Best app Or computer for tracking my rides

Stephenpaulknight

As a new boy to road riding I would like to get a nice bit of kit to track my rides. I have looked at some of the garmin kit and can't justify paying £400+.

So I wondered if anyone had tried any of the many iPhone apps or weather there were any good lower cost bike specific computers people could recommend. Key feature for me is a ability to measure the altitude I have covered as I live in a rather hilly part of the Cotswolds. Would be good to be able to upload and analyse my performance as I am a stato at heart.

Thanks for any help

cbriddon

Try a Garmin Edge 200 for around £100. Had mine a couple of months and it's excellent.

Swos

The app I currently use on my IPhone 4S is Strava which is great. Although I would also recommend Sports Tracker and Endomondo

dantheman1979

Gotta agree with cbriddon go for a Garmin Edge 200 they are brilliant for the money. Before i got mine i was using mapmyride on an android phone which worked ok but its a bit awkward trying to mount a phone on your bike.

MarksMintness

Ditto for Strava. Great app free to download on smartphones. If you want something to mount for live info though, edge 200 would be your best entry point.

furiousd

I use Endomondo on my iphone and really like it. Gives me plenty of data and uploads it to my profile from the phone automatically. Best app i have.
D

Bozman

I've used Cyclemeter for about a year now and i can't fault it, battery life is good i've just done 3.5hrs and i used 15% on the battery.

simona75

I use a a cateye strada on my bike and strava on my iphone. This seens to give me everything I need. I also sometimes use Everytrail (in case I get lost)

AllezGaz

Bozman wrote:

I've used Cyclemeter for about a year now and i can't fault it, battery life is good i've just done 3.5hrs and i used 15% on the battery.

+ 1 on Cyclemeter. Coupled with a Cateye Strada V3 I got all the stats I can handle

nickyhoward55

runkeeper or cyclemeter. Runkeeper has an awesome website for keeping track of rides but cyclemeter has a nicer display when using the phone on the bars. Personally, i just set it and throw it in my back pocket. Works wonders.

nathancom

I would get the Garmin 500, you can get just the computer for not a huge amount more than the 200 and can pick up the HR and Cadence monitors later on.

sancho1983

I've been using the strava app for a while on my phone, it's excellent but a pain having to take my phone out with me.

Just bought a second hand Garmin edge 205 from eBay for 50 pounds. Like you op I couldn't justify spending loads on a 500/800, £50 is reasonable though, uploading data to strava has really kept me motivated

Hector10

Endomondo Pro all the way, best £ 0.59 I ever spent if you want to track distance, sped, altitude etc. obviously Cadence etc aren't available as far as I know.
I Added a Bluetooth HR monitor in the sales for about £40 and have everything on my HTC I could desire. Instant uploads and Sharing to Social Media.

jim453

Strava.

andy-64

I use endomondo pro great app you can also export your files to strava so you can can get the best out of both endomondo and strava

y33stu

Cyclemeter. Its amazing.

Strava. Its also amazing.

I just wish there was a way of combining the 2. I use one or the other, and always regret the missed features of the one I didn't use.

charliew87

Strava + Phone. Don't know how people justify spending so much on Garmins!

Rushmore

+ potato for Strava

friedpizzainbatter

Don't know if it's just me but never had an accurate elevation reading from Cyclemeter. Got a Garmin 500 at the weekend, I'll let you know how that is once I've had a chance to have a play with it if you're interested.

slowbike

charliew87 wrote:

Don't know how people justify spending so much on Garmins!

How do you justify any leisure expenditure?!

I ran with Runkeeper on the phone for a year but now have a Garmin 800 ...

Runkeeper kept track of where I'd been ok - but it was in my pocket - you can have it talk to you every x miles or minutes to tell you your averages which was a help ...
With the Garmin all the info is there all the time on the handlebars along with directional info if you're riding a course you don't know ...

