XLAB TORPEDO COMPACT 500

£ 74.99 Easy to set up, fuss-free hydration

XLab’s Torpedo Compact 500 holds a standard bottle in a carbon cage mounted to a plate, rather than an integrated BTA (between the arms) system with straw. It’s just 145mm long, which gives you some wriggle room on the aerobars. There’s little set-up required – adjust the brackets to fit the width of your aerobars, tighten with an allen key then secure with the Velcro straps. While a Garmin-specific mount built into the top of the cage is great, it renders the product useless if you favour computers from other brands. The quarter-turn mount is ready to go for Garmin Edge computers, but to fit a removable Fenix or Forerunner watch face you just unscrew it and turn 90°. Some won’t like the birds-eye view as your eyes aren’t on the road when you’re looking at the screen, but it’s not so far back that you have to come off your aerobars. While it doesn’t look like you get much for your money, what’s there is solid and robust, and nothing moved during our test rides. Our main issues are compatibility and the bird’s eye computer view, but if you’re a Garmin user who doesn’t need be glued to your data, it works just fine.