Saddle Up For New Bicycle Navigation
The market for smart bicycle navigation is hotting up, with newcomer Blubel tackling the more established Beeline and SmartHalo for dominance.
For cyclists, neither the complexity of a sat nav screen on the handlebars or the voice of Google Maps, through a phone linked earpiece, is ideal, so all three seek to offer a better way.
Each remembers a destination and points towards it, as the crow flies, throughout a journey.
However, Beeline (£99) is the weakest, because that is the limit of its navigating, which may not help much in a one way network! The best established is SmartHalo (£150).
It pairs with that pocket smartphone via Bluetooth and visually displays navigation instructions.
Lights on its left or right side show green on approaching a required turn.
These then flash when the junction is imminent and turn red if it is missed.
SmartHalo can also act as a security alarm, sounding if the bike is moved or shaken by anyone when not paired with its smartphone.
Mind you, that might cause some embarrassment if the phone ran out of juice mid-journey and set it off!
Bluebel (£84) is the latest, but least tried and tested of the trio.
However, being cheapest and having the best navigation approach, it may win out.
Most significantly, it also pairs via Bluetooth but uses audible signals as well as lights to give directions.
Listening for these has to be safer than looking down at the handlebars all the time.
All three base their design on that trusted piece of kit first handlebar mounted in 1877, the bell.
However, of these three products, only Blubel actually incorporates one itself.