Do I need an 800 - no. Do I like having an 800 - yes. Would I get another - probably!

snoopsmydogg

charliew87 wrote:

Don't know how people justify spending so much on Garmins!

if i didnt have an android phone and cheap cycle computer then I may consider one. Would be nice to know the heart rate etc but not curious enough to go spending the extra £££s yet. TBH I rarely look at the computer, usually a quick glance to see how far i've been or how fast i'm descending as the phone sits in my back pocket recording the route and playing music into my headphones :oops:

Since I only ride for fitness/fun i'm not overly bothered about planned routes and go where i feel but its always nice to upload the details and see how you compare to those diehard riders out there

slowondefy2

Okay, I'm probably going to be the only person here calling out for this, but I swear by MotionX GPS to track my rides with an iPhone. I use a handlebar mount, and I find the displays of the more popular apps a bit crap, frankly. MotionX will give you total time, current speed, average speed, max speed, total distance, elevation, total climb, total descent, current gradient, heart rate and a moving-map display. It'll also do 'voice-coaching' if that's your bag. You can download the maps in advance so you don't need to use any mobile internet data when you're out (saves battery life). I upload the .GPX file to the Strava website, so I still get all the Stava goodness, just without the crappy iPhone app. I also plan routes in advance and import the .GPX file into MotionX and it'll give me a 'breadcrumb' trail to follow on-screen.

Only main things it won't do is connect to a cadence sensor, and it won't do turn-by-turn directions.

It's not quite as straight-forward to use as some of the more mainstream apps, so if 'fire-and-forget' is your thing it might not be right for you. Unfortunately I don't think it's a free download, but as far as general purpose trail tracking apps go, I think it's the best available.

Stephenpaulknight

Thanks to everyone for their views. I am hunting eBay for a good secondhand garmin.

thefd

slowondefy2 wrote:

...but I swear by MotionX GPS to track my rides with an iPhone. I use a handlebar mount...

What mount do you use for the iPhone? Trying to find one....

slowondefy2

TheFD wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

...but I swear by MotionX GPS to track my rides with an iPhone. I use a handlebar mount...

What mount do you use for the iPhone? Trying to find one....

Topeak iPhone Drybag. It's a bit bulky, untidy looking and not quite perfect in a few ways, but it is 100% rainproof, doesn't interfere with the ambient light sensor and it's pretty cheap.

harrydaisy

I like the bike brain app on iPhone (1.49). It measures speed, route etc by using gps. Logs all your trips and you can share them if you want to, also keeps a log of the total miles trained on bike. For under 2 quid it's all you need and once I find a decent stem or handlebar mount for iPhone I will lose the Blackburn mini cycle computer I currently use.

thefd

slowondefy2 wrote:

Topeak iPhone Drybag. It's a bit bulky, untidy looking and not quite perfect in a few ways, but it is 100% rainproof, doesn't interfere with the ambient light sensor and it's pretty cheap.

How does it attach to the bike? Is it similar to This which I cannot use as it fits onto the top of the stem tube (as in just under the top stem cap) and the Specialized stem is a different size apparently... according to Edinburgh Bike Co-Op

slowondefy2

TheFD wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

Topeak iPhone Drybag. It's a bit bulky, untidy looking and not quite perfect in a few ways, but it is 100% rainproof, doesn't interfere with the ambient light sensor and it's pretty cheap.

How does it attach to the bike? Is it similar to This which I cannot use as it fits onto the top of the stem tube (as in just under the top stem cap) and the Specialized stem is a different size apparently... according to Edinburgh Bike Co-Op

It just straps to the stem, like this (but plastic!):

snowboard07

Cyclemeter and Strava

Millerman007

I used most of the cycle apps on my iPhone which work ok but i am soooo glad I ditched them for my garmin 500 , it's just much better and smaller than an iPhone strapped to your bars or stem

alex1rob

Edge 500 +1.

It's 169 on amazon at the moment or you can buy it from Taiwan on Ebay for about 115 incl delivery which is what I did.

Hands down the best thing I did with regards to my training