Home Reviews

MeetIDEA Mechanical Spider and Bluetooth Speaker review

REVIEW – Our Future Robot Overlords have chosen to favor you with this delightful little mechanical horror from MeetIDEA. It’s a robot spider that has a Bluetooth speaker. It’s also an educational toy that can be assembled and disassembled, perfect training for the kiddies in preparation for our dystopian future. Hopefully, the Robot Overlords come in peace. To the review!

What is it?

It’s a metal spider that you can assemble and disassemble. It’s also a Bluetooth speaker.

Hardware specs

  • All metal construction
  • Bluetooth 4.2 compatible
  • 4 hour play time on the bluetooth speaker
  • Roughly 4″ wide, 4″ long and 4″ tall
  • Approximately 8 ounces total weight

What’s in the box?

Your spider comes with a set of tools for assembly/disassembly, a USB-to-MicroUSB charging cable, and a leash if you want to take it out for a walk.

Design and features

Apparently, this beastie was inspired by the Ghost Recon film from Ubisoft. I’m a bit older, though, so I found it reminded me of a 1984 sci-fi movie called Runaway about an evil robotics expert who uses mechanical spiders to do his murderous bidding.  No matter where you draw your inspiration, this is NOT a murderous robot. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s pretty freaking cool.

(Side note: Runaway is pure 80’s sci-fi cheese, starring Tom Selleck is the police officer trying to stop the madness and Gene Simmons as the evil genius villain. Yes, THAT Gene Simmons. It’s wonderfully silly and campy, and I think you can stream it on Amazon. Prepare for laughs.)

All kidding aside, it’s a substantial and terrifically detailed little monster. There’s no plastic to be found in the build. It’s all metal with screws, nuts, bolts, springs, and plates making up the design. I’m guessing that there are 200 parts in the build, but there may be more. Check out how it uses gold parts to highlight the face. And check out those spikes. They’re so… metal…

And look at the detail in the leg armatures! While the spider doesn’t actually move, it can be completely taken apart and put back together again. Some tools are provided for this purpose. If you have kids who are into building stuff, they’ll go out of their minds over this! Although you might want to take a lot of pictures first. It comes fully assembled, and no instructions are included.

The abdomen of the spider is the Bluetooth speaker, kept in place with spring-loaded arms.

You can pop the speaker out to power it up, or charge it using the included USB charging cable:

The speaker itself is pretty basic & straightforward. There’s a power button and a charging port. It’s Bluetooth 4.2 compatible, with a 4 hour play capacity. Little blue lights blink on the speaker end when it’s in use.

The sound quality is kind of what you would expect for a little unit like this. It’s got clear sound with decent volume range, but not much in the way of depth. You won’t find deep bass notes, for example. It will play your tunes and podcasts just fine, though. And it will look awesome sitting on your desk. What more could you ask for?

What I like

  • Detailed construction and articulation
  • Serious post-apocalyptic steampunk looks
  • Great for little kids and big kids who like to build stuff
  • Comes pre-assembled, but includes tools for tinkering
  • Mechanical. Freaking. Spider. ‘Nuff said!

What needs to be improved

  • Speaker is pretty basic. But it’s a mechanical spider, so that’s OK.

Final thoughts

This is a fun little gadget that currently sits proudly on my desk. If you’re a steampunk or sci-fi fan, this is a great (and functional!) gizmo to add to your collection. And kids who like to tinker will love it. Just make sure you take lots of pictures to put it back together again… MeetIDEA offers no refunds if you break it down into all of its little parts.

Price: $39.90
Where to buy: Find it on the MeetIDEA.com
Source: The sample of this product was provided by MeetIDEA.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged:

MeetIDEA Mechanical Spider and Bluetooth Speaker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 5, 2019 at 9:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Spoke Designs Spoke Pen review

REVIEW – We’re fans of pens here at The Gadgeteer, and personally I like pens that are unique in style and other design elements.  The Spoke Designs Spoke Pen is one such writing instrument, with its machined, slotted body, magnetic cap, and other features, I felt very fortunate that Brian Conti, founder of Spoke Designs, offered to send me a prototype sample of the Spoke Pen—in the final days of a crowdfunded Kickstarter campaign as of this writing—to review.  Let’s Check it out!  Gadget on!

What is it?

The Spoke Pen is, “a streamlined geometric-deco style in a world of minimal cylindrical machined pens.”

