Atom FeedBlackburn Delphi 6.0
Over the past year I've been trying to find a new heart rate monitor. My current one —an older Nashbar model, is well used and abused. The elastic strap had very little stretch left and the straps on the wristwatch unit have long since disappeared. I kept trying to find a unit I could live with, but so many of then now auto-calculate a single target zone without the ability to override it. I even ordered one almost a year ago, but after getting it found that it too was not adjustable. Apparently my needs and desires are not typical. For starters I wanted one with at least 3 zones that it records the time for and would like a forth zone. And most of then now have an average heart rate feature, something my current unit lacked and that I desired. So the quest continued…A few weeks back I headed out one morning and after about a half mile realized my cyclocomputer —an Avocet 45tt, wasn't registering a speed. Not terribly uncommon as sometime the sensor needs an adjustment or there is a bad connection. But after checking these thing I still couldn't get it to work even though the cadence sensor was working fine. Thus I headed back home to check it out further. Unfortunately I couldn't get it working again and opted to swap in a rather basic model I use on another bike until I could find a new one. Plus it made me do some general maintenance that needed to be done anyway.
So being in the market for a new computer in addition to a heart rate monitor, I finally gave in and have accepted an all in one unit into my life. Because of my multiple bike indoor/outdoor arrangement I had been reluctant to do so. But alas, I found a good deal on a Blackburn Delphi 6.0.
I've only taken two rides with it thus far, but I'm very happy at this point. The negatives are the loss of the real-time gear inch feature that the Avocet had which I used quite frequently and the "tt" or time trial mode which I only recall using once or twice. But the pluses exceeded the negatives as I've retained a three zone heart rate monitor that also has average and maximum heart heart features. The max feature as noted in some reviews I read is not always accurate as it seems to spike with interference, but the average doesn't get messed up. I can live with this quirk. The gains on the cyclocomputer side are average and maximum cadence and also feet climbed and current percent grade as it also has an altimeter. Although I generally ride in a fairly flat area it's a nice plus. So thus far I'm a happy camper. But the real downer is now I have to (yet again) modify my cyclelog to support these additional data points. In the meantime I'm recording the data in the notes as "extra data" so I can go back and update my rides once the log is modified. August 20, 2007 @ 12:57 pm | Category: Cycling
