Mission Control App - Turbo Vado Solution Now Available

[Unique]

I´ve just picked up the bikes at LBS today. Both the Vado 4.0 and Como 5.0 were upgraded to the new TCD-W diplay at no cost for me. Both bike were bought in november 2018 and at that time they were still announced as compatible with Mission Control App. I live i Denmark and there might be a difference in the time Specialized stopped promoting Mission Control App. I asked the LBS to change the front sprocket to 48T, but I have to wait till next service because of delayed postage. Now I have to explore all the new features in the TCD-W display . By the way, where is San Juans Islands?

 

[gadgetnut]

Hi, Unique! Glad to hear the TCD-W upgrade campaign completed satisfactorily and at no cost to you. As you gain experience and have time, please provide more feedback about how you like the new display and the integration with the MC app. Also, can you please share a photo of the new display on the Como 5.0?

FYI, the San Juan islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington.

 

[Drewtaylor]

Hi, Unique! Glad to hear the TCD-W upgrade campaign completed satisfactorily and at no cost to you. As you gain experience and have time, please provide more feedback about how you like the new display and the integration with the MC app. Also, can you please share a photo of the new display on the Como 5.0?

FYI, the San Juan islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington.

Hi, Unique! Glad to hear the TCD-W upgrade campaign completed satisfactorily and at no cost to you. As you gain experience and have time, please provide more feedback about how you like the new display and the integration with the MC app. Also, can you please share a photo of the new display on the Como 5.0?

FYI, the San Juan islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington.

Hi. I too have had my Vado 3 upgrade to TCD-W. Really good upgrade done free to me but at a cost to Specialised. My bike is registered with Specialised so it should have been easy for them to contact all owners and inform them of the offer. Never mind.

The actual display is clear and there are 5 different screens all of which are customisable. Two large display panels on each screen can be used for speed, distance, calories burnt (seemed a little on the low side to me), current I think it is rider power output, average speed and ride duration. One small window can be used for actual battery charge remaining, cadence or heart rate. You can easily flick from screen to screen using the buttons on the display set or the set button on the power select remote. The screen always has a battery graphic counting down in 10% blocks and also the current power selected.

The digits on the display look a bit outdated as are like dot matrix numbers and letters but are clear and easy to see. I preferred the bold graphics on the Books display but I'm not complaining.

On the road everything runs really smoothly and you get all the information you need.

The display syncs really easily to mission control which works well. You can really tell the difference when you retune the power settings for Eco, Sport and Turbo modes. Guess what. I think they were the best settings already although I have reduced the power a little for Eco and Sport as I am trying to improve range. The ride tracker works well and syncs rapidly to Strava after a ride. You can also see battery health etc.

My real disappointment is with smart control which is meant to get rid of range anxiety. It really reduces the power output of the motor. I am going to give it another try but I think sensible retuning of power outputs for Eco and Sport modes and toggling them on and off is a better way forward.

 

[PaD]

Hi. I too have had my Vado 3 upgrade to TCD-W. Really good upgrade done free to me but at a cost to Specialised. My bike is registered with Specialised so it should have been easy for them to contact all owners and inform them of the offer. Never mind.

The actual display is clear and there are 5 different screens all of which are customisable. Two large display panels on each screen can be used for speed, distance, calories burnt (seemed a little on the low side to me), current I think it is rider power output, average speed and ride duration. One small window can be used for actual battery charge remaining, cadence or heart rate. You can easily flick from screen to screen using the buttons on the display set or the set button on the power select remote. The screen always has a battery graphic counting down in 10% blocks and also the current power selected.

The digits on the display look a bit outdated as are like dot matrix numbers and letters but are clear and easy to see. I preferred the bold graphics on the Books display but I'm not complaining.

On the road everything runs really smoothly and you get all the information you need.

The display syncs really easily to mission control which works well. You can really tell the difference when you retune the power settings for Eco, Sport and Turbo modes. Guess what. I think they were the best settings already although I have reduced the power a little for Eco and Sport as I am trying to improve range. The ride tracker works well and syncs rapidly to Strava after a ride. You can also see battery health etc.

