Cat Eye Velo 7

I had picked up the Cat Eye Velo 7 the other day from Amazon for what I thought was a throw away price of Rs 1100. It arrived yesterday. Just unpacked it today from the basic packaging. No high marks for packaging. Of course the unit did not break in transit but they should have put a bubble wrap around the inner box. They just dumped the blister pack inside a cardboard box and plastered it with plastic tape. 

This unit is for my MTB Hero. Visually I cannot see how this is different from the Velo 9, which I had got for my Red Roadie. I think Velo 9 has a useless additional feature over it, showing how much CO2 emission I helped reduce etc. 

The unit has come pre-loaded with the battery and the clock is on. I have to work it all out once again, which I shall do shortly. Basically two things to work out. How to set the clock and how to set the wheel size.

Here is a very basic image taken immediately after unboxing. 

Opening Day. Opening Show

There are three main parts here. One is the unit. I am yet to even take off the cover cellophane sticker. The other is the mounting bracket, wire and sensor in one unit. The third part is the magnet. They have also given some zip ties. 

After writing this much I set the time and wheel size etc. Changing the time is not easy. I used this video to do it. Although the language is totally alien to me, it's easy to understand what he is doing. See here . Setting the other things like miles or km, 12 hr or 24 hr and wheel size (if it is a standard wheel size) is very simple. It is even possible to key in the exact circumference of the wheel. But I didn't try to find that out. Accurately measuring the wheel's circumference is not easy. 

For those who might be interested, here is the manual for all it's worth. It is not as bad some of the other brands. I could do everything except set the clock. See here

The Difference Between Velo 9 and Velo 7

I just checked the real difference between the two. Well, as the name suggests Velo 7 has seven features while Velo 9 has seven plus two equals nine features. What are those additional features? Velo 9 can calculate your calories burnt and it can calculate the carbon offset. I think both are pretty useless features. At least I never check these. Not that I don't value calories expenditure and carbon offset etc. But the point is, if the unit does not know my weight how does it know my calories spent? It might be an indicative figure but certainly not accurate. Carbon offset is also vague because the unit does not know what car I drive, whether diesel or petrol, how many CC, at what speed I would have driven the car over the same route etc. Again it might be indicative but I wonder if any one in real life use these figures for any real purpose.

The 7 cost me Rs 1100 and the 9 Rs 1500. Substantial difference to pay for two useless features.

The seven features (Cat Eye calls it "function") are

1. Current speed
2. Average speed
3. Maximum speed
4. Trip distance
5. Total distance
6. Total time
7. Elapsed time

One issue with the Velo (7 or 9) is that it cannot be switched off. But then someone commented on a forum that LCD screens don't consume much battery in any case and it doesn't matter if it is left on forever. It's like a digital watch. You don't switch off a watch really. Do you? The logic sounds plausible. Mine is a Timex Ironman and it indeed is always on :-)

Setting Up - 25th January, 2017

Tonight I set up the Velo 7 on the bike. Initially the sensor wasn't working. I realised that the sensor and magnet need to be within 5 mm of each other. That's mentioned in the manual. In my initial attempt it was certainly spaced more than that. So I had to take off the sensor and re-align it closer to the magnet by turning it more inside the fork.

The main unit sits on a bracket that does not stick very well on the handlebar. They give a 3M both side sticker. But the bottom of the bracket is not designed well to sit snug on a round tube, even with a 3M sticker. I used two zip ties strongly. Hope it stays aligned.

For a change I placed the unit on the left side of the handlebar.