Hardware specs

  • Options:
    • Classic Series colorways: Black, Blue, Red, Lime, Purple, Orange, and Rub/Brushed Aluminum
    • Edition Series: The Joker, Orange Crush
  • Dimensions: 5.5″ long x 0.43″ diameter (with cap attached)
  • Weight:
    • 0.93 oz (with aluminum grip)
    • 1.00 oz (with titanium grip)
  • Materials:
    • Cap: 6061 Aluminum (with polymer coated interior)
    • Clip: Super alloy spring steel (with e-coat (black) or nickel plate (silver))
    • Cap magnet: High grade Neodymium
    • Barrel: 6061 Aluminum interior, 6061 Aluminum interior sleeve for color contrast
    • Grip: 6061 Aluminum, Cp2 Titanium
    • End cone: 500 Series Stainless Steel

What’s in the box?

As mentioned initially and seen in the image above, I was sent a Spoke Pen prototype to review, and I was super excited to receive this.  I don’t know if this is indicative of the final packaging.  The Spoke Pen was inside a plastic tube, which was inside a foam pouch with a Spoke Design logo decal taped to the outside.

Design and features

A bit of background: the Kickstarter campaign that is bringing Spoke Pen to life is a collaboration between Brian Conti of Spoke Design and Brian Dowdy of The Pen Addict. It would be challenging to have a better combo of proven ability to deliver products to market and pen technical knowledge. Brian Conti has produced some very cleverly designed, solidly built, and successfully-crowdfunded products in the past, so confidence in his ability to get this campaign across the goal line is high. He has also been progressively updating his original Spoke Pencil design for several years now, with the latest evolution being the Spoke Pen reviewed here.

It includes an aluminum barrel grip in either aluminum or titanium, a magnetic cap, a spring clip, and anodized colors. It’s also been designed to accommodate the Uni-ball Signo DX cartridge., and includes an aluminum barrel grip in either aluminum or titanium, a magnetic cap, a spring clip, and anodized colors. It’s also been designed to accommodate the Uni-ball Signo DX cartridge.

Right out of the box, I was impressed with the look, feel and weight of the Spoke Pen.  It continues the slotted “spoke” shape that is characteristic of the Spoke writing instruments to date.  Plus, it looks not too dissimilar to a lightsaber, the “elegant weapon for a more civilized age” wielded with deadly by the noble Jedi Knights and menacing Sith Lord of Star Wars lore.

There are MANY different pen styles out there.  The Spoke Pen is a capped pen design, as opposed to a “clicky” or “twist” style, and the Spoke Pen includes a clever way of keeping that cap attached to the body, which I’ll get into in detail later. 

The components of the Spoke Pen are shown above.  They consist of the cap, grip, body and ink cartridge, which is a Uni-ball Signo UM-151, also known as the Uni-ball Signo DX.

The Spoke Pen’s grip section is a machined cylinder that includes grooves to help prevent the pen from slipping in your hand while writing.  This prototype’s grip section is in uncoated stainless steel color, but most of the Spoke Pen colorways available from the Kickstarter campaign appear to have a black coating on the grip section.  I like the way these grooves have been machined because they provide just a bit of grip without being overly aggressive and too rough, like some pens I’ve used that have had a diamond knurl or other type of very abrasive grip.  The grip is made from either 6061 Aluminum or Cp2 Titanium depending on which is selected by the buyer.  The grip section threads into the main body on the far end and on the near end it has a press-fit, non-removable cone section made of 500 Series Stainless Steel through which the tip of the ink cartridge protrudes.

The Spoke Pen’s cap has a substantial clip made from “super alloy spring steel” that can be either e-coated black or nickel plated silver.  I really like this clip because it is solidly attached to the cap and feels very sturdy, such that it will grab things like a pocket and hold tight but without fear of bending the clip.

One of my favorite features of the Spoke Pen is its magnetic cap feature.  The Neodymium magnet embedded into the cap allows it to snap right onto the barrel with a satisfying “click” and it holds together pretty well.  The cap also has a black component piece press-fit into its end (more on this blow).

As stated above, the end of the Spoke Pen’s cap has a small, non-removable component press-fit into it.  This appears to be a black anodized aluminum part with the Spoke Design logo etched into it.  A nice touch that prevents the Spoke Pen from having a glaring, gaudy logo ruining its aesthetic.

