| Products Electronics & Photo GPS Handheld Garmin Edge 305HR | Satisfaction | Experience | |
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| Name | Date | Helpfulness | Review | Overall satisfaction | Ease of use | Quality of Manufacture | Durability | more... |
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| Amazon.com customer | 2008-08-25 | | Great, but I'm on my 5th unit... | 4 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Clearly a great tool for cycling, and I love it - when it works. But I've now had to return mine for the 5th time, due to the unit shutting itself off mid-ride. Very annoying, and dealing with Garmin customer service is super slow (usually 30-45 minutes on hold before you can find a human) Love it, just wish it were reliable.
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| Overall satisfaction | 4 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-07-13 | | Wonderful Tool for Cyclists | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have found the Gramin Edge 305 to be an outstanding tool for cyclists. It was SO easy to install and modify the data I wanted to observe. Being a senior cyclist (over 60) I was just amazed at the amount of data this unit collects and calulated. I remember when just having a simple mechanical bike speed indicator was a BIG deal. Now I can download all the data I ever wanted to observe about every ride. Now my only problem is my wife is tired of looking at my ride analysis after every ride. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-07-13 | | Slightly disappointed | 6 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have had the 305 for 2 weeks now. I like it, but it isn't all that I hoped. Installation is easier than any other computer you can get (unless you get the cadence meter). Strap it to the stem and that's it. It does come with mounts for 2 bikes, but if you want to mount both to the stem you will have to realign one mount from the handle bar mount angle (just takes a little prying, but I almost did break it in the process). Stem is the preferable mount just because it is a bit big for a handle bar mount. It comes with one piece of rubber that is for mounting it on bars/stem smaller than 1" diameter. The rubber also helps prevent slipping. Also it only comes with one angled spacer that makes it easier to read from a stem mount. If you want to mount on the stem for an additional bike you will probably want to purchase an additional mounting kit just for the angled spacer. I did, and the extra kits should be a lot cheaper than $17. I do have a problem on one of my bikes with the 305 rattling against the handlebar mounting screws on the top of the stem. It hasn't damaged the 305, but I don't like that it constantly rattles against the bike so I am going to try to pad it. After a little playing around, it is easy to use. Doesn't take long to figure out the screens. I have profiles set up for two bikes, but I am not sure of the purpose of this if you don't have the cadence package (if you had it on one bike on not the other you can set this in the profile). The profile asks you to enter each bikes weight, but I have no idea why it needs this information. I was disappointed that it doesn't save the screen settings for each bike, so there really doesn't seem to be a point to switching profiles (unless you do have the cadence meter). It would have been nice to set custom displays for each bike (for instance I don't wear the HR monitor when commuting on bike 2, so I don't want to waste screen space on this). Most of my disappointment comes from it's accuracy. Calories burned is worthless. It just computes the value from distance traveled, so it's so far off it's laughable. Since people have been complaining about this since the 305 was released I am surprised Garmin hasn't fixed this. Elevation is all over the place. Sometimes when I do a a loopback it shows a difference of up to 50' difference in the same areas. I realize that weather fluctuations will throw off a barometric altimeter, but the 305 is supposed to use the GPS to help stabilize it. From when I turn the unit on, after waiting a minute for the satellite reception, it takes another minute for the elevation to settle. And even when it's settled and sitting perfectly still it's constantly fluctuating +/- 10'. It also seems to lag a bit behind too so when you crest a hill it still shows you as climbing for a couple of seconds longer (sometimes for quite a few seconds). This affects grade too. Going up a hill it said I was on a 6% grade, going down that same hill 30 minutes later it said it was a 4% grade. Heart rate is hit and miss. Sometimes it's perfect, sometimes it reads very high and I get warnings to lower it (in the impossible 230 area). I know all HR monitors can be finicky and it depends on your clothes, power lines, amount you sweat, etc, but I used to use a Polar and had less trouble with it (although it wasn't perfect either). I have some HR monitor gel coming to see if that helps. The distance traveled is also off, but this is fairly common for a GPS to be a bit off. It isn't enough to worry about, but if you want exact measurements every time you are better off with a traditional computer. Where the 305 is really great is the virtual partner. For a quick work out you can set the partner to a time/distance/speed and race against it. It can be fun to set it to run 20 miles at an 18mph pace and try to beat it. Sure it's just basically setting a time to beat, but as you are riding it shows you how far ahead or behind your goal that you are. It can be a real motivator. Courses are even better. Once you ride a route and set lap points, you can ride the same route again and try to beat your past performance. You can also set up other training programs such as intervals, but I have not used this feature. Also as others have said, the 305 is of no use to find your way around. You want a 605/705 if that is what you are looking for. The screen isn't hard to see when riding. Most screens you can customize how much you see, and if you set too many fields it can be a bit hard to see everything easily. At first you also find yourself playing with it a lot when riding, which is a bit dangerous. This week I looked up from playing around with it and rode right through a broken bottle flattening my back tire. (Yes I felt stupid after the fact.) GPS reception has