I ordered a Lezyne Mega XL yesterday after reviewing my BWR data and seeing that there were too many dropped points from using my Garmin. Folks on a few other forums have given them praise and the CyclingTips review was positive enough to warrant the risk. I’m happy to report back after I have it for a week or so.
I bought a Mega C last fall and have been very satisfied with it. Navigation is extremely good. Screen setup and clarity no problem. I’m coming from a Garmin 510 which imploded on me, which was fine because I wasn’t happy with it. File uploads are slow (my only complaint) because they go through BLE (I think that is the reason).
I like the ability to download offline maps (just like Android/Google maps) of the area you are travelling to. Turn directions on tcx files were extremely accurate. Garmin I would miss turns, not here. Routing you can do from your phone or download routes. I would definitely buy again and don’t miss Garmin.
The turn by turn nav. on my Garmin is horrible. I went back and forth with Garmin support for 2 months. Basically, If the angle of the turn is not at a specific angle it’s considered “Same Road”, so, forks in the road or a slight bend onto a new road you a 50/50 shot that you will get a turn notification. I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with the “off course” message.
I’m looking at the Lezyne as well. I’m also looking at the (yet to be released) Stages Dash M50 unit. Looks promising for $250.
FWIW, I have had no issues so far with the previous gen Lezyne Macro. The HRM is a bit flaky but the head unit is solid. I would expect the new gen Megas to be as good or better. Much better value than the two “big” names
Thanks for the interest! It looks like you’re already getting some good feedback from here but if there’s anything you’d like further clarification on or if you can’t seem to find an answer, don’t hesitate to reach out to our main customer service channel Support.Lezyne.com. We check some forum activity from time to time, but our support website is the best way to get in direct contact with our team (If you’re looking for inside support, that is).
Great! Thank you.
One of the things I am digging more is how slow it is to transfer maps to the headset and how slow it is to upload long rides to third parties, such as Strava. Apparently it’s got to do with the BTLE…
Have a coulple of riding mates using old models, and they have no complaints on the overall functionality.
Sometimes they say they cannot sync a ride, but after doing a firmware update, it goes through without issues.
Anyways, still doing more research…
As far as data transfer is concerned, there are a LOT of different factors which affect the speed (1 Second vs. Adaptive GPS recording, sensors used, navigation, as well as size and complexity when it comes to offline map transfer, to name a few…) so it’s very difficult to say exactly how long a transfer might take. In my own personal testing, the largest and most-complex map I could transfer here in California still took less than 5 minutes and long “rides” (commuting to the office, leaving the GPS recording on during the work day, and commuting home - 9.5ish hours) would only take a few minutes at the most to upload and auto-sync to TrianingPeaks/Strava/etc.
Finally, the firmware (And app version) is the most important thing to keep up to date. We conduct GPS testing basically 24 hours a day from our headquarters in California and our factory in Taiwan and we are constantly making small fixes for the ever-changing phone updates, Bluetooth changes, OS changes, etc.
hi, do Lezyne have any update on the bluetooth approach used or connectivity issues that users keep raising? if you go to the lezyne app Ally 2 in google play store, the feedback from users is not very promising, and the only area that keeps popping up is the connectivity/bluetooth. I am hoping that this is only a low number of user who are rightly frustrated with the gadget.
As much as I hate to admit it, I never had any issues with Bluetooth and iPhone (5s). It paired and uploaded rides, notifications without any issues - open the app and go. Android has been more of an issue. It wasn’t nearly as seamless but seems to be better now. It used to have to be re-paired nearly every time but now I just open the app turn on scanning and it connects.
The app itself isn’t particularly useful as a tool. Since I have the Macro, I only uploaded a route once (difficult to create and not very useful) but it did what it was supposed to do. I mostly use it to log rides and conduit to Strava/TrainerRoad.
Now @Lezyne if you could tell me why my Lezyne HRM stops updating and/or drops out after ~1hr - 1hr15m while training on TR, that would be nice. My cheap Megane HRM is flawless
Mega C user here. I have never had any connectivity issues, my only issue was the length of time it took to update the ride from the GPS unit to my phone. A 3 hour ride would take approximately 1 to 2 minutes to update. Once you are aware of the time it takes to transfer, the data, you just accept it and deal with it. It is not a game breaker in my mind.
