elemnt is easier than that of any other computer I’ve tested. When you turn on the Wahoo Elemnt for the first time you are present with a QR code, which you then scan using the companion app that can be downloaded for either iOS or Android. And that’s that.

>>> 15 best cycling apps for iPhone and Android

The app on your phone then presents all the information you need to know about your Wahoo Elemnt such as its battery life and whether the software is up to date. This is also where you can set up your computer to your liking, customizing the pages (so no scrolling through endless sub-menus as you would on a Garmin), pairing sensors, and managing things like auto-pause, auto-lap, and smart notifications. All in all this makes setting up your Wahoo Elemnt an absolute doddle, meaning you can be out on the road in no time.

The flipside of the excellent software and companion app that comes with the Wahoo Elemnt is the distinctly sub-par hardware of the unit itself, especially when compared with the identically priced Garmin Edge 520.

The Wahoo Elemnt measures 57.5mm x 90.5mm x 21.2mm which is fairly big for a cycle computer where navigation is not a strong point (more on that below) with a 68.6mm screen and a weight of 104g not including the mount. This means that it is more bulky and much less sleek and refined than most other computers around this price.

The screen is also not quite what you’d expect for the price. Although it is large and easy to read, it is not a touchscreen and is in black and white rather than colour, which is something you can get on cycle computers costing significantly less.

>>> Wahoo Fitness creates indoor fitness desk for work hungry cyclists

The lack of touchscreen means that you have to navigate around the Wahoo Elemnt using the numerous buttons on the bottom face and the sides of the unit. The button on the left hand side is the on/off and menu button, the two buttons on the right hand side let you scroll up and down menus and zoom in an out on different screens, while the three buttons on the bottom let you add laps, pause your ride, and cycle through the different pages.

This means that it is really easy to use straight out of the box, even with minimum reference to the instruction manual. The problem, however is that the buttons can be pretty hard to push especially when wearing gloves, and the side buttons require to you to hold the unit in place so it doesn’t rotate out of the mount when you push the

>>> Review: Garmin Edge 520

Talking of the mount (or should I say, mounts), it was good to see three different options supplied in the box: a handlebar mount, out-front mount, and TT bar mount, meaning that you don’t have to spend more money further down the line. The mounting system itself is similar to Garmin’s quarter turn system except rotated by 90 degrees. The only issue I had with the mounts was that the handlebar mount was attached using zip tie rather than rubberised bands, which looks a bit rubbish and means you have to have a constant supply of zip ties if you’re moving the mount between bikes.

Of course the main reason you might be thinking of buying the Wahoo Elemnt is for its GPS functionality, which can’t be faulted. The satellites are found very quickly even when using it in a new place for the first time, and work well out on the road, tracking accurately even when riding down tree-covered descents.

That means that you will never be in danger of missing out on a vital KOM because of a wayward GPS track. And there’s also no chance of missing out because you forgot to upload your ride, with seamless uploading to Strava through the Wahoo Elemnt app.

>>> Revealed: the 10 most popular Strava segments in the UK

One of the best things about any GPS cycle computer is that when you’re riding in a new area you can create routes online and then upload these to the computer so you don’t get lost.

The process of uploading your routes to the Wahoo Elemnt is easier than any other computer on the market. You connect your Wahoo app with Strava or Ride with GPS, and then when you create maps on these sites and have the computer linked to the app, the routes will automatically show up on the computer.

Following a route on the Wahoo Elemnt is also pretty simple. Once you press go the computer will add a little black ling with your route to the map page which is easy to follow, although its worth using Ride with GPS rather than Strava, as if you use a route planned with the latter, the Elemnt will not give you turn by turn directions, so if you’re not paying attention to the map at all times it can be easy to go astray.

>>> Review: Garmin Edge 820

Another thing which could be a little better is the process of what happens when you do go off course. Instead of helping you find your way back to your course, the lights at the top of the computer just flash red a couple of times, then leave you to your own devices. However, I really liked how the elevation of the routes was mapped out on the climbing page, meaning that you would know when any steep hills were coming round the next corner.

There are a few other features that are built in to the Wahoo Elemnt that deserve to be mentioned, although they might not be used by all.

>>> Top 12 funniest Strava segment names

The first is the LiveTrack function. This enables you to send your friends and family links so they can track your location, and also lets you see whether any of your fellow Wahoo Elemnt-using friends are in the area. The first of these functions works well, but the second is kind of pointless until Wahoo has more users. If there was a way to link this feature to your Strava followers then it would be better.

