COROS Sorta Delays Dura Cycling GPS Till September

July 11, 2024 by |Sports Technology News and Reviews|Comments (10)

COROS has announced they’re delaying new shipments of the previously announced COROS Dura cycling GPS. The unit was set to start shipments next week, on July 15th, but due to a potential mounting tab breakage issue, customers can choose to accept shipment as previously scheduled, defer their shipment till September, or cancel their purchase.

COROS has stated that the reason for the delay is to redesign and remanufacture the tabs on the back of the unit. That’s due to them finding in testing that in some 3rd party mounts, the Dura tabs could break.

The COROS Dura uses the Garmin quarter-turn mount system, which is reasonably well understood. That said, there are some manufacturing nuances to it, to ensure proper fit. Obviously, I don’t have any way to know if/how many broken tab units are out there, but, I can confirm that the COROS Dura units I have fit ‘ok’, but not ‘great’ in various 3rd party mounts I used. It tended to be a little bit loose. Not horrible, but just enough that after years of using various devices/mounts, I knew it didn’t quite feel ‘perfection’. We’re talking likely sub-millimeter nuances here on the thickness.

Now, people who have pre-ordered the unit will be given three choices via e-mail that just went out, they are:

Further, COROS has changed the availability date for future purchases to September 15th, 2024. All of this reminds me quite a bit of the original Wahoo ROAM launch debacle, which featured broken mounts within a few weeks of launching, causing Wahoo to cease all shipments for a month or two.

That said, while COROS’s decision to sort out the mounts is a good one, I’m struggling to see why this unit isn’t delayed in its entirety until September. COROS had planned a ‘final’ firmware for media/reviewers would be available July 9th, the same firmware consumers would get. This was slated to address various issues many reviewers found back in June.

However, upon trying that firmware, it’s clear it’s not ready. Instead, there’s a new firmware coming out next week (at the same time it ships to consumers), where they hope to address various issues.

As I noted in my preview post back a few weeks ago, it was pretty rough. I had estimated that it would take until fall sometime to be stable enough to compete with various older units (let alone current gen units). I then guessed that by next spring (2025), they’d likely be in a place to compete with a handful (namely Wahoo) of bike computers, on many features. There were many many many issues.

Based on using what was set to be the final firmware for next week on a couple-hour ride yesterday, I still stand by that assessment. It failed to notify me on approximately 80% of upcoming turns. COROS has however made improvements based on specific feedback that myself and others gave, such as making the re-routing faster and automatic (versus a very latent manual confirmation). But it still requires your phone, the app running, and said app/Dura to be happily communicating. But beyond that, there were other rather notable issues during the ride. Thus, giving the unit more time to bake is the right move. COROS says they’re working through the issues that myself and others reported in the last few days.

Again, as I continue to say – I do have significant confidence COROS will stick this landing eventually, and ultimately cause a heartache for other cycling GPS companies. But, it’s simply not something that’s going to happen right away. Current firmware is still very much private-beta level, and not production ready.

Still, COROS has a long history of moving extremely quickly on firmware updates in the wearables realm, and this is literally the same software as their watches. And thus I’ve accounted for that in my fall/etc estimations of their timelines/readiness as noted above. The singular aspect that’ll take *years* to be competitive once they start, will be on-device re-routing (as COROS Dura currently requires a cellular connection for all re-routing).

Ultimately, I have no idea what to ‘release’ next week on the 15th, from a reviewer standpoint (if anything). It kinda puts every reviewer in a weird spot. Clearly, they aren’t likely to fix the issues we’re seeing in the most current firmware (that have been around for well over a month now), in the next few days. Turn-by-turn routing is really hard, and this is part of the hardness. Whereas bits like the continued sticky watts, will probably be easier to fix. Either way, real-world consumers are getting units next week and paying with real-world cash. That’s typically my bar for when a review is appropriate. Thus, we’ll see.

With that – thanks for reading!

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10 Comments

  1. LoneLeaf
    July 12, 2024 at 2:43 pm #1

    And verily did DCR spake: “…real-world consumers are getting units next week and paying with real-world cash. That’s typically my bar for when a review is appropriate.”
    Amen 😇

    Everyone else is going to review it anyhow (also implying those who may be less than impartial). We need the truthslingers in there.

    That said, I think nobody wants to see a lot of effort wasted on something that isn’t all together yet and could evolve quickly (in some areas). An abbreviated review seems reasonable with solid reference back to your first-look coverage.

