As I'm a geek, I've always been a little obsessed with cycling data from my rides.
I started off with a little mechanical odometer that ticked around as the wheel turned
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| A 1980s mechanical odometer that fixed to the wheel axle |
I then moved onto my first computer in about 1984 with an Avocet 20 computer. A single line display which recorded speed, average speed, trip distance and total distance.
I first started recording rides back in 2008 when I had Nokia phones and internet tablets. I'd already bought a bluetooth GPS module and started uploading rides into Nokia's Sports Tracker. I migrated to Strava in 2010 as I liked the idea of segments and still do. Segments are the main reason why I still use Strava.
My first GPS cycle computer was a Garmin Edge 200 back in 2012, followed by a Lezyne Macro GPS and then a Sigma Rox 4.0
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| L-R Garmin Edge 200, Leyzyne Macro GPS, Sigma Rox 40. IGPSport BSC300 |
The IGPSport BSC300 was bought when the quarter turn mount on the Sigma broke.
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| The BSC300 on the home screen |
Features
The BSC300 has a number of features that drew me to consider it as an upgrade from my current computer and they are:- Colour screen (not touchscreen)
- Full offline maps stored on the device, not just a breadcrumb trail
- Strava and Komoot integration (to be fair the Leyzne and Sigma also have the same integrations)
- Bluetooth and Ant+ sensor support (again Lezyne and Sigma support same sensors)
- Decent battery life of 20 hours enhanced by auto sleep, and auto start/pause.
It was also available at a decent price of £130, which was almost half of a similarly specced Garmin.
About the only features it doesn't have are a barometric altimeter, so it calculates it's altitude from GPS instead. Barometric altimeters can be susceptible to changes in weather so are not infallible either. When you upload rides, Strava corrects any altitude errors anyway, so I'm not sure it's that much of a thing.
The device also doesn't have a feature to pace you up climbs. This seems to be a thing on Garmin and other devices.
when I received it I was pleased to see that it had a place to attach a lanyard so it could be "tied" to the bike so that in the event of a fall it doesn't fly off into a hedgeback never to be found again. If you used a wire lanyard then it could also be used as a security to stop the head unit being stolen if you left it attached whilst in a shop or a cafe.
The box also contains a basic garmin style mount that attaches with a couple of rubber bands.
The mount is Garmin compatible so there's a wide range of out in front or other mounts.
The device dos charge and connect to computers via a standard USB-C connector. There is no cable supplied as most people probably have a couple laid about. If you don't then you'll need one
On the road Jack...
I've found in use that this computer has just worked.
It gets a GPS lock a lot quicker than my older models which often could take a couple of minutes. the BSC300 takes maybe 30 seconds or so.
I have heart rate and cadence sensors linked and the connections have been rock solid, unlike with the Leyzyne or the Sigma.
Like my previous computers you can't start recording a ride, and then start turn by turn navigation. You need to stop and then start following the planned route as a new ride.
Like most modern GPS computers it records and displays a wealth of data which is spread over 8 screens (pages) with up to 8 data fields on each.
What I have found works well for me is 3 main pages.
First page has the speed graph, as well as speed, elapsed time and distance
Second page has the maps with any planned route along with speed and heading
Third page has 8 fields Max and average HR,
Max and average cadence
Speed, distance
Time of day, temperature
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| The three main data screens I use. |
Post ride. You can stop the recording with two pushes of the top right button, first to stop, and then to confirm saving of the ride.
The ride will then upload into the app (if connected) and then quickly upstream into Strava or Komoot
Navigation: Where ever you go, there you are
You can plan routes in the IGPSport app, but I have found it awkward to do so, so I create routes in Komoot and then import them into the app.
The importing a route process is easy, but unlike the Lezyne and Sigma apps which just displayed Komoot or Strava routes almost immediately in the app, here you need to import them on the routes page. To be fair it's not onerous, I've just been spoilt.
Navigation itself is fine. when a turn is approaching, you get a reasonably loud audio alert as well as the popup on screen.
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| The Map screen showing a turn instruction |
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| A turn popup over a normal data screem |
If you go off course, it does keep remind you with an almost constant audio alert until you get back on course.
The only flaw I have found is that the navigation gets confused if the finish and start are close together.
I created a short route on Komoot which had the finish on the same stretch of road, but a few metres away from the start. After I rode over the finish point the turn by turn popups stopped appearing, although the route was still showing on the map and the beep alerts for each turn still beeped.
The App. Everything has an app these days
Not just an app. All GPS sports computers now seem to have their own activity tracking site. and this is no different.
Firstly once you've paired the app and the computer which is very painless and quick, the first thing you need to do is to configure the head unit. One slight quirk is that the app can be configured with mixed units i.e. miles for speed and distance and Celsius for temperature, but the head unit itself can only use either imperial or metric. It can't mix them.
The very first thing I would recommend is to go into the settings under the "Me" heading and then the privacy settings. Set privacy status to private and then a radius around start and end zones. You can go into individual activities later and set them as public if you want to, but these protect your privacy from the off.
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| IGPsport App privacy settings |
You can also link your other apps. Strava, Komoot and Training Peaks are supported.
Once you've recorded a ride. the app will upload to your linked ecosystem.
The activity data in the app is quite good though. The route on the map is colour coded to speed, and the graphs of the data from speed, heart rate, cadence etc are really good and clear.
Verdict
There are no super duper features here that no one else is doing, but it is a reliable computer with features that a couple of years ago would have been double the price. And some makes still are charging double.
I know others have criticized the web service, but you can and should lock the privacy settings down hard straight away. Which is best practice with any sites like this regardless where the data is.
That in itself is perhaps this computers killer feature - The value for money. at £129.99 currently from Amazon it's a good deal
