Bike Computer vs Android - Pros and Cons
 

This past summer I finally stopped using a bike computer and went full android (Note 8). I have been on a road bike all summer and will be on a gravel bike this winter and I have to say that while I was a little resistant to go "all in" on the Android its been a nice change.

As hardware continues to get better and software continues to develop, it almost seems old school now to use a bike computer.

Have you made the jump yet? If so what mounts, software, solutions are you using to make it work?
If you are resilient to change - Whats holding you back?

Curious Cyclists want to know....

I get it. Why have so much redundancy? Today I had two watches and a bike computer recording my ride. I could have had the phone do the same thing, except better and more legible, including a vivid display of turn by turn nav and ride metrics. I think what's holding me back is the size of phones today. If I had a cool mount that integrated with the handlebars I might like it better Maybe an out front in landscape mode in the same plane as the handlebars, like the k-edge mounts do for Garmin devices.

Don't think I'd be willing to do without a bike computer. My phone I sometimes use for navigation and sometimes to play music over BT.. I don't think my Android phone can handle two BT functions at the same time. I like using a wired bike computer because I don't trust wireless setups. My bike computer sits right next to one of my bike lights so if wireless there could be electromagnetic interference to the wireless signal. Had this happen when using some of my old Cateye wireless setups and decided it best to just go back to wired bike computer.

A couple days ago my very old Vetta bike computer finally decided it needed another battery. Rather than just replace the battery I decided on buying a better computer with more useful functions. It will still be wired though. The new one will show hill gradient. I think I'll like that if it really works.

I haven't had an interference issue in a long time, and I use some pretty hefty batteries on the handlebars. Also, your phone should transmit to a wireless headset and run any cycling app simultaneously, all over Bluetooth. However, you can't run two cycling apps and expect to see heart rate or cadence on both apps. That's the BTLE limitation.

I still use my bike computer, a tiny little Garmin Edge. The battery life is much better and I don't run the risk of running the phone battery down on longer rides and not be able to make a call. I don't watch much but my speed and distance and it's display is visible even in bright sunshine, whereas the phone is difficult to see.

It's discussed repeatedly, do a search

https://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=3729567

Charging management, display in sunlight, potential damage to the phone are the drawbacks.

Damage to the phone is easy to mitigate: don't use your main phone, and instead use an older, used phone. I use my old Galaxy S5 for GPS when cycling. It doesn't have cell service, so it costs nothing except electricity. If it gets wrecked, no big deal; I can get another on Ebay for next to nothing. There's tons of great older cellphones on the used market now that are perfect for applications like this where you don't need cellular data (or voice for that matter) service), but want a very high-tech device with large LCD (or better yet AMOLED in the case of Samsungs) screens and don't want to pay more than $50 or $100 for them.

There's some bike phone mounts out there that have integrated batteries that plug into the phone with a microUSB cable, to give you extended life.

I use a GPS watch. I can see and interact with it in the rain. It works great on the bike and talks to my power meter. It works great for swimming, too. The battery blows my phone away. It has maps when I go out of service.

It is the power requirement that convinced me to buy a new computer. A phone battery won't last through a long ride with GPS tracking and turn by turn. As for staying wired with a bike computer, that may have been true 5 years ago but they are much better now. The standards used now don't drop out and the computers read multiple devices flawlessly.

I did like being able to use Siri on the bike to reply to messages though.

I can use cheap (free) phones I get from ST specials, but those have even worse battery and weaker gps. You can't actually get around those drawbacks compared to a wired bike computer that will go hundreds of times longer and is easier to read. If you need something else, then sure the Android can be better.

How long are your rides?

I use a Samsung S4 Mini with an internal 3rd party extended capacity battery.

As it is a bike only phone, I've turned it onto "Airplane Mode". If I can remember, I also disable WIFI.

For long rides, I set the screen timeout short, and keep the display as dim as practical. I can easily ride for about 15 hours without killing the battery.

One advantage of the phone over some Garmins is that the phone records once per second by default. I think many of the Garmins record once per 5 seconds. That becomes an issue with Strava segments, either recording the finish early or late.

I'll probably add a $20 handlebar/wheel magnet computer sometime for improved accuracy and response time.

Between power management, mounting problems and freeing up your phone to be a phone I went with a bike computer.

The first time this happened it was on a slow 4-5 hour ride. The phone died at around 3 hours. It wasn't completely charged but it sure ran out quickly. I just decided I wanted a dedicated device instead. I just looked over to the table next to this computer and I see the phone mount is still sitting there. And with the Element Bolt that I bought I have 2 mounts, the aero one for my road bike and the bar mount for my commuter. I just switch back and forth easily. I even have 2 sets of sensors, kinda. My roadie has a speed sensor and power meter pedals for cadence and power, my commuter has the cadence sensor from the pair, and I just use GPS speed. My HRM goes on me for almost all riding.

I don't have any issues with my Wahoo recording continuously.

Smartphone has many functions than bike computer but I don't recomend using main smartphone as bike computer because of charge issue. I think use old smartphones as bike computers are best. Smartphones aren't just a bike computer. They are very functional device. You can use GPS for find routes. You can listen music from them during riding by earphones or speaker. You can upload your music you want listen during rides to old phone and can save memory of main phone.

