Bryton Rider 40

You can create your own courses on Brytonsport, or download shared courses if you’re visiting a new area. I did this on a family trip and found a route nearby. It’s nice to be able to use a bit of local, virtual knowledge. It also helped me out on a sportive when signs had gone missing from the route. A quick check on the “breadcrumbs” soon had me back in time for a gold time.

There are loads of public tracks that you can download

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing, the Rider 40 did throw up a couple of problems. The unit sometimes loses lock on a route, which can be a problem if you haven’t checked the route beforehand and are riding in an area you don’t know. I had this happen a few times, Bryton suggested making sure that the unit had a good signal lock before setting off, but even with a signal it would lose it. This didn’t happen every ride and would only last for 10-15 minutes, but if you were absolutely depending on your GPS to get you home then it would be an issue… And of course any data from that section would be lost.

Recording from a sportive, if you look at the 50-60km area you’ll see a flat spot where the Rider 40 lost lock for a short period

The other problem I came across was the unit freezing completely. Emailing both Zyro and Bryton had me downloading software resets, which can be done via the BrytonSport website. Unfortunately this failed to work and eventually a replacement unit was sent out. Obviously this is a major problem, but distributors Zyro were quick and efficient when it came to dealing with the faulty unit. This kind of problem happens when dealing with high tech items but as long as the service that was offered by Zyro is available then, although an inconvenience, it’s not the end; and the new unit has performed faultlessly.

But at the end of the test period the Bryton Rider 40 has me taking it out on every ride, whether to record my training or as a route finder. The GPS lock problem remains an issue, but if I want a full fat navigation tool, then I’ll look at the larger Rider 60 which goes as far as to offer a 3-inch colour screen and turn-by-turn voice route guidance.

As a training aid, it’s on the turbo that the Bryton Rider 40 really shines; it makes every session worthwhile where before, if I was to be honest, the workrate was less than 100%…

 
 
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BrytonSport Website

Zyro Website