Cycle computers - why bother?
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Cripes! £10 a month for me. No wonder you don't have any disposable income left to spend on cycle computers!Plumby Baby wrote:£35 a month on my phone, pay monthly.Pannier, 120rpm.0 -
£20a month with unlimited data, well I was close to the 30Gb of data! I went on a very good plan, pay monthly but no contract when my old phone contract ran out. It cost £2 per month more to go from a low data to unlimited. Then because it was a pay as you go monthly contract they couldn't stop it. Bought a good phone cheaply and kept the contract. Think I'll keep it until they stop it. I don't think you can beat that if you're a high data user (I tether too and there's no limit or as good as no limit - could be 30Gb tethering).
Batteries on phones are my big annoyance. Not since my galaxy s2 have I had a phone with an easily replaced battery. They all start to lose charge quicker at 18-24 months, just as contract runs out.
So far I've not had that issue with my bike GPS unit. Mind you it's a basic one that takes BT and ant + sensors but no navigation other than breadcrumbs.0 -
Plumby Baby wrote:Also, the accuracy of dedicated devices. Are they really superior? I cannot qualify this but I imagine smartphone GPS technology is pretty darn good considering how excellent iPhone's 'Find My Phone' feature is. To within a metre would be my unscientific guess.
Imo yes they are,whilst your phone, through a number of sources/tech can locate itself pretty well, it's pretty hopeless working out where you are when you are moving, try using it as a satnav in city centres and they do quickly lose track of you. Back when google did that locations app and you could share it with closed groups of friends,when I was at home my phone would simply report my location as being actually where the nearest cellphone base station it was connected to was located,which was about 1.5 miles away. And my HTC recording a Strava track will regularly double the length of a ride vs a Garmin on the same route ,just because it has almost a constant sideways wiggle that can move you back and forth sometimes up-to a mile away from where you actually are,with the resultant often quite crazy top speeds,higher average speeds and one or two QoMs that you didn't really get.
And it's not just on Android, know one or two people at work who use iPhones and they come back claiming some less than believably high average speeds given their fitness level,bikes etc.
So yeah I use a dedicated Garmin because for all its many flaws, it's still the most accurate way to record a ride imo, and I'll save my phone battery for the emergencies when I need to ring for help0 -
Well I occasionally use my phone to set a course home from work, just to see if it's any better than the early days when a galaxy s2 was THE android phone to have and had sold out everywhere in town in the first week.
It's still interesting that despite location setting my work location is half a mile away as the crow flies. To give you an idea of what that means it would take me at least 15 minutes to ride to the "start" location, longer by car in rush hour. Seriously it's half a mile away over a river with no bridge there.
To say the phone's GPS is useless is an understatement. It's an honor 8 so not a rubbish phone by any stretch. My previous phone was an LG g2. When I got it that phone was only just behind the galaxy of its day. My other work phone is one of those supposedly excellent iphones. They all do the same thing with my work location.
My bike GPS, a £45 Garmin edge 25, is a tiny square of accuracy. Transfer the plot to strava when you get home and the start location is accurate. It shows the start about 20m off the road (just about the distance onto the works yard where the bike shed is).
Of course I realise other areas might get better GPS signals and locations as a result. But I live and work in an area without really tall buildings I work on the outskirts of the town, away from the tallest buildings there should be no obstruction to the signal. There is no obvious reason for the huge inaccuracy with my phones.
Of course when it does work I find it very helpful. For example I used to have to ride from work to the university one day a week. First few times I used streetmaps to work the course out. Great! Nice and easy. I then used it as a satnav in my front pocket of my cycle jacket and used the turn by turn satnav voice to find my way to the university. It worked a treat when my phone eventually picked up my location. Until then I worked off my memory of the route from the map. Looking back at the trail it was iffy on streetmaps but my Garmin 25 had it nailed when I viewed it on Strava.
I think phones can work well but they are not consistent enough for me. I've even had problems using one in the car. Although it's easier to use than my car satnav (either a really good in its day tomtom or Garmin one I don't recall).
Basically is good when it works but IME the dedicated bike GPS works better for me. Especially because I don't use it for turn by turn. I memorise my route at home or use paper maps if touring on holiday.0 -
greenamex2 wrote:Why do I use a GPS on every commute?
Monitor my heart rate to ensure I am not about to drop dead.
What exactly are you looking out for here ? A flatline ?0 -
cougie wrote:greenamex2 wrote:Why do I use a GPS on every commute?
Monitor my heart rate to ensure I am not about to drop dead.
What exactly are you looking out for here ? A flatline ?
Running over 160BPM for any length of time. If I run too high for too long I suffer an erratic heart beat for the next couple of days. Or possibly drop dead, not had that happen though...yet!0 -
Plumby Baby wrote:@Arthur
"I have a Samsung Galaxy S8"
My phone is quite new however, less than 2 months still if the battery is going to degrade then surely the same thing can be said of other battery powered devices.
S8 owner from launch here (9 months or so?) boy do I have some bad news for you about battery degradation0 -
greenamex2 wrote:cougie wrote:greenamex2 wrote:Why do I use a GPS on every commute?
