Really waterproof cycle computer?

Konstantin Shemyak wrote:
Looking for a cycle computer, which withstands washing in the machine...
or at least does not fade after a really heavy rain. Sigma and CatEye
do not fill this simple requirement (but I was using basic models,
maybe more advanced ones are also better protected?).

VDO (vdocyclecomputers.com) markets theirs as "water resistant";
has anybody real experience with that?

I also want to mount it on the stem, because all handlebar space is
sometimes occupied with lights. This excludes all CatEyes, if I
understand it right. And, hey, it must have a backlight for night riding.
Am I aiming for too much? No one else rides in the night under rain?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Konstantin Shemyak.


My cheapo Topeak Comp 130 is OK after a lot of rain (Where I live has
1.8m of rain per year for any comparison). The top cover is o-ring
sealed. It needs the terminals cleaning occasionally - might try some
kind of grease like the other posters mention on that. It is quite
sensitive to the magnet being mounted correctly as it has two pickups in
the sensor and you can move the magnet to the other one to solve pickup
problems. If the fork and spoke slope in relation to each other this
moves the magnet further or closer etc.

This one does not mount on the stem however. One thing you could try
to sort out lack of handle bar space is the Minoura Spacebar, which
gives you extra room, and also lets you either move the light back or
the speedo forward in relation to the light so you can use the light
spill to see the speedo. Using this method you can have a choice of a
wider range of speedo. This is what I did until I got a(n) handlebar bag
which meant I had to move the light altogether and barely had room for
the speedo. I moved the light back and could also see what gear I was in
on my flat bar shifters. Now I check this and the speedo under the
occasional streetlight while riding between towns.

Konstantin Shemyak wrote:

Cateye Mity 3 doesn't mind rain, IME. (Mity 8 is the new version).

I also want to mount it on the stem, because all handlebar space is
sometimes occupied with lights. This excludes all CatEyes, if I
understand it right.

Cateye make a stem bracket, though your lights could go on a Minoura Space
Bracket.

And, hey, it must have a backlight for night
riding.

A few computers with backlights are available, but everything else about
them isn't necessarily desirable.

Am I aiming for too much? No one else rides in the night
under rain?

How are you with a soldering iron? I'm not especially good but have
managed to make "LEDs on stalks" to read my computers where there are no
street lamps, one with a second LED for a compass.

Ingredients: 5mm LED, thick solid core wire, thin flexible wire, lithium
coin cell in holder*, resistor (if necessary), tiny microswitch with
lever, epoxy resin, heat shrink sleeving, self amalgamating rubber tape,
reuseable cable tie.
The epoxy reinforces and strain-relieves the joints, the sleeving and
tape insulates and waterproofs the whole thing. Arch over the computer
and bend to adjust the position.

* Alternatively, wire directly to your front light battery. Superbright
green LED for 3V coin cell, or white for higher voltage.

~PB

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:34:46 GMT, Konstantin Shemyak wrote:

Looking for a cycle computer, which withstands washing in the machine...
or at least does not fade after a really heavy rain. Sigma and CatEye
do not fill this simple requirement (but I was using basic models,
maybe more advanced ones are also better protected?).

I haven't had that problem with either basic or advanced Sigmas,
but I do twist them off and dry them when I get home (as with
lights).

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Quoting Konstantin Shemyak :
Looking for a cycle computer, which withstands washing in the machine...
or at least does not fade after a really heavy rain. Sigma and CatEye
do not fill this simple requirement

No? My Mity 3 has been through the washing machine at least thrice, in the
Cam a few times, in at least half a dozen pints of beer...

.... and it works in the rain, too.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!
Today is Second Teleute, January.

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:34:46 GMT, Konstantin Shemyak
wrote:

Looking for a cycle computer, which withstands washing in the machine...
or at least does not fade after a really heavy rain. Sigma and CatEye
do not fill this simple requirement (but I was using basic models,
maybe more advanced ones are also better protected?).

VDO (vdocyclecomputers.com) markets theirs as "water resistant";
has anybody real experience with that?

I also want to mount it on the stem, because all handlebar space is
sometimes occupied with lights. This excludes all CatEyes, if I
understand it right. And, hey, it must have a backlight for night riding.
Am I aiming for too much? No one else rides in the night under rain?

Maybe I'm missing something here vs. the responses you've gotten so
far. When you say you want a "computer, which ... at least does not
fade after a really heavy rain," do you mean you want the computer to
survive the rain, or operate in the rain? I've used Sigma BC600 and
Cateye Astrale computers. Both of them will short out the contacts in
sufficiently heavy rain; the speed and odometers don't register
anything. Both of them, when the contacts dried, continued to
operate.

When I ride at night, I just glance at the computer when I go past a
street light, rain or no rain. (Almost slipped and said rain or
'shine...)

Pat

Email address works as is.

shingle quality electrical tape over the seams