Van Rysel Cyclometer GPS 100

Decathlon's Van Rysel Cyclometer GPS 100 is a decent GPS ride-logger, but it can't compete with the best cycling computers even at the budget end of the market – its lack of features stops it being a good choice compared with its rivals.

The Cyclometer GPS 100 displays your ride data in two sections of its screen. The top one always displays your current speed, while the lower cycles between ride distance, ride time, average speed, maximum speed, heart rate, calories and time of day. With the computer paused you can also display average heart rate, maximum heart rate and total distance.

To switch between screens you reach under the body of the Cyclometer GPS 100 to one of two switches that cycle forwards and backwards through the options. It's not as fiddly as it sounds, but it's really quite odd.

To get your data off the Cyclometer GPS 100 you can just plug it into a computer. It appears as a drive and you can do whatever you like with the file from there: upload it to Strava or another ride-recording site, whatever floats your boat.

Alternatively, you can use the Decathlon Connect phone app over Bluetooth and it'll upload your ride automatically to one or multiple sites.

It's all quite straightforward and, as you can see here, the GPS tracking bears comparison with Garmin's, though it's nowhere near as quick to get a lock on satellites. This is a GPS to turn on and then do your pre-ride faffing while it figures out where it is.

The purple line is a Garmin Edge 1030 Plus, the blue line is the GPS 100, and this was the point where they diverged most on this ride. For the most part, though, you can't tell them apart so when it comes to ride-recording there's no important difference here.

Connectivity

However, the Cyclometer GPS 100's biggest drawback compared with other budget GPS computers is its limited connectivity. The only external sensors it works with are Bluetooth heart rate devices. It won't pick up your power meter, cadence sensor, your gears or even a simple speed sensor. I tried; it just can't tell they're there, and there's no provision in the settings to detect anything but heart rate.

And while it can pair with a heart rate monitor, I initially found that I had to pair it again every time I used it. I checked in with Decathlon to see if this was how it was supposed to behave and two weeks later got a reply suggesting I reset the device by turning it off then pressing the + and main buttons. That solved the problem, and it now remembers my heart rate sensor.

Mount

To mount the Cyclometer GPS 100 on your bike, Decathlon includes a quarter-turn mount that appears to be a Bryton mount. It doesn't actually tell you this anywhere that I've been able to find; you have to work it out from the 'b' in the middle of the mount.

There's no manual, just a single-sheet pictorial quickstart guide. It's surprisingly clear, actually, and after a couple minutes of following instructions and pressing buttons I got over my initial mild irritation at not getting more extensive documentation.

If you do need more, Decathlon has a pretty comprehensive FAQ – I needed this to find out how to get data out of Decathlon Connect to Strava as it's really not obvious.

A couple of other things are missing: there's no backlight for riding after dark, and you have to set the time yourself whereas most other GPS units can pick it up from the satellite signals. After all, time, measured with extreme precision by the atomic clocks on the satellites, is the basis of satellite position and navigation systems. It's surely something a GPS computer should be able to work out for itself.

On the plus side, battery life is decent. Decathlon claims 16 hours and that's about what I saw in use.

Value

It's the cheapest GPS computer we've reviewed, less than the £50 Coospo BC107 that I tested in the summer, the £65 Bryton Rider 15E Neo (reviewed last year) or, if you want something a bit more quirky, the Beeline Velo 2 (up from £80 to £99.99 since George tested it just a couple of months ago). However, all three of those computers offer functions that the Van Rysel Cyclocomputer 100 lacks.

The CooSpo BC107 is currently £49.99 on Amazon but has been as cheap as £40. It has a backlight, works with ANT+ sensors including power, fits Garmin quarter-turn mounts and comes with an out-front mount.

To be blunt, I can't see any reason to buy the GPS 100 instead, unless being able to download your ride files by simple USB data transfer is really important to you.

Who should buy the Van Rysel Cyclometer GPS 100?

Anyone who wants a cheap, simple ride-logging GPS bike computer and who doesn't want to use anything but a heart rate monitor with it. Otherwise, buy a CooSpo BC107.

Verdict

A poor effort, even if it is cheap