Runtastic Speed and Cadence Bike Sensor with Bluetooth Smart Technology – Product Review
Let me first tell you a thing or two about my background. I am not really a “die hard” biker, and only within the last year or so have I gotten more seriously into road biking. I go on a longish weekly ride as an edition to my exercise routine. For a few years now I have been seriously tracking my exercise though, and so far I’ve only relied on GPS tracking using the alternative app called Run Keeper. This is my first experience with Runtastic – both the software and the hardware. My overall experience has been really good.
Like the other reviewers I’ve had some issues with pairing/syncing. This is the aspect of the Runtastic experience that could certainly use some improvement. However, once I had the app paired it worked really well.
Adding the sensors to my bike proved to be relatively straightforward. The short 
instructional video and the description in the box were more than adequate for this purpose. I was actually surprised how small the sensors and the transmitter were. I was initially apprehensive about leaving the sensor on the bike during the ride as I was afraid that it might slip and get into the spokes, but after a few (admittedly relatively short) bike rides so far I have not had any problems with it.
Using this sensor and the app for biking, especially during the bike ride itself (as opposed to checking the details of your ride afterwards) has been a bit of a revelation to me. Getting the accurate relevant information about your exercise routine while you are engaged in it can be a very powerful motivator, especially for the numbers-driven geek like me. It really pushed me to get the most out of my ride I think. The relevant metrics that it covered (speed, distance, etc.) that I used to get from the GPS measurements before seem to be much more accurate with this sensor/app. Now I am seriously considering using sensors to help me with my running as well.
Overall, this is a very cool little gadget that can transform your exercise routine. However, if you are not too serious about your biking it might be a bit of an overkill – just use your smartphone’s GPS tracking instead.
About the Author
Bojan Tunguz
Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts
How on earth did you manage to get the device a) activated b) working….
I have done all I can and I cannot get it to talk to my iPhone5.
Trying any support website leaves ‘page not available’ going for Runtastic website.. they are all in German. Runtastic websites is heavily geared towards the heart sensor… The documentation is very poor and do not really spell it out how to get the device going. Any ideas?