Product Review
Bryton Rider 40 Computer Review by Mel Alexander
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterPublished: 21st November, 2012
I have been using the Bryton 40 (T) for all my cycling training for the past five months and I like it a lot.
The Bryton 40 (T) is a cycling computer which has been designed with the competitive cyclist in mind. It is priced at £219.99 and comes with a very comfy heart rate strap, mounts and cadence sensor. You can also buy the same base unit (Bryton 40 (E)) with out the heart rate strap and cadence sensor for £149.99.
I mainly use the Bryton 40 to gauge my heart rate whilst training and to view other figures about my training rides. I particularly like knowing the simple facts like heart rate; average heart rate; distance and speed during road rides, (all of which I can view straight after my ride without having to download). Plus other facts like my heart rate, duration and speed during mountain bike interval efforts using the lap function and the cadence whilst riding my road bike.
After 5 months of use there are lots of things I like about the Bryton 40, mainly:
- The Device gives you a huge amount of information about your ride. You can customise three screens of data to show what you want to see about your ride. It can show up to six pieces of data on each screen. I do find four the most I can read clearly whilst riding. The options of data to choose to display are vast from; heart rate, temperature, altitude, gradient, cadence, speed, time plus others with min/max and averages of a lot of these.
- The heart rate strap is very comfy plus I never have a problem receiving the signal from heart rate strap to the Bryton Device.
- The device is very robust and weather resistant. The brackets to connect the device to bikes are also simple and sturdy on the bike.
- The battery stays charged for a long time, apparently 24 hours and stores a lot of data without having to download.
- I like the Trail device / route planner
Through the Bryton website it is possible to map out a route and transfer the route to your unit. The unit does not display maps (you'll need the Bryton 50 for that) but does provide a basic track to follow (a line in a shape of the route giving you an indication of the direction you need to be heading and marks with an arrow where you are on the line). It does not give you info on junctions or roundabouts and you have to work out which exit to take at a roundabout or which way to go at a junction by the angle the line is directing you in. If you go off route it says 'off route' and I found it easy enough to pick up the route again when I did miss a turning.
This is pretty cool on a road ride for exploring new routes. I have found this easy enough to use on the road (not sure how easy it would be to follow off road). A couple of weekends ago I was able to use the track for an 80km scenic road ride from Cardiff to Brecon. I would not necessarily recommend using this solely and probably worth having a map in your rear pocket although I did not have to refer to the one I was carrying. I was really impressed with the GPS signal which was very rarely lost and if so only for a few seconds. The device also gives you information on distance and altitude of the route on a further two screens.
Other things I liked:
Transferring data of the device is simple on the Bryon website where the data can be analysed, one little downfall is it can be a bit slow to download.
I have encountered one minor issue; my PC crashed in the middle of downloading data one day, making the device un-collaborative with the Bryton system, but on a positive side this was quickly sorted out by Bryton customer support.
I have no way used the Bryton 40 to its potential as a training device. I do not spend time analysing the data though I do like knowing a few facts. I have not used the built in multiple training modes or taken advantage of entering my own training modes though I'll be doing this soon. There is even a built in ramp test to determine your max heart rate and whilst I have not had to use this function for my own training I can see how this could be useful for others. However, I've used more functions on the Bryton than on my previous GPS computer and am now exploring functions I'd not even considered previously.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Bryon 40 has a lot to offer and I look forward to exploring it further. I particularly like its robustness, the fact that it displays a lot of facts, stays charged a long time, comfy heart rate strap and I overall find it a fantastic training tool that gives me great insight into the facts of my ride.
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