iPhone Battery Life with Bluetooth HRM

Chris87

Though some people on here might find this useful.

Just took delivery of a Topeak Panobike Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor today to use with my iPhone 5 and thought I would do a quick test to see how it effects the battery life.

So far I've had it going for 2 hours, with Strava and the Topeak app running (Strava on screen not running in the background) and the battery has only just dipped to 70%.

I've just been wearing it around the house but considering the I've also been using the phone to make a couple of calls, check e-mails, and its been connected to the wifi etc (things it wouldn't have to do on a ride) I'm quite impressed how its held up.

Also if you're looking for a phone mount I can really recommend the Topeak one. Used it on a few rides now, including a very damp ride around pontypridd last wednesday and its been brilliant, nice and secure, the phone sits in just the right place and the included case is really good as well!

*prepares for lots of pointless comments about not using an iPhone as a bike computer*

goffski

I use the the Topeak case, i use the iphone version plus i've also got the larger smartphone version as this fits the iphone 4s with battery case in nicely.

Regarding the battery life if i turn off celular and just have cyclemeter running in the background with the Wahoo Blue HR and SC Speed and Cadence Sensor the phone battery will last for a 5 hour ride off a full charge, it's when you have the screen on you get serious battery drain, even just checking occasionally seems to drain the battery.

When using the battery case i've done 5+ hours (as above) and still had 100% battery on the phone, i've also had the screen on for long periods during longer rides and still have over 50% battery.