Launching at £109, Magene’s latest bike computer will probably be on sale below the £100 mark in a few months. While this does not match the depth of features in Garmin’s low-end Edge 130+, it offers core ones plus a decent 17-hour battery life.
The Magene C506 smart GPS bike computer stands out as a compact (piece of kit) that combines every aspect of an ideal ride. It packs a 2.4″ color touchscreen, colorful map navigation with off-course alerts, and seamless integration across various Magene’s devices. [Magene]
Magene C506 Specifications
Feature
Details
Screen Size
2.4 inches
Screen Type
Full-laminated colour touchscreen
Device Dimensions
78x48x17.5mm
Weight
76g
Number of Buttons
3
Memory for Bikes
5
Supported Riding Modes
12 (2 default, ten customizable)
Supported Data Types
105 data items in 14 categories
Number of Pages
Up to 10 pages per riding mode
Waterproof
IPX7
Charging Port
Type-C
Battery Life
17 hours in daily mode, up to 24 hours in long battery mode (affected by custom settings and usage environment)
Charging Time
3 hours
Operating Temperature
-10°C to 50°C
Wireless Protocols
WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+
Auto Pause
✅
Turn Tips
✅
Off-course Alert
✅
Auto Brightness Adjustment
✅
Auto Off
✅
Smart Notifications
✅
Course Training
✅
Supported Devices
Speed sensor, cadence sensor, speed and cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, power meter, smart trainer, radar tail light, smart tail light, smart front light, SRAM eTap and Shimano Di2 electronic shifting systems
Supported Satellites
Beidou, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS
Navigation
Turn-by-turn map navigation
Recommended
✅
Price: $119.99, £109
Take Out
It’s remarkable how the market for bike computers has changed in the last five years. Novel features like power meter support, Varia radar, and indoor trainer support are now ‘standard’ for entry-level models.
Unless you have specific cycling needs or enjoy your tech, there is little point in splashing out five times the price on a top-end bike computer.
It is amazing what this will do for $120. I’m still using a 7+ year old Lezyne that just won’t die to supplement my FR965 also on the bars. But I am now seriously considering this as a replacement for that Lezyne. I’m assuming I would still need to record on my 965 to feed the data into the Garmin ecosystem though.
yeah, Lezyne were one of the first to start getting all this stuff as standard, initially at the GBP130 kind of level but they went down to even lower prices than this (on sale) eventually. i’ve still got a super GPS somewhere
I suspect getting a course loaded on this device is probably a pain using some poorly-designed iOS app on the phone? Whereas the Lezyne is disarmingly simple and has been since introduced all those years ago.
I could still use the 965 for following a course though.
Btw – Garmin completely hosed the Varia display on 965s with the most recent FW update. For a safety feature, it’s a bad look to have it failing so badly now for 965 users. Having it on a separate display like this would solve a lot of angst with the 965 alerts being unreliable.
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It is amazing what this will do for $120. I’m still using a 7+ year old Lezyne that just won’t die to supplement my FR965 also on the bars. But I am now seriously considering this as a replacement for that Lezyne. I’m assuming I would still need to record on my 965 to feed the data into the Garmin ecosystem though.
yeah, Lezyne were one of the first to start getting all this stuff as standard, initially at the GBP130 kind of level but they went down to even lower prices than this (on sale) eventually. i’ve still got a super GPS somewhere
I suspect getting a course loaded on this device is probably a pain using some poorly-designed iOS app on the phone? Whereas the Lezyne is disarmingly simple and has been since introduced all those years ago.
I could still use the 965 for following a course though.
Btw – Garmin completely hosed the Varia display on 965s with the most recent FW update. For a safety feature, it’s a bad look to have it failing so badly now for 965 users. Having it on a separate display like this would solve a lot of angst with the 965 alerts being unreliable.
i’ll have to look at that. the latest FW for 965 hosed a few things.
i turn varia off for the 965 and use it on whatever head unit i have
It has lit up the Garmin forum community:
https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-965/384051/20-26-beta-to-final-varia-radar-still-not-working-properly
it’s like christmas ! (tree)
https://the5krunner.com/2024/09/26/garmin-releases-varia-update-with-known-safety-bug-to-forerunner-965/