colleen c

I have all three of the Anker batteries, 5600mah, 8400mah and their 10000mah.

Of all three of those, personally I like the 8400 the best. It is a compromise between the larger and heavier 10000mah and the more limited 5600mah. Don't get me wrong, the 5600mah is not a bad unit at all. I use that to charge my MiFi hotspot verizon pack when there is limted coverage from ATT on my Samsung Note2 phablet. The thing I do not like about the 5600mah pack is that it only has one usb port and sometimes it is nice to be able to charge two device at the same time. Another limiting factor is the fact that it is only a 1A rating. I am not so sure what the Nexua draws when the GPS and screen is on but the 1A from the 5600mah might just might be borderline to charge your phone when you are using the gps and screen, but it might be able to maintain and conserve the internal battery.

I use a Note2 phablet a lot while at work. We do a lot of cellphone communication when we are away from the desk. It is also our only means of communication with the workers in shipping and production out on the floor. I also use a bluetooth headset that is constanly streaming MP3 music when I am not talking on the phone. So that pretty much means lots of battery usage. I wear a fanny pack with the 8400 mah pack and carry a micro usb for charging when my phone gets low instead of having to plug it into a wall and be phoneless while waiting. My note2 does requires a 2amp wall charger when the GPS, bluetooth, and display are running. The 2amp output port from the Anker 8400mah pack is capable of charging it while those apps are running.

The second 1amp usb port from the 8400mah pack is nice. I can be charging my phone while also charge my bluetooth headset at the same time. I like to stream my music from my phone to the blutooth headset during my commute back home so having a second port for me to give some kind of charge to my headset before leaving work.

So far I have yet to have any problems with any of the Anker batteries.....(knock on wood)

Winfried

Thanks much for the tip. Since it hadn't shipped yet, I cancelled the order and bought the 8400mAh instead. Since the power plug that comes with the Nexus provides 1A of output, I thought the 5400mAh would be sufficient.

01 CAt Man Do

Good News! ( for us Android users ); I just found out that the "Cue Sheet" app has been updated. Seems there is now a "Pro version" ( $3.99 ) available as well which can do voice prompts. I just upgraded to the Pro. Can't wait to see how this works. Sadly, if it works great it will mean that I will no longer need the Garmin. Crossing my fingers hoping this app will do as it says. If it works I will sing it's praise.

Looks like I too might be in the market for an external battery ( if this app works )

Winfried

I'll use the 8400mAh the first time tomorrow for a day trip. Let's see if I can let Strava + GPS on all day, and see the GPS trace when I'm home.

BTW, the 8400mAh model offers two output plugs: 1A and 2A. Is it safe to use the 2A to power the Androphone or is it restricted to use with iPhones?

colleen c

The 2amp port is ok to use with android device although I would start off trying the 1 amp port first.

Start with your phone internal battery is fully charge. Plug the charge cable into the 1amp port. Then go to your navigation screen with the gps enable. Press the on button on the external battery and be sure that the charging indicator light on your phone is showing external power or charging. Try it for an hour and see what your battery level is presently shows. If it had drained, then switch to the 2amp port.

These and most other external battery have an auto shutoff built in meaning that when there is very low or no current draw, the external battery will shut off. This feature has it pros and con. Personally i rather just have an on/off switch but that the way they make most of them these days. If you leave your screen and gps on, your external battery should not shut off automatically because there should be sufficient current dtaw to prevent the auto off features of the external pack. Not sure if the auto shutoff is more or less sensitive between the two port, so I would think it is best to use the 1amp port if your phone does not draw more than the one amp with screen on maxium outdoir brightness and gps running, otherwise switch to the higher output port and you should be fine.

krobinson103

Some of our guys have used it. They still say that a Garmin is a better navigation tool. The cell phone app is good, but not as easy to setup.
Also I have noticed since I upgraded my portable power to 2amps that the internal battery stays charged for at least 12 hours. Can't say the same at 1 amp. The battery usually drops out at 7-8 hours. Could be that my smart phone is an older power hungry model though.

01 CAt Man Do

Everything you said makes a lot of sense. I've noticed that the only batteries that seem to offer a "2A" port are the one's with a higher mAh rating. The only advantage I see of having a 2 amp port would be if you let your battery get real low. Having a 2 amp port could possibly allow your internal battery to charge faster ( while still being used ). Otherwise, if you only have a 1 amp port I would think it be best to turn the external battery on as soon as the ( internal ) battery discharges after about an hour ( while still being used ).

