- GPS bike computers are a really good accessory to have.
They've go so much functionality these days,
thought it'd be good to do a video to give you some tips
on how to get the best from your bike computer.
(logo beeping)
Garmin are a partner here at EMBN.
Yes I'm on EMBN duties today,
there's me jersey, there's me eBike.
But of course, with Scotland, it's raining.
So I'll talk you through some of their devices
but these tips will hopefully help you out
with any other brands GPS bike computer.
(relaxed music)
If you're in the market for actually buying
your first GPS bike computer
there's some things to consider.
So think about the size of the computer you want.
So I'll go through a bit of a Garmin range.
There's the 130, so super small, really nice and compact.
Obviously you can tuck that up on the bars,
it's not only it damaged,
it's just really nice a small, super robust.
But then the bigger you get,
the more functionality they're going to have.
So this is the brand new Edge 830,
loads of functionality, top of the range.
Then you got the 1030, so that's a much bigger computer,
look at size the screen.
So you get a lot more information on there.
If you're doing bigger rides you can get a
really detailed map on that big screen.
Also the size of it just means
it's got bigger battery in there.
Another option you might want to consider is a watch.
So you can get fitness tracker watches,
will actually do a lot of functions
and have a GPS device in there as well.
This is the Garmin Fenix,
it does actually a lot of the same functions
as these computers, but it's smaller and it's on my wrist.
If you've got an older device you might be surprised
to find actually how usable these new devices are.
Gone are the days of having to plug it into your computer
with the USB to download things
or get your data from your ride.
Nowadays most brands of GPS computers
will actually sync wirelessly to your phone,
so downloading your data within a few seconds
of hitting that stop button.
But also pre-loaded maps, things like that,
all can be done wirelessly.
It's worth thinking about where
you're going to mount your computer.
I really like the Garmin Mountain Bike Mount,
so it just attaches to the bar there,
sort of just flips over the stem.
So you make your computer right above the stem.
Obviously on this Specialized eBike
you really don't have many controls,
it's just out here, so you don't have any screens.
So that keeps the bars nice and clean and simple,
depends on your bike.
Obviously Bosch bikes you might have the screen on there,
so my to stick the computer over the stem anyway.
There are other options,
so you can use the Garmin smaller mount
to go on to the bar, obviously that's just not centered.
Could put it on the top tube,
or we can get out front mounts.
So I think they're probably better suited to road bikes,
however if you're going for a long ride
and you need to use an external battery pack.
While Garmin have the option to have the out front mount,
mount your computer on top, then the battery underneath
if you need mega battery power.
So Garmin works really well with the Specialized bike,
so it connects versus the ANT+, so wirelessly,
and it will connect to your mission control app.
So it will give you information on your screen
or even on your watch,
things like your battery level,
your the mode you're riding in.
It can also switch between modes, so support modes.
Even on the watch, you can press the button
and go up straight to turbo if you want.
The Garmin will also connect
to your Shimano electric system, so the Di2 electric gears.
It will give you what gear you're in,
your cadence things are at all information up there,
and can remove the need for that Shimano Di2 screen.
Also it will connect your steps motor,
so give you again that battery level, all the information
and who news that nicely along with, of course,
the navigation you've got on our computer.
Commute navigation works really well with eBikes,
'cause you can really dig into the details
of that route that you're going to ride.
So maybe how steep that trail is going to to be,
but also what surface and actually
what grade of trail it is.
So you can work out if the trails going to be super technical,
maybe, loose surface and really steep,
it might not be the one to try and get your eBike up.
Could maybe reroute it to find something that
isn't going to be hike a bike, something you can ride up.
We start with GPS what computers,
you can actually customize them.
You can with Garmin's, use their Garmin IQ app.
So download apps on your phone that are
specific to that device and then sync 'em over.
So things like Komoot for planning and mapping rides
and getting them onto your computer,
so you've got super easy to find navigation.
You've got Strava, so you see segments and find courses.
Also Trailforks, really good one for that.
So if you're out riding, you want to find some trails
and maybe a place you don't know very well,
get Trailforks on your Garmin,
find all the trails there are.
Then you can start digging in to the settings
on your computer to work out what you want to display
when you're riding.
With Garmin's you've got
different activity profiles as well,
so there's my e-moutain bike,
indoor for turbo trainers, mountain and road.
You can have different displays for each different activity,
so e-moutain, go in there.
My first screen I've got my speed,
my timer, distance, elevation,
total ascent, things like that.
I'll probably ride a little bit
and then I'll decide what I really need.
It does change, maybe in winter I want to display the time
the sun goes down, all those things.
Also a Garmin's you can scroll through,
so then I've got a navigation screen.
If I'm following a course,
that's the one I used predominantly.
Then I've got an elevation profile
to see what I've done, what's coming up.
