Heads Up with These Displays
Features on two top bike computers
Features on two top bike computers
A minivan pulled out into the middle of my small group. Those ahead were able to keep riding. Two of us had to jam on our brakes. The pavement was broken up at this spot so we had a bumpy slowdown. It was a dumb move by the motorist, but no one got hurt. I probably gave the minivan driver the stink eye before trying to catch the others.
As I rode along, I heard a siren, like some ship’s captain had just called a red alert. Was that a car alarm? No, it was not as loud, yet seemed close. Wait. It was my smartphone going off in my jersey. What? The Garmin Edge 820 head unit ($ 540, garmin.com) thought I’d crashed.
I had set up incident detection and listed my wife as my emergency contact. I also had the good sense to tell her that I had done so. (Garmin should probably prompt you to tell a person that she or he has been added as your emergency contact. No one needs to be surprised with a cycling-incident sms.) The unit gave me the opportunity to stop the incident text from sending to my wife. I thought I had cancelled it, but she got a text with a Google Maps link and the gps co-ordinates of where I came to a sudden stop. My wife sent me a text. I was a bit slow to respond, so she checked the live activity I had also set up before the ride. The Livetrack displayed a map that showed I was moving.
That has been the only time the incident detection has gone off. I’ve done a lot of riding with quick stops, accelerations and bumpy roads, with incident detection enabled. While the false alarm was good in that it showed me how the function works, I hope it doesn’t go off again, in error or otherwise.
The Polar M460 ($ 300, polar.com) is the most recent addition to the Oulu, Finland-based company’s bike-computer lineup. Polar’s approach to its hardware is intriguing. It doesn’t release new units to render old ones obsolete. Instead, it tends to add functionality to existing products. (A recent example was the June announcement that the Polar V800 watch could now manage some operations for a Gopro Hero5 action camera.) In terms of features, the M460 is a lot like its predecessor, the M450. They can display data for speed, cadence and heart rate. With more and more power meters able to transmit via Bluetooth, the Polar units Bluetooth-only compatibility is less limiting. What sets the M460 apart from the M450 is the former’s ability to work with Strava Live Segments and Trainingpeaks metrics, such as normalized power, intensity factor and training stress score. The story of the M460, I’m betting, won’t end there. I’m interested to see what the company might add later.