Big Pete 1982

So I got a fancy new phone that runs Android a few weeks ago I downloaded the Map My Ride app. I know there are tons of people on here with cycle computers that use Strava, I'm not sure why no love for Map My Ride, but I was already using MapMyRide.com to map routes and the app was free so I downloaded it.

Anyways, for those that don't know, phones come preloaded nowadays with "big brother" GPS functions. The app uses that to track speed, time, elevation, distance, calories burned, etc. I could use it as a real time cycle computer, but the screen being on all the time would kill my phone battery in a few hours so I rode with it in my pocket.

I tried this thing out today for the first time and I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed. Hard to beat for the price of free! It automatically uploaded the route to my profile on their website. It can also auto post to Facebook. It breaks down the ride to show me exactly how I did with comparisons of elevation change and average speed, all shown mile per mile. Also, for routes I do often, I can use it to try to beat my ghost time and compare current and previous results.

So I guess the bottom line for me is this. I thought about buying a Garmin/Strava cycle computer, but I already had a phone and the app was free. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

HokuLoa

They lost a fair number of users a while back when they had a prolonged period of "buggy" updates. Problems with rides not saving, incorrect data, complete app failures etc etc. Add to that some lousy customers service response in their forum that failed to appropriately address the problems in a timely fashion. This REALLY ticked off users who paid for the mapmy+ apps. I personally loved it until all that nonsense. The bottom line for any of these apps is that they need to actually work (go figure). I tried others (free) and found them more consistently reliable AND less battery intensive.

The elevation data interests me. As I recall this was not a feature with the mapmy+ apps before and something sorely missed. So that is included now?

WhyFi

You highly recommend it after one ride? A lot of people were in the same boat after one ride - post again after your 30th ride. My guess is that you'll fall in to one of two categories:

1) You'll find that you value the data, you'll recognize the shortcomings of using your smartphone and you'll replace with a dedicated unit

-or-

2) You'll find that it was a nifty toy to play with, but that it's not worth it to you to kill your battery/put your phone in harms way/whatever.

jmX

You realize strava is also available for phones too right? And its free?

For everything I do, strava > MMR.

Big Pete 1982

Elevation data is included. There is an upgrade membership available, but honestly I don't know what it gets you since the free app seems to do everything I want, including provide elevation data.

Big Pete 1982

Well it was free and as I said, I was already using their website. I've never had any issues with the website and have mapped dozens of rides. Plus I already have a basic dedicated cycle computer, just no gps. Since I always ride with a phone anyways, this seems work pretty good for me. I rode roughly 2 hours today and used 10% of my battery. I didn't think that was excessive.

Big Pete 1982

What will Strava do that MMR won't? I hadn't heard about reliability issues with MMR until you guys brought it up. Maybe I'll download the Strava app and do a comparison.

MrTuner1970

If you have a Garmin device, check out ridewithgps.com. It's really good. Free, but there are paying memberships available. Premium features, etc. Right now, I'm using free. Good analytics so you can see exactly what happened on the ride (playback with speeds, grades, HR, etc.).

Also doing Garmin Connect and Strava, both of which I ike better than MMR. MMR's elevation data is not the same as Garmin, RWGPS, or Strava. Always shows a lot less, whereas the three others are fairly close. So I'm guessing MMR is off, or it is calculated entirely differently. MMR has good route planning. But it's my least favorite.

WhyFi

Yeah, yeah, yeah - tell me about how great it is after 30 rides.

aruban

I've been using it for 60+ rides. I like it because it keeps track of my monthly miles and I can log other work outs too. Can't beat it for the price.

HokuLoa

Huh, cool. The upgrade to plus gets ad free, geo tagging for photos, and iPod integration. I used the free a bit and liked it so when I saw the fitness+ on sale I was happy to kick them some dough for a job well done. I missed the elev data but really the problem was buggy, inconsistent software and slow fixes. Too bad and a bit irksome having just paid them for something that didn't work.

That said, phone apps are constantly evolving. What is true one day may not be the next. Try them all and let current experience inform you. All of them are getting pretty uniform in the data (apparently) so they basically amount to different flavors. Not a bad idea to compare the data to check for accuracy...

Big Pete 1982

Dude, did MMR kill your dog or something? Why so much negativity?

Black wallnut 

I use MMR as well as Runkeeper. Both work most of the time, Runkeeper is for me more intuitive. Both also kill my battery. Last Fall I did a metric century and used both to track it, starting with afresh full charge. By mile 55 my phone was warning me of an impending power outage due to total discharge. You are right in that the price is right however the old adage you get what you pay for also stands true. A dedicated cycling GPS is in my future.

ColinL

I put my phone in my pocket. Using it on my bar A) was prone to falling off and B) was brutal on battery life if you do what you need to do and set the screen to never timeout/lock.