Monitor my heart rate to ensure I am not about to drop dead.
What exactly are you looking out for here ? A flatline ?
Running over 160BPM for any length of time. If I run too high for too long I suffer an erratic heart beat for the next couple of days. Or possibly drop dead, not had that happen though...yet!
Off topic, but this is an area where we're seeing real progress in diagnosis and treatment. Multiple stories of HR data from people's wearables then used by professionals, and in places save people's lives. Good to see.0 -
My Garmin 235 has quite literally saved my life. For the £175 I paid, its a minor miracle...when the app works!0
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greenamex2 wrote:My Garmin 235 has quite literally saved my life. For the £175 I paid, its a minor miracle...when the app works!
I hear you on the app! Main reason I went to Wahoo for the computer. Wish my Polar watch had continuous tracking though, that would be the dream. 0 -
Poptart242 wrote:greenamex2 wrote:My Garmin 235 has quite literally saved my life. For the £175 I paid, its a minor miracle...when the app works! I hear you on the app! Main reason I went to Wahoo for the computer. Wish my Polar watch had continuous tracking though, that would be the dream.
My wife tracks me on my commute...insurance papers at the ready. The accident detection generally works pretty as well, although the snow day confused it a bit.0 -
Another reason I'm very happy with my >2 year old S5. At the time I bought it, it was the best spec waterproof phone with an easily replaceable battery; as far as I know it still is, and replacement batteries are only a few quid...Poptart242 wrote:S8 owner from launch here (9 months or so?) boy do I have some bad news for you about battery degradationPannier, 120rpm.0 -
I hear you all on the battery front. That remains a concern I have to say.
I do like the idea of my nearest and dearest knowing where I am if things go belly up on the way in/out of work.
Food for thought.0 -
Plumby Baby wrote:<snip>
Regarding Tangled Metal's stance on the futility of my post: for me, this utterly misses the point of the internet. Would you I rather read a single thread on the subject which may be months or years old? Or maybe I should go to the library and ask them if they have a book on it?! After all we don't want to duplicate anything on a forum do we or even, Lord forbid, the narrow expanse of the Internet.
Hahaaaaaaaaaaa! great comeback.
Maybe he is sitting in a candle lit room listening to his 78's
EDIT: just read further down the thread and fair play to Tangled Metal to be big enough to accept he may have been a bit harsh too.
Friends!
FCN = 40 -
Forum Friends!
Great, great TV programme.0 -
MTB-Idle wrote:Plumby Baby wrote:<snip>
Regarding Tangled Metal's stance on the futility of my post: for me, this utterly misses the point of the internet. Would you I rather read a single thread on the subject which may be months or years old? Or maybe I should go to the library and ask them if they have a book on it?! After all we don't want to duplicate anything on a forum do we or even, Lord forbid, the narrow expanse of the Internet.
Hahaaaaaaaaaaa! great comeback.
Maybe he is sitting in a candle lit room listening to his 78's
Nope I've just read a whole flurry of them on a few forums over the last quarter of 2017 including a few on here.
Slightly ill-tempered post I'll admit but It's no different to posts by others in a similar vein about these regular topics. In fact the last one only dropped out of new posts search earlier this year. It doesn't mean I'm stuck in the past just that I'm possibly online too much. That I see the same discussion with a mix of the same characters and a few new posters not long after the last. I guess we're all guilty of thinking our questions are original.
EDIT
Just went back and reread mtb-idle's edit saying fair play. Appreciate your edit. And the above is a bit of a defensive reply, sorry. I might be mid forties but I don't think I'm stuck in the past. Even though my dislike of FB and twitter might contradict that.
PS what's the photo about? I didn't get the reference.0 -
My experience is this:
- when I started cycling more 'seriously' I used my phone in a jersey pocket with the Strava app. It was the best solution and I couldn't see a need for a dedicated device.
- then I got a Wahoo REFLKT which put a small, waterproof display on the bar but used the phone to do the GPS tracking and donkey work. It was the perfect solution. I couldn't see the need for a dedicated GPS computer
- for my birthday last year I got a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt. This is the new perfect. Small, robust, intuitive and can be used with no phone at all. I can't see the need for anything else.
I await my next revelation with anticipation.
My point is that it is easy to believe that your own self-justified 'now' is the only/best way, but it turns out that other people may have had a point when they waxed lyrical about their 'now'. As with many similar debates, when asked "what's the best...xxxxxx?" the answer will often be "the xxxxxx that I have".Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29 for the lumpy stuff
Cannondale Synapse alloy with 'guards for the winter roads
Fuji Altamira 2.7 for the summer roads
Trek 830 Mountain Track frame turned into a gravel bike - for anywhere & everywhere0 -
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Tangled Metal wrote:
PS what's the photo about? I didn't get the reference.
The Inbetweeners. If you didn't watch it you wouldn't get it but in summary it was saying that we are all friends again.FCN = 40 -
Why am I now on Wiggle looking at damn GPS computers!? How dare you people.
Seduced and you didn't even buy me dinner.0