The barrel of the Spoke Pen is made from 6061 Aluminum exterior with a black anodized 6061 Aluminum interior sleeve for color contrast, and a plastic plug at the very end.  The interior sleeve and plastic plug are non-removable.

 

 

 

I really liked how the Spoke Pen feels in the hand while writing with it.  It feels very balanced, the grip is comfortable, and the weight is just right–not too heavy or too light.  Also, the Signo DX gel ink cartridge writes very consistently and smoothly.

The Spoke Pen I received to review is in natural aluminum color, but the Kickstarter campaign allows backers to choose from several colorways in which the color has been anodized to the exterior of the pen.

Above, I’ve paired the Spoke Pen with my Baron Fig Confidant Notebook, and this combo has been my daily journaling gear for a week or so.  I really like how the Spoke Pen writes on the pages of the Confidant.

What I like

  • Cool style
  • Great feel–solid heft, but still lightweight
  • Magnetic cap is fun
  • Sturdy clip; not likely to break
  • Well balanced when writing; feels great in the hand
  • Signo DX gel refill writes smoothly

What needs to be improved

  • I’d like to see the cap have the ability to post onto the back of the pen–just a personal preference, but one that I think a lot of other folks would also like to have

Final thoughts

I really like the Spoke Pen for the reasons listed above.  Its become my new favorite journaling pen and I use it every day.  Honestly, if the cap posted, it would literally be my favorite pen of all time.

The Spoke Pen’s Kickstarter campaign ends on March 9, 2019.  As of this writing, To date, over 880 backers have already pledged over $78,000 toward the $20,000 funding goal. Pledge packages start at $55 for a single aluminum-grip Spoke Pen shipped to the USA and increase from there based on the options selected. Visit the Spoke Pen campaign site for more information or to become a backer.

Price: $55.00 (pledge packages start at this price and increase from there depending on the options selected)
Where to buy: Spoke Pen Kickstarter campaign page
Source: The product sample for this review was provided by Spoke Design.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Spoke Designs Spoke Pen review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 5, 2019 at 7:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Fuse Side Kick Collapsible Laptop Charger Winder quick review

REVIEW – Kickstarter alert! The makers of the Side Winder are at it again, this time with a cable winder that attaches right to your power brick. The Fuse Side Kick is collapsible, compact, and keeps your cable nice and tidy. And if you act fast, you can get in on the Kickstarter before it closes on March 6. To the review!

What is it?

The Side Kick is a pop-up cable winder for your MacBook.

What’s in the box?

You get the Side Kick, and an extra adhesive pad.

Design and features

The Side Kick works like one of those pop-out grips for your phone. The front face is a plate made from ABS plastic with a rubberized bumper. The back side is a collapsible disk:

Setup takes moments. You’ll remove the plastic to expose the adhesive on the Side Kick, then simply stick it to the side of your power adaptor. Note that the Side Kick works with any square-shaped power brick. It fits perfectly on my MacBook Pro adaptor.

Once the Side Kick is stuck in place, you pull it out to expand it and wrap your cable. Those little slots on the cap secure the end of the cable.

The net result is that you go from this….

To this:

It’s a super-clean setup that also works when you only need a short length of cord to get to a plug. Simply unwind what you need and hook it through the slots. The fully extended Side Kick only adds about 5/8″ of depth to your power brick.

I loved the original Fuse Side Winder that I reviewed in May last year, and I know several friends and co-workers who bought one after seeing mine. I actually like the Side Kick design is even better. It makes for a more compact overall profile, which makes it easier to stash in your bag.

The model I received is an initial prototype, and Fuse is making refinements for the final design that will be released at the end of the Kickstarter campaign. This will include updates colors and plastics (including a black version), and hard rubber notches to hold the cable ends better. I’m looking forward to putting the final design through its paces in a long term test!

What I like

  • Simple, elegant solution for managing your cable.
  • Compact and clean.
  • Sets up in moments.

What needs to be improved

  • Nothing so far. A simple solution for a simple job.

Final thoughts

Fuse gets simple & functional design, and the Side Kick looks like another winner. But you’ll need to act fast to get in on the initial Kickstarter campaign, which closes on March 6. Fuse has already met their stretch goal for funding, so it looks good to go!

