Cyclocomputers for Dummies

cycle computer

In the days before every vendor let let every customer (and, for that matter, non-customer) post product reviews on their websites, there were sites where a prolific product reviewer could bring in a few dollars a month by posting reviews of whatever product they happened to have used (or just seen) lately. There were sites like Viewpoints, Epinions, Ciao, and others. These days, most of the sites are dead or dying, having been slammed by Google's anti-content farm Panda update several years ago. That news hasn't reached some folks, yet; so they're still merrily plugging away. Sadly, the ones who haven't gotten the message are often the ones who drove review sites into the ground with poor-quality and even faked reviews – content like "Pedometer for Bike Riding" posted to DailyTwoCents.com¹ by someone claiming to be Wwkeen.

Right away, the Antisocial Network researcher who spotted this recognized it for the rubbish it is. Why? It's simple: the word "pedometer" means "step counter," which makes absolutely no sense when applied to a bicycle. Keen himself (herself? who knows?) even alludes to this by saying,

"I have participated in several tour biking events and a biking computer or pedometer is definitely a great device that you should mount on your bike."

A "biking computer" -- apparently the device Keen keeps calling "a cycling pedometer" -- is better known as a cyclometer or cyclocomputer. Keen accidentally uses the correct terminology when recommending his/her favorite, the ATECH MCX235 Double Wireless Cycle Computer Cyclometer. Of course, Keen continues to babble about pedometers, even going so far as to inform the reader that "You actually can track health activities in a log and monitor what been achieved during the day. When you ride for long distances,  it’s good to track how much distance, what you heart beat rate and the maximum speed that you had reach." Well, yes, part of a healthy lifestyle is to keep track of your activities; but you can't monitor your heart rate with this computer and, despite what Keen implies, it has no upload capability. You'd have to log your stats manually.

Ww informs readers that this device 

"[...is] a  computer device specially designed  that includes several features such as speedometer, odometer, auto trip stop watch and calorie calculator."

...which is little different from any other bike computer at this price point. Keen doesn't, by the way, mention why it's called a "double" computer. The reason is that the MCX235 has two sensors, one for speed and one for cadence. We wonder if the writer knows what "cadence" means in this context...

We can't tell for certain that this is a fake review, at least in part because Keen doesn't actually include any details about his/her experience using the Atech. That's usually a dead giveaway, though, especially when combined with the author's overall output; most of which is entitled some variation on "best wearable fitness tech..." Like this "review," those posts include no details of usage, just partial lists of features. We think that's crap, and that's why we've designated Keen as the lucky recipient of today's Dumbass of the Day award.

¹ This website name is now owned by a different company, but you can see the original post using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   dailytwocents.com/pedometer-for-bike-riding/

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