Coospo BC107 GPS Bike Computer

The Coospo BC107 is a very tidy and extremely well-priced GPS bike computer. It's cheap but by no means nasty, and by keeping things simple Coospo has made it very straightforward to use.

For a mere 50 quid you get a basic set of GPS bike computer functions including altitude, gradient, and calorie calculation, as well as the basics like speed and distance. Unlike some budget computers it's compatible with ANT+ sensors (though not Bluetooth accessories – Bluetooth is only used to communicate with your phone) and power meters so with a budget single-sided crank power sensor like a 4iiii Shimano 105 you can be training with power for less than £300.

> Buy now: Coospo BC107 for £39.49 from Amazon

Best of all it's straightforward to use and accurate. It found my various sensors easily and it's quick to find satellites, getting a fix well within the window I like to call 'pre-ride faffing about'.

When you hit the start button you get a three-second countdown before it starts recording, which is kinda cute. Once under way you can switch between three screens, showing current data, averages and maximums. There's a lot of information on display here and no way to simplify or customise it. More expensive GPS computers have displays you can tailor, but the key there is 'more expensive'; here you get the information you get, and that's it.

Coospo has done a decent job of prioritising the data by size. Speed is shown in nice big letters, time of day in tiny ones; other data is presented in sizes in between.

The BC107 gets its location data from the original US GPS satellite constellation and China's BeiDou system. More expensive computers also use additional global navigation satellite systems such as Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo as well, which is claimed to increase accuracy.

Here's a comparison of the BC107's GPS trace in red, with the data from my Garmin Edge 1030 Plus in blue.

As you can see they're close as makes no difference.

To get your ride data off the Coospo BC107 you use the CoospoRide app to transfer it to your phone and then via Bluetooth to a Mac or PC, or straight to Strava. However, while the BC107 speaks Bluetooth to your phone, it'll only receive data from ANT+ sensors; not a big deal as Bluetooth-only sensors are uncommon.

If you download to your desktop or laptop it's a .fit file (as produced by Garmin devices) which you can then upload to the ride-logging site of your choice or chuck it in Golden Cheetah. You can even upload it to Garmin Connect.

Looking at the .fit files the BC107 produces, it logs data once per second. There's no setting to change this to conserve memory, and you have to manage the BC107's 8MB of on-board memory yourself. The app shows you how much memory you've used. I found it used about 2B/minute, so there's capacity for about 60 hours of riding (Coospo claims 80).

File transfer worked seamlessly with my iPhone 7, iPhone 12 Pro and MacBook Air, though it's not automatic. With a Garmin device you stop recording and save your ride and the rest happens automatically. You have to manually hit 'sync' in CoospoRide, though you can set it up to automatically lob your ride to Strava once that's done.

The included mounts – one out-front, one directly mounted on the handlebar – are clones of Garmin quarter-turn mounts, so you've access to a huge range of aftermarket mounts. It's rather nice to get an out-front mount with a £50 GPS; it's not something you'll find in the box with some base model GPS units.

Annoyances are minor. Despite it having your location from GPS, the BC107 needs to be told via the app which time zone you're in, and doesn't therefore automatically adjust for British Summer Time.

The one major fault I could find is that even when used with a power meter the BC107's estimate of how many calories you've burned is way off; it's as bad as early Garmin units like the Edge 705, about which I wrote: 'Treat this feature as a way of comparing rides for effort. If you eat to replace the food you have just burned, you'll turn into a blimp.' Same applies here, then.

Value

My perception here is coloured by being flabbergasted that you can get a bike GPS unit for 50 quid at all, given the original 'cheap' GPS, the Garmin Edge 205, was £170 in 2007 (the equivalent of £250 in 2022 money), lacked a load of features available here, and was notoriously rubbish under tree cover or among tall buildings.

Setting that aside, this is, as far as I can tell, the cheapest bike GPS computer you can buy, and while Coospo has had to leave out a couple of 'nice to have' features, it does everything I want in a computer for recording a ride and displaying ride data as I ride.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best cheap GPS cycling computers

The cheapest GPS we've tested recently is the £65 Bryton Rider 15E Neo. The BC107 is quite similar, to be honest, but brings ANT+ and power meter compatibility to the party, which the Bryton lacks. The BC107 also boasts longer battery life and an amusing countdown to start your ride, though it lacks the Bryton's heading function.

Who should buy the Coospo BC107?

Anyone who wants essential ride data and ride logging at a very reasonable price. And unless you're absolutely strapped for cash this is a great alternative to an old-style bike computer as it doesn't need sensors, wheel size input or any of the other faff we had to do before GPS bike computers.

The Coospo BC107 is also handy as a second screen alongside a mapping computer. I used it to display speed and so on while using my Garmin Edge 1030 Plus for navigation. A bit self-indulgent? Maybe, but it's nice to have a back-up in case of a Garmin crash (the Edge 1030 Plus has been rock-solid for me; some previous Garmins not so much).

Highly recommended.

Verdict

Very good GPS bike computer at an extremely reasonable price