Key Takeaways
- The Coros Dura bike pc guarantees 120-hour battery life with photo voltaic charging for an additional 2 hours.
- It options dual-frequency GPS navigation, security instruments, and a few Coros coaching assets.
- Priced at $250, Dura has a easy interface, however has some kinks Coros must work out.
Bike computers are important components of great cyclists’ kits. They collect essential journey information like velocity and distance (and extra should you pair an influence meter) and supply navigation instruments proper in entrance of you throughout a journey. Though other companies make bike computer systems, Garmin has dominated the sphere for a while. The tides look like shifting, although, with a brand new participant becoming a member of the sport.
Coros has lengthy been recognized for its extremely succesful health watches, that are generally seen as a extra budget-friendly model of Garmin units. However past its watches and an armband heart rate monitor, the corporate’s product choices stopped there. Now, nonetheless, Coros has entered the bike pc realm for the primary time with the discharge of the Dura.
The Dura is a motorbike pc constructed for lengthy days. It options dual-frequency GPS navigation, an IP67 ranking, and security options. Nevertheless, probably the most noteworthy characteristic of the Dura is the promised 120 consecutive hours of battery life with GPS mode on a single cost or 70 hours with dual-frequency GPS. You’ll additionally get an added enhance from a photo voltaic panel, however extra on that later. Additionally spectacular is the low worth of the Dura. It’s priced at simply $250, which may be very reasonably priced for a head unit.
Coros despatched over the Dura to check out, and whereas I’ve solely had an opportunity to go on a handful of rides up to now, which had been totally on the BETA firmware, I’m very proud of this new bike pc total. It actually wants some enhancements, however a lot of these are already coming with firmware updates.
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Coros Dura
The Coros Dura is a motorbike pc constructed for critical adventures. It guarantees 120 hours of battery life on a single cost and encompasses a photo voltaic panel that may add as much as two hours of extra battery life with one hour of correct photo voltaic charging. Past that, it provides strong navigational instruments, the Coros coaching platform, and an easy-to-use interface that will help you get probably the most out of your rides.
- Promised battery life is impressively lengthy
- Photo voltaic panel offers additional battery life in sunny situations
- Simple to make use of with touchscreen or buttons and dial
- Distinctive space-ship-like design
- Very reasonably priced for what you get
- Correct distance and velocity information
- Photo voltaic charging data is barely offered in journey summaries
- Most options and settings are solely accessible within the Coros app or Coros internet platform
- Restricted biking exercises and coaching plans proper now
- Bugs to exercise
- No road names on maps
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Worth, availability, and specs
The Coros Dura is on the market for buy now for $250, although it gained’t start transport till July 15.
What I favored concerning the Coros Dura
A easy but highly effective interface with loads of battery life
Coros stated that when it got down to make this bike pc, the aim was to make one thing simple to make use of. Certainly, they achieved simply that. Navigation on the Dura is straightforward and intuitive. You’ll be able to swipe and faucet the touchscreen or use the dial and button on the facet. The choices on the Dura are restricted, with six totally different journey sorts, entry to notifications, exercise information, navigation, and some settings. There’s actually no getting simply overwhelmed with all of the totally different menus or settings on this head unit.
Navigation on the Dura is straightforward and intuitive.
Whereas the design of the Coros doesn’t essentially add to the performance, I do admire that the corporate went with one thing extra distinctive as a substitute of the usual rectangular format of all different head items. It feels contemporary and totally different, which is sweet. The included out-front mount truly provides to the fashion as nicely, although, sadly, it’s too small for my handlebars. Talking of mounts, Coros caught with the generally used quarter-turn mount, which means it’s appropriate with different head unit mounts.
The Dura’s battery life is unquestionably its major promoting level. As talked about, it’s able to as much as 120 hours of life, relying in your settings. For comparability, Garmin’s top-end Edge 1040 Photo voltaic provides 70 hours of life in battery saver mode (GPS with velocity and cadence information) or 35 hours of battery life in probably the most demanding use instances. That’s a big distinction, making the Dura the higher alternative for lengthy adventures like bikepacking journeys.
