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Strava vs. Ride with GPS for Routes on Garmin

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Strava vs. Ride with GPS for Routes on Garmin

Old 03-06-21, 05:54 AM
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kosmo886
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Strava vs. Ride with GPS for Routes on Garmin

I just switched from a Wahoo Element to a Garmin Edge 830 bike computer and wondering whether Strava or RWG is the better route creator for the device. I had been using RWG on my Wahoo given Strava didn't support turn by turn notifications on the Wahoo. I use Strava for other things and only RWG for route creation only so wondering if it's worth just using Stava. Assuming Strava supports audible turn by turn navigation. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
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Old 03-06-21, 08:29 AM
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Originally Posted by kosmo886
Assuming Strava supports audible turn by turn navigation.
It does.

I'll also say that Strava route building has gotten better in the last year or so. I do have the occasional problem with a phantom road block (Strava won't let me route through a certain stretch of road and I haven't found a manual workaround as is available on RwGPS), but other than that, it's been good and sync to Garmin has been fast and trouble-free.
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Old 03-06-21, 08:35 AM
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I most recently bought a garmin 530 and was experimenting with turn by turn instructions between strava and garmin connect.
Both were very imperfect. At least compared with something like google maps.
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Old 03-06-21, 08:57 AM
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I have used RidewithGPS, Strava and Connect to create routes. RWGPS exports very well. I stopped using Strava because I didn't like the tools. I now use Connect on a computer most of the time when I'm building a route in an area I have some familiarity with. It's imperfect, but I've learned the quirks. I've never gotten lost with it, but have had a few issues with roads under construction.

A few friends use RWGPS exclusively, and when they send me a link, I download the gpx file and upload it to Connect, then send it to my 530. Works great.
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Old 03-06-21, 09:08 AM
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I create all of my routes w/ Strava to use with my Garmin 530. The integration is seamless and it’s super easy to pull a route up. YMMV of course
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Old 03-06-21, 05:14 PM
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I wonder how people found routes and got home again before riders decided they can't leave the house without the latest technology.
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Old 03-06-21, 05:23 PM
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I know were I'm going. Never really understood the need for routes. It wastes my time to make them.

But when I've made them, I used RWGPS. Strava and other places just never quite were easy to use or I more easily wound up with a botched route on my device. However that was 10 years ago. I supposed they've all changed several times over by now.
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Old 03-06-21, 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Inusuit
I wonder how people found routes and got home again before riders decided they can't leave the house without the latest technology.
You have a little piece of cardboard covering the flashing clock on your VCR, don't you?
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Old 03-06-21, 05:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
I know were I'm going. Never really understood the need for routes. It wastes my time to make them.
You don't go places that you're unfamiliar with? Thasashame.
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Old 03-06-21, 05:49 PM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
You don't go places that you're unfamiliar with? Thasashame.
I do. I've been all over the USA by land and air. I'll look at a map before I go and that's usually good enough. I've never needed the reassurance of a route to make me take a road I've never used. If it doesn't quite wind up where I want, then it becomes an adventure.
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Old 03-06-21, 05:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
If it doesn't quite wind up where I want...
So you know where you're going but not necessarily how to get there. Got it.

Other like to not get lost so they look at interactive maps before they go and they make few mouse clicks while doing so. It doesn't have to be tremendously time consuming to create a route.
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Old 03-06-21, 06:38 PM
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Back in the day I used maps to plan new rides, and would even write out cue sheets for really complicated new routes with lots of turns. I also didn't have a cellphone. But technology advanced, and it makes it easier for me to explore new routes and have a bailout if something goes very wrong.

​​​​​But I guess I could be cool and talk about how much better it was. Except it wasn't.
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Old 03-06-21, 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
You have a little piece of cardboard covering the flashing clock on your VCR, don't you?
I do not!

It's masking tape.
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Old 03-06-21, 07:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Inusuit
I wonder how people found routes and got home again before riders decided they can't leave the house without the latest technology.
I never need navigation when I'm riding from home. It's invaluable when riding roads I've never been on and I do this a lot. Worth the money.
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Old 03-06-21, 08:28 PM
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Strava is useful for routing in totally unfamiliar areas, since they use their Heat Map history to prefer roads that are popular with cyclists.
I still use ridewithgps almost all the time. It has better tools for choosing which road among alternatives: distance, elevation, avg and max grade on hills, height of hills, etc. And easy undo-redo to try alternatives.

