At 07:50 PM 9/29/2000 -0400, DMart84815@aol.com wrote:
><snip>
> The Avocet Computer. They would constantly fail, I exchanged mine
>many, many times. Ultimately, the solution was to put a small wad of toilet
>tissue between the battery and its cover, this seemed to extend the life of
>the things. <snip>
A counterpoint on this issues:
1) I believe that the Avocet was the first on the market, at a time when its design and "form factor" (shape, size) were quite aggressive in terms of what could be built as a consumer product. The sender magnet on the wheel potentially gives very high resolution, an is pretty nice.
2) I had far more problems with the vaunted "Cat-Eye Solar" and its ilk a few years later.
3) This leads me to thank members of the list who gave or sold me their old Avocets last Spring. I've got about 7 - 9 bikes set up with them, and am getting good service. Yes, the weak point was the battery clamp and cover on the Model 20 - I've got one with an electrical tape cover. But the old Model 20 looks good on bikes from the 70s, is the closest to authentic, and still works just fine.
4) Thanks to Sheldon Brown for posting the setting instructions for so many of these things, not just Avocets.
Harvey Sachs McLean Virginia (psychologically outside the Beltway but geographically inside)