In case 120 hours of life isn’t sufficient, the Dura additionally encompasses a photo voltaic panel to increase battery life by as much as two hours with only one hour from photo voltaic charging. In accordance with Coros, “this permits for uninterrupted multi-month steady use in optimum situations with out ever needing to take the top unit off your bike.” Once more, as a comparability, Garmin’s Edge 1040 Photo voltaic guarantees a photo voltaic battery enhance of 42 minutes per hour in battery saver mode and as much as 20 minutes per hour in demanding use instances. A few of that distinction is probably going as a consequence of the truth that the Dura makes use of a photo voltaic panel that’s separate from the show, whereas the Garmin makes use of Energy Glass for photo voltaic charging.
I haven’t been utilizing the Dura lengthy sufficient to actually take a look at battery life or how efficient the photo voltaic charging is. The Dura does let you know how a lot battery you burned via and what the photo voltaic enhance was on the finish of every exercise, however for a few of my rides on a pre-release firmware model, these numbers weren’t correct. I am wanting to see if and the way the battery life and photo voltaic charging reside as much as the promised numbers, particularly dwelling within the Sunshine State, and I plan to revisit this assessment as soon as I’ve had extra time with the Dura.
What I did not like concerning the Coros Dura
New system woes
Whereas the straightforward design is simple to make use of, it’s also moderately limiting. Most settings and options require you to make use of the app and even the Coros web site. There aren’t many settings which you could entry on the system itself and even typically. There additionally isn’t a ton of knowledge offered on the system. If you need your total coaching stats and standing, you’ll have to open the app, because it isn’t seen on the Dura. If you wish to add coaching plans or exercises, you’ll want a mix of the app and the Coros web site, which is a moderately clunky expertise.
One characteristic I might like to see Coros add is extra visibility to the standing of photo voltaic charging. The exercise abstract after a journey on the Dura will let you know battery consumption and photo voltaic acquire, however that data shouldn’t be accessible within the exercise abstract within the app. There’s additionally no real-time standing bar of photo voltaic charging on the Dura, so you may’t get a way of how a lot of a lift it’s getting throughout a journey. Whereas this doesn’t essentially change something (it’s not like you may simply add extra solar), I get pleasure from getting access to that on different photo voltaic units that I take advantage of.
A much bigger problem with the Dura is navigation. You see, the Dura does not help on-device rerouting like different computer systems in its class.
A much bigger problem with the Dura is navigation. You see, the Dura does not help on-device rerouting like different computer systems in its class. As a substitute, it depends on the Coros app and a mobile or Wi-Fi connection, which implies it must sync earlier than you get your up to date route. The seconds it takes to sync may imply you miss the following flip you want. Plus, reliance on a mobile connection is not ultimate for backcountry settings, which is the place many Dura customers will need to take the system. On prime of rerouting points, there aren’t any street names on the maps and no POIs, both. that would make navigation even tougher in sure conditions.
My different major criticism with Dura issues the Coros platform as a complete. Whereas coaching plans and exercises can be found, they aren’t adaptive to the information you gather throughout exercises. Additionally, since Coros is new to the biking neighborhood, there are only some cycling-specific exercises proper now. Extra will definitely be added, however if you would like entry to biking coaching proper off the bat, you’ll need to wait to put money into the Dura.
Must you purchase the Coros Dura?
In case you are available in the market for a easy, easy-to-use bike pc for lengthy adventures, sure, you completely should purchase the Coros Dura. Likewise, when you have a Coros watch and need to stick with the Coros interface on your biking, the Dura can be nice for you. With its very affordable worth, nice battery life, and correct GPS information, the Dura is a good alternative for a lot of who merely need to get on the market and journey.
Should you aren’t interested by being a guinea pig for Coros to work out the kinks, it’s best to wait or go together with a special, extra well-established possibility.
Nevertheless, whereas the straightforward interface actually makes it simple to make use of, it might be too restricted for some. Additionally, the Coros platform isn’t as strong with regards to coaching instruments. For instance, as of proper now, there are only some biking exercises and it completely lacks adaptive coaching plans. So, should you’re hoping to have a free digital coach on the entrance of your bike, the Dura isn’t the best choice. Lastly, as it is a completely new product for Coros, there are fairly just a few issues to fine-tune. That is considerably to be anticipated, however should you aren’t interested by being a guinea pig for Coros to work out the kinks, it’s best to wait or go together with a special, extra well-established possibility.
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Coros Dura
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