Monthly Archives: May 2013

O-Synce Navi2Coach GPS Cycling Computer In-Depth Review

The Navi2Coach cycling computer may very well be one of the first GPS-enabled bike computers that aims to compete against every aspect of the Garmin Edge 500, from customization of data fields to advanced training metrics.  But can this first-time entrant into the market really compete against a player as big as Garmin?  And how does it hold up to months of testing?  Well, I set out to find out.  Back in January a unit arrived on my doorstep and I’ve been banging away on it since (hence why it may look a touch bit ‘loved’ in the photos).

Because I want to be transparent about my reviews – O-Synce sent me the Navi2Coach GPS bicycling computer to try out. Once I’m complete here, I’ll send this back to Germany and then go out and buy my own (to be able to support y’all in the comments section down the road). Simple as that. Sorta like hiking in wilderness trails – leave only footprints. If you find my review useful, you can use any of the Amazon or Clever Training links from this page to help support future reviews.

Lastly, at the end of the day keep in mind I’m just like any other regular triathlete out there. I write these reviews because I’m inherently a curious person with a technology background (my day job), and thus I try and be as complete as I can. But, if I’ve missed something or if you spot something that doesn’t quite jive – just let me know and I’ll be happy to get it all sorted out. Also, because the technology world constantly changes, I try and go back and update these reviews as new features and functionality are added – or if bugs are fixed.

So – with that intro, let’s get into things.
Unboxing:
The unit is displayed inside a see-through box, meaning that you can validate you’ve got the right thing before you tear it open.  By the way, this is a good time to note that O-Synce is pronounced “O-Science”.  I figure that the pronunciation for Navi2Coach is fairly self-explanatory.

Inside you’ll find the upper level has the unit, and the lower level hides all the mount brackets, cables and other accessories.

Here’s everything all sorted out once you’ve got the box moved out of the way:

And then here’s the parts post plastic baggie kidnapping:

I’ll quickly walk through everything.  First is the manual, of particular note is the mount setup.  While the whole thing may be obvious after reading this post, I assure you that upon opening it up the first time you’ll be confused.  If nothing else, read the manual to figure out the mount.

Then we’ve got the micro-USB cable.  Basically the same as most phone chargers these days:

Next up is the battery (yup, it’s both rechargeable and end-user swappable), as well as half of the mount stuff.  The other half of the mount stuff came on the unit itself.

A closer look at the battery:

Here’s the unit itself.  You’ll notice it came on one of the two provided mounts, sorta pre-assembled.

Flipping it over you can see how the mount would attach to one’s handlebars and provide a fairly stable platform.  Additionally, you can see the charging/download port towards the top.

To access/install the battery you’ll simply remove the lower gray section and stick the battery inside from the bottom.

With that, everything is ready to start toying with.  I’ll come back to the mount situation in a short bit, after we size things up a bit.
Size Comparisons:
Bike units are a bit more difficult to put on a rolling pin than typical watches are.  Mostly because they don’t have watch bands.  So, I just nudge them up against it all in a row – roughly from largest to smallest.  Sometimes it’s tricky, for example with the O-Synce where it’s taller than the Joule GPS, but skinnier.  Otherwise, it’s fairly self-explanatory.  In general, it’s smaller than the Garmin Edge 510, but larger than the Edge 500.

Above from left to right: Garmin Edge 810/800, Edge 510, CycleOps Joule GPS, O-Synce Navi2Coach [this review], CycleOps Joule, Garmin Edge 200/500, Timex Cycle Trainer 2.0, Bryton Rider 21, and Magellan Switch Up.

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