Customer Reviews

SIGMA BC1706HR DTS Wireless Bicycle Speedometer with Heart Rate Monitor

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my 4th bike computer over the years. The dual bike functionality is brilliant. The addition of pulse monitoring is awesome. The layout of stats is excellent -- I especially like the fact that half are triggered by one button, and half by another. That means that rather than stepping through all 20 (or so), you can access a given stat in 1/2 of the number of button presses.

The only issue is that on my trail bike with the giant, shock-forks there is a lot of metal between the wheel sensor transmitter and the receiver on the handlebars. I do lose the signal on occasion. I suspect that if I spend the time to move the receiver and transmitter around, I can improve reliability. As pointed out by others, the manual sucks. I'm not particularly pleased that all parts are held on by rubber o-rings -- not sure what UV and weather will do to those over time. The o-rings are certainly more adaptive to different diameter mounting situations, but I would much rather screw them down with clamps. Would love a temperature function, but suspect that it is not possible since device is always in direct sunlight.

Negatives aside, bottom-line is this is the best bike comp I've ever owned and would buy again/recommend to friends.

EDIT - 7/2011 followup: it has been two years now. I purchased a 2nd cradle for my street bike. The unit works flawlessly on that bike. I am pretty disappointed with its reliability on the trail bike though. It is basically unusable. I'm also kind of unhappy with the entire wireless concept -- one of my riding buddies' wireless comps clobbers my signal when we get within 5 feet of each other. I'm knocking off 2 stars for these two issues. If you have a street bike and no conflicts I still recommend though.

This is the first bike computer I ever bought or used. The instructions are not the best. There are a lot of illustrations (pictures), but no worded instructions on the physical installation. It lacked specific details, but the pictures were pretty much self explanatory, so it wasn't too bad. Then I followed the setup instructions, which were much better (worded instructions w/pictures). I noticed the display was acting a little "whacky", and the backlight didn't work. The characters would be jumbled up when switching modes. After a while of this, I found it to be a weak battery. I changed the battery and everything worked like a charm! It has a lot of functions, and so far they all seem very accurate. Nice little device!

I got this unit at an unbelievable price on eBay. It was a brand new open box item. Yes, the owner's manual and installation instructions are a bit lame as it's mostly pictures, but after awhile you figure everything out and it works great. I had to play around with it to find a good location where it would get accurate readings and ended up buying a Topeak Bar Extender which allowed me to mount it a little lower and closer to the transmitter on the front fork on my Specialized hybrid bike. To get a good heart rate monitor reading, make sure you get your skin nice and wet where the monitor belt goes around your chest. The directions show you sticking the belt under the faucet, but I found it better to put the belt on first, then wet a towel, pull the belt away from your chest slightly and then wet your skin with the towel. If you wet the belt under the faucet then try to put it on, it would dry out before you got the belt in place.

Customer service experience was very good. As I said, it was an open box item and I found the one I got was missing a little "key" that is used to open the battery compartment on the transmitter. I emailed customer service and they sent me a new one free of charge right away.

It's a little confusing at first learning how to navigate through the various functions, but once you've used it for a week or so, it's pretty intuitive. It's got a lot of different functions for both the bike (speed, average speed, maximum speed, odometer, trip time, stopwatch, counter up or down) and the heart rate monitor (heart rate, average heart rate, maximum heart rate). It has a backlight if you ride after dark.

Some readings that it doesn't have is cadence (although some advertising mistakenly says it does), temperature and heart rate zones. Sigma has a newer model the HR1906 that I believe includes these features at a slightly higher price. The HR1706 is actually a product first released in 2007.

I've had it for about 3 weeks now and I love it. It gives me incentive to get off the couch and get out and get some exercise and allows me to track what kind of progress I'm making. The readings all seem to be very accurate now that I found where to mount it and how to moisten the heart rate monitor belt. I'm very pleased with my purchase and the value is excellent versus others I compared it with. I'm thinking now of possibly purchasing a Sigma PC15 heart rate monitor watch.

It's a nice unit but there are elements that could use some refinement.

First, the manual is very poor. Mounting is pretty straight forward but others parts of the manual could really use some more explanation. I hadn't used a heart rate monitor before and so didn't know it's common to have to wet them: my wife's HR monitor doesn't need this. The picture shows a drop of liquid and the chest strap... was I supposed to oil it or something? Is there some oil somewhere in the packaging? Just the word "water" would have been helpful, and a one-sentence explanation would have been great. (Btw, a little dab of saliva is all it takes). There are several other places some more explanation would have been helpful too, especially setting the wheel size of your bike.

