Strava - GPS watches vs phone app

h34e0f

So I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting one of the Garmin watches to use with Strava over carrying my Android handset around with me. Has anyone found much of a difference with the accuracy? Is it worth forking out the £100+ for a specific device?

Monty Dog

Battery life - GPS apps are power-hungry, so depends on your typical ride time

h34e0f

I havn't had a chance to use Strava on my own phone yet, how is the battery life?

Gizmodo

h34e0f wrote:

I havn't had a chance to use Strava on my own phone yet, how is the battery life?

I think that might depend on your phone, download it, it's free, just try it.

My vote would be for something like a Bryton Rider 20 for £80. Waterproof, you can have it on your handle bars to show you time/distance etc., compatible with ANT+ speed, cadence and HRM monitors. Battery lasts 18 hour and if you do go for a long ride and have a problem toward the end, you still have phone battery to call for help.

slowondefy2

I get 5 hours from my iPhone 4S with the screen on constantly, or double that with the screen off.

Phone GPS sensors are not as sensitive as didecated units, so the accuracy can suffer under trees. This affects the instantaneous speed reading, but doesn't affect the average speed or distance travelled much at all.

ricey155

Always use my cheap and cheerful Galaxy ace with Endomondo no issue for me with GPS

only issue i see if the alt i rode with my pal last week he had the latest Garmin swimming watch he did over 600ft more climbing compared to my phone upload (a lot out if your bothered)

everything else works well id like the ALt meter sorting tho

h34e0f

First charge on my new HTC One S, 2 hours cycling. Wasn't too bad on battery, but I think I'll go for a watch/computer as when not riding with a backpack (commuting or mtb) it's a pain to carry a 4.3" phone! Waterproof is also a bonus.

ricklilley

No Strava app available for my Windows phone, so i have tried using the MapMyRide app, but its eats the battery life.
Looking at getting a dedicated GPS computer in the future.

Wilmore

I was using Strava with my HTC Sensation but found that my times were always 5-8 seconds faster than my mate with his iPhone even though we were following each other! I put both phones in my pocket they were different by a few seconds. I now have a Garmin Edge 500 which is showing identical times to the iPhone, battery life is good and lots of features although it is slow to locate satellites when using it off road.

BlakeysFC

h34e0f wrote:

So I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting one of the Garmin watches to use with Strava over carrying my Android handset around with me. Has anyone found much of a difference with the accuracy? Is it worth forking out the £100+ for a specific device?

I use Strava, and I think its simply amazing for free.

It maps my rides perfectly, including calories, average MPH/KPH, Average Power in KW/Max Power in kW etc. and it's free!

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S3 and it uses about 5% of battery over my usual 8 mile ride. So for a 30 mile ride it'd probably only use 15-20% of your battery (depending on what phone you've got).

For me definitely go for the Strava App on your phone rather than a GPS watch/GPS device, it maps your ride perfectly and its free.

h34e0f

BlakeysFC wrote:

h34e0f wrote:

So I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting one of the Garmin watches to use with Strava over carrying my Android handset around with me. Has anyone found much of a difference with the accuracy? Is it worth forking out the £100+ for a specific device?

I use Strava, and I think its simply amazing for free.

It maps my rides perfectly, including calories, average MPH/KPH, Average Power in KW/Max Power in kW etc. and it's free!

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S3 and it uses about 5% of battery over my usual 8 mile ride. So for a 30 mile ride it'd probably only use 15-20% of your battery (depending on what phone you've got).

For me definitely go for the Strava App on your phone rather than a GPS watch/GPS device, it maps your ride perfectly and its free.

The question wasn't about using Strava or not, but more how I should record as the watches also upload to the site.

BlakeysFC

h34e0f wrote:

BlakeysFC wrote:

h34e0f wrote:

So I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting one of the Garmin watches to use with Strava over carrying my Android handset around with me. Has anyone found much of a difference with the accuracy? Is it worth forking out the £100+ for a specific device?

I use Strava, and I think its simply amazing for free.

It maps my rides perfectly, including calories, average MPH/KPH, Average Power in KW/Max Power in kW etc. and it's free!

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S3 and it uses about 5% of battery over my usual 8 mile ride. So for a 30 mile ride it'd probably only use 15-20% of your battery (depending on what phone you've got).

For me definitely go for the Strava App on your phone rather than a GPS watch/GPS device, it maps your ride perfectly and its free.

The question wasn't about using Strava or not, but more how I should record as the watches also upload to the site.

I see, I just put my phone in my jersey pocket and record my ride like that. If you'd find a phone in your jersey pocket annoying then the watch would be the way to go.

g00se

With an android phone and strava, always turn off the wifi, data and sync during the ride to save on battery life. I've easily done a few hundred mile rides without battery issues.

h34e0f

g00se wrote:

With an android phone and strava, always turn off the wifi, data and sync during the ride to save on battery life. I've easily done a few hundred mile rides without battery issues.

Err... That's switched off 90% of the time anyway... But thanks for pointing it out

dw300

Having your heart rate data, elevation etc (and power if you have a meter) logged beside the location info is an advantage.

Better battery life as stated. I get probably 6 hours or more logging from my Samsung Galaxy 2, which is alway plenty.

Accuracy is pretty much bang on for me compared to my Edge 500 surprisingly. The Galaxy has very good hardware and software.

You don't need to get to a computer to upload from a mobile phone.

If you don't analyse data much, or look at the device during the ride, then it's probably not worth the effort.

ricklilley wrote:

No Strava app available for my Windows phone, so i have tried using the MapMyRide app, but its eats the battery life.
Looking at getting a dedicated GPS computer in the future.

You just need a GPS Logger app. Then upload the file to Strava using the upload button in the top right. I think it's a .gpx file you use. I think there's an app actually called GPS/GPX Logger.

layzphil

Only problem I've found with the android app is it can take ages to get a lock if you don't start it in the same place as when you switched it off. I started it just after I set off today and it probably missed 5k or so.