Long-term review: the SRM PowerControl 8 bicycle computer
Take one look at the pro peloton and you’ll see that the PC8 is a top class training computer.
You’re watching the Tour de France, right before the start. In the front, there is a pro wearing a yellow jersey, riding a yellow bike and on their handlebars is a yellow SRM PC8bicycle computer. There is not another bicycle accessory that says ‘Pro’ like the training computers from SRM. This isn’t just because the PC8 looks fantastic, but also because it preforms. It was made for training, not for navigating on going on a tour. During my extended review, it out did my expectations and has become the perfect trainings computer for every ride.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| clean design | no navigation |
| intuitive controls | finding GPS signal takes a bit when starting |
| long battery life (45 hours!) | |
| extremely reliable | |
| top training features | |
| high quality |
One clean bicycle computer.
Design
The PC8 housing is made out of anodized aluminium and can be personalized. “There are no limits to the imagination - almost everything is possible” says the SRM founder Uli Schoberer. The 71x63x20 mm and 90 g bicycle training computer has a high quality feel from both the cleanly machined housing to the feedback from the buttons.
Top display, perfect size, manageable, lightweight and just beautiful!
The PC8 gives every bike that extra eye candy and it is installed as well as setup quickly. The initial setup is easy to do with plenty of options to personalize. At this point, a connection to you WiFi is also made, so that all training data can be directly uploaded when you get home. The included handlebar mount placed the PC8 in perfect view. All you need to do is click it in and then get riding!
The handlebar mount puts everything right in front of me.
No need to turn it off thanks to the standby mode.
Lets ride.
Expensive & old school?
769 €?! And it doesn’t have navigation?! Well, at least it looks good!” is all heard when I rolled up to my Wednesday ride with my new training companion on my bars. Although my training partners are correct, the SRM PC8 is everything but old school. On the contrary, SRM purposefully left out all the extras. Everything else in the PowerControl 8 is the newest and best technology.
A running time of up to 45 hours, memory for up to 4000 training hours and a high quality construction that is hard to find elsewhere.
Quality has its price and when I visited SRM I got to see first-hand how the PC8 is made. Each unit is fitted together by hand and the internal computer is all soldered right in house. After, every PC8 is inspected to ensure its quality. This is a made in Germany product and to top it, all made by hand!
Functions
Although the older models of the SRM PC training computer used a speed sensor, the PC8 is outfitted with GPS. Overall, it works really well, is precise and reliable, hover it does take 2-3 minutes to acquire a signal. On top of the GPs, everything you would expect to be in a bicycle computer is there. Data like, power, heart rate, speed etc. are all included, but metrics like Training Peaks TSS® (Training Stress Score®), NP (Normalized Power®), IF® (Intensity Factor®) are also packed in.
The controls and menu are intuitive and super easy to use.
The PC8 does not have a touchscreen, but instead a brilliant display controlled with button navigation that is very easy to use. In the winter, when it raining or when racing, I’ve found the lack of a touchscreen to be much better because they can often times be finicky. In total, four profile can be added so that you can use the computer on various different bikes and so it automatically connects to the sensors available.
The display shows everything I need.
It is also easy to read even in full on sunlight.
It is great for interval training.
Training & racing
This is where the SRM PC8 is at home, during training and races. I cannot only keep up on my intervals flawlessly, I can also plan ahead and create my own trainings plan. This is a lot of fun and it helps me keep my watts and motivation up through the last interval. While racing, the PC8 give me all the relevant information on one screen and with the push of a button I can change to others easily. It’s all super intuitive and precise. After riding over 40 hours the battery finally got into the red zone, but even then it held another 6 hours.
A magnetic charging cable/port is a nice and practical feature.
The PC8 computer with the SRM EXAKT power meter pedals can't be beat!
Top quality and functional
The SRM PowerControl 8 is a well thought out bicycle trainings computer. It is super well-made and looks amazing, especially since the colour can be chosen to match the bike perfectly. The inner workings of the PC8 also speak for themselves:
SRM left out any fancy add-ons to offer ambitious cyclists exactly what they need to be successful in their watt based training.
The SRM PowerControl 8 is more expensive then the completion and it does not offer navigation. However it is 100 % reliable, has a 3 year guarantee, comes with customer and repair service at the highest level and the knowledge of owning a handmade piece of precise equipment. All you have to do is look to the pro peloton to know that the SRM PowerControl 8 is the standard in bicycle training computers.
