The Survival Store: Knives: CatEye Velo 5 Bike Computer - Black

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The Velo 5 is CatEye's entry-level computer. It features a new, larger screen and a large button for easy operation. Like all CatEye's computers, it is ultrasonically welded and highly water resistant. The universal bracket and sensor mounts allow the Velo 5 to mount nearly any handle bar and fork.Auto start/stop. Auto power-saving mode. Tire setting in inches and CM. Speed Display up to 300 kph/185mph. New tool free universal mount ( 22 to 32mm diameter.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Well worth the price October 30, 2008
This item is also listed under: Cateye CC-VL510 5-Function Bicycle Computer, where you will find additional product reviews. I belive this listing to be a more recent product style offering.

Unfortunately, I did not buy this product through Amazon. I chanced upon one in a local bike shop, and bought it only for the Speedometer/Odometer functions, in addition to the bike shop owner's claim that the unit is virtually waterproof.

In my initial opinion, the shop price was in line with my expectations for something that would only serve as a speed/od-ometer.

Packaging is small but relatively sturdy, so the couple times that I dropped the package didn't bother the device a bit. It's easily opened without lacerating your hands to the bones and tendons, or loosing a quart of blood. (Thank You, CatEye, for not stooping to the idiotic packaging practices of your competitors.)

The kit contents are simple and straight-forward:
7 - Black Nylon Wire Ties
1 - Wire/Flat Spoke Magnet
1 - Mount/Wire/Reed Switch Assembly
1 - Multi-lingual instruction sheet
and the VEL05 Cyclocomputer module, of course

Installation isn't a big deal, once you get over trying to decipher the pictorial instruction sequences (I would rather have words, but that's my idiosyncrasy).

The nylon wire ties I received in my package were just a bit too brittle to cinch-down completely without breaking, so I dipped-into my Ty-Wrap inventory. If you don't have some black nylon wire ties on hand, it would be a good idea to have a few extras on hand when you get around to installing this, or any similar, product.

I would have preferred a clamp-mount for both the cyclocomputer module mount and the reed switch ("sensor") hunk of plastic but, the cost of the unit probably relegates bar clamps and brackets to optional parts ordering status.

Five extra inches worth of wire would also have been nice between the mount and the reed switch, to allow for routing around a front fork shock, but this was not a deal-breaker. I simply had to settle-for what I think is a less than optimal (for me) placement of the display.

Mounting the magnet is deceptively simple, although I'm really not sure if the wire spoke should be leading or trailiing the magnet as it rotates. I installed mine according to the pictorial diagram, with the spoke trailing the magnet, but will reverse it if the magnet starts twisting around the spoke.

Setting-up the unit was not the nightmare I had anticipated. CatEye made intelligent use of the only two buttons you have available to you--so well that I had the unit configured in less than 10 minutes. Tire circumferences from 100cm to 299cm are possible, with the default setting at 205cm. My roll-measurement gave me a 206cm for my front tire, meaning that I only had to bump-it-up one from the default--surprisingly easy to do.

Clock setting was also quite simple, but I am somewhat put-off by the fact that, although a 24 hour clock mode is available, it's only available if the speed/odo is set to readout in units of Km. I agree that Km makes more sense, but I'm keeping pace for a family, and the kids are not going to grok Kilometers as intuitively as they do Miles, for rates and distances. I "suffer" with the 12-hour clock, and answer questions in Mph and miles.

If you need to change tire sizes, you can do so easily from the "Odo" display mode. If you need to toggle between Mph and Kmph, you will need to do a full "All Clear" reset of the unit, before you are offered the choice between Mi and Km as units of measurement. This might bother some folks. It just leaves me wondering why they decided to do it that way.

Display interpretation is straightforward.
I have Speed, in Mph, as my largest and topmost figure (easy to see).

Below that, I can toggle through displaying:
Trip Distance - [Dst] - (0.00 to 999.99 units)
Maximum Speed - [Mx] - (0.0 to 299.9 Km/h or 185.0 Mph)
Total Distance - [Odo] - (0.0 to 9999.9 units)
Clock - [Clock Icon] - You know how to read one

It does what I want it to do, and pretty-much only what I want it to do (the clock was a bonus, as far as I'm concerned), without any "blue incantations" to get at the info I want, and without moving my hands from the handle bar grips.