The Best Cadence Sensors, Compared on the Specs

The RPM is the cadence sensor to buy if you don't want to think about it again. It talks Bluetooth and ANT+ at the same time, so it pairs with Zwifton a tablet, TrainerRoad on a laptop and a Garmin head unit without you choosing a side. The design is magnet-less: it straps to the crank arm or clips to your shoe and counts revolutions with an accelerometer, so there's no magnet to align and nothing to knock out of position.

It costs a touch more than the budget sensors, and it does one thing — cadence — but it does it with zero drama across every platform. For most riders adding cadence to a spin bike or a non-power setup, this is where the search should start and usually end.

If your head unit is a Garmin Edge or your training data lives in Garmin Connect, this is the sensor that disappears into your setup. It pairs instantly, reports cleanly, and the rubber-band mount wraps the crank arm so there's nothing protruding. Like the Wahoo, it's magnet-less and dual-band, so it still talks to Zwift and any Bluetooth app when you want it to.

The honest read: outside the Garmin ecosystem it doesn't beat the Wahoo RPM at anything, and it usually isn't cheaper. But if you're already all-in on Garmin, buying the matching sensor keeps everything in one app and one battery type — a small, real convenience.

The S3+ is the sensor for riders who want dual-band connectivity without the dual-band price. It does Bluetooth and ANT+, it's magnet-less, and the clever part is that a single sensor can be set as either a speed or a cadence sensor, so you can buy one for each job and match them to your setup. For adding cadence to a power-freespin bike, it's a lot of function for the money.

What you give up is polish: the app and firmware aren't as slick as Wahoo's or Garmin's, and support is thinner. But the core job — reliably counting revolutions and broadcasting them to your app — it does well, and the value is hard to argue with.

The RPM Speed is the sensor people reach for when a wheel-on traineror a classic dumb trainer needs to report speed and virtual distance to an app. It mounts to the wheel hub, it's magnet-less and dual-band like its cadence sibling, and it pairs in under a minute. Buy it alongside the RPM Cadence and you've got the full speed-and-cadence pair for a non-smart setup.

Be clear on what it is: a speed sensor, not a cadence sensor, so it complements the picks above rather than replacing them. And if you already ride a direct-drive smart trainer, it's redundant — the trainer reports speed and power itself. On a wheel-on rig, though, it's the tidy way to fill the gap.

The Coospo is proof you don't need to spend much to get cadence on screen. It's dual-band and magnet-less like the pricier sensors, straps to the crank arm or a shoe, and broadcasts cleanly to Zwiftor any Bluetooth training app. For a rider who just needs a cadence number on a spin bike and resents paying for a badge, it's the obvious start.

The trade is the intangibles: the app is basic, the plastics feel cheaper, and the long-term reliability is more of a roll of the dice than with the name brands. But at this price you can afford to find out, and the core function is genuinely there. Where the next dollar goes is covered in our accessories checklist.