I had been looking for a replacement for my cycle computer from the mid 1990s which gives up at the slightest hint of rain these days. After having seen lots of positive comments, and receiving an offer for a 20% discount within the Sustrans Shop recently, I bought a Beeline Velo 2, which I have been trying out alongside my existing cycle computer this week. My initial impressions are that it is really neat. It pairs with a smartphone via Bluetooth and app, via which routes can be created or uploaded and synced with the device itself on a handlebar or an optional stem mount.
A sat nav style display shows upcoming junctions and the default setting means that it beeps once at around 100 metres before an upcoming junction and then double-beeps at around 20 m away. If you go off course it reroutes fairly quickly. I have only used it on my commute so far, so that has been quite limited though. Minor annoyances are that it predicts arrival time very badly just now (assuming very slow progress) and I had to leave an option to allow routes with steps switched on to successfully add my commute, which does not include any steps. I wonder if that is somehow linked with the poor arrival time prediction?
There are several different display options to choose between while riding by pressing the top and bottom buttons (which are part of the edge of the device), and segments can be rated on the fly as either positive or negative by pressing buttons on either side. I assume that these choices must feed into the generation of routes depending on the route style choice of quiet/fast etc. but I haven't seen any obvious effects yet.
Does anyone else have one for the purpose of comparing notes? I see that they also offer a somewhat more robust (metal rather than plastic cover) and more expensive version for motorbikes.
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