Review on 🚴 Enhance Your Cycling Experience with the Schwinn 20-Function Bike Computer by Doug Virden

Like all products, this one won't last forever. I got mine almost two years ago and I think the sensor (the part that attaches to the connector) finally gave up the ghost. I drove about 1700 km with it. I ride at an average speed of about 13 miles per hour every day. This product has worked great for a long time, but today it started giving me really weird and inconsistent 45 and 54 mph readings when I was only going about 10-20 mph. In the end I had no evidence at all. I knew the battery was good because I could wake up the computer by pressing any of the keys. Back then, I just held the magnet in my hand and ran it over the sensor to get some sort of reading. no reading Instead, I heard a faint ticking/beeping every time I passed the magnet over the sensor. Time for a new bike computer. After 22 months it just stopped working. I live in Houston, which is often humid, so that might have had an effect. Who knows. I really enjoyed using this product and when properly calibrated it is quite accurate. I recently compared it to my new GPS and the distance and average speed are very similar; I think the differences were when I ran with a GPS navigator (no bike). The maximum speed of both units was the same. To get a really good calibration chart, do a google search for "Sheldon Brown calibration". Keep in mind that while calories and fat are the same between rides, they are very imprecise. The only information a computer uses is speed, distance, and time. It doesn't know how heavy your bike is, how knobby your tires are, how windy the weather is, how bumpy the road is, what your metabolism is like, or what your heart rate is. If you want to get decent calorie burn data, get a heart rate monitor. A friend of mine bought one and during our bike rides his calorie count was significantly higher than what this bike computer reads. I agree with some other reviews that the instruction manual is not very detailed. After using the product for some time, the bike shop mechanic showed me how to properly attach the cable to my frame (because the picture in the manual is not very good). Be sure to wrap the wire around one of the brake or shifter cables before threading it through the fork. After receiving the product for the first time, it took me a few tries before I figured out the correct placement of the magnet myself. This is very important for the correct operation of the system. It should be within 1-2mm of the sensor, preferably closer to one end of the sensor, not in the middle. But once you figure out the right setup, you have a great bike computer that isn't very expensive. If you don't know how to install it, most bike mechanics will be happy to show you for free. This bike computer is *definitely* worth the price. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see how fast and how far they are going, especially if you have never had a bike computer before. However, this product has a limited lifespan. Mine lasted less than 2 years. I'd say it's pretty reasonable considering the price. But I'll probably buy another bike computer that will probably last longer, even if it costs a little more. Other bike computers have very useful features that this one doesn't have, including (1) manually entering in the mileage (e.g. after you put in a new battery), (2) manual start/stop (so you don't have to do it with you remove the computer each time you do NOT want to take measurements (e.g. two different bikes or change tire size on the same bike to track total bike mileage). For my purposes, these additional features are worth the extra cost. But I still enjoyed using the Schwinn computer, especially since it was so cheap.