Value-for-money supermarket Aldi is to unleash a collection of cycling gear again this Sunday, and this time the selection includes the cheapest GPS/heart rate/altimeter watch we’ve ever seen.
Aldi GPS Unisex Watch
For just £65, the snappily-named GPS Unisex Watch features GPS navigation with waypoints; GPS distance and speed measurement; compass; backlight; altimeter; and heart rate measurement with a chest strap. It’s water-resistant to 3 atmospheres (which should mean it’s rainproof, but you wouldn’t want to go swimming in it) and has a three-year warranty.
If you’ve been toying with the idea of adding route recording to your riding, this looks like a bargain.
Aldi summer jerseys
As usual at this time of year, Aldi will also have a range of summer clothing that includes sleeveless base layers for a fiver, gloves for £3.49, and jerseys and shorts for £8.99.
Aldi shorts
If your bike needs work, you can get a basic home workshop kit for under £60 with a workstand (£30), tool kit (£20) and floor pump (£6). It’s very unlikely the quality is going to keep Park Tool awake at night, but it’ll get you started.
Other items on offer in this round of bike gear include a wireless computer for £6.99 and bike-themed t-shirts for a fiver.
Not everything is the biggest bargain possible, though. Aldi is listing 400ml cans of popular Teflon maintenance spray GT85 for £2.99, but bargain-hunters would be better off popping into their local Halfords, which is doing them for a mere £2.25.
These Aldi bike itens are part of a Special Buys collection that will be available from Sunday June 29. If previous Aldi cycling collections are anything to go buy, they’ll sell out fast, so you might want to go for a later ride this weekend and hit the store smack on 10am.
We've taken a closer look at Aldi's cycling kit before, and you always have plenty to say about it, as a browse through these stories will show. The summary is that some of it is not bad at all considering the bargain-basement prices, but you shouldn't be expecting Assos or Castelli quality.
42 thoughts on “Bargain GPS watch headlines latest Aldi cycling offers”
The workstands are excellent
The workstands are excellent – got one a couple of years ago and it’s good enough to have used it to build a bike.
VeloPeo wrote:The workstands
Agreed – I love mine
Got some mitts still going
Got some mitts still going strong after about 5 years 🙂
Got some mitts still going
Got some mitts still going strong after about 5 years 🙂
I don’t need one myself, but
I don’t need one myself, but I’d be very interested in hearing the opinion of anyone who does buy the watch. There’s no reason why GPS devices at that price shouldn’t hit the market, and whilst they aren’t yet eating Garmin’s lunch, they’re definitely looking to steal a few chips off the plate.
Looks great been interested
Looks great been interested in getting a heart rate monitor, but seem too costly. But to have them all in one device looks awesome. Big Aldi cycling fan, got most of my kit from there, cant fault any of it, especially the work stands, really solid and all the features!
I take it you could upload all the data to strava?
I doubt there is an interface
I doubt there is an interface to upload it. You could manually take the data off perhaps…
edster99 wrote:I doubt there
Product description –
When you’re done, simply connect the watch to upload the data, save your route on a map and then track your progress, and even share with friends.
Route illustration with common internet programs
Includes: Chest Strap, Bike Mount, USB Data Transfer Cable, Program for Data Evaluation and Batteries
Just an FYI, 3 atmosphere
Just an FYI, 3 atmosphere water resistance means it is resistant to about 100 feet so you should be able to swim with it.
rugbykiltman wrote:Just an
Theoretically, that is absolutely correct. (1 bar per 10m, so 3bar = 30m = 100ft. If you include the 1 bar at the surface, probably 20m = 60 ft). However, the water resistance claims on most watches are total rubbish. If you’ve ever seen dive computers you’ll realise they are built totally differently. Somewhere I have seen the spec of what the ’50m’ resistance actually means and it is basically only surface swimming.
edster99 wrote:rugbykiltman
diving into a swimming pool (and even vigorous swimming) can subject your watch to pressures of more than 3ATM fairly easily, so you do need to be a bit careful. generally 3ATM means you can wear it in the rain, or the shower, but it’s best to take it off for water pursuits.
Aussie consumer affairs shows
Aussie consumer affairs shows views on watch ‘water resistance’
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HsouCYTu7Rk
The GPS watch looks very
The GPS watch looks very similar to the Ultrasport Navrun 500 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultrasport-GPS-Navrun-500-Heart-Rate/dp/B003XII6YS). I got my wife one of these when she started running then got myself one when I started cycling. If it is the same watch it comes with GPS Master software which uses Google maps and allows data to be exported in various formats which I believe could then be uploaded to Strava (I’m ot on Strava but did have a look at it).
Beatnik69 wrote:The GPS watch
Got my daughter one in the hope I’ll get my Polar RC3 back off her and it seems a decent bit of kit. It either is the same watch or a direct copy right down to the charging/sync connector. Or possibly an over run of production of the Runtastic ones as it looks identical, right down to the very loud pink colour of the one darling daughter has. It uses GPS Master like the Ultrasport but I’ll give it a try with the runtastic sync app once it has some data on it.The GPSMaster software will export gpx files so you can import it to your favourite website no problem.
Good spot, the Ultrasport
Good spot, the Ultrasport Navrun is the watch that Runtastic adapted for their own store.
You can see the similarity to the Audi watch – https://www.runtastic.com/shop/en/runtastic-gps-watch-with-heart-rate-monitor
http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/
http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/static/watch-buyers-guide/watch_resistancy.do
The workstand is great. Big,
The workstand is great. Big, solid, heavy. But better to buy same model on ebay for <£30 incl postage, saves breaking a bungee cord trying to strap it to the bike outside Aldi!