Colleen, I need your thoughts...( others can chime in as well ) ....Do you think an external 4000mAh battery is good enough to get me through a day of constant ( GPS ) use with my Android? Also, is there a place you can buy "shortened" cables that would be used to couple the external battery to the Android while on the bike? Standard cables are about a yard long. I want something about 6-8" long so I don't have a bunch of extra cable I have to deal with. If I can't find something that short on the web I suppose I can just buy a standard cable and try shortening it myself.

colleen c

I suggest first taking a look at the internal battery of your Android phone. See what the battery size of the OEM batteries than go from that. Also see if there is any rating listed on the OEM charger. If you can get these spec then you might be able to get an estimate runtime from the 4000mah battery. Do keep in mind that your display will most like be set on the highest brightness level for outdoor use in the sun so that will also use some extra juice. The display is the biggest user of power on a phone and having it to be set on high brightness just makes it that much worst. Even at that, there are times when I wished that my display was even more brighter when I have the sun reflecting on my screen.

These external batteries can be overated just like the bike batteries. I never took on apart (yet) but I suspect these external batteries are parrallel wiring configuration and they are being boosted to get the usb spec of 5v. If that is true, then the 4000 mah battery might be less than the claim rating due to the efficiency loss from boost. I will think something more like the 4000 mah rating will be closer to 3000 mah or less. How and when these pack fall out of the USB spec is anyone guess and that pretty much depends on what the load to the battery happens to be and how much juice is left on these external battery. Usually at this point, you may notice a longer charging rate to the phone or even having the phone drop out of charging mode then back into charging mode repeatly. The lower ampacity of the pack along with the higher current draw might be loading down the pack where the output is falling out of USB specs. Turning off the phone and just let it charge for a while helps. That's why I prefer to just use the larger pack if I know I will have a high constant load drawing from the pack.

There is a company named "Star Tech" that sell short version of USB to micro and mini USB. They have 6 and 1ft length cable. The cable itself are not the thick cable variety which may translate to being more of the fragile species but it also nice in the fact that they don't wiggle around the micro usb connector right at the phone unlike the heavier duty cable that wants to fall out of the connector especially when using micro USB. Star Tech also makes some 90 degree connector. That makes a nice cleaner connection right at the phone connector. The price is around $6 to $8 from Amazon.

01 CAt Man Do

Thanks Colleen. Nice to know I've asked the right person. You've given me some things to think about and the "Star tech" stuff is just what I was looking for. Now all I have to do is to try out the upgraded "Cue Sheet" app to see if it's worth me buying the extra phone accessories.

You're right about the screen using the most power. Knowing that I can always power down the screen until needed. As long as you have an audible prompt on the approaching turn it should be no problem. The thing I like about using the phone as a GPS tool is that the screen is nicer to look at ( vs. the Garmin ) and it effectively eliminates carrying a second device ( since I always take the phone on every ride regardless ). It also helps taking up less space in my bag since I can now mount the phone on the stem ( if everything goes as planned ).

Winfried

Thanks for the info. I'm puzzled, though, about where the current goes once the internal battery is charged up: Why would the phone keep drawing current if its battery is already full? Due to some impedance mismatch between the internal and the external batteries?

Also thanks for the tip on the short angled cables. I'll find a micro USB-regular USB cable to connect the two.

colleen c

That was said on the assumption that the user of the phone had intention of leaving on the display, cycle apps and gps on even after the internal battery was fully charged from the external source. The display alone will draw a fair amount of current if the phone was left on for the GPS tracking and app. In this case, there should be fair amount of current draw such that the external battery will remain on. However if one were to shut off the phone and set it on standbye after the battery is fully charged up, then the external battery may automactically power off.

That connector you linked is not too bad of an connector. The Micro B end fit into my Samsung Note 2 fairly well. I had some other cheapy cable where the micro usb will fit either too tight or wiggle around too much. So far, I have three of the Star Tech micro and mini USB and they all seem to be consistent and hopefully stay that way in the future (knock on wood).

Winfried

Thanks for the clarification. I'm happy with the Anker 8400mAh.

01 CAt Man Do

I finally got a chance to try out the updated version of the "Cue Sheet" app I downloaded about a week or so ago. I'll cut to the chase and just say that I'm very impressed. The verbal prompts are right on cue and come up to give you multiple warnings before approaching the next turn. I almost forgot how easy it is to download a route on "Cue Sheet". That's because once you set the route up on "ridewithGPS" and save it, all you have to do is press the "my rides" button on the app and all of your saved routes are automatically listed. Then all you have to do is press on which one you want. Stupid simple...I likey stupid simple.

