The Magene C606 is the brand’s new flagship GPS cycling computer that offers premium features not typically found at this price point. Retailing for $159, the Magene C606 is a mid-level priced computer with a big 2.8” touch color screen. Magene claims up to 28 hour battery life using the endurance mode thanks to the large 2000mAh battery. The GPS computer is compatible with nearly all ANT+ and BLE sensors and features turn-by-turn navigation. Modern features include a USB-C charging port as well as Garmin quarter-turn mount that is molded into the base. The Magene C606 also supports customization using a free companion app with 10 available pages and 10 items per page.
The Magene C606 GPS cycling computer combines a large color touch screen with modern features at an attractive price point.
| Retail Price | $159 |
| Rating | 7.8 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 104 |
| Likes | + Long battery life with large battery + Responsive and clear 2.8″ color touch screen + Compatible with wide range of sensors |
| Dislikes | – Late turn notifications that appear at 1000 ft and then 300 ft away – Map view have very limited zoom levels – Lacks climb challenge or equivalent feature to see altitude |
| Where to Buy (US) | Magene |
UNBOXING
The Magene C606 GPS computer comes in a sleek cardboard box with glossy graphics of the computer printed on it. It’s very similar to a cell phone box design with an outer sleeve and thicker inner cardboard box. Inside the box you’ll find:
- C606 GPS Computer
- Lanyard
- USB-C charging cable
- Plastic handlebar mount + o-rings (two different lengths)
- Instruction manual
One thing we noticed is that the packaging hints at a white and gray version of the computer, while the Magene website does not currently list other colors. Hopefully that is an option that will be added in the near future.
MOUNTING
As far as mounting, the Magene C606 uses a standard Garmin quarter turn style mount that is molded directly into the body. It’s a standard mount design that allows you to use the computer with a wide variety of existing mounts. Magene includes a simple plastic handlebar mount with different length o-rings that is easy to install on handlebars. We’d highly recommend using an out-front mount instead as it places the computer in front of the stem and lets you mount a light or camera underneath it. Thanks to the Garmin mount, you can use mounts like the Topeak UTF out-front mount or mounting systems like Trek Blendr. Note, Magene also includes a lanyard along with a small cutout which you can use to secure the computer as insurance against the computer coming off the mount.
FIT & FINISH
The Magene C606 computer has a traditional rectangular profile with slightly rounded corners and angled body. With its 2000mAh battery it’s a fairly bulky computer that is 97 x 57 x 17.6mm which makes it thicker than other GPS computers. While Magene advertises a white and gray color option on the packaging, it seems like only the all back variation is currently available. It’s a standard semi-glossy black plastic finish with a glossy screen and no visible hardware. The screen is a well sized 2.8” color touch screen which has standard sized bezels above and below it. Branding is limited to Magene on the front face and above the screen.
Even though this is a full touch screen computer, Magene has included three physical buttons. Interestly, they have placed the power button on the front instead of the side with a red colored button. There are two additional buttons along the slanted front which have a nice texture surface and a satisfying click to them. While the buttons feel nice, there are no labels on them so you’ll have to remember what each button does. Between the two buttons is a plastic cover that conceals a USB-C charging port that can be used to recharge the computer. It’s a nice modern charging interface which lets you use your existing charging cables and has a secure cover that keeps water out of it.
USER INTERFACE
The Magene C606’s user interface uses a combination of the full touch color screen along with three physical buttons. There is a red power button at the front of the computer that can be held to turn the computer on or off. A short press of the power button increments the lap count while doing an active recording or turns the screen off if not recording. The bottom left button is used to cycle through the page displays while the bottom right will start or pause a recording. Unlike other computers which use the physical buttons to scroll through menus, the C606 is primary touch based with the buttons having nearly no functionality outside the recording view.
When you first launch the computer you’ll see a QR code which requires you to pair the C606 with the OneLapFit app before you can use any of the functionality. After you’ve completed the initial pairing you’ll see the main screen of the computer which lists your profile name at the top as well as total mileage, total timing, riding profiles, sensor and additional settings. Magene has chosen a simple tile design with colorful icons to separate the fields which makes it easy to differentiate items. Despite the budget price point of the computer, the Magene C606 offers support for indoor training, workouts and playing back simulated routes which all have to be imported from the OneLapFit app.
Loaded routes are viewable on the device through a route list with simple breadcrumb overlays of the route. The total distance, elevation and some basic min, max, average states for evasion and grade are displayed. What’s a bit frustrating is that the Magene C606 does not support zooming or panning so you can not zoom into the route to see any details. That’s why we’d recommend being very descriptive with the route name as it can be difficult to differentiate between similar routes otherwise. On the device you can also access basic settings such as units, notifications, audio tones and display settings. More complicated operations such as screen layouts can only be done on the OneLapFit.
MAPS
When we first accessed the map view on the Magene C606 we were surprised to see a blank page. The Magene C606 apparently ships with no preloaded maps and requires users to download the appropriate map for their region. To download the map you have to enable the Magene C606’s WIFI feature, something traditionally only available on higher-end computers, to allow it to connect to the internet and retrieve maps. Under Settings > Maps you can view the current selection and the downloaded maps on the device. On the bottom of the screen is helpful scrolling text notifying you to connect the WIFI to download maps.