The second is Strava Live segments, which has only been available for a few days. This is a nice feature for KOM hunters, giving you a countdown to the start of starred segments and an indication of whether you are ahead or behind KOM pace. This is fun for a while, but I had to turn it off as it was hard not to smash it all the time.

>>> The nine types of ride we all upload to Strava

The final feature that I used, is nice to have, but isn’t a deal-breaker is the smart notification feature that pops any texts, emails, or phone calls you get onto the Wahoo Elemnt. This is good, if a bit distracting, but I would have liked to see notifications from other apps such as Whatsapp included too.

Away from these, the connectivity of the Wahoo Elemnt is hard to fault. The 16 hour claimed battery life seems to be a bit of a stretch, but even at a couple of hours less it’s still not bad. It is also both ANT+ and Bluetooth enabled meaning that it will work seamlessly with any external sensors such as heart rate monitors and power meters that you care to throw at it. It will also connect with electronic groupsets such as Shimano Di2 and SRAM Red eTap to show things like gear selection and groupset battery life.

>>> Six reasons why electronic groupsets are better than mechanical

The final two areas of connectivity that I have to say I haven’t tested is the ability to pair with muscle oxygen sensors from BSXInsight and Moxy Muscle to display saturated and total haemoglobin metrics, and the ability to control Wahoo Kickr and Wahoo Kickr Snap turbo trainers, which could prove very useful over the winter if you’re the lucky owner of one of these turbos.

For more details visit the Wahoo website.

In a world where the latest Garmins and other high-end computers are constantly receiving new updates to make them ever more complicated and expensive, the Cateye Velo Wireless cycle computer has remained all but unchanged for years, and is all the better for it.

When I first got into cycling a decade, the most scientific my training got was smashing it round a local 10-mile loop as hard as I could in an attempt to edge my average speed up that extra kilometre per hour or so. In order to record this, I of course needed a cycle computer, and although I can’t remember if that computer was this exact same Cateye Velo Wireless model that I am reviewing here, it was certainly very similar.

>>> Cycle computers: a complete buyer's guide

With a price tag that is just a penny under £35, the Cateye Velo Wireless isn’t the most complicated cycle computer on the market, and certainly doesn’t come with the GPS tracking that would let you upload your ride to Strava but will do the job if you’re just getting into cycling.

Watch: what are training zones?

Included in the box is a speed and cadence sensor that attaches to your bike’s seatstay, and a couple of magnets that you strap to the crank and a spoke of the rear wheel. From this the Cateye Velo Wireless can measure your current, average, and maximum speeds, ride time, total riding distance, time of day, and calorie consumption (although this is a rather rough estimation based solely on your average speed, not taking into account the terrain or your physical condition).

I’ve used this computer alongside more expensive computers for a number of months, and have found that the time, speed and distance are all very accurate.

>>> Garmin Edge: complete buyer's guide

Using the Cateye Velo Wireless is also an absolute doddle. You have your speed at the top and then another metric on the bottom, which you can alter by pressing the good-sized button on the front of the unit. I was also impressed by the mount, which is easy to attach to the bars and holds the computer very securely in place.

However, if I had to find a couple of faults it’s that the computer is powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, rather than being rechargeable, meaning that at some point down the line it will probably run out of juice mid-ride, and that the screen isn’t backlit, so you won’t be able to see your stats when riding at night.

For more details visit the Zyro website.

I remember the day I bought my Garmin Edge 500 as if it was yesterday. It was 11 July 2011 and Thor Hushovd, the World Champion riding for Garmin-Cervelo, had just won stage 13 into Lourdes from a long breakaway over the Col d'Aubisque.

Buy now:

• Garmin Edge 500 from Garmin £169.99
• Read about the Garmin Edge 520 here and buy from Wiggle for £200

Having had the Garmin logo in front of my eyes the whole day I succumbed to the power of advertising and decided that I need a Garmin too, so right after the end of the stage I drove to the closest bike shop and bought a Garmin Edge 500, which I still use most days for training rides.

At that time, Hushovd was using a black and white one, but the shop just had the blue one, so I had no choice. What made the Garmin Edge 500 a success in 2011 - and still does today - was its simplicity and reliability.

>>> Cycle computers: a complete buyer's guide 

The Garmin Edge 500 is very easy to mount on the handlebar and it requires no wires. Today having a bike computer without cables might be a given, but five years ago it certainly wasn't. There have also been significant improvements in the design of speed and cadence sensors. Back then you had to zip tie them to the chainstay and couldn't easily transfer between bikes, but now you can just fit a sensor to the hub of the rear wheel.

Even though it just requires few seconds to put it in and take it out the hub, I found the fitting of the sensor on the rear hub to not be that easy/ In fact, if you have a wheel with quite tight spokes near the hub, putting the sensor in the hub gets a bit more complicated.