I think an old phone will have less battery life then a new one. Doing GPS and listen to music I was getting 4 hours out of my phone, the Wahoo bolt last 12 hours.
I know some people have stated they bring a backup charger but where do you put it?

Good luck using a smartphone, or any touchscreen-only interface, when it gets wet, like when it rains. I was using a spare phone and ditched it for an Edge 520 for all the reasons already mentioned.

I'm contemplating phone or dedicated GPS as well, good thread. Currently I use my phone for tracking and keep it in my pocket. currently i use a dedicated wired computer for speed and cadence. For adding HRM I'll need something else... i only need that hing to show me instant speed, cadence and hrm, no need to be smart since I have my phone for that.

Pros phone:
- cheaper, have already. Only would need a cadence sensor and HRM.
- only need to worry about keeping one device updated. New phones are very good for GPS accuracy, battery life etc. If you have new modern phones for other reasons, you have an up to date device.
- only need to worry about charging and bringing one device
- don't have to worry about seemingly buggy computers

cons phone:
- need to find some holder solution for the large phone, may look bulky
- need powerpack for longer rides (although, use one for centuries anyway)
- not sure yet about glare

Some thoughts on what was said above:
- using old cheap phone: older phones have bad battery life and not so great GPS, display etc.
- interference: newer bluetooth devices are very reliable. More than my wired computer. i use BT for sound all day on different devices and never have an issue or drop.
- battery life, GPS quality, screen: there has been tremendous improvement with modern phones. I had my Note 4 for several years and now got an S9+. they have similar battery size, but the S9+ lasts twice as long, has much better screen during daylight, has spot on GPS withotu much searching like the old one did some time. People who tried an old phone and decided to get a dedicated bike computer probably have a point, but try a modern phone and evaluate again.

If you mean a cheapish wired bike computer for basics of speed, trip distance, current time, etc...
- With wired computer no worries about cell phone getting damaged - rain, hitting a bump and falling off, etc. These things could happen with the bike computer to but it's $30 vs $500/$1,000.
- With wired computer screen is easier to see in sunlight. I have yet to have a cell that's 100% legible in bright summer sunlight, whereas the black and white led screens on cheap bike computers aren't negatively affected by bright light.
- Battery life. Cell phone often wouldn't last the entire ride without the battery running out during the ride or at least dying later in the day before I go to sleep. The small wired computer batteries last almost forever, I finally had one die after about a decade.

If I was looking for one that did gps I'd probably go through the extra work to use my cell...
- A better case would probably negate most concerns about damage etc, but it's more expensive and more hassle to use.
- If I searched specifically for a cell phone who's screen could be seen in daylight I could probably find one.
- I could add on an external battery for battery life, though that would introduce additional cost, complexity, and hassle.

Basically, it's cheaper and easier to use a less expensive wired computer as all I'm really looking for is speed, distance, and time.
I think the extra hassle would be worth it if I was using a gps for the whole route, but as I'm not doing that it's simpler, cheaper, and easier to just stick with a wired speedometer.

Phones are cheaper, except that you have to buy a second phone do you don't damage yours, a $50 case, a power pack, and software.

Redundancy was my reason for going with the phone as my primary and not using a bike computer. There really isn't anything a bike computer can do better than what I get on my phone. I think thats really why I initially asked the question. What things can a bike computer do better or different than a phone.

These seem to be the main rebuttals up to this point -

Wired bike computer - It's cheap. Dirt cheap, I get it. But I am assuming with a wired computer you are not connecting to an online app to track your rides, its for basic functionality, speed, cadence. No GPS, Power Meter, Heart Rate Sensor. Really not comparable at all to most (even low end) wireless bike computers.

Bluetooth limits - Bluetooth 4.3 and above can support up to 7 devices although I think 3 or 4 might be more realistic. So no issues connecting a speed/cadence sensor, heartrate sensor and power meter all at the same time. I cannot understand a reason why you would want to run two apps on your phone at a time with both needing sensors (I run two apps,, STRAVA and Urban Biker but only Urban Biker collects Bluetooth data) but no bike computer runs 2 apps. So its really no comparison. We could also get into streaming music via bluetooth from the phone while running all the bluetooth devices which is a non-issue with high end/late model phones but there is no bike computer that plays music. And if music is a must have you could always get a much smaller device or older phone to just run music but there you are at 2 devices again.

Battery - This is really a non-issue unless you are riding more than 6-8 hours at a time without stopping. I have had my note 8 for over a year and it uses 10-15% of my phone battery on a 1.5 hour ride. My longest ride going phone only was a little over 3 hours and my phone used about 30% of the battery. This is while running a speed/cadence sensor and having the screen on the entire time. You can run multiple apps to kill your battery (maps, spotify...etc) but again you are using way more power/data/resources than any bike computer uses. The other thing about newer phones is that they charge pretty quickly. Within 1 hour my phone is charged from 15% to about 80-85%. So at the lunch time break after my 6 hour ride, I can plug my phone into a wall or external battery to recharge during lunch before I start riding again. Not to mention there are vendors who build external batteries that mount with your phone on your bike.