There was only one minor oddity while I was doing my local test loop, at one point the map had me riding on the sidewalk for about 200ft. No sure why that was but not really a big deal. For the most part the tracking was much better than the original app. The map orientation takes getting used to because it does not shift as one would expect with POV ( as with Google navigation ). No big deal really because your position is clearly shown at all times with a big blue arrow indicating direction.
Almost forgot to add that there is no reason to hit the "next button" as with the previous version as the app automatically moves the map along as you go. You still have the the "previous" and "next" buttons though just in case you do something wrong.

The only other minor inconvenience was that the Android screen powers down if it is not being used. Not a big problem because the app continues to run and give verbal prompts. You can always turn the screen back on at any time.

The verbal prompts are quite detailed and will usually give you the name of the road you need to turn on ( or the name of the road you need to be heading toward ). Using my "Bikase" cell phone holder/case ( encloses the phone ) it is not so easy to hear the verbal prompts with heavy traffic going by but no big deal because you still have all the info on the Android ( easy to read ) screen.

I consider this first test run a success. Can't wait to see how it works when I'm out in the boonies.

01 CAt Man Do

Went out again today testing the app, this time on the local paved bike/hike trails in my neighborhood.
Once again I carefully mapped out the route on "ridewithgps". RidewithGPS allows you to use roads and known paved bike trails if you set it up to do so.

I found out today that it's a good idea to go over the written cue sheet that accompanies the map once you get it done. Doing so will help eliminate any minor flaws in the mapping process because you can always go back and edit the problem on the map before downloading the route.

While riding paved trails I noticed that the app functions slightly differently than on roads. That's because most trails don't have names so the prompts will steer you towards the nearest road. This was no big problem but you don't always get a prompt at every trail juncture. I did get lots of verbal prompts though and always very timely. Still with all the intersecting trails sometimes the prompts aren't there when you need them. This is still no big problem because when in doubt all you have to do is turn the screen on and follow the route clearly shown on the screen.

The route I laid out today was a 7 mile one way trip with the plan being I would back-track or take the roads back to my home. I was very satisfied with how the Cue Sheet app was working. I did get confused right at the end but like I said before when in doubt you check the map.

At the end of the planned route I decided to take the road back and switched over to Google navigation. All was going great when suddenly I discovered I was going the wrong way!
Rare when this happens but the Google app was taking me toward a major highway. Yeah, I can get home that way but that was not my plan. In my haste I forgot to tell the Google app I was cycling...yes, it does make a difference. Anyway, I turned around and rode the rest of the way home on the road. I could of done without the 25 MPH head winds on the return trip but at least I had no other problems. ( Note: this trip ( 17 miles total ) used about a quarter of my internal battery )

Winfried

Does Cue Sheet make it possible to load a route from a GPX/KLM file, and display it in a map with the current location?

Currently, I just open the file in Google Maps on my PC, take a screenshot and upload it to the androphone, but then I have to switch back and forth between that screenshot and Maps to see if I'm in the right direction. In addition, now that I have an external battery, I use Strava to record the ride.

Ideally, the app should provide all those features.

01 CAt Man Do

Wish I could answer all those questions. All I know is that when you set-up the maps on "RidewithGPS" the maps are downloaded to your phone when you choose to do so. Since "RidewithGPS" also allows you to download to a Garmin there are various choices on which file format to use. GPX is the most popular I believe and is probably the format used with Cue Sheet.

Your position on the map is shown at all times with the "blue arrow" which also points out your intended direction. You can zoom or pull-back on the map at anytime to change your view. So far I think this is the best product I've ever bought for $3.99 . The "Cue Sheet"- "RidewithGPS" combo is a slam dunk.

Might not work as well as Garmin under certain conditions but I've yet to see that for myself. I will say
that on my last ride I went through some heavy tree cover and through a low valley and had no problems. As I approach my turns the prompts kept coming in telling me to turn..."in 0.01 mile"...then, in "0" miles make said turn. Thing was talking to me so much I thought I was gonna have to ***** slap it to shut it up.....but I digress

Winfried

Thanks for the infos. I'll check if Strava can somehow import a GPX route built with eg. RideWithGPS, or I'll try Cue Sheet instead.

njkayaker

ridewithgps provides the following download file types:

1) gpx track -> most accurate representation of the path. This is many gps coordinate points close together.
2) gpx route -> the gps coordinates for the just turns (waypoints) and cue-sheet directions as labels for each point (direction to turn and street name).
3) txc -> Garmin specific format. It's an extension of the gpx format (it's basically a combination of 1 and 2).
4) cue-sheet -> text cue sheet instructions (like what you'd print out as a cue-sheet).
5) kml -> Google earth specific file containing the track (equivalent to 1, I believe).

I suspect that the cue-sheet app uses 2 (you can open this file in a text editor and it will make some sense to you).

ridewithgps does alot of work to set up the file so that it's easy to use in an app like cue-sheet.