Anyway, Endomondo is far, far better on battery than MMR, CardioTrainer or Runkeeper. Endomondo uses 15% of my phone's battery per hour of riding with voice coaching disabled. (edit: I use a T-Mobile/HTC G2.) It chews up a bit more with voice prompts, maybe 17% per hour. I am not badass enough to kill the battery from full. It also has very, very good stats. You can see the improvement you are making.

Oh, I'm talking about the paid version of the android app, which I think was under $5. I haven't paid anything on the site, which unlocks additional stats. I don't really care right now about comparing myself to others... I have plenty of work to do comparing against my own stats and working to improve. I'm pretty pumped to see the personal records keep ticking off but this is the easiest time to gain them after taking 3 months almost completely off.

pityr

I don't use it because it was always really inaccurate compared to the other available apps. You can't really tune the settings much in it either. For cycling I like MyTracks better and for running I use CardioTrainer Pro. I've done a 6 hour ride with MyTracks before and still had 20% battery left. I don't however watch the screen while I ride, it sits in my jersey pocket the whole time.

I don't do this too often anymore though as my bike computer does everything except GPS data points

ColinL

Example of endomondo stats: personal records of top mileage rider for this month - NOT ME

Click through his totals, PRs, drill into the breakdowns. Pretty cool, eh.

Strava is of no value for me because no one uses it here in Doodah. I'm sure it's cool in bigger cities.

HokuLoa

I can't speak for Whifi but for a lot of people the MMR problems went on far too long and w/ such bad service that it really pissed people off. Especially those of us who paid for an app that literally did not work for a loooooong while. Almost all my positive MMR experience was with the free. After paying, nothing but trouble.

Big Pete 1982

I'd never heard of any of the gps programs other than MMR until I joined this forum. I'd also never heard of MMR reliability problems until I started this thread. I always just used their website before and haven't had any issues in the last few years. People have brought up some very valid points about several different gps apps. I downloaded Strava and registered on their site after reading some opinions and I will admit, the look is better and I was excited to see a few users close by that ride similar routes. I'll have to compare the two and see which one works better for me. Thanks for the opinions.

HokuLoa

Yep, good to give them all a go. For some it is purely an aesthetic preference.

WhyFi

You consider it negativity that I recommend that you give something a good, thorough trial before you emphatically give it your seal of approval? Especially something that many people try and then move on from? Okay.

DarkBeer

+1 on Endomondo. I used the free version for almost a year and then purchased the pro version, basically because I felt the developers deserved some $ since I was using the program frequently. I like having the multiple sports to select from, including cycling sport and cycling transport. I do my rides on cycling sport, but if I'm going on a leisurely ride with the kids, I do that on cycling transport. This lets me keep a more accurate average for my "real" rides, but track total cycling miles easily as well.

There are several programs to choose out there, many of them free, so try them all and see what you like the best. If that is MMR, so be it. Never used it because I've been happy with Endomondo. I have used MMR's website to find other rides people have posted in the area, but my tracking is with Endomondo

Big Pete 1982

No, I consider it negative that I offered my opinion of a product that was free and I thought worked pretty good. Your response was that after a longer trial, I will have 1 of 2 outcomes. Either I'll hate it, or I'll hate it more. I appreciate peoples' opinions, including yours, and took some good advice from this thread, but some people choose to offer their opinion surrounded by an air of superiority. I've found that to be the case quite often on this forum.

megalowmatt

With any luck the weather will cooperate and people will be less cranky.

Unfortunately the superiority will continue.

HokuLoa

Nice! I don't mind the ads/ads-free (I don't look much) but tossing some "good job" $ at developers is the solid thing to do. I wish more peeps would so the quality stays high without them needing to implement monthly service fees...

gardnertoo

That just means you're the KOM on every hill you ride! Same for me, I seem to be the only Strava user in Goldendale, WA, although some riders from the Portland Oregon area have come over to my area and ridden some segments.

I was a big fan of MMR up until the above-mentioned buggy period. Toward the end of last summer, they actually told their users to switch to their Map My Run app for a while. The Ride app was having trouble if the user accelerated. (No, I'm not making that up) I like MMR's website alot, I use the "Map a new ride" feature to get an estimate of how hilly a proposed route will be. HOWEVER, they have removed elevation data from the gpx export feature, which renders the exports useless for my purposes. I'm an Excel data geek; that's where I export to, and elevation comparison is the whole point for me. For my plan-export-compare needs, I now use RideWithGPS. If they would create an iPhone app, they might be the best of the bunch for me.

MMR (and probably others) has a feature I liked that seems to be absent from Strava: live tracking. My wife can follow my progress from home, and if I call for rescue she knows right where to go.