>>> Garmin Edge: complete buyer's guide

The cadence sensor, on the other hand, has no down side: it fits on your crank easily and does not have any inconveniences of any sort. With the ANT+ technology, also the Garmin Edge 500 can alsobe paired with power meters, such as Garmin's own Vector pedals.

The Garmin Edge 500 has four buttons on the sides, each with different functions depending on how long you hold them. The first thing the computer does when you switch it on is to search for satellites. Make sure that you let it finish searching for satellites before setting off otherwise it won't map the start of your ride.

>>> 12 things you didn’t know your Garmin could do

After the setting up the general and user-specific settings, you are able to decide which metrics you want displayed on the screen when you're riding. There are lots of different metrics to choose from which you can tailor to your needs and main interests.

The Garmin Edge 500 can have five different pages that you can scroll between, with each page being able to show a maximum of eight stats per page. But personally I prefer to have two (or at most three) different screens, as changing between screens (using the bottom left button) is not as easy as it could be.

>>> Review: Garmin Edge 520

It's also important not to get lost in the amount of data that the Garmin Edge 500 has to offer and therefore get distracted from the simple pleasure of a bike ride. For example you can choose from no fewer than 11 different heart rate measurements (ranging from your current heart rate, to a heart rate graph, to "the average percentage of heart rate reserve (maximum heart rate minus resting heart rate) for the lap".

The biggest downside (when compared to the latest GPS cycle computers) is the low quality navigation and mapping. You can create routes online then download them onto the Garmin Edge 500, which then gives you a black line to follow on the screen. This is ok in rural areas where there are fewer roads, but it falls short when riding in town and there are no alerts when you need to turn left or right.

>>> Review: Garmin Edge 20 (video)

One vital aspect of the Garmin Edge 500 is the Garmin Express software. This is available for both Mac and Windows as is the method by which you download software updates for the computer and upload your activities to Garmin Connect, and then onwards to Training Peaks, Strava, or wherever else you choose to send them.

Navigation aside, the Garmin Edge 500 offers everything you would want from a GPS cycle computer, and is a great upgrade if you're coming from a non-GPS computer and want a bit more data from your rides as well as being able to upload to Strava.. It's RRP is £170, which is pretty steep, but you can find it significantly discounted without too much trouble.

Although its place in the Garmin hierarchy has now been usurped by the Garmin Edge 20, if you want easy to read data on a small reliable device then the Garmin Edge 200 is still a very good option. Measuring just seven centimetres tall and five centimetres wide and weighing in on our scales 58g, it leaves your cockpit clean and tidy and is very unassuming in its gloss black finish. Placed on a bar extender its virtually unnoticeable.

Buy now: Garmin Edge 200 at Gearbest for £59.45

Read more: Buyer's guide to GPS cycling computers

The idea of the Garmin Edge 200 is that it be easy to use for casual cyclists, though it has its place for any budding racer or sportive riders. The plug and play nature of the device is something I like and barring the wait to connect the GPS satellites you don’t have to do anything else. Acquiring GPS position can take a few minutes, so I have found if I am running late it’s a problem. I’ve even started my ride once or twice because I got fed up waiting, five minutes down the road it then finds itself.

Watch: Critical power - the hardest test you can do on a bike?

If you rely on power, heart rate or any other external device then look elsewhere than the Garmin Edge 200, as Garmin has taken out any wireless connectivity. As I say, I don’t mind this but any number cruncher certainly will. However, being a GPS computer, you can still track your rides and upload them to Garmin Connect or Strava without the need for external speed and cadence sensors, and these sites can then give estimated averages of power and other metrics post-ride.

>>> 12 cool things you didn't know your Garmin could do

The Garmin Edge 200 also allows you to upload and then follow a pre-planned route. There is also a ‘get me home’ function, although this only shows you the general direction you should be going, rather than an actual map or turn-by-turn guidance, which would have been handy. However, given the price, it's difficult to expect too much, and if you want functions like this then you're going to have to splash out on the vastly more expensive Garmin Edge 1000.

The main screen on the Garmin Edge 200 shows three fixed fields (current speed, trip distance, and ride time) that cannot be changed, plus a fourth field at the bottom of the screen, which can be switched between average speed, total ascent and calories burned. I’ve had no problem glancing at these fields out on the road and pressing one of the four buttons on the sides can activate a timed backlight

Buy now: Garmin Edge 200 at Gearbest for £59.45

But probably the best thing about the Garmin Edge 200 is its battery life, which is a massive 14 hours. This means that this is a great choice of cycle computer if you're off for a riding trip beyond the realms of civilisation, or are just a bit too lazy or forgetful to charge it everyday.

