Cheep gps

pauljoes

Just got back from doing a 55km ride over the windy gap (beacons) have got a sports tracker app on phone all was good till my iPhone batt died not logging route only distance but no time tamping! So Is there a cheep gps that logs my distance, time, altitude and route that I can download?

cat_with_no_tail

Endomondo gets my vote.

I'm sure others on here have complained previously that the GPS on the iphone absolutely eats the battery, even with auto-upload turned off.

pauljoes

Is Endomondo a form of a app then or a actual gps to buy?

cat_with_no_tail

Downloadable app. (free)

pauljoes

I got one of those, I think I need a garman or other gps available with a 8hr battery life just incase I get lost lol

benpinnick

Get a holux gps logger or similar. Should do what you want.

stubs

The Garmin Geko range sounds ideal for you
Garmin Geko 201 Basic but light, cheap, tough and pretty accurate much better than a mobile phone.

allen.coulson

I have ab Adventurer 2800 - cheap as they go and with full set of os 1@50k maps and download kit for recording routes.

delcol

look at the garmin edge range. 200 500 and 800

depending how much you are thinking of spending.. i got the edge 500 for £135 i have been impressed with it upto now....

Mojo_666

Endomondo is OK on the iphone but you need to turn all running apps off as well as disable wifi to conserve battery, also endomondo pro has a power save mode, my 4s battery lasts a lot longer than my 3gs did too.

BG2000

Phones are only going to keep getting better, so don't rule them out just yet.

You need to distinguish between something that stops you getting lost, i.e. displays a detailed OS map in real time, or something that simply logs your ride and shares it with a community.

RE: battery life, you can now buy a phone charger that is powered by the movement of the front wheel (it's a tiny non-contact dynamo that installs between the front hub and fork leg, so it doesn't add any resistance). With this installed, your phone won't ever run out, as long as you keep moving at a minimum of walking pace. I think they cost about £40, let me know if you want the details.

Another advantage of phones is the choice of mapping software, in particular the type that displays a proper contoured map on your screen, with pre-defined tracking routes superimposed on top. For my Android phone, I run ViewRanger which allows me to purchase customised OS maps for the UK. And I use the GeoLives app when riding in France, and it uses IGN maps (again, small cost of buying electronic IGN map data to store on SD card). Neither will record altitude though, so you won't get a nice profile after the ride. I'm more interested in not getting lost though.

If you want accurate altitude, you do need a dedicated outdoor GPS as they have a built in atimeter. Software apps just rely on approximate altitude based on whatever mapping data they use, i.e. no real-time height measurement is carried out.

Another possible advtange of a phone is that you can use it to record video footage of your ride. This is only possible with certain bar mount cases that have a window for the phone's camera. Again, it only means you're taking one device with you on your ride, not phone, GPS and video camera.

Just food for thought....

Anonymous

On the phones -

Plus side is you can download many apps to do the job and there are things like live online functions and interaction with social media services. Many are also free. Phones also use Assisted GPS (A-GPS) which allows for a quick fix.

Down side is the GPS chips and antenna in them are lesser quality than a dedicated device. Also most phones don't have a barometer which usually means the elevation data can be way off (a weak point of GPS), though some services are now correcting this data online or you can get software to do it.

Also smart phones these days are getting stupidly powerful and suck battery big time.

However, fully charged before a ride I can get a day's worth of riding out of my Samsung Galaxy S2. So long as it's not crammed with useless background apps and you turn off wifi and bluetooth. Can turn off data also but the lock will be slower whenever it loses it. I don't find it drains too bad just with data. Don't use the phone screen where possible.

iPhones are not an ideal choice though, they are notorious for battery drain, and of course replacing the battery with something better is tricky

Or get an old Nokia S60 device with GPS or use an external bluetooth GPS device, plus a copy of Sports Tracker or Endomondo and battery will last forever as the phone is so low powered

As for apps - Sports Tracker, Strava, Endomondo, Map My Ride, Map My Tracks, My Tracks, amongst others.

Plus View Ranger mentioned above for actual maps.

BG2000

deadkenny wrote:

However, fully charged before a ride I can get a day's worth of riding out of my Samsung Galaxy S2.

I didn't mention my phone in my last post, but it's also an S2, and I can certainly vouch for it. I did a 3 hour ride with an IGN map displayed constantly, GPS running, and there was plenty left in the tank afterwards (not me, I mean the phone's battery !)

Bishbosh10

BG2000 wrote:

Phones are only going to keep getting better, so don't rule them out just yet.



RE: battery life, you can now buy a phone charger that is powered by the movement of the front wheel (it's a tiny non-contact dynamo that installs between the front hub and fork leg, so it doesn't add any resistance). With this installed, your phone won't ever run out, as long as you keep moving at a minimum of walking pace. I think they cost about £40, let me know if you want the details.

Yes please....

BG2000

I'm sure Colin at RiderMount won't mind me giving out his details:

Email: colin 'at' RiderMount.com (obviously replace 'at' with @)

I purchased my bar mounted phone case from his eBay shop and he sent me details of the charger - and it looked good.

Bishbosh10

Thanks. Will do.

benpinnick

Those bikemount cases that are on that site are a bit gash, I hope the dynamo thing is a little better thought out. I have one (the case) for my iphone but I stopped using it as it was too big and poorly designed IMHO. I replaced it with a Topeak phone bag, which I have found to be good, if slightly prone to wobbling about. I still think a Holux logger is the best best if you only need to record, not look at the GPS on the go. They do a computer style one too thats got a screen which shows speed, location etc for 70 ish.

benpinnick

Actually, http://www.holux-uk.co.uk/ has it for £54. Its go a 20 something hour battery life, so not likely to drop out half way round a ride!

kg211

Probably the wrong place to put it, Halfords in Trowbridge are selling 2 Garmin edge 605 for £130 over the weekend.
Also going to have one for £75 tomorrow as my long haired boss wont allow me to keep it and it will have to go back.