GPS-Settings Info for Bryton Rider 450 Cycling-Computer Users

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 18mm — 1/8000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 —
image data

Precision

(photo is unrelated to the text of this article)

I've been testing a new cycling computer, a Bryton Rider 450. I was shocked to find out some information
about its satellite-positioning features that isn't covered in the manual, so I'm sharing that info here.

As a bit of background, folks often use the “GPS” as a generic term for “satellite positioning system”,
but in reality, GPS is the specific satellite positioning system built and deployed (and offered as a gift to the world) by
the United States of America. It used to be the only one, but now there are several. Russia has its
unrelated GLONASS system, the European Union has its Galileo system. These all provide global coverage. Regional
systems include China's Beidou system (which will eventually be global), and India's IRNSS system.

In addition, Japan has a small four-satellite augmentation to the United States's GPS system called “QZSS” (みちびき in Japanese).

The Bryton Rider 450 is advertised to work with all of these except IRNSS. This in theory would allow my use
here in Japan to benefit from the three truly-global systems (GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo), and two regional systems (Beidou and QZSS),
so hopefully it would be more accurate than other units I've used.

(In years past, I've posted a few articles about GPS accuracy, including
here and
here.)

So it was with dismay that I opened up the configuration menu on the unit to find only these options available:

GPS + Beidou
GPS + Glonass
GPS + Gal + QZ

This seems... unimpressive and disappointing.

I wrote to the company asking about this, and was told what the options really mean:

table#systems td { text-align: center }
table#systems th small { font-size: 80%; font-weight:normal }



Menu Option
GPS
global
Galileo
global
QZSS
Japan
Beidou
Asia Pacific
GLONASS
global


GPS + Beidou ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
GPS + Glonass ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
GPS + Gal + QZ ✓ ✓ ✓

What the Menu Options Actually Mean

This means that the GPS, Galileo, and QZSS are always enabled, and that you can optionally
enable the global GLONASS or currently-regional Beidou systems.

What horrible menu labels, obfuscating what they really mean. There's plenty of space on the screen,
so there's no excuse for this stupidity.

In Japan, the company recommended “GPS + Beidou”. Wikipedia tells me that Baidou will eventually be more
accurate globally than GLONASS (or GPS or Galileo, for that matter), and it perhaps already has better coverage for the Asia-Pacific
region.

I'd like to do tests where I bring six units (two at each setting) on the same ride, to compare and contrast the results
in different situations, but I'm not about to spring for five more units just for that. Oh well.

(The lead photo, which I hope gives the feeling of “precision” to go along with this article, is from something I hope
to be able to write about later.)