What is the best device for Strava (Off road)

Paul 8v

You'll have to forgive me if this has already been covered, I've had a look on the search and can't really see anything with regards to this. I've got an upgrade due for my phone soon and I'd like to start using Strava. Would it be better to use it on a mobile (If so which are good for mounting to a bike) or through a device like a Garmin? The Garmin seems very dear if I'm getting a phone anyway but is there any big advantage through using it?

I've never used Strava before so I will need a bit of help! Does it work well offroad? There's quite a few routes I've seen near me but they're mainly on the road so I'd have no chance against someone on a roadbike!

Cheers

Paul

njee20

The GPS in a smartphone is of questionable accuracy, certainly on shorter segments.

On the other hand, I'd not buy a Garmin purely for Strava use.

I use an Edge 705 for all training stuff (and upload to Strava) and it's very good.

Paul 8v

That's what I was worried about, a lot of the strava segments near me are quite short and the off road ones are quite twisty so I was worried it would get confused like when a sat nav thinks you're on a different road that runs parallel to the one your on. so I take it the other advantages of the Garmin are the cadence etc when it comes to training? I need to break myself in gently as I'm recovering from a back injury and I don't want to overdo it, can you set training parameters on the Garmin?

oodboo

It's probably a safe bet that about 99% of the segments on strava have been recorded using a smartphone. I find the accuracy is good enough and it detects the segments 99% of the time.

Paul 8v

Cool, I'll give it a go on the mobile for a while and see how I get on, don't think I'm going to breaking too many records for the moment but will be a good motivational boost

njee20

Yes smartphones will do it (although if you do have singletrack parallel to a road you can often get folk on the road recording the segment time) it's more that they tend to jump around a bit more, seems to be favourable though!

Emphursis

My iPhone is generally quite accurate, which is surprising considering how patchy signal is around me. I does stray off the track at times, which has led to it not recording my time on a segment.

heavy_rat

I bought a Garmin 110 just for Strava. £120 with a HR monitor from Halfords. Does the job well.

njee20

The actual software you use isn't that relevant, it's just the way smart phone GPSs work, hence you often see folk jumping to Algeria or something!

I'd definitely not buy a device purely for Strava though, but each to their own!

oodboo

Strava should do a co-branded deal thing with Garmin. They'd well loads to people who don't know any better.

lostboysaint

I have a scabby, old, super-reliable Garmin 205 that I use on the MTBs and have, occasionally, uploaded to Strava. Cheap and reliable.

bartimaeus

I have a £40 GPS logger. Switch it on, go ride, switch it off, download the GPX file and upload to Strava. It's pretty accurate and allows you to choose the logging frequency (e.g. once per second), and the battery life is over 8 hours on a charge. It has the added advantage that it is more difficult for Strava to spoil your ride as you have no idea what you've achieved (or failed to achieve) until you get home.

andhr

I use an iPhone and iBike (got the latter as a gift - not sure I'd spend that sort of money otherwise), both seem pretty accurate for Strava; also works with ANT+ HR sensors, along with the speed/cadence sensor included...

Depends on your budget...