been good, but I live in area without any trees. When riding through a tunnel on the local bike path, it auto-paused itself when it lost contact but picked up contact immediately as I came out the other side. Software is bad. I have it on my Mac and PC but haven't played around with the Mac version enough to comment. You can't really do much with the software besides look at graphs of your ride. Which is nice, but it isn't done very well. The included maps it uses are pathetic and you can't even click on your route to highlight on the ride's pace/elevation graph to compare where you were. Although if you click on a section of the graph it will show you where on the map you were. It also doesn't mark your lap sections on the maps or graph of your ride. You can't edit your courses either. Motion Based (which Garmin owns) looks neat, but it's almost $100 a year or $12 a month. Seeing I am lucky if I get 5 months of riding where I live, $60 for this service seems a bit much. Battery life has been excellent so far, but it is a new unit. Lithium Ion batteries decrease in performance as they get older. You can charge it all you want, and it won't kill the battery, but age will. If kept in a warm place the battery dies at a quicker pace. This would be less of a big deal if you could change the battery yourself. But after a couple season you can forget it lasting for any longer rides. I searched Garmin's site to see how much they charge to replace the battery, but couldn't find anything. If you do a Google search for Edge 305 battery you can find people talking about using cell phone battery boosters to give the 305 a longer life. Overall I like the product, but think it could be vastly improved. Garmin doesn't seem to be listening to users though since the 605/705 suffer the same problems, so it doesn't look like we can expected an improved 305 or better software anytime soon. In the end I think I would suggest a normal computer over the 305 if accuracy is important to you. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 6 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-06-09 | | The best bike accessory I've ever purchased! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Excellent, excellent, excellent!... A lot of other folks have gone over the various pros and cons so I'm not going to do that. If you do your research on what you need and what this unit provides you won't go wrong. Let's be clear... this unit was not designed to be like your car GPS with the nice mapping that you follow. It HAS some basic mapping features but it is meant to be a training tool. And, with that in mind, it is one of the best. It has all of the stats I want with heart rate, mileage, elevation, cadence (if you get the add-on), averages, etc. The 'race yourself' features, the training workout setups, and the courses are all great features and very cool if you decide to use them. I, personally, love the 'virtual partner' feature. It allows me to race myself whenever I'm on a course that I've done before. This can totally change the mentality of your workout. You can also 'race' someone else's recorded course if you get it from online. I bought a cheapo armband and now I can use this for running, hiking, canoing, etc as well. Cool! This unit is well constructed and has held up supremely in rain, mud and, yes, even wet snow! If you spend a little quality time with the menu system before diving in, you'll find that it's pretty easy to use (but... please spend at least a little time). If you're a serious biker and want a good training tool, you should definately check this unit out. If you REALLY want the complete mapping of a standard GPS then check out the Edge 705 as well. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-05-05 | | Bike Computer | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Great Bike Computer, no wires. GPS very sensitive, can pick up signal indoors. Easy to use. Easy to upload rides onto internet for further review. Elevation seems to be very accurate. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-04-24 | | Nice HRM bike computer | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I've had this for a couple of weeks now and it's great. HRM works great and the unit has completely customizable visible fields (up to 8 visible at once); hr, time, distance, speed etc. I don't have the cadence sensor and with the gps, I don't think I need it. I like that the unit can go from bike to bike without needing a sensor and spoke magnet on each bike. I love plugging the unit into my computer after a ride and seeing my route on google earth. I have a Polar s720i and I like the edge much better--I've removed the Polar hardware from my bikes. The software isn't beautiful but it works--the Polar software is nicer and more full-featured. I'm hoping some software updates for the garmin are coming. Good product--highly recommended. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2008-04-13 | | Excellent GPS and HR tracker | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | After trying a GPS device from another well known company, I gave up and bought the Garmin Edge 305HR. I checked the device's elevation indicator against a topo map and found it to be quite accurate. Another nice thing is that the 305HR syncs up with satellites quite rapidly where the other device took up to 15 to 20 minutes longer to sync and in some cases, not at all. Finally, the device can be mounted on the handle bar stem so that you can reference it at all times. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-12-18 | | Great when it works | 4 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I loved everything about the 305, except for its proclivity for ceasing to function. I went through three of them in a year. The first one went back to the store where I bought it, the second one was returned to Garmin, the final one was exchanged for a Suunto T6 which I have been very happy with (i.e. it works.) Garmin has released several firmware updates that did address the early problems I was having with the unit, but after the third one simply turned off several times on a commute home I gave up. The low (MUCH lower than the advertised) battery life per charge was frustrating as well. I could have lived with that if the unit had been reliable, but as is, I could not recommend this product. Hopefully the new version will work better.
