Route tracking with a mobile

Little-bill

Hi, i am stuck I go out on sunday with my local bike club, the problem I have is i can't seem to remember the routes as the area we go to is all new to me and we never seem to go the same way twice. Got dropped the other week and struggled getting home. I can't really justify an expensive GPS Garmin so I thought of buying a phone, a Blackberry curve, 8520 mainly cos of the querty key pad and to hopefully :? allow me to down load the run so i can familiarize my self with were we have been. I'm not very good at this because believe it or not i've never owned a mobile before. tried to find info I need on net just getting lost with it all.

Any help very greatfully recieved. :?

lemoncurd

I use Sportypal - it tracks your route, altitude, speed and other details.

You can view these on your phone or their web site.

When you've finished your ride you can choose to upload it to Sportypal's web site where you can view the ride, you can also send a link of your ride to Twitter.

I think it's great. And it's free.

cougie

The problem is with the bike club. A decent one wont leave a rider behind. Get a better club.

Lots of apps for GPS phones - but you do burn the battery fast that way,

Bear77

A Blackberry Curve 8520 has not got a GPS so is less effective for route planning. Most phones can do location finding via the phone signal and the distance from the mast but its not very accurate. The more expensive blackberry's do though.

Have a look at some of the cheaper Android phones such as a HTC Wildfire, Samsung Galaxy Apollo etc.. Google maps is free and does turn by turn navigation. However it downloads the maps on the fly so you always need a data connection. Alk Co-pilot 8 is full GPS software that stores the maps on the phone, its about £26. Loads of options though, including a new club!

Mark Elvin

I use Sportypal too, quite battery heavy, buy all in a decent bit of free software.

ShutUpLegs

mrksmth074 wrote:

http://www.tool-masters.com/

Special Cutters are produced in high speed steels in a wide variety of diameters and lengths according to the application and machine

Is it available on aNDROID?

sheffsimon

mrksmth074 wrote:

http://www.tool-masters.com/

Special Cutters are produced in high speed steels in a wide variety of diameters and lengths according to the application and machine

Thats the missus's Christmas pressie sorted then.

Lion-O

endomondo seems to work well for me.

Malersh

Nokia X6 available on eBay for around £100. This has two key advantages - Ovi maps allows the maps to be downloaded for free and stored on the phone. This is crucial as you will always be able to get a GPS signal, but if you're in an area with no 3G coverage (as I often am on rides) then you won't be able to get the maps.

(In fact I have maps for the whole world on my X6 - all availble free from Nokia.)

Second advantage is free software available for it called Nokia Sports Tracker which is an excellent way of recording rides and getting metres climbed, speed over the ride etc. It even links up to bluetooth Polar HRM belts.

MrBibble

Im on android and have been heavily use "cardio trainer" for my riding + walks + running + mtb'ing. All routes stored and reviewable, all data easily read and understood, twitter and fbook friendly too.

My fbook profile looks amazing with all the stuff i do upladed daily

Very highly recomended!

Little-bill

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to help. Think I will try the nokia firstly as this sounds both reasonable and affordable.

meanredspider

Garmin 305 Forerunner allows you to load routes manually and can be had for a shade over 100 quid. It doesn't have maps though which might be what lets it down for you. You can, though, download a completed route to GoogleEarth.

Anything wrong with an OS Map?

The downside of most phones is that buying the phone is only the beginning. That said, having a mobile is a sensible thing though something simpler and much much cheaper will make an emergency call. Beware battery life too. GPS features on phones kill battery life down to minutes (My Nokia N95 lasted about 20 minutes on navigation mode)

Intherain

I changed my phone to an HTC Desire in Sept and downloaded the impapmyride app which is great. It uses GPS to track the ride on google maps, then lets you save and upload the workout to the net afterwards. Depending on what data you put in it will tell you the distance, elevation, pace, estimated calories etc. I just like to map where I have ridden and look at the elevation. Even on a 3.5 hr ride the battery is fine.

paulbox

I have used Endomondo before and found it very interesting, but upgraded my phone to an HTC HD2 earlier this year and it doesn't seem to work very well anymore, think it's down to the phone rather than the software.

Smirf

I use everytrail, which is pretty much similar to the above named apps on my iphone.

I like the fact on the pro-version you can download the map so saves issues when you are in an area without 3G.

It's not foolproof. There are times when the tracking of the routes goes a little haywire. I am pretty sure at one part of a recent ride, I didn't spike at 220mph!

and the battery.... i guess the iPhone has issues anyway, but it killed it. I had to take a powermonkey down to charge enroute from London to Whitstable (70 miles).

As I get more and more into cycling above and beyond the daily commute, and my routes into the country get more complicated, I have been toying with a Garmin 705 so i can get turn by turn. i think that feature on an iphone would absolutely kill the battery on top of the already meagre life

MrBibble

I charge my Sony X10 overnight and it'll do a full ride plus normal wifi and call use for a day and a half after, the ride typically being a good 2+ hours

fungus_the_muffin_man

Android phone + mytracks = happy happy days

MrBibble

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Android phone + mytracks = happy happy days

Have a look at Cardio trainer, does all that mytracks does ( i have it too) but so much much more 8)