Price: $20.00 on Kickstarter, but some early-bird specials are still available
Where to buy: Go to the Side Kick Kickstarter page.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Fuse

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Fuse Side Kick Collapsible Laptop Charger Winder quick review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 4, 2019 at 11:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Miccus Swivel Jack RTX review

REVIEW – My niece just got her drivers license but her car stereo doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth. The Miccus Swivel Jack RTX device is a perfect solution for her. She just needs to plug it into her car’s aux connection to pair with her phone. Or if her sister or boyfriend wants to switch to a playlist on their phones, it has easy, wireless pairing.

What is it?

The Swivel Jack RTX is a pocket-sized long-range wireless transmitter/receiver.

What’s in the box?

  • The transmitter/receiver
  • Instruction manual
  • USB cord for charging
  • 3.5 mm female to RCA male audio cable

Specs

  • 3.5mm Stereo Audio Input and Output
  • Operating range of up to 100ft
  • 2.10 Hour battery life
  • USB Power: DC 5V @500mA or higher
    Dimensions: L 1.9in x W 0.8in x H 0.5in
  • 4 GHz operating frequency

Design and features

There’s a single jack on a swivel, for easy positioning no matter which device you plug it into. And the jack tucks back into the body when not in use.

Its blue light flashes rapidly when it’s pairing and glows solid blue to confirms if it’s working.

We found it very fast and easy to pair with a Bluetooth device.

A toggle switch lets you easily alternate from transmitting to receiving.

First, we tried using it as a receiver. We connected it to a portable, mini speaker and paired it with a smartphone in just a few seconds on the first try.

Our speaker didn’t have an aux input but that didn’t matter since the Swivel Jack RTX came with an RCA cable, which worked like a charm. We appreciated being able to connect with devices that don’t come with an aux input.

The Swivel Jack RTX boosts an operating range of up to 100 feet. We tested it at 75 feet, outside on a crummy day, and it worked quickly. However, it was a less stable connection than the closer range audio. We were still impressed with the quality of the receiver at that distance and plan to use it this summer to play music in our backyard and pool area.

Next, we tried using it a transmitter, which worked equally as well. In fact, we thought the sound quality was just as good as our wired connection without any noticeable delay.

Size wise, we found it fine for plugging into a car or speaker. However, it’s about twice as wide as a typical smartphone, which we found bulky when attached at the headphone jack. It wasn’t a big drawback but ideally would have fit within the phone’s edges.

The Swivel Jack RTX glows red when charging and turns off when it’s done. It took about 40 minutes to fully charge and lasted more than three hours on one charge, which was a pleasant surprise since the manual says it only lasts two hours.

What I like

  • Fast pairing
  • RCA cord came in handy
  • Swivel design made it easy to plug in anywhere

What needs to be improved

  • We found it a little bulky when using with a phone

Final thoughts

It’s a powerful little receiver and transmitter with many practical uses.

Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Miccus.com and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Miccus.com.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Miccus Swivel Jack RTX review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 4, 2019 at 9:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Shanren Di-Pro bicycle computer review

REVIEW – When it comes to technology to track your personal athletic training en devours, there are a ton of options out there.  When you focus in on bicycle computers that only lessens the field a little bit.  The big players out there are currently Garmin and Wahoo.  I have had my current bicycle computer the Garmin Edge 205 for well over ten years now. (Amazing considering how often I upgrade my personal technology!) That being said, I have been on the lookout for a new bicycle computer.  I was offered the chance to review their Di-Pro bicycle computer by a company called Shanren.  Let’s see how it worked out for me.

What’s in the box?

Shanren sent me three additional items along with the Di-Pro bicycle computer.  They sent a speed sensor, cadence sensor and a fly out bicycle mount.  I am going to focus on the Di-Pro bicycle computer first.  What was inside the box was pretty simple.  There was the computer itself which was nicely packed in cut out foam as you can see in the picture below.

In the box below the computer there were the bar mount and USB charging cable.  Underneath the computer was the fold out instruction manual.