My real disappointment is with smart control which is meant to get rid of range anxiety. It really reduces the power output of the motor. I am going to give it another try but I think sensible retuning of power outputs for Eco and Sport modes and toggling them on and off is a better way forward.

Please tell us how your reduction of power has worked out regarding mileage. I was thinking a little power reduction could have worked for my Vado 4.0 but on the other hand I was really happy with the power in Eco mode

 

[Drewtaylor]

Please tell us how your reduction of power has worked out regarding mileage. I was thinking a little power reduction could have worked for my Vado 4.0 but on the other hand I was really happy with the power in Eco mode

I went out today and did a long ride of 70 miles. A significant part of that was without power as there was a strong tail wind so i was going 15.5 mph. The final leg was in re-tuned Sport mode as a strong headwind and hills. But i haven't really done a ride that i can compare it with yet. On the flat in factory settings Eco mode I get about 50 miles without wind etc. I weigh 210lb with all my gear. I will do a regular ride soon and see how my re-tune works and then post a report.

 

[Drewtaylor]

Please tell us how your reduction of power has worked out regarding mileage. I was thinking a little power reduction could have worked for my Vado 4.0 but on the other hand I was really happy with the power in Eco mode

Well the good news is that the Mission Control App really does work. Factory settings for Eco Sport and Turbo are 35%, 75% and 100% assist.
Reducing the power settings gives a completely different feel to the ride and a better work out. I'm not sure exactly how things work but I think the bike detects the power you are putting in and then adds power to pedals. Now if I reduce the power to the pedals, to keep the same average speed I have to put in more power myself. This will be detected and so the bike will increase power input so I'm not really convinced reducing the power setting will automatically increase range.

I went out today and did a 39mile loop. mainly flat with a couple of short steep bits. Miles 39.12, Elevation gain 968 feet, average speed13.2 mph. I adjusted settings to Eco 25%. Sport 50% and Turbo 100%. I kept to power on all the time and rode 95% Eco, 4% Sport and 1% Turbo (approximations). Battery charge left was 34%. My estimation is that with the changes to the power settings my total range would have been 60 miles. My usual total range estimation is 50 miles so that is a 20% increase with the reduction in power for Eco and Sport.

I will reset the powers to factory settings and do the same loop in the next few days to see if my assumptions are correct. It is difficult to be exact as although the bike weight and my weight remain constant the wind and temperature make a significant difference to range. Still I will give it a go.

 

[Drewtaylor]

Please tell us how your reduction of power has worked out regarding mileage. I was thinking a little power reduction could have worked for my Vado 4.0 but on the other hand I was really happy with the power in Eco mode

I went out today and did the same ride. The weather conditions were almost identical. I set the power setting back to factory settings of
Eco: 35, Sport : 75 and Turbo :100. The following shows the changes

Parameter 25.3.2019 26.3.2019 Change%
Settings (modified) (factory)
Average speed (mph) 13.2 14.1 +6.8
Time 177 166 -6.2
Power used % 66 77 +16.6
Power used (wh) 298 349 +17.1
Calories burned 668 600 -10.1
Average HR 110 103 -6.4
Support level% 148 189 +26.8
Nominal support level 25 35 +40.0
Estimated range 59 50 +18.0

So, dialling down power settings gives a harder workout, burns more calories and slows you down but gives a significant increase in range.
Moral of the tale. If you want a fun ride and know the route is easily achieved with factory settings power levels there is no need to fix what isn't broken. If you want a longer range and/or harder workout dial down the Eco and Sport power settings. If you still worry about getting there with power, use Smart Control (but I've no idea how this works). i know how to activate smart Control but it seems to give ridiculously low power support. Any information on Smart Control on Vado welcome.