Like others, mine didn't work too well at first either because the transmitter battery was nearly dead. After replacing it, it works very well though.

I'm not a big fan of the buttons as the two used to switch between measurements on the display are opposite each other and when riding it takes more concentration than I'd like to press one without pressing the other. You can't just grab it and pinch-press one button since the other is exactly opposite. I'd prefer it if the buttons were on the face of the unit, or if there was a solid, non-buttoned region in the center between the two top and bottom buttons that you could grip when pinch-pressing. Otherwise, the display is very nice and easily readable while riding.

Additionally, I'd prefer if the display simple had an off button. When clicked into it's holder it starts trying to connect to the transmitters and continues collecting stats until there's 5 minutes of inactivity. Because of this it can mess up your trip stats unless you take it off it's mount at the end of your trip, but then what are you supposed to do with it? I'd prefer to simply leave it connected to the bike, but clicking it back into it's mount it again starts trying to connect to the transmitters even though my ride it done. It doesn't hurt anything, but it seems wasteful of the battery. When it's not collecting data, it's in sleep mode which still displays the current time. Again, I'd prefer to simply turn it off to save the battery.

My complaints aside, it's still a very nice unit.

The bad: When I didn't quite get the user guide in English, I tried German.

Remember: Sigma is a German company and writes their manuals in German first. But by whom? By a German rocket scientist who also holds advanced degrees in nuclear physics, applied mathematics and rare Amazon biology? S/he probably can't boil rice though; too every-day. It still confused the heck out of me, and I do speak both English and German (more or less) fluently.

The good: eventually you figure out how this thing works (I put little stickers next to the four buttons). And then it's an excellent bike computer/heart-rate monitor, nicer than anything else I looked at. Installation is "un pezzo di torta" (piece of cake), especially if you use the little rubber o-rings. The wireless transmission works flawlessly, the computer starts and stops as you move or stop your bike, the device is supposed to be water (rain-) resistant, the transmitter (chest-band) hooks up with the receiver without a hitch, the display is larger than most and very readable.

Your bike rides take on a new quality monitoring - and pushing - your heart rate. Especially good, if you're going after fitness and/or fight the middle bulge. Like me.

Four stars; five if Sigma finds a lay-person to re-write those darn manuals of theirs. In the meantime, this monitor is worth the aggravation of a bad manual.

While installing the magnet to the wheel spoke - I guess I overtightened because I cracked the plastic holder. And the computer itself needs new batteries - right out of the box!

I wrote to customer service - and they were very helpful. When I mentioned the battery - they said they had changed their shipping methods to keep the battery separate in the packaging. Customer service sent me a new plastic magnet for my wheel spoke - and a new battery! What was not a great start - they made a positive experience.

seems like a good quality product, but as other reviewers have stated, the instructions are a bit skinny.

I purchased this unit several months ago. At first, I couldn't get the sending unit or HR monitor to pair with the main unit. After replacing the batteries with fresh ones, the units paired right away and has worked great ever since! This unit is a great way to monitor your bike rides and track your HR and distance to get the most out of your workout. I highly recommend it.

Pros:
-Cheap compared to other brands with similar functions.
-Nice, when it works.

Cons:
-I dont like the o-rings the use to mount everything. Seem stable enough.. but I prefer zip-ties.
-Finicky. My first ride I got "too many signals" error message for the first 2 miles, even though I was by myself, and not using the HR monitor. My second ride, the speed sensor worked 95% of the time, but the HR monitor kept reading 0, even though I had wetted it as described.
-Some people prefer the 4-button interface, but I don't. Hard to remember what each button does in each mode. Not a big deal though.


I gave this one a try... but in the end I returned it and when with the Cateye Strada Wireless, which took 2 minutes to install, and works perfectly.

Nice clean appearance, well designed and easy to view while riding, and it's wireless. I'm used to using a Heart Rate Monitor and the feedback I receive while working out. This SYGMA BC1706HR DTS is a great addition to my bicycle workout since it has speed "and" pulse on the same screen! I can fine tune my gearing/pedaling to maintain a constant cardio regimen. Man! I enjoy when technology is in 'sync' with my needs. These are the main reasons I bought this particular system, even thought there are a lot more features. Highly recommend.