Design and Features

First off let me state that this is a big computer.  It is trying to do several things along with being a computer.  The first picture above shows you the layout of the screen.  I could not find any way to adjust what was displayed on the screen.  I know a lot of competitors will let you pick what fields are being displayed.  I am going to assume that since it is such a large computer with a big display, they figured they will show everything because they can.  Looking at that display you can see they show your speed,  distance, total time riding, RPM (this is cadence and will only be available if you have a cadence sensor), elevation, heart rate (only available if you have a heart rate monitor) and an power meter wattage percent (only if you have an output sensor).  It should be noted that the Amazon web site says sensors must be Bluetooth capable.  However the manual that came with the device says it does support ANT+.  All of the devices I connected supported both Bluetooth and ANT+ so I can’t really tell you which method it used to connect to the computer.

Part of what makes this computer large is that it has a couple of lights on the computer.  The second picture above shows the highest level of light which is supposed to be 260 lumens.  The light is a CREE LED light.  The light is rated for 3-6 hours.  I tested and the light will run out just before the computer does.  So when you see that light go out, end your ride soon or data will be lost.  Right above the Shanren logo is a set of multi-color LEDs which can show various colors for different options.   The light is a nice option and will hopefully make you more visible as you ride on the road  The colorful LED strip is a nice feature to quickly know what your heart rate is or your speed.

The back of the computer has the mounting point and a nicely sealed micro USB port to charge the computer.  When you pop the rubber gasket off it dangles nicely by a small rubber cord so you can’t lose it and makes it really easy to attach the charging cable without having to worry about holding the rubber gasket out of the way.

To give you an idea of the size of the computer I took a picture of it next to my Garmin Edge 205.  You can see it is quite large.  My manually measured dimensions are 4 and a quarter inches long and 2 and 3/8ths inches wide.  The light makes it pretty deep at 1 and 1/4 inch deep.  The weight is listed at 135g.

The three images above show the menu functions of the computer itself.  This computer does a lot.  A big plus is that you can set a lot of them through the app.  However, setting up sensors requires quite a bit of clicking on the computer.  Pressing and holding the Set and Mode buttons at the same time put a menu at the bottom of the screen where you can do several things.  You can manage the light settings, manage sensor connections, handle general settings and handle power meter settings.   The power meter settings are the most complicated.  I have never owned a power meter except on the Peloton stationary bicycle I have at home.  Looking at the power meter settings it seems like all of the options necessary to set one up and calibrate properly are there and ready to go.  Now let’s get into the external accessory setups.

Speed Accessory Set Up

The first accessory I set up was the speed sensor.  The first picture above shows what came in the box.  You have the rubber mounting kit and the actual speed sensor.  The sensor came with a battery already installed. Opening the cover on the back of the device was really easy compared to how I have had to get to some Garmin batteries on various sensors.  It uses a standard 2032 battery and had a plastic liner I had to remove in order to allow the sensor to start working.  It has a small red led that flashes in the bottom right corner below the logo to show it is working.  In order to conserve battery, it will go into a sleep state until it recognizes movement which I thought was a nice feature.  I don’t see why this sensor which is ANT+ and Bluetooth could not be used with any other bicycle computer out there that accepts ANT+ or Bluetooth.  I slipped the computer into the rubber mount (that was a bit tricky, but I often make things harder than they should be!)  The second picture above shows the speed sensor in the mount.  The third picture shows it mounted on the front axle of my road/gravel bicycle.  I simply held the sensor in place and wrapped the rubber loop around the axle and caught it on the notch on the computer.  It has held up nicely and I do not see any slippage of the sensor.

To connect it to the Di-Pro, I pressed the Set and Mode buttons to get to the setup menus.  I had to press Mode once to set to the sensor setup and then press the Set button to get into the sensor setup.  Once I was in the Sensor menu SPD or speed was my first option.  I press mode again to highlight the SPD sensor and then pressed SET for it to start searching for the sensor.  I made sure to rotate the front wheel so the computer could find it.  I found it with no problem and immediately started registering a speed.   I actually set the wheel size through the app which I will talk about later in the review.

Cadence Accessory Set Up

The next sensor I set up was the cadence sensor.  It uses the same battery as the speed sensor.  It was also easy to open the battery compartment and remove the plastic protecting the battery.  Unlike the speed sensor, this device did not have a rubber mount for me to insert the sensor into.  The sensor has lips on both sides where a Silicone loop can be attached to.  The first picture shows the sensor mounted on the inside of my left pedal.  The next picture shows the silicone loop going around the pedal and attaching to the sensor on the other side.  Shanren provides 2 small and 2 large loops.  I found the small loop worked for my bicycle.   I then connected the sensor to the computer following the same steps I did above for the speed sensor.  The only difference is when I got into the sensor menu I had to press Set and extra time to get to the cadence sensor.

