tcwayne

I don't get why people have battery issues with the iPhone. Before I got my Garmin 500, I tracked every ride and multiple rides over 100 miles. I had more problems with apps crashing than battery issues. You guys must have your phones on the bars and watching cycling videos while tracking with an app. Weird.

For what it's worth, the Garmin edge 500 is wonderful, especially when paired with a speed/cadence and HRM.

Igo

Hey, I was following the map, I was, man. You just have to have coordination.

volosong

For the first time today, I didn't take a wrong turn in an organized charity century. I created a route in RideWithGPS, exported it to my computer, then uploaded it into my 500. In the past, I'd take at least one or two wrong turns somewhere during a century/double metric century ride. Today, no problem. My only complaint would concern how quickly the map updates on the screen after making a turn, but ti didn't freeze or anything like that. Never referred to the route sheet once during the ride.

eugenek

If you don't need any advanced cycling features like virtual partner or support of power meter, check out eTrex 30 as well. It has a color screen with mapping support, it works with speed/cadence sensor and HRM, and it costs as much as Edge 500.

Igo

Amen. Finally some real reasoning. If mapping and triangulation is is what you require, toss all these i thingys in the trash. Buy a cheap cadence and heart rate monitor and put an eTrex on the bike. You'll have more traveling data than a 787 and never factor in the latency of something pinging off a cell tower. I use a Garmin GPS Map60CSx backpacking, on my bikes and on my motorcycle. It has color maps, responds instantly, can be bounced on and skipped across the street at speed and runs for 20 hours easily without concern for battery and does everything a cycle computer can...better, less cadence and heart rate as mentioned earlier. It records navigation progress 70 different ways, can upload anything you want to the internet but coupled with software that resides on your computer as a system, is fully self contained. I'm sure the lighter, smaller and less expensive eTrex does the same things. Here I go posting this again....



This screen is set up to register current speed, top speed, time of day, elapsed time, average stop, elevation and odometer. Each of these fields can be changed to any of about 70 other criteria easily. Then there are a dozen or so other pages with turning maps, routed plotted, route being recorded. barametric and triangulation altimeter, services available, turn-by-turn directions, mark and waypoint sets, all kinds of look-ups and the list goes on. I can even chose between road maps or topographic maps or marine for that matter.



And if you take a drastic wrong turn, it will backtrack for you.
garmin.com

Biscayne05

I'll be in the minority here: get a Smartphone.

It's 2012 and you're still using a flip phone? what are you going to do with the GPS unit when you're not biking? Exactly.

Get a smartphone and load it with Strava and MapMyRide (just in case, still useful). I believe the iPhone is more cyclist friendly because of the Blue Ant accessories you can get now.

Kurogashi

Lol. I never saw the need for a smartphone (and I'm on a student budget). My phone calls/texts just fine. Plus, I'm always on campus where I get wifi on my laptop, so there's really no need for a smartphone. And I'm always reading the newspaper on the subway, so it's not like I need games to entertain me. Honestly, the only reason I can think of why I should get a smartphone is probably because of a better camera.

I found out I can break my courses into 'segments', so I can make 'course A' 50miles then 'course B' 50 miles. And that should prevent the Edge 500 from crashing. Anybody have experience doing this and know it's true?

HokuLoa

+1 I get over 9hrs with music and Strava. Battery issues? Not me...

eugenek

I suppose it depends on the phone. My old iPhone 3G is not supported by the Strava app. When recording a track using MotionX GPS, it goes from full charge to zero in 7 hours just sitting in my pocket, without any music or web activity, wi-fi and bluetooth turned off.

Seve

Don't take the plunge folks ........... it's the work of the Devil.

If you do, avoid signing the contract if at all possible.

Kurogashi

I've already renewed my contract, but since I've finished one already, I can upgrade the phone at will.

Did I make a mistake? lol, my plan has the bare minimum in texts/minutes, so it's not that bad.

Now that I think about it, I think I might just upgrade my phone. But the only thing that really turns me off about that idea is a data plan... and strava only works with a data plan. How much data does it use to record my ride?

I have a perfectly functional cyclometer (no HR though), and I think making a cue sheet+having a smartphone with emergency gps seems to be a safe way to travel... but sigh, i still kind of want an edge 500. dont know why. it must be the cool factor! (yes, i still think flip phones are cool)