Sport Pursuit have Garmin
Sport Pursuit have Garmin Forerunner 110 + HRM sets for £89.70… I’d pay the extra I think.
Tempted by a workstand though.
Re Garmin the blue shirt
Re Garmin the blue shirt looks familiar. 😕
Another fan of the workstand.
Another fan of the workstand. I did do a bit of looking around before buying, and for anything less than £100-odd you’re looking at only 2 or 3 legs and less stability. Make sure to check the tightness of the clamp though before gripping your carbon frame with it!
The tyre levers in the toolkit didn’t last 5 minutes though. One tyre change with a tight-fitting tyre/rim combo and that was that. Just a shame they aren’t doing a torque wrench!
Anyone any experience of the
Anyone any experience of the wirless computers? I just want some basic speed/ distance info . I am a newbie and just want to see improvement.
robert posts child
It will do the job, just be careful around traffic lights and security barriers in shops as this will cause the speed reading to spike hugely. I had one on my bike and was waiting for a friend outside a shop and was doing 33mph whilst stationary.
It’ll do the job with no
It’ll do the job with no particular fuss, seems to be the general ethos of the Aldi gear. Your phone will likely do the same via GPS too though…
I’m not so fussed about anything on offer this time round. The watch is admittedly something of a bargain, but the clothing seems a bit naff with the faux team kit look (not least the one in the blatant Garmin colours!).
I got HRMs from Aldi last
I got HRMs from Aldi last year for the wife & kids – 1 out of 4 worked. Absolute tat. I hope the GPS watch is better quality.
I too have an Ultrasport
I too have an Ultrasport Navrun, it does more than I need or want, great to track my regular circuits and monitor my fitness.
antonio wrote:I too have an
Forgot to mention, it tracks my local ten mile tt’s perfectly, reminds me constantly I must improve.
I bought the same workstand
I bought the same workstand from Aldi a few weeks ago. My bike is red and the stand is blue. So I had to buy an R3 to match.
Damnit. Could have saved a fortune by just waiting.
A watch of 3atm/30m water
A watch of 3atm/30m water resistance will withstand “splashes and brief immersion” ie you can wear it in the shower but it is not suitable for swimming. a 5atm/50m watch is suitable for swimming.
Id recommend the Garmin
Id recommend the Garmin Forerunner 10 over this supposed cheap option from Aldi,the Garmin is only 10pound extra and looks nicer,has a better display,very easy to use and uploads to Strava with no niggles or problems
I would be very hesitant before i spent 65 on this one
As for the cycling gear,i found the last shorts i bought from Aldi to have a very stretchy material although the padding was comfortable for longer rides,the shirt was fine though
I dont understand some of the typical snobbish comments about the faux Garmin colours though,its fine if you are on a budget
Rich71 wrote:Id recommend the
You can now find the Garmin 10 at a good discount, but no HRM, and as it doesn’t have ANT+ you can’t add one.
NOtice how the shorts are
NOtice how the shorts are loose at the hem… yikes
Cooks wrote:NOtice how the
I must have big legs!
Actually the bike stand is
Actually the bike stand is not that strong and stable. Mine (Lidl but the same) broke within a week. I fixed it and it’s still going. It’s fine as long as you treat it with a bit of care but not as sturdy as Park, Edinburgh bike co-op etc. Also no good for a Brompton, they are too tail heavy and the clamp is not strong enough to hold it horizontal. Don’t let that stop you buying one, just don’t expect too much of it.
horizontal dropout
Sure it isn’t a Park or similar but mine does the job fine and seems very well built, plus it has a 3 year warranty so if it does break it will be fixed/replaced!
Does it tell the time?
Does it tell the time?
The Aldi or the Garmin 10.
The Aldi or the Garmin 10. The Aldi one does. In fact it can show dual times.
Just noticed they also have a
Just noticed they also have a toolkit on there.
Are they any good?
Only asking as stepson keeps on nicking my tools!!
freespirit1 wrote:Just
The tool kit I bought a couple of years back was so so quality, some stuff great, some not so, but provided a good cheap base having now replaced a couple of things.
I bought one of the Pro
I bought one of the Pro series jerseys last time and it was a nice fit – it lasted about 3 months and then the zip broke and then the reflective stripes began falling off and then the rear pocket gave way leaving my pump and spare inner bouncing down the road.
None of my DHB or Castelli stuffs ever let me down, so I shan’t try saving money again cause you have to pay for quality.
I notice on that Special Buys
I notice on that Special Buys page they’re selling something called SPF15/SPF30 Clear Spray. Can anyone tell me which part of the bike you’re supposed to apply it to…?
Apply directly to the engine
Apply directly to the engine on warm days to prevent mechanical problems later.
Well the Runtastic connect
Well the Runtastic connect app sees there is a watch there but says “invalid watch connected” so I guess the Aldi one is just missing a line of code in the connection process that says “hello I am a Runtastic watch serial number XXXXXX”.
Slight problem installing the GPSMaster software on my Mac as for some reason it installs with permissions set so no one can access the folder containing the application, not very useful! Easy enough to fix once I’d worked out what was happening (right click the folder and select ‘get info’ unlock the get info panel by clicking the padlock icon at the bottom and entering your admin ID and password then change the no one to everyone RW) but a little sloppy of Aldi’s developers!
GPS Master is a bit old fashioned looking but downloads the data fine and exports gpx files so dead easy to read the data into whatever website or software you like best.