 

[PaD]

I went out today and did the same ride. The weather conditions were almost identical. I set the power setting back to factory settings of
Eco: 35, Sport : 75 and Turbo :100. The following shows the changes

Parameter 25.3.2019 26.3.2019 Change%
Settings (modified) (factory)
Average speed (mph) 13.2 14.1 +6.8
Time 177 166 -6.2
Power used % 66 77 +16.6
Power used (wh) 298 349 +17.1
Calories burned 668 600 -10.1
Average HR 110 103 -6.4
Support level% 148 189 +26.8
Nominal support level 25 35 +40.0
Estimated range 59 50 +18.0

So, dialling down power settings gives a harder workout, burns more calories and slows you down but gives a significant increase in range.
Moral of the tale. If you want a fun ride and know the route is easily achieved with factory settings power levels there is no need to fix what isn't broken. If you want a longer range and/or harder workout dial down the Eco and Sport power settings. If you still worry about getting there with power, use Smart Control (but I've no idea how this works). i know how to activate smart Control but it seems to give ridiculously low power support. Any information on Smart Control on Vado welcome.

Thank you for your detailed report. You are very helpful.
But I guess you had some fun too trying this out
Edit
I’m very close to place an order on a new Vado, just want to do my first supervised fysio workout after my little heart complained strongly two weeks ago for not getting any ( well a little but not enough) oxygen. But that is technically fixed now

 

[Drewtaylor]

Thank you for your detailed report. You are very helpful.
But I guess you had some fun too trying this out
Edit
I’m very close to place an order on a new Vado, just want to do my first supervised fysio workout after my little heart complained strongly two weeks ago for not getting any ( well a little but not enough) oxygen. But that is technically fixed now

I really did have fun. The formatting of the data seems to be a bit lost but main response is 18% (nine mile) increase in range from dialling down eco from 35% to 25%. I think that is the only change I will make and even then only for longer runs. I need to give Smart Control a proper trial Maybe next time I'll turn it on and say Im cycling for 3 hours and see what happens.

Vado is a great bike for urban environment and also rural lanes. Ive used it on tracks and ok as well but not an off road machine really.

Just a heads up. After about 6 weeks of regular use I thought the motor was packing in as i was not reliably able to engage sport and turbo modes. It was due to a dirty speed sensor which is a magnet attached to the rear brake rotor. Gets excessively dirty and I think picks up iron dust. Anyway keep it clean after every ride to avoid problems.

 

[coffeemaker]

The digits on the display look a bit outdated as are like dot matrix numbers and letters but are clear and easy to see. I preferred the bold graphics on the Books display but I'm not complaining.

Thanks for the update. Do you have any photos of the display? I don't think there are many reviews of the unit yet.
How's the backlight?

Did anyone try the bluetooth hack to make the wheel size smaller to override the speed limit?

 

[Drewtaylor]

Thanks for the update. Do you have any photos of the display? I don't think there are many reviews of the unit yet.
How's the backlight?

Did anyone try the bluetooth hack to make the wheel size smaller to override the speed limit?

I will take some photos. The display is growing on me. It’s great to have options for different parameters to be displayed on the five customisable screens including current rider power input. Calorie burn is rather difficult to interpret. I suppose it is based on power output. It seems to give a very low value of about 20 per mile when my Fitbit is almost double that figure. Maybe it gives a readout of only “ exercise calories “ ignoring baseline calories burned.

I’ve not used the bike at night so don’t know what the backlight is like but I’ll see what I can do.

 

[Unique]

I will take some photos. The display is growing on me. It’s great to have options for different parameters to be displayed on the five customisable screens including current rider power input. Calorie burn is rather difficult to interpret. I suppose it is based on power output. It seems to give a very low value of about 20 per mile when my Fitbit is almost double that figure. Maybe it gives a readout of only “ exercise calories “ ignoring baseline calories burned.

I’ve not used the bike at night so don’t know what the backlight is like but I’ll see what I can do.

 

[Drewtaylor]

Thanks for the update. Do you have any photos of the display? I don't think there are many reviews of the unit yet.
How's the backlight?