Here's an example of the sort of information 2 contains:

The numbers are the gps coordinates.
"name" is the direction to display for the arrow.
"cmt" is the spoken/displayed direction to take.

<rtept lat="34.82518" lon="-89.99475000000001">
<name>Generic</name>
<cmt>Start of route</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.82781" lon="-89.9948">
<name>Left</name>
<cmt>Turn left onto W Robinson St</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.82786" lon="-89.99751000000003">
<name>Right</name>
<cmt>Turn right onto Timber Ln</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.83026" lon="-89.99966">
<name>Right</name>
<cmt>Turn right onto Ludlow Dr</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.83185" lon="-89.99711000000002">
<name>Right</name>
<cmt>Turn right onto Northwood Hills Dr</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.8317" lon="-89.99479000000002">
<name>Left</name>
<cmt>Turn left onto US-51 N</cmt>
</rtept>

<rtept lat="34.83349" lon="-89.99471">
<name>Left</name>
<cmt>Slight left onto Memphis St</cmt>
</rtept>

njkayaker

I don't believe that Stava will give direction prompts.

There should be quite a number of apps on Android that will display a gps track on a map.

There are such apps for iOS/iPhone.

I use Motion X GPS on the iPhone to display gpx tracks on a map along with your location (the maps are downloaded to the phone before hand, which means you don't need cell-network access to see the maps).

Winfried

Thanks for the infos. I'll look into Windows apps to draw the route, export it to my Android smartphone, and then have an app display the route + current location.

Looigi

Explanation of USB charging current capacities and rates:

https://electronicdesign.com/power/ne...rtable-devices
https://www.eetimes.com/design/power-...-than-it-looks
https://www.extremetech.com/computing...our-smartphone

joewein

I use Google Maps on Android for tracking routes. Download them as KML files from RideWithGPS or wherever, import them into "My Maps" on Google Maps on a desktop machine and then show that map as a layer on Google Maps on Android.

The thing that stops me from using the Cue Sheet app is that the free version only does Imperial units - no metric, ignoring 95% of this planet's population

Looigi

Is that a practical consideration or are you trying to make a political statement by boycotting them? Practically, it's not tough to convert between the two. Multiplying by 1.6 or .63 while riding can be a bit challenging but just remember a few key conversions then interpolate/extrapolate to get close enough. e.g. From 20 mph ~ 32 kph it's easy to intuit 5=8, 7=11, 10=16, 15=24, 25=40 etc...

01 CAt Man Do

Not that I know for sure but if you map the route on "ridewithGPS", to the top right of the map page you check whither you want "miles or Kilometers". I can only assume that the download will include the proper units. I have the pro version and use "miles" when I map my rides so I can't say for sure.

01 CAt Man Do

Last night I did a road ride in unfamiliar territory using the Cue Sheet app. Only a route about 14 miles long but in an area I had never ridden before. My gut told me there would likely be some hills and as usually the gut was on the money. After mapping the ride on "ridewithgps" I noticed on the bottom of the route page that there is graph that shows the elevation of the ride. I did glance at it but having never used one before I really didn't know how to interpret the information. All I knew was that the route showed lots of hills.

I got through the first half of the ride without too much problem. Only one hill I would rate, "butt kicking" so I was feeling good and the Cue Sheet app was working without any problems. Then I got on a road that was either going down a really steep fast hill or going up a really steep hill. I have no problems on hills usually but three of the climbs were quite long and quite steep. On two I had to eventually stop to rest because I was getting too beat. Been quite a while since I got my butt kicked like that. Next time I'll take the elevation graph more seriously.

Cue sheet app worked like a pro. It did lose the signal at one point but that was on one of the killer climbs that just so happened to be going under some high tension wires. I could hear the wires crackling as I rode under. When I got out of range of the wires the app caught up and all was good.

A few other issues came up during the ride having to do with using the Android as a GPS.. First was the mounting. I need a better mount set-up. Currently I use the "Bikase" case. Using this case I can't hear the prompts because the zipper case incloses my phone. Not a big problem if there is no traffic or I'm poking along but at speed with traffic around it is hard to hear the prompts. Second is just a night issue, the screen is quite bright ( when on ) it hurts your night vision. Not a big problem and I might be able to change that on future night rides. If there is one issue with the app I wish I could change it would be that I wish when the unit starts to give verbal prompts that it would automatically turn the screen on, that would be nice.

The ride took about 1.5hr. Only used about 40% of my battery. Recorded distance was right on the money. Laughingly, my average speed only came out to just over 9mph. Made no difference that I flew down the hills near 35mph, the climbs were absolute death marches.