I think either one will pop up turn by turn prompts on modern Garmins.

~~~
"back in the day", when I was leading rides with only cue sheets, we really wanted to simplify the routes. Now, there's no need to avoid lots of turns.

Using bike GPS and online route creation, we've refined routes repeatedly, substituting better alternate roads, or combining two good routes into one amazing one, and exploring a lot of new areas.

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Old 03-06-21, 08:58 PM
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I like the ability to easily use street view with RWGPS. I like to look at where I'm planning to ride. Strava gave up on using Google maps a few years ago so not street view.
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Old 03-06-21, 09:57 PM
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RWGPS. I use it for planning hikes, too.
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Old 03-07-21, 08:25 AM
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Originally Posted by gregf83
I like the ability to easily use street view with RWGPS. I like to look at where I'm planning to ride. Strava gave up on using Google maps a few years ago so not street view.
RWGPS -- maybe it's a related reason to your mention, but RWGPS while route designing, labels local stores/restaurants and POIs, etc.
Strava, unless I missed a setting somewhere, does not. Ability to route past potential rest stops or snackage suppliers can be important.

Also, and maybe again just not really trying with Strava, but Strava seems to yield way too many directional prompts -- not just "turn right onto XXX", but then followed by "proceed onto XXX" and sometimes also adding a further "continue on XXX" a tiny bit later. It wasn't obvious how one can see all of the cues that would end up in a TCX file, without selecting the "print" function, nor how to delete unnecessary individual cues.
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Old 03-07-21, 08:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
I know were I'm going. Never really understood the need for routes. It wastes my time to make them.

But when I've made them, I used RWGPS. Strava and other places just never quite were easy to use or I more easily wound up with a botched route on my device. However that was 10 years ago. I supposed they've all changed several times over by now.
It’s a really nice thing to have in group rides, every club I ride with sends one out so everyone is in sync, even if you just look at it before the ride. There’s no way I could memorize these rides beforehand. Plus one or two guys isn’t stuck up front bc they are they are the only one that knows where we are going. I live in a very spread out very large city and weekend rides are often to other cities and in town rides can have a lot of turns

I mostly use garmin connect but it has its issues. Ride with gps doesn’t always download for some people with garmins from their iphones to connect. Strava is easy to download on the garmin but I’ve never created one in strava
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Old 03-07-21, 08:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Sy Reene
Also, and maybe again just not really trying with Strava, but Strava seems to yield way too many directional prompts -- not just "turn right onto XXX", but then followed by "proceed onto XXX" and sometimes also adding a further "continue on XXX" a tiny bit later. It wasn't obvious how one can see all of the cues that would end up in a TCX file, without selecting the "print" function, nor how to delete unnecessary individual cues.
I always had this problem with RwGPS on my Wahoo. The directions on my Garmin, laid out on Strava, haven't been nearly as obnoxious.
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Old 03-07-21, 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
I always had this problem with RwGPS on my Wahoo. The directions on my Garmin, laid out on Strava, haven't been nearly as obnoxious.
Interesting. I only have a big issue with that with RwGPS when using the Auto-Trace function when using a past ride to generate a route.
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Old 03-07-21, 10:44 AM
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I love the RWGPS with Garmin combination especially since they now have a ConnectIQ app for wireless transfer. Have tried the others but I became comfortable with RWGPS some swear by Komoot but not happy with the routes created. The new Heat Map features are amazing as can find where people ride as well as check on street view while creating route.
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Old 03-07-21, 10:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Grouperdawg
It’s a really nice thing to have in group rides, every club I ride with sends one out so everyone is in sync, even if you just look at it before the ride. There’s no way I could memorize these rides beforehand. Plus one or two guys isn’t stuck up front bc they are they are the only one that knows where we are going. I live in a very spread out very large city and weekend rides are often to other cities and in town rides can have a lot of turns

I mostly use garmin connect but it has its issues. Ride with gps doesn’t always download for some people with garmins from their iphones to connect. Strava is easy to download on the garmin but I’ve never created one in strava
It's great to have a reply that tells me a real reason why you like to have and use that feature.

My son uses routes too all the time for our rides. But I never understand why since we are fully familiar with where we are going. However I have been on organized rides with him and he'd claim we needed to turn, but I knew the route and we didn't. On those same rides where he was showing a false turn, we also witnessed others that made the turn. Presumably something bad in the course file the organizer provided.
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Old 03-08-21, 04:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
It's great to have a reply that tells me a real reason why you like to have and use that feature.

My son uses routes too all the time for our rides. But I never understand why since we are fully familiar with where we are going. However I have been on organized rides with him and he'd claim we needed to turn, but I knew the route and we didn't. On those same rides where he was showing a false turn, we also witnessed others that made the turn. Presumably something bad in the course file the organizer provided.
There is a few other reasons to follow a route on a ride you already know. One is climbpro feature which assists with pacing on a climb as well you and run your eta for completion as well. I rarely use it but may on a long 3,000 ft climb close to home.
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Old 03-10-21, 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
Strava won't let me route through a certain stretch of road and I haven't found a manual workaround as is available on RwGPS.
Until the alternatives add the manual 'Draw Lines' feature, only RideWithGPS is of any use here. Strava, Google, and a few others I've tried refuse to cross the rural low-water crossings (which are dry 345 days of the year). Another scenario around here is crossing from a main road to the end of a cul-de-sac: the 20ft of grass is all public easement, but the software won't allow you 'off the roadway'.

The result in these cases is usually a 10 to 20 mile detour; with RWGPS, you can simply manually draw the route-line you need, then flip the switch to go right back to following roads.
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