Once you have a valid internet connection a plus sign appears at the top right of the screen which lets you access the “Map List” page. This page is initially empty and requires some patience as the map list can take up to a few minutes to populate depending on the strength of your internet. Once it has loaded you’ll see a list of continents and sub menus with sub-regions within each option. If you have a poor WIFI connection you’ll run into blank pages which can be confusing so we’d recommend setting up the maps with a strong WIFI connection and checking the WIFI icon on the top of the display to ensure you have a connection. Once you’ve selected the correct map it can be loaded on the device within a few minutes and map views should work properly.
ONELAPFIT APP
In order to access any of the features of the Magene C606 you have to download the free OneLapFit app and pair the computer to it. The app’s name is perhaps one of the most confusing names we’ve seen for any cycling computer as it doesn’t make much sense in English. While “One fit lap” could make sense as an app name, “One lap fit” just seems like an unusual combination of words put together. Even the app itself is confused by its own name as there are several prompts that mention “Venison Sports” which brings up a lot of deer hunting associated websites on Google search.
Getting past the confusing name, on the Android operating system the app has a simple three tab design with “home”, “calendar” and “me” listed as the main options. Under the home page you’ll see your most recent rides listed with basic text summaries. Clicking on a ride shows a larger view with an interactive map, stats and graphs of speed, cadence, elevation, slope, temperature and power. Clicking on a graph switches it to a full screen landscape orientation of the graph. You can even click on any point on the graph to see specific values and all the primary stats at that point. The “calendar” page shows a calendar view based on dates as well sub tabs for stats over different amounts of time and a performance management page.
The most useful page is the “me” which lists data for your account and lets you pair the Magene C606 or other Magene computers. Once you’ve paired the computer you’ll see a simple tile UI that lets you create or download routes, add riding modes, set up workouts and access all the general settings. To customize the data page layouts you have to click on the “riding mode” options and then the last “settings” button. With this being one of the most important features of the apps we’re surprised Magene made it so difficult to find. Within the setting page you can change the page layouts and the content of each field. Magene supports graphic views such as radial displays and standard labeled displays with up to 10 fields on each page. You can choose from a nearly endless option of data fields from time, speed, power to different averaging windows and lap metrics.
IMPORTING ROUTES
With the current software, routes can only be downloaded as GPX files or hand drawn on the app by dropping control points. Unfortunately, Magene doesn’t allow you to import routes from Strava, RideWithGPS or other popular platforms. Importing a GPX does not retain road names which will result in all navigation prompts to say “unnamed road” which can be quite confusing if you’re riding somewhere new. Creating the routes directly on the app is the only way to retain road names but can be time consuming as you have to manually drop pins to capture all the major turns of the route. The app also has a frustrating bug of not allowing you to zoom or pan saved routes, even ones hand created within the app, which can be frustrating if you want to preview the route before importing it.
RIDING IMPRESSIONS
With the large 2.8″ color touch screen and vibrant colors the Magene C606 looks like a higher-end computer than the price would suggest. Once we got past the non-intuitive elements of the app and downloaded our local maps we were able to quickly start riding with the computer. Connecting sensors including radars was no issue with the C606 and we found the GPS signal to be strong and accurate even when riding in forested areas. While we never had any major issues with the Magene C606 there are several little annoyances that started to add up. For example, starting a ride recording is a two button press to first select a profile and then start rather than simply pressing “play” as you can do with other computers. Once you’re in a ride recording, you can no longer see the current time or the battery status of the computer without pausing the ride and going to the home page.
The navigation was perhaps the most frustrating issue of the Magene C606. Unlike Bryton computers which show helpful small illustrations of the upcoming turn, the Magene only shows arrows and road name / distance. The prompts are also only shown briefly at 1000 ft and then again at 300 ft which caused us to miss a few turns. There were also some oddities with some of the routes we had created or GPX file we had imported that caused some turns to be listed as “straight” right until the last second of the turn which caused us to get a bit lost on unfamiliar routes. The other odd software issue is that the zoom levels on the map view are very limited and don’t let you zoom out far enough to see your full route, something other budget computer brands like iGPSPORT don’t have an issue with. With the lack of a pan feature, that means you can’t get an overview of the full route to plan ahead.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Magene C606 GPS cycling computer offers a large and responsive screen but lacks the software refinement. The hardware on the other hand is solid with a large battery, great runtimes and a responsive 2.8″ color touch screen that is typically only on more expensive cycling computers. The overall menu layout and ride page layout is easy to use with plenty of customization available through the OneLapFit app. We’re happy to see Magene use the popular Garmin quarter turn style mount and a modern USB-C charging port with the C606. The biggest issues with the C606 is the frustrating navigation, a map view that can’t be fully zoomed out and the lack of a climb challenge feature to see the altitude for a route. That said, the Magene C606 is a color touch screen GPS that offers attractive pricing compared to brands and is competitive as long as you’re aware of the software shortcomings.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Magene. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.