Mounting the Computer with Off Bar Accessory

As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the computer did come with a standard handlebar mount.  Shanren does offer what they call a Fly Off computer mount.  This mount lets you put the computer in front of the handlebars and not take up any room and the handlebar itself.  This seems to be the trend for all bicycle computers out there now.  I personally like this feature as it puts the computer in a better place to quickly see how you are doing on your ride.  The first picture shows you everything that came in the box.  There is the mount itself, an Allen wrench and two sizes of Silicone adapters you put in the mount to make it work with your particular handlebar size.    The item in plastic is a 3D printed Garmin mount.  They called it a prototype and it was a bit rough on the edges.  I could see how it would go into the existing mount and then you could use it to mount various Garmin computers that are designed for that particular mount.  I don’t own any Garmin devices that would work with it so I could not test it out.

I used the smaller Silicone adapters and quickly mounted it to my bicycle handlebars as you can see in the second picture.  The third picture shows the mount with the computer on.  You can see how nicely the computer is mounted this way and how it would be in a better position to see how you are doing while riding.

Using the Shanren App

When I first got the Di-Pro I loaded the app on my Samsung Galaxy S9 which at the time was running Android 8.  The first screen above shows what you get when you first get into the app. The next two screens show creating an account and setting up my personal profile.  They do have an option for imperial settings along with metric but that was on another screen.  Even though I did pick imperial later I found the app a bit inconsistent when it came to displaying numbers.  Some were imperial and some were metric.

The next screenshot above shows the home page for the profile icon on the bottom right.  You can click on the satxbiker at the top and it will take you to the personal settings page you see on the third screenshot.  You can see it is now displaying in imperial units.  The advanced setting screen is the second screenshot.  There you can link to your Strava account.  Note – I did connect to my Strava account and not once did the computer ever send data to Strava.  My Garmin Fenix 5s sends data to Strava right after I end my exercise and press save.  I never figured out how to get it to send data to Strava.  There is also a voice broadcast option where you can get it to give you audibles on time or distance.  I never turned that on but I assume it works like the app RunKeeper .  The next setting is where you set your unit type and then there is an option for recovery from a firmware upgrade.  I never had a firmware upgrade at any time.

The next screenshot shows you what the heart rate zone screen looks like from the profile page.  I think it is a really nice feature in that you can use the default age calculation for heart rate zones or set your own.  I set my own as you can see.  The next screenshot is the home page.  I want to note that the Navigation link at the top does not work.  When you click on it, it says it is coming soon.  That really bummed me out because part of the reason I want a new computer is I want it to be able to upload maps and give turn by turn directions.   I next clicked on the Devices link at the top.  That will take you to the third screenshot.  You only get this screen if the device is connected to your phone.  Initially, when I tried to search for the Di-Pro the Android app did not work at all.  It acted like it never even searched and kept telling me to turn on location services for the app which they were already on.  So I initially set the computer up through my IPad Pro which could find the device.

You can see you can set a lot of options through the app.  The backlight option will simply turn the backlight on the display on or off.  On Android, it is an on/off option.  On the IOS it also offered auto.  The next option was for the front light shift which supposedly changes the level of the main light depending on your speed.  This is pretty cool because the faster you go, the more light you want.  I could not test this because I try not to ever ride at night and I could not tell if the light got brighter the faster I got.  The next option is for the smart LED light.  You can set it to display different colors based on your speed or heart rate, just flash or stay on consistently.  A nice color wheel is given and you can pick a specific color for it to be.  The next option is your wheel size setting.  This is a perfect example of the unit displaying metric when I have it set to imperial.  When you click on that option you get a huge table of wheel sizes.  I picked my wheel size (700 x 32c) and I got 2155 mm.  You need to have a proper wheel size set so the speed sensor is calibrated properly.  The next option takes you to all of the power meter settings. I have a screenshot below showing all of those options.  You can then set your current elevation and check for firmware updates.

The screenshot above shows the advanced settings page.  The data backup was supposed to back up all of your settings, but I found that did not work on Android.  The data read would read those settings.  I am not sure what the enable notification does.  I had it turned on to see what it would do, but I never received any kind of notifications from the app.  Finally, I have a screenshot of the power meter settings.

