Computers with altimeters

[Proto]

Worth having or just a gimmick? Care to recommend one? (I quite like the look of the Mavic Wintech Alti)

http://www.mavic.com/road/products/Wintech-Alti.995786.aspx

 

[GilesM]

I have a Garmin Forunner 305, which is designed for running, but as it is worn on the wrist it's also fine for cycling, these are the cycling versions:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=160

The altitude is quite interesting if you down load the data, strange but my heart rate always seems to track the gradient. I like having the altidtude, but I wouldn't consider it essential.

Giles

 

[barq]

I like knowing how much climbing I've done. Currently I use the GPS on my phone, but also have a VDO cycle computer with a barometric altimeter. Obviously that means it drifts as the weather changes, but there is a function to calibrate it (i.e. my house is 65m above sea level and I can set that when I start riding). That said, if you just want a measure of overall climbing, rather than your absolute altitude, there's no need to calibrate.

CRC have it on offer at the moment. I think there is also a wireless version.

 

[briank]

I like knowing how much climbing I've done. Currently I use the GPS on my phone, but also have a VDO cycle computer with a barometric altimeter. Obviously that means it drifts as the weather changes, but there is a function to calibrate it (i.e. my house is 65m above sea level and I can set that when I start riding). That said, if you just want a measure of overall climbing, rather than your absolute altitude, there's no need to calibrate.

CRC have it on offer at the moment. I think there is also a wireless version.

I can see that calibrating it lets you set it for starting at a given altitude, but putting that in the same sentence as your reference to the weather suggests you can somehow neutralise the "drift" due to changing weather.

Can you? If so, does it only work if you end the ride back where you started? If not, how much difference does changing weather make?

I'm not just trying to be awkward Riding in the hills is good, and I've wondered about getting a comp with climbing function, but never really been persuaded that they could possibly be accurate on a day when "the glass" is rising or falling significantly.

 

[Nick1979]

@briank:
The change in atmospheric pressure is almost always lower than 2mb/hour, most of the time it doesn't exceed 1mb/hour. A difference of 1mb correspond to an altitude change of about 28ft (or 8.5m), so after a 4 hours ride, you could end up back at your starting point with your altimeter indicating you are 34 meter lower (if the weather is 'improving') or 34m higher (if the weather is getting worse). In the worst case (4 hour of changes at 2mb/hour, quite exceptional!), it would be a 68m change.
Remember these are worst cases (and you will definitively remark the weather change!!), most of the time the difference is only a few meters.

 

[simon_adams_uk]

Have you considered getting a watch with altitude function? A lot more flexible than just having it on your bike... IMO Casio have a good range that are very robust.

They're definitely a bit of a gimmick - although it was invaluable when I was touring in the Himalayas. Oh, and as a measure of what the weather's doing (always useful in this country!)

S

 

[asterix]

Found one very useful when doing the raid Pyrenean (max grade 22%) but don't use it now although cycling lots of hills. In fact I don't use a computer at the moment..

 

[PatrickPending]

rartther like my VDO MC 1.0 seems to work well and shows temperature too

 

[HLaB]

I find altitude data very useful, if only to serve my morbid curiosity of how much punishment I'm putting myself through. I'm sure there's lots of computers that have altimeters built in I was looking at a Blackburn Delphi 6.0 but before I found that one my geko gps failed and I replaced it with a Garmin Edge. I must get that geko fixed one day

 

[andrew_s]

Found one very useful when doing the raid Pyrenean (max grade 22%)

Marie Blanque or Portet d'Aspet?