Saris Bluetooth Speed or Cadence Sensor - Magnetless

Video Transcript for Saris Magnetless Bluetooth Speed or Cadence Sensor Review

Hi, it's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today, we have the Saris Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ Sensor. This is gonna be a sensor that can track your cadence or your speed, so that you can use your trainers and get all that information. In this video, I'm gonna show you what it looks like, how it works, as well as how to set it up, which is a major point for a lot of people. This does come included with some Saris trainer kits, but you don't have to use it with their specific trainers, you can also use it on your bike for different situations. So whether you're riding outside and you wanna track your cadence, or maybe you're cycling inside and you wanna make sure you're tracking your speed, this can work with both functions.

This is on the slightly larger end for your sensors that you may find for bikes, so let's take some measurements. So for the maximum length, it's gonna be an inch and 7/8 of an inch long. For maximum width, it's gonna be an inch and a half wide. You do have a rubber spacer that is included, but not required to use this. Depending on the size or space around your hub, you may or may not be able to use it.

And you also get these three rubber hoops that allow you to fit around the different hubs and different crank arms. One battery is included, make sure it's the plus side down, and then we have this open side facing out. So if we we're going to set it to speed, I would have it lay horizontally like this. If I needed to set it to cadence, I'd have it sit vertically like this. We're going to do cadence first.

So notice how this fits in, and then make sure it clicks. Let's see, line that up, and click. So we're gonna watch the lights change. So noticed how it's flashing green right now Switching between the colors, but we're holding it vertically. So we're gonna wait for it to stay on green until we see a solid light like this.

For the speed sensor, it's gonna stay on the white and hold that light there. In the cadence mode, we're going to secure our sensor around our non-drive crank arm, so that's gonna be the pedal away from your gears. For the speed sensor, if you are going out for a ride outside and you wanna attach this to your front hub, you can use the rubber spacer included, and then pick whichever of the rubber loops, you do get three options, fits best around your hub. I've found that there's usually more space up here, so it's a slightly easier process to get this attached. But pick whichever of the loops gives you the tightest and most secure fit. For our rear hub, we don't really have space for the rubber spacer. In fact, we barely have space for the sensors. And I've found that while it can mount sort of vertically like this, it didn't really register the speed as well as if I secured it flat against the hub. I'm gonna jam this up against the spokes, and then find the best fit for our rubber hoops. And that's gonna be where it sits. Though give your sensor a couple turns, at least two rotations, and then the light that showed which one it was, whether it's cadence or speed, will also turn on to indicate that it is active. You'll have that indicator light, but the true test of if it is online is your app. So we're gonna be using ROUVY, because our specific trainer here came with a free trial. We're gonna add our sensor. If I had cadence sensor, I'd connect to that. And if I was using it in the speed sensor setting, since we only have one sensor with us, we're gonna connect to the classic trainer. So fortunately, on this brand, you can even select which type of trainer you have. Select your wheel size, 28C, and then it's gonna search for the sensor. So here we see the Saris speed sensor, so we're gonna go ahead and connect to that. So we're currently doing this on an iPad. I found that when I was using it with my own phone, which is a Pixel phone, I could not find the sensor no matter what. I know a lot of people have had great experience with using their own laptops or computers, and then getting an ANT+ dongle for that, which will work kind of like your Bluetooth, and would connect with your sensor. If you pedal and your app's avatar starts moving, then you know that everything is sensing properly. So we're gonna start pedaling here, and you'll see the movement on your app. There is a slight delay sometimes, but once you start going, you just go. So there might be different reasons why you're interested in getting a sensor. Maybe you got one with your Saris trainer kit, but you need an extra one, so you can also track your cadence as well as your speed, all at the same time. You might have your own trainer and it didn't come with the sensor, so you wanna get one added on. Or you're just riding outside and you want something quick and easy to use. While this is on the larger end for a sensor, it's still pretty lightweight. And hopefully, the measurements given in this video help you with figuring out if it is the right fit for you and your bikes. This will not work with all of the apps. Saris does have a list of apps that they recommend best with this. They use ROUVY a lot, and Zwift is another big one that this is used with. But for those other apps, I do recommend using your best judgment and trying to find reviews as well as testimonials on if they do use this with those specific devices and those specific programs. But other than that, if this is a fit for you, definitely worth considering adding on to your cycling adventures. This was a look at the Saris Smart Sensor for your cadence or speed tracking, and you found it right here at etrailer.com. My name's Evangeline, I hope you enjoyed the journey.