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| Overall satisfaction | 4 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-17 | | Think twice about buying this product! | 4 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have the edge 305 and the forerunner 305! Both suffer from the same problem. They quit working! I bought the Forerunner first. I thought it was a nice product. It gave me all the readings I wanted. Then one day it just stopped working! In a couple of days it started again, but my lesson had been learned! Support was useless. I did not want to be with out my HRM so I bought the Edge 305. I was thinking it was a better product! True it has a few more viewable functions. I liked that! The screen is bigger! I liked that. The GPS is good! I like that! Soon I was using the Edge 305 all the time! It (the edge 305) has just quit on me for the second time! I am pissed! The features I like are nice but Garmin is not the only HRM out there that has GPS! Even though I was not that happy with my Polar HRM I plan on gong back to them because of the lack of relability of Garmins HRM! BEWARE BEFORE BUYING THIS PRODUCT! If you can not afford more than one unit you will be stuck when it stops working! | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 4 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-12 | | Amazing piece | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | The GPS gets a signal indoor ! I have two more GPS devices at home, none of them ever did it. My mio P350 sometimes even looses the signal outdoors. But this thing never lost a signal. The main drawback is that the HR strap must be really wet before it reads your BPM correctly. And I also don't like the attached PC software. But for the price, it's doing much more than I have expected. A friend just got his Polar for the same money, and he doesn't even have a GPS... | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-10 | | Accurate,User friendly and Fun | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have been using the Garmin Edge 305 for the past month for mountain biking, riding 3-4 days a week on average and have used it on a gruelling 3 day 150 km trip. I find it a great training tool for mountain biking. Easy to set up and use. Accurate for all parameters except calories. The Motion Based software is simple to use, fun, and a great way to share workouts with riding buddies, borrow courses from others and review workouts visually and physiologically . It would be nice if it would be possible to share the info from Garmin Training Center software as well. My only regret is not having purchased the device earlier. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-09-03 | | Nice unit, poor software [Roadie perspective] | 4 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Despite a large number of user and site reviews to the contrary I believe this item is let down by poor software design and quality. The Edge products are something of a 'hook' item in that they are sufficiently crippled out of the box to require subscription to online services or other products. Having used the unit for about 3000km now I think I can offer some addition perspective to what is already out there... Don't get me wrong the concept of a GPS based cycle computer is great - I regularly and easily swap it between the bikes I frequently use without wires or calibration. The unit feature set is also pretty comprehensive, in fact one has to be quite judicious in display setup options so as not be overwhelmed by data. The GPS chip is plenty good for road, quick(ish) acquisition and tracking sufficient for speedo accuracy etc. With the good stuff out of the way... But - and for me this is considerable but - the unit firmware is flakey (you will have to figure out how to do a soft reset as the unit will freeze up on you), and the Training Center software is even worse. Here come the hooks, for me (in NZ) the basemaps included for course planning are practically useless (though there is a way to create your basemaps own if you have the time and data), the cost of correcting this the Garmin way is horrendous [h1]. A great alternative, however exists in MapMyRide (though you don't get to insert course waypoints). But you still have to resolve the following... Getting data in and out of the unit becomes more problematic over time, in fact I have installed Training Center on 3 separate PCs (all of the XP variety) and all of them stopped receiving data from the GPS with an error sooner or later. Sometimes they would receive sometimes they wouldn't - final resolution was a complete uninstall (AND manual user dir delete). The alternative is use of the MotionBased site, (2) though paid subscription is required [h2] for a full suite of services. An alternative exists again in the form of SportTracks, a great donorware piece of software (no affiliation). Other minor gripes include the usual - HRM interference, at times poor barometric related elevation performance - especially in the wet [don't even think about it in heavy rain]. GPS related gripes - the Course following option is a little flakey if created via software as opposed to ride history. Lapped or complex courses (retracing sections) also problematic - a moving snake option highlighting the current, say 1km, section of the course would alleviate this somewhat though. Finally you'd think you would be able to 1. insert an autolap point on a course *before* you rode it (like a lapping waypoint), and 2. insert more than one autolap points. But no, you cannot achieve either of these with the 305 Edge. In summary, yes the Edge 305 is full featured and bloody convenient for multiple bikes. After you get the unit turned on, the on bike features even work pretty well. The great letdown comes when you want to download, analyse and share all that data you collected out on the road, or heaven forbid do some planning before you hit the road to take advantage of a GPS platform. If you are prepared for multiple workarounds on the SW side of things the Edge 305 is still a great option, if not its power (and potential) is wasted and you'd be better off with a Polar or similar speedo. Edge 305 Firmware 3.20 Training Center Version 3.2.3 Hope this helps. Ron ps. I wouldn't even think of dropping money on an Edge 605/705 until these SW issues are sorted. More bug testers and actual cyclists involved in the next edition please Garmin. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 4 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-08-23 | | Just Works! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | So far no problems with the unit after a month or so of use. No satellite drops, unit functions superbly. Here in New Mexico we do have more open space, so maybe that contributes to the stability of satellite connection. May add the cadence module at a later date, but for right now it's good. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-08-22 | | Ingenious device | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | The thing I like most about this product is that you can configure the display just about any way you'd want to see it. Most cyclometers don't allow this kind of customization. Another thing I like is that through the motionbased.com web site you can upload your workouts to Google maps or Google earth. Excellent for bike riders that want to share routes with others. One last thing: I have had other wireless cyclometers that pick up interference from other sources, and this ends up skewing your results, making it look like you've ridden much faster than you ever really could. This has happened to me frequently with Polar and Cat-eye devices, and it can be very frustrating. The Garmin has NEVER done this! There are other features that are fun to use, like the Virtual Partner, which allows you to race against a course you've previously ridden. The Garmin points you in the right direction all along the way and allows you to see your progress against the time you set for the course. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-07-27 | | Flexible bike training tool | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Very flexible data display. Computer-side software (PC & Mac) could use some work. Ships with PC only software, but slightly less functional Mac software can be downloaded. Almost everything worked great on my ride up 10,000 foot Haleakala on Maui (really), but the "percent grade" number fluctuates too much when you're going up hill at low speed (like when your at 9,000 feet and feeling the altitude). Battery life adequate but not great. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-07-26 | | Read all the Reviews | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I read all the reviews on Amazon and then purchased an Edge 305. I have been using it for about 1 month now and can say I love it. I used it overseas(all across France and Italy)with a compatible course creating software ([...])and can confirm it's a great bit of kit to navigate around with. Used it on the bike and in the car and it's great. It has all the data you could want for training etc, but the software is a little less mature than the Polar stuff. I did have it lock onto the start point of a course and refuse to drop the start point despite what course I was on, simply reloaded the software on the GPS (easy if you use their web update software). It's not the greatest every day speedo as you have to charge it and it's far too high powered for the daily commute. Update Feb 08. My Garmin Edge got water in it whilst riding in the rain at low speed. This is the reply from Garmin Warranty Dept. What a Joke. How can they claim IPX-7 Rating then write this. Quote Thank you for contacting Garmin International. Ipx-7 rated means the device have been submerged in one meter of still water for up to 30 minutes. Please keep in mind the water was still and did not have a current to it. Current created by rain, swimming, or showering with the device may cause the casing of the device to leak in water. Using the device in water related applications will void your manufactures warranty. In the Forerunner manual it is suggested a triathlete can take advantage of the Forerunner's multi-sport workouts. However, although a triathlon is usually long-distance swimming, bicycling, and running; a triathlon is not limited to these activities only and it is not recommended these units be used for swimming. Unqoute. Be warned it's not waterproof in the rain on a bike. Make your own judgement on Gramin's ethics around this claim. They offered to split the bill for repair......
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-05-06 | | Garmin 305 Review | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Works great, with a few minor notes: 1. heart rate monitor battery was dead after first use. Was giving erratic readouts, which was due to the bad battery. 2. Garmin needs to get rid of the Adobe SGV Viewer application since it did not load properly on my Windows XP w/Explorer. Garmin has indicated that a SW update will soon correct this and remove the need for the SGV Viewer. Most key functionality was still present without this, and it only applied to the MotionBased application. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-10 | | garmin 305 for mac, almost | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Great gizmo, except for that you can't update firmware from a Mac (yet). It should be noted that the GPS software on the device is a little old, (it was purchased 3/07) but seems to work just fine. I'm not sure what the newer versions provide. The device works as advertised. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-01 | | The holy grail of bike computers | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I've owned this unit for about six months now, and I must say that this unit has everything I want in a cycling computer. I got the heart-reate combo unit and since then I've bought the cadence indicator too. Setting it up is simple and plug and play in the computer works like a charm. The unit comes with a cD with Garmin's Training Center software. Caveat: This is for biking only, if you're interested in a MultiSport device, check out the Garmin ForeRunner series. [...] | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-03-12 | | Excellent tool for training | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | The Edge 305HR is an excellent tool for Mountain Bike training. There are no wires to get caught on things and nothing to install on the fork or wheel. Only negative was my heart rate monitor was shipped with a dead battery. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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