Did anyone try the bluetooth hack to make the wheel size smaller to override the speed limit?

I went out today to trial Smart Control which is meant to get rid of range anxiety. You can either set a distance to ride or a time for your ride. The app then computes the motor power your battery can afford to give for you to achieve that range or timed ride. My battery was 100% and I set the ride time for 3hrs 30 mins. It commpted a power level of 30%. As the motor max power is 250 watts I assume this meant assist of of about 80 watts in top of my efforts.

The good thing was the battery lasted the 31/2 hrs with power to spare. The bad thing is that the Smart Control over rides the usual power settings. You can toggle power off and then back the Smart Control but can't as far as I can see over ride Smart Control without going into the app i.e. from the controller or display buttons and employ say Turbo power for a steep hill. So a good work out and a good idea but it really needs tweaking to be of better use in the real world of leisure cycling that includes hills.

Here are some shots of the display as requested.

All screens have power level infographic as vertical bar at top right. Three blocks to denote Eco, Sport or Turbo. Current display is Sport with two of three blocks highlighted. Lower left of each screen is the battery charge status. Actually 10 small blocks which go out as you use the battery. Each small block denotes 10% charge.

First photo speed in mph upper large figure and lower large figure distance (39.3) miles. bad across centre show actual percentage battery charge (100%) and time of day. The large figures are customisable as is the left hand box of the central band.
Second photo same screen but distance zeroed for new ride
Third photo screen two. Upper large figure average speed ro this trip and lower time elapsed for this trip. Left hand centre bar was showing cadence (zero as I was stationary).
Fourth photo screen three. upper large figure speed and lower large figure rider current power input
Fifth photo screen four. Upper large figure max speed this ride and lower large figure odometer (total distance rider since last reset)
I also have a screen that shows speed and calories burned.

Hope this is helpful. As you can see loads of information.

Also the Mission Control app logs your ride on a map and uploads to Strava.

 

[barakthecat]

Anyone in the US been able to get this done? According to my LBS, Specialized says this is a UK thing.

 

[pedalpower]

Specialized responded to my tech support request indicating the TCD-W upgrade was not available for my Vado 6 due to advanced electronics. They said they are working on an upgrade and hope to have it available 'soon.'

 

[MutinyGuy]

Anyone in the US been able to get this done? According to my LBS, Specialized says this is a UK thing.

I live in Tucson AZ and had my Como 3.0 upgraded 2 months ago. Call Specialized

 

[e-levity]

I emailed [email protected] yesterday and received the response shown below. This is similar to the response I've been getting for over a year. I plan to have my LBS contact their rep and see what he/she says.

"Thank you for reaching out! Unfortunately, the currently TCD-W is not compatible with the European rated bikes like the Vado 6.0 but we are hoping to see that option available in the future. Any warranty claim always starts at the retailer and then they reach out to their inside rep here to start the process."

 

[lloydt]

I emailed [email protected] yesterday and received the response shown below. This is similar to the response I've been getting for over a year. I plan to have my LBS contact their rep and see what he/she says.

"Thank you for reaching out! Unfortunately, the currently TCD-W is not compatible with the European rated bikes like the Vado 6.0 but we are hoping to see that option available in the future. Any warranty claim always starts at the retailer and then they reach out to their inside rep here to start the process."

I got the same reply.

 

[Bengt A]

i have the new diaplay and I'm using a phone as a display, you can change everything you want to show on the display. One thing is missing, the heartrate i hope they get this on further updates.

 

[PaD]

i have the new diaplay and I'm using a phone as a display, you can change everything you want to show on the display. One thing is missing, the heartrate i hope they get this on further updates.

Looks great. I too would like to see heartrate. More interested in that after the incident month ago when my heart complained in a lively manner due to limited blood supply. Doctor performed some micro plumbing in the coronary arteries so I’m ok again?
Lost my Vado 4.0 late October so I really need to pull myself together and go order a new one. With the new display.