Spaced Out ::

I’ve written earlier about [tips and tricks for route planning with the Rider 450](http://www.lecturematerials.co.uk/?x=entry:entry200619-152938), so in this post I wanted to cover tips for actually using the unit on the bike. So in no particular order:

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* **Fit:** out-of-the-box the Rider 450 comes with a standard handlebar mount. It’s cheap and works well enough, but uses up valuable bar space. There are two other options worth considering: a [stem mount](https://www.amazon.co.uk/kwmobile-Bicycle-Garmin-Bryton-CatEye/dp/B07NQL5ZWX/) or [out-in-front mount](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handlebar-Adjustable-Mountain-Extender-Stopwatch/dp/B07HGQY2PN/). The former is a bit more efficient on space, but perhaps not quite so good if you are tucked down.

* **Learn the Buttons:** it goes without saying, learn how to use the unit.
* *1. Two Operating Modes:* I found it slightly counter intuitive to have two different modes. A “cycling” mode and a “settings” mode which you can switch between. The RightTop is a “start” or “OK” button depending which mode you are in, whilst the RIghtBottom is a “pause/stop” or “Back” button.
* *2. Zoom/Scroll:* the two buttons on the left are for scrolling up and lists, except when you are using the map when they zoom in and out (useful!)
* *3. Map Modes:* the BottomLeft changes between cycling mode screens. There are up to 5 data screens you can set up/switch off (in the app) which support a range of different layouts, followed by a navigating/map screen.
* *4. Power/Light:* the BottomRight is for power and light.
* *5. Reset:* the 450 has frozen twice on me now. To reset you need to hold all four side buttons and then release. It will take the GPS sometime to get satellite lock so be patient.

* **Learn the Icons:** there are a number of icons at the top and bottom of the screen. There is an efficient use of space so know that they mean as they are useful. For example, the arrows indicate if you are riding above or below the average speed.

* **Start/Stop a Ride:** be careful pausing a ride as my natural inclination is that once you pause a ride, you press the same button to start again. **But no!** That stops the ride and all the recording that goes along with it. Unless you really have to, just left the auto-pause kick in and then restart. Leave the buttons alone!

* **Laggy Screens:** all the screens are very responsive **except** for the map and data sync screens. If you load one of these, wait a few seconds for them to complete.

* **Notifications:** these are a step ahead of the competition as you can set up the app to send notifications from **any** app (not just texts). This is great, however bear in mind it is a 3-line notification that is limited to 11 characters (ish) of text per line. It shows the app, the sender’s name and the message. Anything longer that 11 characters will be truncated. This is frustrating because how hard would it be to allow the notification to fill the screen and then enable you to scroll through it? That’s any comments aside regarding how *safe* that might be to do.

* **Sensors:** the Rider 450 supports bluetooth and ANT+ sensors. I’ve fitted a cadence sensor which works flawlessly. No problems there.

* **Bugs:** so far I’ve found the following two significant bugs:
* *Distance to Go:* if you are following a route then the map page which show you distance to go to the finish. Except it overestimates this by 15-20%. Quite why I’m not sure as I know the route length from the route planning application and when I get to the end the distance is the same
* *Auto Lap By Distance:* another useful feature so you can see your splits except I can’t get the setting to sync across from the app to the Rider 450, but you can set it on the Rider 450 itself.