Sunlight Display - This is a non-issue. Just get a late model phone with an AMOLED display. In clear skies with full sun I have no issues seeing my display unless my brightness is less than 40-50%.

Damage to phone - I don't know if all riders carry a phone with them when they ride, but I would assume unless racing that 90% of the cyclists that do take a phone with them have their phone in a jersey pocket that is not zipped. I don't understand how having your phone in your pocket as opposed to mounted on your handlebars would allow more protection for your phone. My guess is that falling off your bike and landing on the pocket (zipped or unzipped) your phone is in would have a higher percentage of damage to your phone than it popping off the mount on the handlebars.

Getting Wet - I agree with this. You cannot use the touch screen interface on the phone when its raining. That being said there is no reason at all to touch the screen while I am riding unless I have to do something not related to cycling. All the data that I need is on my screen and visible without having to click through screens. There is more detail that I can drill down into but not anything that I need to click through on my phone. Also my phone is waterproof so no additional case or covering needed. Just wipe the screen off and type away.

Mounting the phone - I think the only downfall to using the phone is the limited availability of sexy looking low profile mounts. I did find a nice slim, clean lightweight mount for my phone that works great but there are some downsides to this. Primarily that I have to switch cases (takes 5 seconds to do) and that the phone is mounted on the stem cap - Not really a big deal but would be really nice to have an out front mount.

-Sean

Very good points. Modern cellphones, especially the flagship models, are far superior to bike computers, car navigation systems etc. All people I know with expensive cars use Google maps on their phone instead of the car navigation. GPS is just one of their 1000 capabilities and an app could be programmed to emulate any "bike computer".

The rain problem you mention is real, but I don't think is a big deal. Protective cases are very water-tight and good for some light rain. And if it rains, I put the phone in a protected pocket anyway. I don't ride during rain, or seek shelter if i get caught. and if i really have to ride in heavy rain, I don't have time to look at acadence or HRM anyway. I think that rain concern is a moot concern.

Just look at all the threads where people have issues with their Garmins not correctly working, short battery life, connectivity issues etc. Yes phones may have issues too. But it isn't like there is a world of 100% perfect bike computers. the phone just needs to be better than bike computers to be better, doesn't need to be perfect.

Rain is a funny thing. I lived in Florida for a while and rain there is a completely different animal than here in the PNW.

In Florida summers, rain is everyday but short and torrential. Winter here in the PNW it rains all day long, everyday, but you can walk around in it and not get soaked to the bone.

If I didnt ride in the rain here I'd have 7-10 days at a time in the winter without riding. It gets miserable in the cold but its bearable if you dress appropriately. Leaving the phone out in the rain here isn't an issue whereas if I was in Florida I would probably pocket it if it looked like rain and find shelter quick.

It is nice to have a completely waterproof phone.

-Sean

What apps are you using? I'm mainly interested in one that only shows speed, HRM and cadence (and no cluttering of screen with distances or averages etc.). I found the Wahoo app to do that, but you need to start tracking to use it (I use Strava and Samsung Health separately).

Currently using Urban Biker & Strava. I use the Kinetic app for the Turbo Trainer. Kinetic works pretty good for the Turbo, I can throw it up on the monitor with chromecast and it will export to Strava. Urban Biker is mostly GPS driven and while I can connect to the trainer with UB and see speed and cadence it doesn't track distance without GPS. The reason I run Strava at the same time as UB is that it is an instant upload for the ride if I don't have time to upload my Urban Biker GPX file. Unfortunately you currently have to manually upload the GPX file with Urban Biker. One great thing about Urban Biker is that it has a "passive recording" mode where it will take the GPS data from another app that is already using GPS (In this case Strava) instead of going straight to the radio. So you save a bit of battery running in this mode.

I have gone through a dozen different apps for this and have found that Urban Biker has the best layout and has so many options for customization that it satisfies pretty much everything I need to see on a single screen. Its also a great looking user interface and has one touch to easily switch between layouts (Day/Night/Map Underlay)

Some of the apps I have tried that worked okay -
Wahoo Fitness - Simple but ugly layout
Cateye Cycling - Has a lot of data but like all cateye stuff its like a techno nerd put it together and isn't really a clean simple interface, not very customizable.
Bike Computer - Really sexy looking interface but did not have a whole lot of customization. I wanted a landscape orientation and at the time I was testing it that wasnt available as an option. They have some really neat safety features in this app though. I think all the good stuff costs $$ though.
Garmin Connect - More of a fitness app then cycling computer.

Most of the other apps seemed more like map or health apps rather than a cycling computer.

Here is a layout of the interface I use with Urban Biker -
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8074ee466e.jpg

Urban Biker Landscape Layout

Here are a couple shots of the bike mount with the phone case attached -
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...97384f1cb8.jpg

Slim lightweight stem mount for phone
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d464d48a87.jpg

Landscape Mount
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b25bf49558.jpg

Portrait Mount


Curious to see what others are using for phone mounts and software.

-Sean