    Thanks for the drama coverage tho! The “tabs” issue is certainly an eyebrow raiser given the context… I can’t recall a mfr ever delaying a major product launch solely because of an issue with a third-party accessory 🤔 (vs just shrugging it off like a Shimano power meter). I’m sure there are interesting convos happening in interesting spaces right now! Cheers

    Reply
  2. Heiko
    July 15, 2024 at 8:22 am #2

    This device is incredibly ugly, looks like first generation GPS handheld devices from the 90s. I really believe this will hurt sales.

    Reply
    • skyrun
      July 18, 2024 at 9:53 pm #3

      at end of the day, coros has been unable to develop anything well. their initial watch designs were all knock-offs. regardless of their ‘sponsored athletes’, it just seems like a cheap product company all-around to me.

      Reply
  3. Seán O'B
    July 15, 2024 at 9:56 am #4

    I had pre-ordered a Dura and received an email that it is being shipped to me today (15 July). However, I wasn’t given any of the choices outlined in this article.

    As background, I’m a longtime Hammerhead Karoo user. My use cases are pretty simple, with a focus on navigation (and, y’know, being able to download routes and upload rides reliably and easily) and minimal sensor usage (HRM and AXS derailleur). However, the battery on my Karoo 2 only just barely made it through a (fast) century recently and I have to run it at nominal 0% brightness to get any kind of decent runtime, which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a fancy screen.

    Contrary to many people, it seems, I don’t feel a great need for auto-rerouting and have been unimpressed with its implementation on the Karoo (e.g. go to the next junction and make a u-turn). It’s also drinks the battery, so I was thrilled when a recent firmware update gave users the ability to turn it off! To each their own, of course.

    Reply
    • Darian
      July 19, 2024 at 2:09 pm #5

      Hey Seán,

      Darian from COROS here – we apologize if the email didn’t make it to you (whether marked as spam or not delivered) but we did send out this email to everyone who had pre-ordered with the email used to make the order.

      Regardless, if you send over an email to support@coros.com we’d be happy to accommodate whichever of the three options is best for you. We are excited for you to get to experience the DURA with the consumer firmware which we feel confident in and are similarly excited to hear the feedback from media with the latest update!

      Reply
    • Seán O.
      July 19, 2024 at 4:00 pm #6

      Hey Darian,

      Thanks for following up. My spam filter seems to be a little overly aggressive at the moment, as I did find the email in my spam folder (along with an email that my wife forwarded to me – oops!).

      I received my Dura last night and have squeezed in a couple of short spins today while using it. I’m happy to report that turn-by-turn directions are working well. I deliberately tried a few tricky scenarios such as creating routes where I would hit the end point before the start point when leaving my house (which used to stop navigation dead on other GPSs I’ve used) and lollipop loops with out-and-back sections. I like the UI too and the battery level hasn’t budged either, which is really neat. I’m looking forward to some putting it through its paces on some longer rides this weekend!

      Reply
  4. Me
    July 15, 2024 at 3:37 pm #7

    I really hope you’re suggesting a choice of automatic rerouting. If I miss a turn on my carefully crafted route I’d be very upset if the device automatically rerouted me onto some other road. It’s the journey for me not the destination.

    Reply
  5. Martin D
    July 27, 2024 at 3:02 am #9

    I’m a couple of weeks into Dura ownership and this far it’s been a solid little unit.
    Compared to my Garmin 530;
    It hasn’t forgotten my power meter exists.
    Not insisted I am going the wrong way when rejoining a route.
    Not randomly rebooted. It turns on pretty much instantly.
    Used hardly any battery (I’m currently projecting over 170h from a full battery with solar top-up – in the UK!)

    The mapping isn’t as nice.
    RwGPS integration is currently a little wonky.

    No sticky watts on a Rotor PM. Nav and turn-by-turn works well. I prefer the split screen climb view to Garmin. I’m quite happy with it. Does the basic stuff well and runs forever.

    Reply
  6. Regular Cyclist
    August 8, 2024 at 1:29 pm #10

    I placed an order for a DURA two days ago not expecting shipment until September. I received a shipping confirmation yesterday and it arrived today. Darian looked into it and told me that the UK warehouse sent out my DURA by mistake and I should be contacted in September to get it replaced. I must say that COROS support online has been very good on a number of platforms.

    Reply