What about one of the massive, Garmin 1000 - sized units. As big as a cell phone, practically. Not big enough?

do you really need it all on one screen at the same time ?

I just have multiple screens for what I need..

I ride with one unit.

Ask DC Rainmaker - he runs with multiple units during some of his tests. I'm sure he has thoughts.

I use a Garmin 820, with 10 distinct fields of information, and also use the Garmin Varia Vision, which has another 4 customizable fields of data, plus it also has time of day and temperature as static items, so 16 different fields, 14 customizable to view without swapping screens.

1 unit. While the Garmin 520 captures a lot of info to view later, when I ride I only have power and HR showing. It's the only things that matter to me.

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I run a Garmin 530 and a Phenix 5 watch-- does that count?

I race with a Garmin 810 and 920 but I only look at the 810 while racing. The 920 is on my wrist for the swim, run and total time. I don't bother taking it off for the bike.

right. my problem is not being able to read it. i don't really like to have to switch screens. but if i have more than 3 metrics on 1 screen i can't read it. type is too small. so, i'm happy with a big arse head unit with 6 metrics going, but it would need to be pretty big.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I suppose I ride with more than one head unit occasionally, but not for the reasons you state...

For every ride I do, I use my garmin 500 with three screens. The first screen is my "Current data" (power, speed, cadence, HR, etc.). Essentially everything I need to pace and ride. 99% of my ride is on that screen. I have a Lap data screen and a ride data screen on pages two and three with summary data for the lap and ride respectively (distance, avg speed, time, KJ, etc.). I only flip to those screens occasionally.

For rides where I am going out on a new route, I wear my 920xt with the navigation on to map my route out. I do not use my edge 500 map because I cannot see the data I need to pace my ride and navigate at the same time so I have the navigation on my watch, which could be described as a second "head unit". I really only do that for new routes on training rides.

Most computers have an auto scroll functionality. So you could limit the fields per page to say 4 so they are all visible to you, then program as many pages as you can to scroll through all the data fields you want. Another trick could be to always keep 1 or 2 fields at the top of each page that you always want to see, such as power and HR. Then have the other two fields on each page different. That way it looks like only the bottom two fields are scrolling. If you can set up 10 pages scrolling, you could effectively have 22 fields available to you that are all visible without pushing a button...just not all at the same time.

You could go all DCRainmaker and run 5 or more head units (only works with ANT+, BTLE has to be 2 to 2); but a better approach might be to have your head unit scroll through various pages for you.
Pretty sure most head units can do this.

if I saw a guy riding with multiple head units I would quickly assume he is a douche.

i don't care whether you think i'm a douche. so that's not a consideration. but a head unit that auto-scrolls between panes would probably solve my problem. i hadn't considered that.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I'll use two on my gravel rig. Why? Because I have two 520s (primary and a backup) and don't want to spend more for one of those Garmin 10xx units. One (mounted out front - also have my cycliq fly 12 out there) for following the course and the other above my stem for the metrics. It's definitely silly but works - I could change screens but I just don't like taking my hands off the bars that often.

How many other racers do this? In my last race I realized how cumbersome and annoying it was to keep rotating my left arm inwards to look at my numbers.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

get a pair of sunglasses w/readers built in. Works for me!

I just picked up a 520 to replace a 510 that jumped off my bike and got run over by a car.

I run a screen with Time, Speed, Distance, HR, Cadence, Altitude, and ToD.

I would give up pretty much any metric to run one of the Omata computers. I saw one yesterday and it looks amazing!


jake

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Get outside!

I have a Garmin 935 on my wrist, and an SRM PC7 head unit on the bike. The cool thing (to me) about this setup is my Garmin broadcasts my heart rate to the SRM. If I need extra fields, I'll have them on my wrist and glance at it every once in a while.

Paging DCRainmaker!

I get by fine with multiple screens on my Garmin. At this point I can see 5 things, but I might have to move down to 4 soon :-(

Screen 1 is the "really need to know fairly often and need it at a glance" stuff (power, HR, time, cadence and speed). The key for Screen 1 is some discipline on "need" vs "want just because it is fun to know." The next screen is stuff I might need to see a couple times a ride but the data is not real time critical such as distance, KJ, TSS, etc. (That is, the stuff that if I am hammering too hard to swipe a screen I don't need it anyway). Then there is the "I wonder what . . . " page for random stuff I want to see now and then such as time of day, temp, averages, etc. The last page is a dedicated lap page I use if I am doing intervals.

My issue with screen scrolling the few times I have tried it is that it keeps me from seeing my "at a glance" stuff when I need it. I look down for my 3 second power at a critical time and I end up only seeing that sunset is going to be in 7 hours and it is 74 degrees out . . . . .

A few years ago I was often seen riding with 2 units, but that's because I was doing testing for Bryton and had my Edge 500 along for comparison.

Nowadays I usually ride with the 500 for speed/distance/power display, and use my 920XT for HR. I've dealing with afib for the last year, so I want something displaying HR 100% of the time, and I'll scroll through all the other functions on the 500...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

One other very cool option, if you have Di2, is that you can configure the shifter hood buttons to rotate through Garmin screens. It is super cool, and kind of extends the use of the head unit.

I am even toying with the idea of adding another button to my TT extension that I can program to change Garmin screens on my Di2 TT bike.

I had a Shimano Flight Deck computer back in the day and I absolutely loved the ability to switch screens with the hood buttons. And I still miss seeing what gear I'm in. Can't wait to get those features back next time i upgrade my bike and get the latest Di2.

One on the bars, one on the wrist, one in the back pocket (iPhone though on one bike it goes on the bar too), and just bought a pair of Bragi The Dash ear buds that provides info for swim, bike, and running workouts. Way too much equipment and data to deal with for now. As for training, anything goes. Everybody wants something and it’s mostly of anything. Though I’d like to get it all on a single device. Keep new features coming for riders. More robust for more clicks when riding. Make it a smart device where new apps with new functions can be added to existing devices.

Race functionality is more important when there is a need for speed and quickness. I’ve got the age inflicted eyesight thingy going on too so I really want to go quicker than know how fast I’m going. We would all benefit from a color coded (or symbol for color blinded riders) indicator as when to shift up or down based on calculated pedaling efficiency involving power/FTP/HR/Watts and gear ratio. AI in the on-bar brain meter. Incorporate bio markers for gear selection at some point in the future.

For the future of racing, bikes could be equipped with AI dash boards that provide directions (use symbols instead of words) of the course in real time. We could use individually designed bio-marker readers to know when to optimally drink, what to eat, when to back off; all for the sake of smarter racing.

In a race I would like to eventually use an on-board readout of each racer’s times and splits given with comparison to key competitors and overall leaders through use of race chips and radio frequencies. In a single device would be great.

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