I figure the only things between me and some serious pain are the two tires that connect me to the road.
Ordered the Smartire and received today, $199 at RiderWearhouse. Timing is right as I'm getting ready to have new Pilot Road 2 tires put on, so tires are coming off anyway.
What I like about the SmarTire sensors are that once installed, they're inside the tire and batteries will last longer than the tires. Manual says battery life estimate is "7 years approx." but even if only 5 it should be longer than a pair of tires last. If not, who cares since the bike is just sitting gathering dust anyway.
Anther plus: the Temp reading, as noted earlier, is essential for the system to compute the temperature compensation pressure which displays as the Pressure Deviation, the amount of air pressure you need to add AT ANY TIME, even after riding for 2 hours on some lovely twisties. Another good point, after you pick up a friend, the system can be put in "pressure adjust mode" and it will compute the pressure compensation and adjust warnings accordingly.
What I don't like about the SmarTire system, the Display only shows one value at a time but evidently will cycle through them and has designated warnings for both pressure and temp which when activated brings up the problem number on the display showing why your being warned.
Note: Readings are only obtained when you are traveling 6mph or higher. To check a stationary bike is still a manual process.
Just found out about the TireAlert system today when I received a Kisan Cat. along with some other items I ordered. Researched online. No first hand information other than those two sources.
The main attraction of it for me is having a display that shows numbers for both tires at once. The display also looks thinner and easier to mount than the SmartTire display. Another plus is that is uses "Passive wheel Transducers," i.e. no batteries required. I wonder what their "life expectancy" is?
What I don't like about the TireAlert system is having the sensors on the outside of the wheel. However, a plus for the external mounting is that if something goes wrong, you don't need to get inside the tire to fix it.
Note: Another plus for the external stems/sensors of the TireAlert system is getting the 90 deg. turn, but I'm installing some Ariete stems to do that. Easier to fill means more likely to fill.
Last point, and one of concern is the status of support expected in the future if SmarTire is no longer around. I guess for now, I'll go ahead with what I've got and something better and cheaper will come along in the next 5 years!