End of Ride and Uploading Back to App

So with the computer all set, I took off on a short 14-mile ride.  I was wearing my Garmin Fenix 5s.  One really nice feature of the Di-Pro is that if I stopped the bike along my ride, the time stopped.  This, in the end, provided a much more accurate average speed calculation than my Garmin watch.  I stopped several times for stop signs and one time halfway through to talk to someone.  What I want to mention and it was just a brief blurb in the fold-out manual is that to start a session and GPS tracking, you must press and hold the SET button.  You will get a countdown from 3..2..1 and it will start tracking.   IMPORTANT – when you are done with your ride, press and hold SET again and you will get the word FINISH displayed where you see the checkered flag.   If you forget to press SET to stop it and just turn off the computer, your phone will not find any data to download.  I spent a frustrating amount of time trying to find a data file to download and never did.

Luckily for me, the next weekend provided some nice weather so I wanted to try the computer again.  The first thing I noted was the computer would not pick up the speed, cadence or my heart rate monitor.  I had to spend a frustrating 15 minutes going through the setup menu again trying to get the Di-Pro to discover the sensors.  I got speed and cadence, but I never did get the heart rate sensor connected.  I have a Scosche Rhythm 24 heart rate monitor.  My Peloton and Garmin Fenix 5s always find it and the computer did the first time I rode but not the second time.  This time after the ride was done I made sure to press SET again to tell it I was done.

The first screen shows the file from the Di-Pro showing up on my phone.   I want to note that the app was finally able to find the computer after my phone upgraded to Android 9.0.  What it is displaying is that on 2/23/19 I rode at 3:50 pm.  My home page on the app now shows I road a total of one hour and 4 minutes in one session   If you click on that area where the total time is displayed you get the third screen showing calories burned (pure estimate I guess based on body weight and time because  I had no HR connection).

This last screen shows you the detail of the rides for the week.  What disappointed me was there were no maps of my actual route anywhere on the app.  I can only hope that the navigation features come soon.

Another bad thing that happened to me after the end of my first ride was the Fly Out mount broke.  The lever you push down on to release the computer just snapped off as you can see in the first picture.  The second picture is the basic handlebar mount.  You can see how the lever is much sturdier than the Fly Out.  So for my second ride, I mounted the computer directly to my handlebars.

This is a picture of the computer using the standard mount it comes with.

What I like

I like that it comes with a light.  Anything to make you more visible on the road is a plus for me.  It lasts quite a long time.  I turned it on and left it at full brightness and it lasted over 5 hours.  A pro is that because the screen is so big,  you can see everything at once.  This is also a con down below.  It was very accurate on distance calculation and the cadence also seemed accurate.  When my heart rate was displaying it was right along with the Garmin which was also connected to the same monitor.

What can be improved

This computer is trying really hard to play with the big boys Garmin and Wahoo and it is doing it at a lower price point.  However, you do get what you pay for.  There is no navigation yet.  I also found the sensor lack of detection very annoying.  When I am ready to ride, I don’t want to spend time messing around trying to get sensors connected.  The app was flaky on displaying imperial units everywhere.  The Android app still has a lot of catching up to do compared to IOS though I noticed the power meter settings in IOS were all in Chinese.  Finally, I really need that app to communicate my rides back to Strava.  If anyone is trying to compete in this space, they have to have a device that uploads to Strava.  A lot of athletes and even low-letes (hah!) like me, want to see all of our training data in one place.  My Peloton rides go up there and I really want my outside bicycle rides to be there also.  Finally, I would not recommend spending any money on the Fly Out mount.  It was too brittle to be of use beyond a single ride.

All in all, I recommend waiting a few more months to a year and see how they try to improve this computer over time.  I will personally try to use the speed and cadence sensors with my new computer when I get one and report back how they work.  They are slightly cheaper than what I see out there now by other manufacturers.

Price: $179.90 for the Di-Pro computer, $26.99 for the cadence sensor, $34.99 for the speed sensor and $19.99 for the fly out bracket mount
Where to buy: Amazon Shanren Di-Pro Bicycle Computer, Amazon Shanren Bike Cadence Sensor, Amazon Shanren Bike Speed Sensor, Amazon Shanren Fly Out Computer Mount
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Shanren

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged:

Shanren Di-Pro bicycle computer review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 3, 2019 at 10:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.