Heart rate, if you've got one of those connected to it
and then right back to that first screen
with my data on there.
So it's probably worth going for few rides,
deciding what you want to display,
what's most useful and then tryna set it up.
A lot of people just use their GPS bike computer
for tracking their rides, so seeing where they've been,
keeping track of their distances, putting on Strava,
racing their mates, those type things.
I'll say it's well worth tryna dig in
to the navigation usability of these things as well.
I've talked about commute a little bit already,
but I've been using that an awful lot for big rides
or going somewhere that I don't really know.
Plotting it out on my computer at home,
can do on your phone as well,
and then sync it up with my computer
and then literary following those really easy to use prompts
and a map, sometimes you'll find
some wicked trails you didn't know about.
So there's all sorts of third-party options
for plotting your route and then get it onto your device.
Some bike users actually have their own
course building software on there.
This Garmin Edge 830 does, but it's definitely other brands
that will have that on there,
so start digging into the settings.
Might be able to do it even when you're out on the trail.
You can start looking into what sensors
you might want to add to your system as well.
So often people will have heart rate monitors,
that's definitely something that I use,
and then I hook that up to my computer
so I can see what's going on
and of course it will recall all the information as well.
Speed sensors as well, you can stick a sensor
around your hub, that'll give you a really accurate display
of what you're riding at.
And of course when you start talking about eBikes as well,
which I will go into into more depth in a second,
but some bikes like these Specialized have a ANT+,
so you can send information to your computer
which you can read.
I'm going to start digging into some of the features
that are Garmin are specific,
but I'm sure other brands will have these as well.
So Garmin have lots of safety and tracking features,
one of those is incident detection.
So using its accelerometer and other things in there
and the GPS, it basically,
it'll tell if there's a violent stop
and it will give you 30 seconds to then cancel that.
But if you're hurt and you can't get your phone,
it will then send a message to your emergency contact.
Group track is a really cool little feature as well,
so if you've got connections on Garmin Connect
you can add them to your map,
so basically see where they are on your ride
in case that you're in a big group or maybe someone's lost,
can actually see where they are on there.
Also more connected features like
if you connect it to your phone it will display the weather.
What's the weather doing?
It's raining
You can use your bike computer also to track your fitness.
So I'd like to do it, hook up my heart rate monitor
and see how hard I've worked on that ride.
Then obviously it will sync to my phone
and my software on the computer.
Basically keep track of how much I've been riding,
how many calories I've been burning,
and basically, hopefully
keep an eye on my fitness improving.
Also some computers will give you an estimate
of your VO2 max, so basically how fit you are.
Can also use your bike computer to set yourself some goals.
It might be a case of just saying that you want to ride
a certain amount of time or distance in a week
and it'll help keep you motivated.
Or using third-party software like Komoot or Strava
to join a challenge.
The Garmin has a ClimbPro feature.
So if your ride in a pre-plotted course
when you get to climb an elevation graph will pop up,
with a little pin on it,
so you can see your progress along it.
Basically you can pace yourself,
you can see how big it is, how much distance is left,
how many meters left to go, so that's a nice little feature.
Other features, you've got a bike alarm on the Garmin,
so you can set that and if anyone jumps on your bike
and moves it'll set off the alarm
and then send you an alert to your phone as well.
So obviously not safe as having your bike locked up,
but it's nice to know if your bike is moving.
The new Garmin Edge 530 and 830 have also got some really
nice new features.
So they measure your grit, your flow
and even count your jumps and tell you how big they are.
So the grit is a score of how hard the trail is basically,
how demanding that course is you've ridden.
Your flow is your flow score,
if you're riding really nice and smooth
you'll get a lower flow score, so the lower the better.
It's pretty cool to check that out.
Jumps, pretty simple.
It'll show you how long you've been in the air,
how many jumps you've done on that ride,
all sorts of cool stats.
You might be able to connect your head unit
also to other devices.
So my Garmin will go with my Garmin Veria light.
So basically on my head unit I can control
what this light is doing, turn off turn it on.
Also rear light and a radar, so it will give you a warning
if a cars coming up behind you.
Even it will connect to your Di2 Shimano gears,
if you've got those electric ears
it will give you data on the screen.
If you're in the market for buying a new GPS computer
for your eBike, I would definitely dig into the details,
do your research, to see how compatible they are,
how much information you can get on your screen
for the brand new bike your riding,
but also how useable they are.
Of course they're always getting updated
so they may improve in the future,
even your old device may improve in the future.
But things are getting so connected now,
that even your phone is connected to your computer
that's connected the bike, they can be super useful.
If you want to see some more videos whilst you're here on
EMBN click over there, at the bottom,
for de-restricted versus restricted,
super cool video from the guys.
And up there for one of Steve Jones's mad challenges.
Thumbs up if you like GPS devices
and hit that subscribe button.