NiteRider Rebel 8 Computer

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Product: NiteRider Rebel 8.0 wireless cyclocomputer with optional wireless cadence kit. Te st Platform: Fuji Team road bike. Reviewed by: Rich Ries. Cost: $199.99 MSRP; typical online price is $160 to $170. Add $39 for the wireless cadence kit. Mass(weight): 63 g. (2.2 oz.) for computer with medium mounting strap, speed unit, wheel magnet, and batteries. Cadence unit is 16 g. (0.56 oz.) with battery but no zip ties. Recommended? Yes. No. Maybe. Lots of variables. Read on.

Executive Summary: Great computer with dissociative identity disorder.

Ratings

(1 is lowest, 5 is highest)

Comments

Ease of Installation

Better than average thanks to the 2.4 GHz communication.

Ease of use

5/1

Terrific or horrible depending on your riding style.

Cost/Value

Unless you find a ferocious sale price

Photo from NiteRider Web site.

A bike computer with a split personality? Yes, and as with humans afflicted with dissociative identity disorder (DID), the root cause of the Rebel's problem is in its brain. Compounding the root problem is the Rebel's deeply flawed communication skills. Here's the deal. The Rebel uses a 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) radio communication standard, the same as many cordless phones. Most computers rely on an audible “ping” from the sending unit to alert the head unit to incoming information. Put your ear close enough to a sending unit and spin the wheel and you can hear that ping. With radio communication there is no ping. Put your ear by the sending unit, spin the wheel, and you hear nothing but bearings.

As long as the bike is moving, the head unit continues to seek a signal. That search continues for a little while if the bike is motionless, as when the rider is waiting for a red light to turn. But after a longer period without a signal, the search stops. When movement resumes you have to tell the computer to listen for a signal. There is no ping to accomplish this for you. How long of a pause initiates this sleep mode? It varies. A 5-minute rest brings on a cat nap while a longer rest induces REM sleep. According to the owner's manual, awakening the Rebel is as easy as pushing a button. That's sort of true. The problem is that it takes diligent effort to ensure that the Rebel is fully awake. Initializing reception for speed doesn't necessarily guarantee that heart rate and cadence monitoring will also resume. Several times I've come out of a store, hit a button, and realized only after several miles of riding that my Rebel was recording only some of my ride data, not all of it. And note that the NiteRider Web site says these computers have auto-start; that's true only when the computer is not in sleep mode.

My first Rebel 8.0 functioned well for about a year and then got erratic. It wouldn't enter some modes and became difficult to reset. Removing the battery, waiting a minute or two, and then re-installing the battery brought the computer back to life, but it also required reprogramming the unit and re-initializing the head unit to recognize the sending units. Despite the inconvenience I kept using the Rebel, hoping it would somehow recover. It didn't. It got worse. Eventually the head unit got stuck in one mode and no technique, not even battery replacement, would revive its functionality. My Rebel's brain was impaired by a stroke and ultimately died of an aneurism. I contacted NiteRider and they sent a free replacement, assuring me that such failure was rare. The replacement unit has been working fine for six months as this is written. We'll see if it stays sane.

Enter Dr. Jekyll

Okay, so that's the Mr. Hyde side of the Rebel. Where's Dr. Jekyll? What are the positive features that offset the frustration and failure? That's actually a long list. The unit offers two wheel settings so you can move it between bikes or switch between summer and winter tires. It's cordless. Setup is easy. There's a temperature reading that's switchable between Fahrenheit and Celsius. There's a speed comparator that shows your current speed relative to your average speed. The display is large and easy to read. That's true even in low-light conditions, thanks to its backlit design. The display also offers limited customization with regard to the placement of heart rate and cadence numbers. The Rebel 8.0 offers tons of data beyond speed and distance, some of which is quite useful, some of which is not. More on that in a minute.

The best thing about the Rebel 8.0 is the same thing that is the worst: radio communication. The 2.4 GHz signal offers amazing range. During setup I passed the wheel magnet in front of the speed sensor. When I walked to the bike, which was 10 feet away, the head unit was showing speed. The speed sensor can be mounted on a chainstay for rear wheel pickup, which is great for riding my trainer. I've had cyclocomputers where merely sitting upright put too much distance between the chest strap and the head unit and heart rate information was lost. This was true even when both units had fresh batteries. The Rebel's heart rate monitor keeps communicating with the head unit when I sit up. Even in winter, when cold temperatures reduce battery efficiency and the signal has to punch through multiple layers of clothing, the heart rate shows loud and proud on the Rebel.

Despite the sensitivity, the Rebel seems immune to crosstalk; I've never had another rider's signal interfere with the Rebel. Likewise, radio frequency interference (RFI) is a non-issue. By contrast my Cateye cordless computers register speed if I set them too near my laptop. Mark Gish had a computer that showed 35 mph when his bike was parked next to Byron Nagel's idling Toyota. I think you could throw the Rebel into a reactor core and its accuracy would be unimpaired. (Not that I'm recommending such a test; accept this for the hyperbole that it is.)

Catalog vs. Ride Log

In most modes the Rebel seems to be extremely accurate. Its algorithms make sense. You'd think that would always be true, but it's not. I have a story about that, a story I'll relate another time. But the Rebel has some glaring gaps in accuracy. It uses barometric pressure to extrapolate altitude, a phenomenally inaccurate way of determining altitude. It's better if you recalibrate the starting value before each ride, which is what the owner's manual recommends. But that's a hassle. And if a weather front moves through while you're riding your elevation values will likely be way off. According to the Rebel my house is often 50 feet higher or lower at the end of a ride than at the start. If you're serious about logging elevation, get a GNSS (such as GPS) unit.

Elevation change is one factor the Rebel uses to estimate power. Others are rider weight and road speed. The power output is grossly inaccurate. Partly that's because the elevation calculation can be flawed so the Rebel can't accurately gauge the degree of grade you're climbing. Partly that's because the Rebel has no way of compensating for air speed. Maintaining 20 mph requires vastly different power levels depending on whether there's a head wind or tailwind or no wind at all, or if you're in a paceline. Without a pitot tube the Rebel has no idea what the air vector is. The effect of air speed is not linear, but exponential. So the accuracy of the Rebel's power reading decreases with apparent air speed (when the rider or the wind or both increase in speed). The best you can do is ride the same route under the same conditions and check the power readings to track your training progress. Otherwise the Rebel's power reading is useless. If you're serious about power, get a hub or, better yet, a crankset with a power meter.

Altitude and power look good in the catalog and no doubt NiteRider hopes the inclusion of these features will help justify the computer's high price. But those features have more value in the catalog than in your riding log, where the numbers are virtually meaningless.

Recommended? Maybe

Unfortunately the 8.0 is the only unit in the five-model Rebel lineup with heart rate. Heart rate is a valuable riding and training tool, so you have to pay for features that are amusing, at best - elevation and power - to get the features that have real value - a full complement of speed and distance functions plus current, average, and max heart rate.

Re-initializing the unit is a frustrating inconvenience, but it's only necessary after stops of several minutes or more. If your riding is typically done with groups and involves frequent, lengthy stops, the Rebel 8.0 will drive you nuts with its need for rebooting. If you ride alone or in groups that tend to keep pedaling once the ride starts, the Rebel 8.0 will reward you with tons of information, an easy-to-read display, uninterruptible and incorruptible communication between the sensors and the head unit, and a backlit display for low light conditions.