New Cateye Padrone Smart computer pairs with your smartphone

Carry a smartphone with you as well as a bar-mounted GPS and you are travelling with two GPS-enabled devices.

The new Cateye Padrone Smart bike computer pairs with your phone using Bluetooth and displays GPS data from it on the computer’s screen. This means that you can keep your phone in your pocket or pack but still track where you’ve been and see ride data displayed on your bars.

The technology was launched last year in the 47mm x 32mm, 17 gram Strada Smart, but has now been extended to the larger Padrone Smart. At 68mm x 43mm and only 16mm deep it has the largest display in Cateye’s range, for those who find miniature text hard to read whilst riding.

Not having a GPS chip on-board, it is powered by a single button cell and is very light at 30 grams. Battery life is claimed at 4 months.

As well as distance, speed and altitude data transmitted from the phone, the Cateye also show alerts when you receive a text, call or e-mail.

The computer will also pair with Bluetooth speed, heart rate, cadence and power sensors to display additional data. It can record this data independently of the phone if you want to avoid carrying it, for example in a race or wet conditions.

>>> GPS Buyer's Guide

If working without a phone, the ride summary data can be sent to your phone post-ride, although of course it won’t include your route, but will include distance if you have used a Bluetooth speed sensor.

Ride data can be uploaded from your phone to Strava, TrainingPeaks or CateyeAtlas for analysis. You need to install the Cateye cycling app to your iPhone or Android smartphone to get connectivity. Note, however, that Cateye has published a fairly short list of phones on which the app has been confirmed to work.

The Cateye Smart is available in the UK for £79.99 for the computer alone, packaged with a Bluetooth speed/cadence sensor for £124.99 or with the speed/cadence sensor and a heart rate strap for £179.99.