best phone for bike satnav?

mountaincookie

Hi

I'm looking into getting a smart phone, a big reason being for the satnav - i tend to get lost alot. Any advice on an ideal candidate? Don't want to spend over £300.

And yes...I have looked into something like a garmin...but not an option at the mo

felix.london

I got one of these a few weeks back after drowning my last phone on a particularly wet ride. This is water, dust & scratch proof!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Defy-M ... 319&sr=8-1

Pretty cool after a ride you can just run it under the tap to clean it!

Very small & compact (compared to iPhone 3GS). Quick & accurate GPS lock too

nicbone

if you do go down the Android route there is a really good app from google called My Tracks.

Just start recording a track when you set off, stop at the end. You get stats like average speed, moving/non moving time, altitude gains/losses, highest speed etc plus it sends it off to your google account and overlays the route into google maps, can send it to your mates etc - all for free

Nathz29

Agree Mytracks is good may also want to check out sportstracker, also free

mountaincookie

wow, looked at that phone - amazing! I'm going to get the defy plus I think due on friday. I was very tempted by the htc desire s but...I don't want to be cycling along worrying all the time about what if I crash? what if it rains? etc. Cheers for that!!

Thanks for the app tip, any other bike related app ideas would be appreciated!

Cheers!

alan_sherman

Viewranger is a good app for off roading. Saved me when I went wrong on the south downs way in the mist.

rhialto

I use Viewranger all the time for navigation as I am often riding solo in unfamiliar areas. I plot my route on the PC, save it to a GPX file and import it into Viewranger. I use Ordinance Survey 1:25k maps, which cost quite a bit, but Viewranger also supports openstreetmap maps that provide almost as much detail as the OS maps. Works great for me and also allows me to record my track and load it into SportTracks on the PC post-ride.

I run Viewranger on a Nokia 5800 but I had to get a special bar-mounted weather-resistant case as it is not waterproof and it rains a lot around here! The 5800 is an ok phone but it seems like most apps are not written for Symbian these days.

jonnyboy66uk

Another here for viewranger... I have a nokia c7 and its great.. nice clear screen but i do keep it in my pocket as i cant afford to damage it if i crash....

I used to have a HTC wildfire and the thing was a pig, it just would not work with a Bluetooth Gps receiver meaning that I only got 4 hours batt time using the built in gps...

I also use sports tracker and endomondo to record routes and give you the workout data...

Not gonna lie though, That motorola defy looks the business..........

Slow Loris

Oruxmaps is excellent, it has built-in use of several online map providers such as google, microsoft, O.S etc. You can also store maps offline before you head out so no need for any phone signal other than gps while you're riding, which helps with battery life.

apreading

I would be worried about how long an Android phone battery would last running viewranger or something else with GPS constantly active.

My Nokia will go all day, 6-7 hours, with viewranger on and use maybe 20% of its charge. I bet the motorola would be flat in about 2 hours.

Slow Loris

Re battery life: I use a Samsung Galaxy, which isn't great with battery consumption under normal use. Last week I did a 5 hour ride starting with a full charge, and by the end of the ride charge was still at about 70%.

I think wifi and data use the most battery as they are constantly receiving and transmitting, which is why I use Oruxmaps offline mode so that I can put the phone in Airplane mode and just use the GPS receiver only. Battery life will be fine if you're sensible.

agg25

Yeah my Samsung Galaxy S2 will do a 5 hour ride using MyTracks or Endomodo and still have about 70% charge too, they don't chew up quite as much as HTC's but even my older Desire used to do a whole days riding with juice to spare, maybe your batteries were old?
Do like the look of ViewRanger though, might trial the free version for me next Enduro.