Designed in Holland the HideMyBell is a cycling computer mount with an integrated bell that sits on the underside of the mount.

>>> Garmin Edge: complete buyer's guide

The main advantages are that you have a bell that doesn't take up space on your bars and is hidden from view.

The HideMyBell has two mount options to accommodate larger and smaller Garmin Edge devices (and the Wahoo RFLKT).

Installing the HideMyBell is really easy thanks to the stainless steel bolt facing upwards. Although, it can only be fitted to 31.8mm bars.

>>> Garmin Edge 25 review (video)

Made out of plastic the finish is not has high as other cycling computer mounts, but it is sturdy and fulfils the primary objective of holding the computer securely - at no point was I concerned that my expensive cycling computer would be dislodged.

>>> Detachable bike bell that is small enough to fit in your pocket 

I had some initial concerns about the practicality of being able to reach the bell's lever, as due to the bell sitting out in front of the bars you need to take a hand of the the bars.

However, I soon got the hang of hitting the bell on the move and it is more than loud enough to get people's attention.

If you have ever thought about using a bell but didn’t want to clog up your bars, HideMyBell could be the solution.

For more information go to www.hidemybell.cc 

When it was launched earlier this year, the Lezyne Mini GPS was the world’s smallest GPS computer. Unfortunately for the German company, Garmin then came along with its Edge 20 to take this title, but that’s no reason to dismiss this excellent little computer.

As you’d expect, the first thing that strikes you about the Lezyne Mini GPS is its size. Just 33.4mm wide and 50.8mm long, this really is a very tiny unit. In fact, there is very little difference in either size or weight compared to the Garmin Edge 20, with the only significant bulk being on the back of the Lezyne Mini GPS, which, at 22.5mm is 7mm deeper than the Garmin.

>>> Buyer's guide to cycling GPS units

In terms of functionality, the Lezyne Mini GPS is also largely comparable to the Edge 20. That means it offers almost everything you’d want from a basic GPS unit, measuring speed, distance, time, average speed, temperature, time of day etc.

However, the one thing you don’t get ANT+ or Bluetooth connectivity (you’ll have to upgrade to the bigger and more powerful Lezyne Power GPS or Super GPS to get those), which means that you can’t connect to heart rate, speed, cadence, or power sensors. If you’re just starting out in cycling, then this is fine, but if you’re looking to take your training a bit more seriously, then you might find yourself needing to upgrade to another unit in the future.

>>> Everything you need to know about the Strava Live update

One area where the Lezyne Mini GPS really excels is the ability to customize the display so it shows the exact metrics you want while out riding. You can have anywhere between two and four metrics on the screen at any one time.

The data appears on lines on the screen, with all but the bottom line remaining fixed. These top lines are set to display speed, time and distance, while you can cycle through other metrics on the bottom line using one of the buttons on the right hand side of the unit.

>>> Detraining: the truth about losing fitness

The only issue is that because the screen is so small (and because it also shows battery life and GPS strength at the same time as performance metrics) it can be difficult to see the numbers on the screen. This is particularly the case when riding out of the saddle, or when there’s rain on the screen, so if you’ve got bad eyesight, you might have to go for fewer on screen metrics.

First Look: SRAM Red eTap wireless groupset

As far as usability goes, the Lezyne Mini GPS is an absolute doddle. You scroll up and down menus using the two buttons on the right of the unit, while the button on the left is used to select options. And while riding, the bottom right button is used to start and stop the ride, and to do laps, the top left button used to scroll through metrics on the bottom line of the screen, and the button on the right to turn the backlight on and off.

>>> Buyer's guide to Garmin Edge computers

Charging the Lezyne Mini GPS is also dead-easy. The unit uses a mini-USB port, meaning that you probably already have a suitable cable handing around (although one is provided in the box). And battery life is a good 10 hours, two hours more than what’s offered by the Garmin Edge 20.

Mounting the unit is also nice and simple, using an X-lock system which holds the Lezyne Mini GPS securely on your bars. The only downside is because it is not compatible with the almost ubiquitous quarter mount system used by Garmin and others, there are not many out-front mount options available, so you’ll have to stick with Lezyne’s own offering.

>>> Training zones: what are they and why do they matter?

Of course once back from your ride, you’re going to want to upload your stats. Lezyne suggestsyou do this by using their own GPS Root site, which also allows you to analyse all the vital data. The site will sync automatically with Strava, although if you want to, you can cut out the Lezyne middle man altogether.

For more details visit the Upgrade Bikes website.