Jarrett2

Early on, a phone with a cycling app is fine. As you get into longer and longer rides, I found that around the 4 hour mark, the function of having location turned on and a cycling app running really ran my phone battery down fast. This wasn't a big deal if you were doing loops on a local trail and your car was in the parking lot, but if you get into riding long distances, especially solo, then having a functioning and powered up phone becomes more important.

Once I got to that point, I got a dedicated cycling computer and put my phone in my jersey pocket. Side note, I've never needed to have it in a baggie, even when its raining. My phone is water resistant and never has an issue with the low levels of moisture it gets from sweat or rain. Plus, I like the ability to quickly pull it out and snap a pic while riding if I see something. It takes me about 4 seconds from seeing it to snapping the pic thanks to the quick launch camera function.

Also, I personally like all of the info that my Garmin 820 gives me which is more than I've had using phone apps. Things like power numbers, cadence, real calories burned, accurate climb and grade information along with heads up caller id, text messages and weather alerts.

Another feature that I can't live without anymore is the Varia rear radar integration that notifies me when cars approach from behind, tell me how many there are, how far away they are, how fast they are approaching and when the coast is clear. It's especially useful when I'm in high winds and can't rely on my ears to hear a car approaching. The computer beeps loud enough to get my attention to look down and recognize that a car is approaching even when I can't hear it coming up behind me.

My girlfriend's favorite features are Live Track and Crash Detection. With Live Track, she can keep tabs on where I am when I solo ride. It makes her feel better to see that I'm still moving and not in a ditch somewhere. Also, in the rare event you need a pickup (like due to a pop up lightning storm) the feature allows the person to drive directly where you are. She likes the Crash Detection feature as well. If I go down hard, the computer starts a countdown and if I don't stop it in X seconds, it will send a panic message to people I have configured. So if I do crash into a ditch and go unconscious, my contacts will be alerted and give my location, as long as my cell phone has service there.

Factor all that in and I find a bike computer well worth the investment for cyclists doing long miles.