Product review: Garmin cycling speed and cadence sensor

I've churned through many speed and cadence sensors over the years - usually it requires fiddling around with magnets and zip ties that invariably get twisted and damaged. They're also liable to get knocked out of alignment or snapped off - particularly in a crowded triathlon transition zone.

Therefore, I haven't bothered for a while - but having done a few turbo sessions lately I wanted to at least keep an eye on my cadence. So, I thought I'd see what the latest offering from Garmin is.

The latest iteration of the Garmin bike speed and cadence sensors

Turns out it's completely redesigned from last time I bought one, and infinitely better. Rather than being triggered by a magnet passing a sensor, these sensors have simple tilt switches - no magnet required.

Contents of the box: Instructions, cadence sensor and bands, speed sensor and rubber housing

Fitting them is a breeze - just attach the cadence sensor to a crank arm (non-chainring side recommended) with the a rubber band (three sizes included), and the speed sensor to the hub. Nothing to line up, no further configuration required. It takes about two minutes form start to finish (including reseating the battery in the speed sensor as it wasn't transmitting at first).

The cadence sensor, fitted on the non-chainring side

A small LED on each sensor flashes green with each rotation of crank or wheel, so it's simple to see that installation is successful. The batteries should last a year under normal use. The LED starts to blink red when they need replacing.

The speed sensor in its rubber housing and mount

The profile is discrete, and it doesn't matter that it's not perfectly level

The sensor units appear to be well sealed from the elements. The only moving part is the battery cover - this is well made and fits snugly, with a small rubber seal to keep water and foreign materials out.

Connecting the sensors to a Garmin receiver is simple. I used a Fenix 3 HR and the pairing was immediate. No Bluetooth here - the sensors use ANT+ so don't expect a connection to a phone.

Pairing is simple and fast - Spd (speed) sensor connected, Cad (cadence) sensor awaiting connection

The Fenix supports renaming the sensors should you have multiple sets on multiple bikes - however fitting is so fast you could swap them across bikes easily.

I can't comment on longevity as it's only been fitted for a ride or two - but I'd certainly recommend it based on my experience so far. I bought this from Amazon, but it's available from most cycle accessory retailer.

Juneathon day 13/30 - Havant parkrun

Today we decided to drive down to Staunton Country Park in Havant to a) run Havant parkrun, and then drive a couple of miles to Queen Elizabeth Country Park (site of Queen Elizabeth parkrun) in order to b) shout some support to Louise. She was (and in fact still is) running the Centurion South Downs Way 100 mile race. Good to catch up with parkrun friends Kat and Jools too who were (are) crewing her.

 

Havant parkrun course - I measured it at 5.08km (we started a bit back from the start line)

Havant parkrun was lovely, Staunton Country Park is a really nice park with some interesting tracks and trails. It's an odd combination of laps, starting with one small loop, then two larger loops - both of which include the smaller loop again. I ran with Mrs who was going for 3x10 minute blocks at increasing pace. We completed the run in 31:30.

Just about every "way" seems to go through here

I particularly liked all the signs they'd put out

I forgot my usual Garmin watch, so had to run round with my phone recording the run with Garmin's "Fit" app. Downside was carrying my phone, but unexpected upside was some parkrun photos.

Run briefing

Thanks, I shall be sure to drop in again when I can :)

A short drive up the A3 to Queen Elizabeth Country Park. I ran the parkrun here back on December 27th 2014. It's a brutal course, it starts on a steep hill and has an amazing muddy descent, the second lap goes up the same hill but more of it! I bumped into the event director who ran with me for about 2/3 of the route meaning I had to chat as well as bust my lungs on the hills!

Queen Elizabeth parkrun course, looks innocuous enough...

...until you see the elevation!

I mis-timed my arrival at Queen Elizabeth Country Park and was still eating my breakfast when I saw Louise run past the window! Sorry I didn't see you in person, Louise, I did say out loud a little "yay, go abradypus!".

Breakfast!

Centurion Running put on a number of races each year, some "standard" ones like the 50 mile and 100 mile series, and some really bonkers ones like the Piece of String - where none of the entrants have any idea how long the race will be!

*unimpressed face*

I hadn't realised Garmin now do "segments", a bit like Strava. I was delighted (no, really...) to see that if I filtered today's parkrun to my age and weight, I am dead last on the table. I think it might be time for a flat-out fast parkrun soon... I'm going to a new one next week, I wonder if it'll be fast?

My Juneathon totals: 13 runs for 83.90km in 8:47:33

Juneathon has been inching along at 5km per day this week. I was hoping to go a bit further but it's about consistency not distance. Today was day 13 of Juneathon, and the 15th day of my run-streak - certainly by far the most number of consecutive run days for me. 17 more June days to go, and then the Croydon Ultra early in July.

Follow-up to: Why the insane Heart Rate suddenly?

This is a follow-up to my previous post, Why the insane Heart Rate suddenly? - you should read that first. It's OK, I'll wait...

I've had the same feedback from a couple of people now. Garmin HR sensors take some time to settle when you start using them, either as a result of needing to warm up a bit (get a bit "moist under the strap", as it were) to improve the contact or because of the static caused by a fresh clean dry technical t-shirt.

We've had our first tastes of cold winter air in the UK over the last few weeks. Cold air has a lower capacity to hold moisture, and when it's cold it'll take longer for your body to warm up and start to perspire. As I explained in my last post, I was making an effort to warm up very slowly in Brighton, and it took 20 minutes (twice as long as I've noticed before) for my heart rate measure to come down. I don't cycle in technical t-shirts and by the time I moved onto the brick run example I gave I'll have already been very well warmed up, and therefore no spike was evident. I run with a Garmin Forerunner 910XT.

So the question becomes - did my heart rate ever go up that high in the first place? I'm starting to think that maybe it didn't.

Firstly, thanks to Louise for showing me her Garmin plot featuring exactly the same thing up to a positively humming-birdesque 220bpm! Follow her parkrun and ultra exploits on twitter and on her blog.

2-hour run from Louise, with a phenomenal spike in the first 5 minutes

Finsbury parkrun, again from Louise, with a similarly extreme first 5 minutes

Secondly, thanks to Rob and Sam for their comments on my last post bringing my attention to the moistness/technical t-shirt behaviour.

Finally, thanks to Robbie C who shared the activity from his easy (for some, maybe!) run round Regent's Park which also shows a starting peak, though not quite as pronounced as Louise's or mine form the weekend. His run was on December 7th which was a cold day, so that might explain why it took longer to read accurately and drop down - 20 minutes, about the same as mine.

Run from Robbie C - I wonder if he knows he ran straight past my office twice? :)

I'm going up to Darlington this weekend to visit my Dad and take in a parkrun (I think we can be fairly sure it'll be cold there) - so I'll make sure I moisten my strap properly in advance and I won't wear a technical t-shirt - I have a very warm Nike base layer I can wear, plus a jumper or something.

I'm planning a hard run, so even if there is a peak it should be narrow as I'll warm up quickly. Let's see what happens...