This Just In: New GPS units from Lezyne show promise

Lezyne has made a bold move. The company is well known for creating beautiful, machined aluminum pumps and tire levers. It’s since grown exponentially to include bottle cages, tools and lights. Now, in its ninth year of existence the brand is unabashedly going head to head with GPS leader Garmin.

Lezyne has three upcoming models, the Mini, Power and Super. Dirt Rag was invited to Lezyne headquarters for a special U.S. introduction and while we came back with no real test of the product, the backstory was quite compelling, thanks in part to the company’s charismatic owner Micki Kozuschek.

“I liken this to hiking up Mt. Everest in flip flops and a thong in winter. Lacking food and water,” said Kozuschek, a German transplant and former professional triathlete. “I underestimated the complexity five times over. The amount to testing, the mold changes, the right button feel, drop testing, water proofing…. it’s an over two million dollar investment with two years in development and 10 people dedicated to just this project.”

Kozuschek, who founded, did product designing and testing (with no formal engineering education) and then eventually sold the legendary TruVativ accessory company went on to say that this is important for Lezyne and Lezyne operations in general to tackle something big. “I have the best team I’ve ever assembled as a result. It’s a new concept and I really think it’ll take off. Our GPS’s are small, at a great price point and Garmin has no competitors who do it right.”

The Goods

Lezyne has three levels of GPS, with a price range of $140 for the basic model to $200 for the Blue Tooth and ANT + system that allows both to work in concert to not only record info but display email, texts and phone calls. It’s worth noting that these are data recording GPS’s, not guiding devices. You can’t save or plug in routes from the web.

What you can do is connect to Strava, TrainingPeaks or similar sites and get data uploading. Lezyne also has its own “GPS Root” site for data recording. It’s free and non-invasive—all you need is an email address and password. The site is functional now but still evolving. For example, I asked if I could track monthly and weekly mileage, hours and climbing totals. It’s not there yet but Kozuschek asked a software engineer on the spot who said, “Sure, we can add that pretty easy.”

Lezyne is also in direct contact with Strava to eventually feature all the site’s bells and whistles. As part of that Kozuschek added, “Lezyne is now in the computer business. Our website will have updates to cure any bugs should they develop as well as access to new software features as they become available. Each GPS features a very secure X-Lock bar mount or aluminum front mount.

The Mini is shipping now while the Power and Super will ship in late June or early July.

Ride time with the Mini during the launch was limited to a short road or mountain bike excursion, (I choose mountain biking on Madonna Mountain). Everyone involved had to give the computer back after the ride so, I have no ride impression other than it turned on, collected data and measured altitude and temperature very good. The display unit delivered as promised: you can see the numbers in bright light and through polarized sunglass lenses. As far as website interaction, that wasn’t available during the launch.

Overall, Lezyne has created a GPS with a lot of promise, and promises. I like the simplicity, the size and the interaction it’s claiming. It’s a GPS I’m excited about. Let’s hope it delivers on all those promises once I can do a long term test.

For a full rundown of each Lezyne GPS click here.