Transfering data in the other direction, you can transfer routes to the GPS either through BLE with your phone or with the GPS plugged into your PC. This transfer only took 10 to 20 seconds.
I use a 4iiii PM and a Garmin HR strap and have not had any drop outs or loss of GPS signal in the 15 or 20 rides I have used it.
I had a Lezyne Mega C and I eventually jumped to a Wahoo Bolt. The Lezyne just didn’t have the UI ease and support Wahoo has.
I couldn’t ever get the maps and routing work that well, and I would need to constantly update routes and starred segments via the website instead of having it just pull from wifi/RideWithGPS which is a baller feature the Wahoo has.
The uploading to Strava etc was also never consistent.
I have had the Mega XL for about two months now coming from a Garmin 500.
Overall I like the device and after finding it NIB for $140 on ebay it was the best deal available.
What I like:
It has bike profiles so I have one for my TT bike and one for my Road bike.
Connects to all my sensors
Big display to make it easy to read numbers
In general navigation works well
Setting a destination on my phone and then biking worked well when I was in a new city and needed to get around
Battery life is incredible
Map screen is useful for judging corner tightness
Landscape view
Live track is a useful feature but requires your phone to be on you
You can put power on the navigation screen (thank you @Lezyne for getting me to the right screen)
What I don’t like:
I have to launch the Ally2 App on my phone after start up to ensure it connects to my phone
On my Aquabike race this past weekend I paired it with my PM, left it on in transition (on the menu screen) when I cam back the PM had disconnected and would not reconnect until I did a manual search while riding. (Helpdesk ticket open)
Navigating a pre-defined route doesn’t re-route to destination it reroutes back to your last point. (as an example I mapped a route, did most of the route but decided to add an extra hill, the device just kept telling me to u-turn back to the last point on the route while I did the extra hill. However once I got back onto my route at a point further along from my last point it kept me navigating again.)
In the Ally Android App the Data Field names seem to be cut off and you may have to select several until you get the one you want (Helpdesk ticket open)
I sometimes have to manually start the sync to cloud from my phone to get a ride uploaded
I can’t set landscape vs portrait view per profile, it is across the entire device.
Not as many mounting options available as Garmin
Re-routes can sometimes take some time to calculate and requires your phone connected
I haven’t tried:
Structured workouts
Strava Live Segments
Conclusion
It is not the kitchen sink of devices but it does everything you need it to do and cost significantly less than its competitors.
There was a wireless firmware update specifically for our heart rate monitors, but there are a lot factors which could be at play here. Your best bet would be to contact our customer service team via support.lezyne.com or Warranty@lezyne.com
Cheers!
This is actually by design - In this case the created route itself takes precedence over your destination. If you made a route specifically to hit a certain mileage, elevation, waypoints or otherwise, the engine will try to put you back on the route you created.
If you only select a destination and let the app suggest routes, the rerouting will be directly towards your destination
There should be a setting in your app to select 1 or 2 display fields for both the map and navigation/directions page. Please make sure your app and GPS firmware are both up to date.
If able, can you please reach out to our customer service team? It might have to do with a specific phone/android version combination, but we’d like to see it if possible.
As for the phone connection and power meter issues, there are lots of factors which may be at play - phone’s battery saver settings (which often cuts Bluetooth), power meter auto-shutoff, etc. For these issues I would highly suggest reaching out to our customer service team if we can. We are always taking level-headed feedback like this into account when testing and programming updates.
Just to throw my 2 cents in here, I had a Enhanced Super GPS (and I think the Mega has similar traits). I really liked it bunch but getting routes I created onto it was difficult. Had to export from ridewithgps and then import into the lezyne website to sync to my head unit. And even then, it seemed hit or miss. I’d sometimes get rides w/o turn by turn. Maybe that’s changed.
That being said, there’s a lot to like about the Lezyne units: price, battery life, functionality and frequent updates. Customer support from Lezyne is also unbelievable. If it weren’t for the mapping difficulties I had, I would still be using it. I just explore too much and have too many routes on ridewithgps.
In a good way, or a bad way? Customer support ‘quality’ something I’m thinking to add to my ‘user experience’ reviews… but it’s difficult when emailing them from an account/name they may recognise… hence my survey here
btw - @Lezyne I’m on a roll with head units lately. Ping me!
